Chapter 09 : The Fractions in Meteor City

Ara let out a chuckle as he was swarmed by two little girls. Even though the battle scene before was a bit gore for normal children like them, they both grew up in Meteor City, so that wouldn't traumatize them too much.

"You are really strong, big brother!" Lami exclaimed with a star shining in her eyes. "I see you threw something before two of them fell on the ground! It is like magic! Wait, is that magic? Can you teach me that?"

"Hey, that's not fair!" Vera who is standing beside them objected. "I want to learn magic too! Big brother, can you teach us both?" Argo's heart melted after seeing two doe eyes in front of him. He is just glad that they still have this childishness inside their hearts.

"Don't worry about it, girls." He ruffled their hair fondly. "Me and your big sister will teach you both how to do it tomorrow. Is that right, Vanda?" He turned around just to see his elf companion nod.

"See? Even your big sister agreed too. So, how about you take a rest for today first and we continue tomorrow? It's getting dark here. You can use Vera's room together. Is that alright?"

"Yes, Big Brother." Vera nodded before she grabbed Lami's hand. "Come on, Lami! The bed is super comfy here!"

Argo smiles as he saw the girls leaving and went to their room. When he turned around, however, he looked at the boys whispering at each other while stealing a glance at him from time to time. After discussing for about a minute, Deron and Ara finally took a step forward and face him.

"Big brother," Ara began to speak. "Can you teach us how to fight too?"

Argo just raised his eyebrows amusedly.

"I thought you would leave with your sister when things get worse?" He couldn't help but teased the little boy in front of him, causing a single blush to appear on his cheek.

"W-Well… I don't know if you are that strong. And Vera's safety would always come first for me, so I couldn't help but think about it."

Argo's eyes softened a bit after hearing that. However, he didn't give an answer immediately. Instead, he decided to ask the boys.

"What made you think I can teach you how to fight? You saw before that my fighting style resolved around my magic, right? And the crooks that Deron and Alex saw I killed before are also not that strong to be your parameter, you know? Why not ask Gavin instead?"

"You are not fooling anyone here, big brother." This time, Deron answered his question.

"While big brother Gavin is also really strong, you are still his boss. And we also noticed how even big sister feared you before, so you probably are the strongest among the three. And we could also see your magic too. First it was space magic, then we can feel the wind blowing when you hit released your magic, and finally, it exploded right after it hits the targets. That was already three elements there, and I have never heard anyone could master more than two even in the Musia Kingdom. So, yeah, you are not fooling anyone here."

Argo nodded his head a little, clearly impressed with their observation. While it was not that hard, for seven years old boys who usually have short attention spans to spot his strength.

"Good observation. I wouldn't mind training you, but we would have to see your magic affinity. If you don't have one, Gavin would be the best to teach you. He put all his focus on training his body since he was ten, so I doubt you can find anyone better than him."

The boys looked at each other before they nodded with determined eyes.

"Thank you, big brother!"

After the three boys left the room, his face turned serious as he spoke,

"You heard that, Gavin?"

Then, suddenly, the shadow demon popped up out of nowhere and kneeled in front of him.

"Yes, My Lord," Gavin spoke. "I will start training them tomorrow. Will the girls do that too?"

"Yeah." Argo nodded. "I don't know about Lami, but we have already confirmed that Vera has a ton of mana inside her body, so you don't need to put your focus too much on her. Just make sure she is not vulnerable in a close combat situation. Vanda will do the rest for her, right?"

"Yes, big brother." The elf nodded after being quiet almost all the time.

"Anyway, Gavin, you come back early. How is your investigation?"

"Reporting for my duty, My Lord!" The demon spoke in a military manner. "There are about five power figures in this city. The one who attacked us, Lord Caleb, is probably the third strongest fraction among them. And with us killing their two mages, I don't think they would be trouble in the future. They are a force I deem can be removed anytime you like."

Argo nodded, could see that happening. Mages are rare, after all. Only five percent of the population in this world could develop their mana to the level where they could manipulate it to be magic. As for the other 95 percent, if they want to be stronger, they will decide to go for the knight route for their respective kingdom. That's why he was a bit surprised to find two mages wandering around this city, as they are usually to be treasured by their respective kingdom.

"Good job. What about the other fractions?"

"You don't have to worry about two of the lowest fractions, My Lords," Gavin answered once again. "They are just a bunch of trash that are not qualified to enter the other fractions. The after-effect explosion from your earlier magic could annihilate them completely right now."

Argo nodded, trusting Gavin's judgment.

"As for the strongest two…" The demon took a glance at Vanda hesitantly. "I don't think Lady Vanda would be happy with one of them."

Now, it picked both Argo and Vanda's interests.

"What do you mean?" The elf asked, now she leaned her body forward. Gavin took a deep breath, prepared for the fury to leash from the elf.

"The one who leads the second strongest fractions here is Suran." And right after that, the temperature around the room dropped astronomically.

"Say, what?!" Vanda growled as killing intent leaked from her body. Fortunately enough, before it grows further and leveled the building down, Argo suppressed it with his own aura.

"Calm down, Vanda!" He spoke with an absolute tone, giving no room to argue. After a few seconds of staring at each other, Vanda finally took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down.

"I am sorry, big brother. I almost lost my control again today."

Argo's eyes softened as he saw a single tear threaten to fall down from the corner of her eyes. By how bad her reaction is, Argo could guess why she hates this Suran.

"Was he a slave trader?" He asked softly, trying to meet her gaze. The elf just nodded while wiping her tears.

"Yeah. He was the traitor who kidnapped and sold a lot of orphans from the Jade Forest. I was the one who caught his operation off-handed twenty years ago, and I thought he was already executed by the royal guard."

"Not really, My Lady." Gavin shook his head. "From my information networks, a lot of noble elves have a hand in this matter too. They just sent Suran here to get away from your attention. But they still get human slaves from Suran, and they even sent elven orphans to get sold several times here."

"So, they went behind the elders' back, huh?" Vanda growled furiously at the revelation. However, Gavin shook his head once again, giving her a pity gaze.

"No, Lady Vanda. They only went behind your back."

Vanda snapped her head quickly at the demon and asked, "What do you mean?"

Gavin just took a deep breath before he answered,

"The elders also know and are somehow involved in this business, Lady Vanda." He explained carefully. "Slave traders are one of the most profitable businesses in the Jade Forest. The elders just hide it from you due to the fear that My Lord inflicted more than fifty years ago, even though I don't know what happened back then. However, from their eyes, you are just a nuisance. A non-noble elf that dares to disrupt their calm world. That's why even though you hold a high position inside your race, you still don't know that much secret here."

Vanda just stares at him with disbelief eyes before she burst out painful laughter.

"So, after all this time, our best business is still selling our own people, huh?" She muttered under her breath, wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes. "Gavin, how many elf slaves does Suran have right now and what is his strength?"

"There are five slaves on their territory, My Lady. Three of them are from the elven race. As for their strength, it is a bit too diverse to my liking. There are ten elf mages there and two low-level fire demons. But the most troublesome is not coming from them. It comes from the Were pack that somehow becomes their subordinates. There are about fifty Weres there and almost all of them are adults and combat trained."

"Hmm… I can see the trouble here.." Argo nodded his head, thinking about what to do. "But it is not something that cannot be solved. If we want to take control of Meteor City, we will run into them eventually. And this is the best time to do it as they don't have any intelligence on us. While they have a lot of numbers, I doubt they can match our power. Do you want to march over their territory and wipe them out first?"

Vanda nodded her head determinedly.

"Yeah, big brother. Let's wipe them out from this world before the sun rises again."

Argo nodded his head, ignoring the killing intent that leaked from Vanda once again. As long as it doesn't affect the children, he didn't mind his little sister to leash her anger here.

"Let's hear Gavin's explanation first." He spoke, calming down the elf before turning around at the demon. "What about the strongest fraction? How strong they are?" If the second strongest fraction is that strong, he is curious now about how strong the so-called strongest fraction is here.

However, the answer he got from Gavin makes him surprised.

"The strongest one here is the one that comes from the Musia Kingdom, My Lord." The demon answered. "It is the fraction that the Musia Kingdom sends to keep this city on their leash. They have ten captain-level knights, two master mages, and about one hundred low-level knights from the kingdom. But what makes them the strongest is that they have better supplies compared to the other fractions. Well, that is understandable I guess, considering how they come officially from the biggest kingdom of this world."

Argo furrowed his brows, trying to think about it. If he remembers correctly, this is how America operated on Earth. Makes a huge chaos in one country and sends their troops in the name of peace just to make sure the country didn't go out of control. But they didn't have any intention to restore order in the first place.

However, if he goes by that route, that must be something profitable in Meteor City that the Musia Kingdom wanted to monopolize. If they put a lot of money to keep this city as chaotic as possible, there must be a reason behind it.

"Gavin." He called out his demon slowly. "Your next order would be to investigate why the strongest kingdom of this world sends their troops to control this city. Why did they want to make it chaotic? Is there something special about my hometown that I don't know about? Do everything you can. I don't care about how you do it. You can be as ruthless as you can. Just make sure you stay anonymous and finish it within one week. Do you understand?"

"Yes, My Lord!"

"And for now…" Argo took a glance at his little sister who stares at him impatiently. "We have a business to go. Let's wipe out the first trash first. Where is Suran territory?"

"To the west side, My Lord."

Argo nodded, standing up from his seat. He took a deep breath before he nodded at his companions.

"Let's go."

And with that, they marched down the west side of the city, ready to massacre the slave trader.