The cunning NPC and the return of the gang leader (part 1)

"I was clearly giving her more information than I was receiving from her, she's smart and already knew a lot, but she's also way sloppier than I expected."

Medea wasn't bothered by the awkward atmosphere and shrugged his shoulders while sighing.

"She was making a face like a frog being run over by the carriage each time I said anything of even remote importance that I should not have the knowledge of – but then she didn't even blink when the soldier supposedly guarding her didn't check whether I am concealing a weapon or not. All in all, my impression of her fell quite a bit since our first meeting."

He added while eating the fruit with an aura of aloofness.

Soon enough, Medea gulped down the rest of the exotic fruit while leaving the peelings on the side of the table.

As the silence prolonged, the black-haired boy took out a handkerchief and cleaned the blade of his knife before securing it back to his forearm and covering it with his sleeve.

"Alright. What do you need from me? Or did you just feel lonely and couldn't wait to see the face of your beloved apprentice, mister Gerard?"

"..."

Medea nodded with satisfaction and turned to the copper-haired man with dark green eyes and smiled at him, which seemed to threaten the potion maker just a little bit.

"Boss... Boss is finally back and wants to see you, so he told me to get you. Tell me when you're ready."

Gerard breathed out and reached out towards Medea, handing him a bundle of three items.

"Thanks, mister~"

"...please stop with that smile. It makes you look like you are plotting to slice my throat in my sleep..."

The black-haired boy cheered out with a lovely smile and made the copper-haired man shiver uncontrollably.

"Now that's the cautiousness that I like you for, mister."

The smile instantly disappeared from Medea's face, making way for his serious expression, and the boy nodded at the man with approval while putting on the hairnet and the dark-blond wig.

The last of the items he received a moment earlier was a hood that could have been a part of the cape in the past but was turned into a separate piece of clothing.

"Let's go."

Medea put the hood on, making sure to adjust it so that the dark-blond hair would stick out properly for others to see, and nodded at the potion maker, who visibly relaxed when he stopped smiling.

The two of them went to the basement, and Gerard unlocked the passage that led to the abandoned tunnel that was part of the mine that the Startinton originally was built next to.

The tunnel originally started from the mansion that Ava was currently residing in, but that part had been buried because of a cave-in decades ago, and the renovation plans didn't include clearing it out.

Despite being abandoned decades ago, the part of the tunnel that Medea and Gerard were walking through was kept clean and lit up by evenly spaced lit torches. As they walked, they passed a few other passageways and hatches leading to different parts of the town, but none of those interested them until they approached a broken-looking dusty door that seemed to be leading to another caved-in passage, at least judging by the pile of rubble visible from behind the missing parts of the door.

But then, Gerard reached out to the torch ring next to it and twisted it to the side while pulling the door handle up instead of down...

*click*

With a short snappy sound, the locking mechanism was released, and the door – with the dust and dirt being painted and glued over it to maintain the ruined look – opened easily, together with twelve inches of rubble being attached to it.

The tunnel continued behind the door for a while and led to a ladder and a hatch in the ceiling.

Neither Medea nor Gerard said anything, and the boy entered first – the coper-haired man turned the torch ring into its original position and followed him, letting the hidden door close behind them.

Medea was already on top of the ladder – he reached out his hand and knocked on the hatch in a specific rhythm.

*click* *creak*

With a few seconds of delay at most, the hatched opened, and a muscular arm reached down, gabbing Medea by the wrist and pulling him up as if he weighed close to nothing.

"I'm here too!"

Gerard hurried over and started climbing the ladder, calling out because he noticed the hatch was about to close.

Moments later, the muscular hand reached down and grabbed him by the scruff of his clothes and pulled him up like a stray kitten.

The muscular arm belonged to an even more muscular brunette with playful amber eyes wearing miner's overalls on top of a sleeveless gray shirt.

"Little copper man wants me to carry him?"

The muscular brunette asked. She had a strong accent – it and her facial features weren't common in Wondalandor and clearly indicated that she wasn't a local.

"...y-yes, please...?"

Gerard's face turned bright red, and he tried to hide it with both hands – but even so, he still agreed despite being embarrassed.

"I like the little copper man. You honest about liking strong women like Nentilear."

Nentilear laughter thundered in the room, and she did indeed hold up Gerard in a princess carry.

The muscular woman was the only person standing guard by the hatch – the room with said hatch was only big enough to contain her and one other person, so there was no possibility of sneaking past her.

"Mister, don't worry. I will tell the boss that you did what he told you. Have fun."

"H-hold on...!"

Medea popped his head back into the hatch room for a moment and moved on, leaving the extremely embarrassed copper-haired man in the strong embrace of the muscular brunette.

The black-haired boy walked through the hallway of a recently renovated building. He walked up the expensive-looking staircase, walking on one side, close to the wall instead of stepping in the middle - to minimalize the creaking... out of habit...

As he found himself in front of a large door, Medea knocked on it in a specific way and waited.

"Let him in."

Someone from the inside called out, and both wings of the door were opened by two men in quality clothes but with faces that could not be described in any other way besides – thuggish mugs -.