Information Guild

After leaving no traces behind by entering various places and securing my anonymity by using the Innkeeper's powers to double up the precautions, I found myself walking around the streets of the Underworld.

As always, the underworld encompasses the three nations on the maps, still expanding due to some people digging more and more land by some people's orders. The gemstone attached from above was brimming as always, making the underworld never experience nighttime.

It was still the same. Chaotic and lively.

At one street, I could see a burning house. On the other, three men were hanging on a rope. Before even the burning house, heads on a spike were seen being viewed for the crowd to see.

Just any other day here.

Well, they'll soon be cleared up anyway. The enforcers which was made by the overlords will take care of them. Who knows if another inspector will come again?

After a few more minutes of aimlessly strolling, I finally arrived at my destination. The prominent sign atop the tavern was visible from a distance.

/Information Guild/

'How… direct.' 

Even if the sign wasn't there, I'd still be able to find this place since I was the one who made a deal with them.

Entering the large, three-floor tavern, I was met with a very lofty and active crowd. The tables were full. Some were singing, laughing with their peers, drunk, and sleeping due to how smashed they were.

Unlike the other pubs, this didn't have any sense of sullenness and disparity.

Sitting down on one side of the counters, the bartender who was quietly cleaning his glass, looked at me and expressed.

"What do you want to order, esteemed guest?"

Grabbing a silver coin from my pockets, I slid it through the desk and replied.

"I want the special order."

The bartender stared at me for a few seconds before picking up the silver coin and nodded.

"Follow me."

The bartender brought his thick towel down before leading me the way to a very particular place for those who had tight relationships with the owners here.

"It seems you are quite new here, sir. For starters, the owners wanted to give a quick preview of how this special order works. Do you want to know it?"

"No."

The bartender nodded before quietly making his way toward the basement. If I could rate how people took care of their clients, I would give a perfect score.

'Not bad.'

The bartender knocked at one of the basement rooms and called out for the people inside.

"Sir and ma'am, a guest wanted the special order."

"Thanks, Please let him know to wait for a minute."

Hearing what the person had to say, we waited for a minute and a half till the door opened with a few guests exiting.

"Come in—" 

As soon as the man in front, who was wearing a very weird mask, saw my bare face, he laughed and dismissed the bartender. Entering the room without any worry, I was met with five people.

"Duke!"

"Bard."

And it seemed not only Carpal, who opened the door for me, was the one who kept wearing masks. The other four did the same.

"So, can I take it that this room is secured and soundproof?"

Monet, who removed his mask, revealing his glasses hanging on his bridge, smiled and confidently answered.

"We hired a group of carpenters, stonemasons, and technicians and modified it right after we got into this establishment. Hence rest assured, my friend."

Everyone gets to remove their masks since they know each other. A sign that they trust Duke since if it wasn't for him, this wouldn't have happened.

Whether they knew the real him or not.

Sitting down on the couch while grabbing a glass of whiskey, smelt it, and drank it, I gaze at everyone in the room and stated.

"So, you sent a mail from my place to come to this place. I believe it was three days ago." Bringing the glass down, I added, "Let's get to the point."

"As usual, you are very straightforward, sir Duke. That's why we like doing business with you." 

Owary calmly spoke in a casual tone as she ordered Realiza to hand papers from the side and give them to her. I received those papers and checked them right away.

"First, what you see there is the furtherance of our information guild. We wanted to hear your opinion about its stabilization. Is it falling or rising? We wanted to see how you view it since… it looks like you knew a bit of the underworld's inclinations."

Realiza tied her lavender hair as she reported, adding flatly.

"Your answer will depend on our movements forward."

I closely looked at the sales, flow of income, and distribution of resources to the group's business. 

"What made you think that I knew a bit of the underworld?"

Bard chuckled, "You have the vibes all around you but that's just it, and we businessmen, trust our intuition in terms of these. Well, even if you do have business here, we'll not pry or interfere."

Not giving Bard a glance, I quietly looked for the records for almost a minute now and the group did the same, waiting patiently. After a whole five minutes, I brought the papers down and sighed.

"Your business is new and all but…"

"…"

I stared at the ceiling for a moment and continued, "But it's already been doing well. Your proficiency already exceeded your initial estimations. By the looks of it, your information guild will continue growing. Even an expansion is not far off."

The group became joyous as they fumed with elevation. It seemed they were quite happy about the results.

"Then, we proceed to our first option." Carpal smiled faintly, "Duke, we got information on the movement of the royal conglomerate. It spoke there that they are being too direct with their approach to our establishment in the Silent Glade. Too soon, our men couldn't avoid the pressure, and a battle might occur."

After pouring his drink, he added, "Hence we're going to let them be. We'll lose in direct confrontation and the people from the army stationed there must've been paid already. Instead, we'll transfer our main base to here."

Slightly knitting a brow, I replied, "The underworld?"

"No, that's absurd. I'm talking about this nation." Carpal was scared of the idea of making their business transfer here before adding, "We have a branch on Leefa Street, bordering the outskirts and the downtown. That branch will become the main branch as we transport our belongings here. 

"Currently, we're liquidating our assets in that nation, making them think that we're giving up but we're just strengthening ourselves once we go full war on them. And we've been doing this for the past six months."

Carpal chuckled, "For a moment, I thought you were joking transferring everything in this underworld. They were already bigshots from these places, calling themselves Overlords. Aside from the usual gang fights, most low and some mid-size organizations just cease to exist and we just don't want really anything to do with it."

"What are you suggesting?"

Carpal drank the glass and replied, "As a partner of the company, we request to borrow some of your resources and a few transportation vehicles such as carriages, caravans, and wagons."

Their wants and needs seemed to not end there as they were waiting for me to see my reaction to the first request. 

On the other hand, I quietly stared at the papers, glass, and bottle of whiskey before gazing at the five people inside. 

The trace of happiness in their successful venture of entering a business in the underworld was there but determination and resolve were slowly replacing them.

"You are a partner. You could've just gotten the money out of the treasury without talking to me and Gabby, or any people I have in my place."

"That's very inappropriate and sick." Carpal strongly disagrees with a hard frown, "We both made a deal with aligned interests and mutual understanding. That's how trust usually starts. And we didn't want to break it now or forever, honestly."

Tilting his head vaguely to the side, I questioned, "What are you talking about? I meant that literally, not sarcastically. In the end, I'll gain from this. From our contract, we get to use your other assets and ownership by fifty percent. Hence, half of the riches of my company are yours while half of yours is mine."

I paused, "So take whatever you want, I'll gain something in the end anyway."

The group was stiff for a moment before appearing emotional. They were relieved, reassured, and pleased. Even Carpal was the same.

'What's wrong with these guys? Have they really written the contract I've given to them? The difference between these people and the former five partners is that they only get to touch the resources of my biggest legitimate business which is different from these guys… Still, my legitimate business is real and worldwide.'

Even so, what I got from there didn't even come close to my illegitimate business.

So, I really swindled them into getting this deal. If I'm going to lose something, then only a minuscule amount of it will be lost.

"You are just something, Duke. Really, I felt like we're discovering more and more of you." Monet giggled on the side as the other did the same.

"Well, that would be too bad. You wouldn't like the real me."

Carpal poured the glass of mine and continued, "We all have our hidden selves. And nobody would want to know it since, well, it's hidden."

"I guess so," Drinking the glass of whiskey, I continued, "Seeing that you guys are still there, standing and waiting for me to finish this drink, I assume that there's another?"

Carpal nodded as he take lead in the conversation, "Yes and this is a very important one for our plans."

With a moment of pause, Carpal revealed, "Sir Duke, I believe you have heard about the upcoming election that will be happening in the next three months."