Thirty-Eight

"Rat Cave?"

It was a rather odd name, but it only took a moment for Rose to take it all in as the girl continued.

"My father was an info-broker before me," Mare said, lowering her arms and walking towards the chair on the right, "He built this place as a center for most of his work. Though, as you can see, he was much more of a digital snooper—like a little rat to crumbs."

"So you followed after him?"

"Basically. I had always helped him somewhat, especially on the mapping aspect." She sat down, rolled around and faced Rose again. "It pays well."

"Oh?" Rose walked closer. "How much do you have on hand right now?"

"A bit less than 10 million."

Rose's eyes widened at that unbelievable amount of money.

"Don't look at me like that—I can probably only use less than half of it; the rest is kept for business dealings."

"Less than five million, then? That is still a lot."

"I suppose. . ." The girl's expression was vacant. "I make a lot selling the same low-level information, data, or map, to as many people as possible; however, I auction off some of the most prized ones or find suitable buyers. Sometimes the pay is a transfer of equally valuable information, but I mostly deal in lixels. Still, though, I'm nowhere close to 50 million yet."

The girl smiled then spun right back to face the wall of screens.

"Anyway! The reason we came here! I don't keep the really valuable stuff on my pad and usually have to return here to get them. So, I need this computer."

She brought her pad up and synced it with the pc. Then, her hand reached out, pinching together to shrink the largest screen in front of her before dragging it closer to her face.

"This, this, and this." She tapped a few times, nodding as Rose stood behind her to see what looked like the icons of paper being dragged around before they were swiped to the side and into her pad's screen.

In a moment's notice, the girl turned around and faced her again.

"Connect your pad with mi—oh wait, we're already added contacts, I'll just send them over now."

The girl shooed with her hand, sending the computer screen slapping back in place at the wall, and then tapping her pad.

Rose's pad blinked. She tapped the orb at its center twice, a notice came for a folder and she naturally accepted the downloads.

As she shifted through the new documents, opening them, Mare explained.

"Entering Alos involves a bribe worth 5 million lixels per person."

Rose tapped open an image: A man dressed in a dark-brown uniform that was lined silver. There was an insignia on his chest that reminded her of Shana's, but without the strikethrough, and with only the left innermost circle. He had a head of short-red hair that, coupled with rather pale, blue eyes, gave him the image of quiet somberness.

"Ah, Mason Creed." Mare nodded. "A high-ranking defense official in the city. He works together with the Slum Lords, helping them smuggle people in and out of the city using his connections. There's more info in the documents—I already included how to contact him with the rest of the information there."

Rose opened one of the text forms and quickly scanned it, eyes jumping around the page as she scrolled.

[Mason Creed. . .official inspector of the first sector of Alos. . .34 years old in both age and appearance, clearly has not done a Gene Advancement yet. . .former slummer. . .has a close-quarter-combat type Gear. . .the battle vids I could find on the Mana Web shows he has at least 3 spirits on him. . .married for 6 years now, has a daughter. . .] And so on.

"There's. . .a lot," Rose said, 'So much text.'

Mare laughed. "Sorry, I like to do a deep-dive on anyone or anything that has to do with a piece of information. You never know if you can find something specific someone else might buy."

The third, and final, document included a way to contact him and what the 'smuggling' entailed. Rose narrowed her eyes at a particular piece of text that came with it.

"Riding a transporter?" She asked.

"Yup yup." Mare nodded, twice. "Part of the bribe money is used to pay off a Business Mongol in the city to ride one of their transporters. Of course, the rest is pocketed by Creed and used partly to get the smuggled people an Identification Number."

"And this is safe?"

"My snooping says so, unless you don't believe me?" Mare tilted her head with a thin smile and the twitch of her more-than-average length ears.

"I have no reason to doubt you, as of yet."

Plus, Rose thought, there hadn't been any lead to entering Alos apart from this.

"Good, just take it, I'll be announcing an auction of it today too."

Rose nodded, turned, and stared at the map hovering over the table.

"This map. . .is it updated with the current conflict?"

If that was true, it certainly would be useful, she thought.

Mare hopped from the chair, landing perfectly by Rose's side. She stretched a hand and dragged a copy of the map as it hovered over her palm. It had become a circular hologram that looked like a rather thick disk.

"Spent all of today doing just that. I've already mapped out the hot beds."

". . .how much?"

Mare grinned.

"For you?"

Rose expected her to say 'free.'

"Ten thousand lixels."

"Ten thousand for a map? Didn't it only cost 500 for the job?"

Mare wagged a finger, shaking her head with a tsk.

"That job wasn't a piece of information I acquired, I was paid to pretty much advertise it, after all, something like that can't be put up on the Mana Web. Basically, I was only a middle-man."

"On the other hand. . ." She threw her hand forward, deleting the copy of the map from her palm and looking back up at the larger one. "This is a piece of information and data painstakingly acquired and made by me alone. I can guarantee you won't find a map of the slums as extensive as this."

There was pride in the girl's voice. Yet, even as she thought it made a lot of sense, Rose frowned. "Do you not still owe me twenty thousand lixels?"

"Ugh—" Realization dawned onto Mare. She quite reluctantly sent over 10k lixels—to which Rose thought she looked as if her heart had shattered—and a program file.

It took only a moment for the girl to regain her chirpiness, however.

"Count yourself lucky," She said after-the-fact with a hint of smugness on her face, "I'm feeling generous today. I sent you the program I made—it's synced, and updates the map whenever I do so on my end. You should thank me, really."

"How wonderful. . ." Rose patted her head with a hint of amusement. "I will count it as part of the payment for saving you. You're welcome."

"Oi!"

She chuckled lightly at the girl's reaction as her thought wandered.

'Thirteen thousand lixels now, should I still go back?'

With her funds a bit more heavy again, she debated if she still needed to return to her home to acquire her orbs. Then, her frugal mind thought of the fact that spending 12k lixels to replace 6 orbs did not seem like a bright idea unless she decided to hunt as crazily as she did this past month to make up for the loss. There was also the fact that she needed to start saving for 5 million lixels, along with. . .

'My packet of Rose Tea.'

It had been the one she bought after the last finished and she would very much like to get that back as well, as ridiculous as that sounded. All in all, she would still need to go home and acquire the costly things. . . and some change of clothes to boot.

"Also, give me my mana shield back. What charge is it at anyway? You weren't hit by too many stray pulses right?"

"Kuh—seventy five percent."

When her business concluded, she turned to leave and return to Elsa's home.