The Survival of an Inferior

The carriage comes to a stop. Inertia throws my head against the wooden wall. 

"Ouch..." I mumble and caress my head. Looking outside, tall orange-brown haphazard mountains spread to the horizon and industrial smoke expands from every corner. 

Rows of buildings and platforms line the slope of mountains. Many extensive bridges connect the fragments of the city. This is Clamore, the city of mining built on mountains. 

Melissa and I alight the carriage. She looks at me. "Arsto, whatever you need to do, reach back here by dusk, alright? I will assume something bad happened if you don't."

I nod and say my thanks before leaving. 

Clamore has many fragments of buildings that form the entire city. However, the largest chunk of buildings are built on the tallest mountain. Many call that the "Main Hub". From afar, one can see a meticulous giant metal supporting structure below the Main Hub's platform that holds the weight. 

I visit a small pub, relatively empty, but ordinary looking with my face mask on and attire changed. 

I sat at the bar and orders a Martini Cocktail. As the bartender whips up the drink, I say "May I acquire some foresight?"  

The bartender glances back but replies nothing. 

He passes me the glass of Martini and says "What kind?"  

"Flowers." 

...

The bartender gaze at the two men sitting beside the door. Both are wearing black shoulder coats, white t-shirts and brown pants. One of them, the one with white pupils and black shoulder-length hair, gets up and walks to me. "Sir, please follow me." 

We walk to a door behind the bartender and down to a dark corridor. He guides me to a small room and closes the door. Only a table and two chairs stand, illuminated by a mere candle. 

A group exists in the underworld, famed for their intelligence and knowledge. They often trade information for money as their main source of income and their name? Flower. Odd name but it is what it is. 

"Take a seat." 

I sit down opposite the man. 

"What do you need?" He asks. 

"The schedule for working shifts at The Bottomless Mountain," I reply. 

The man raises his brow, curious why I would request such inferior information that can easily be obtained but I am just too lazy. 

He leaves and returns with a few pages of the document and passes it to me. I flip through it and nod. 

"Anything else?" The man asks. 

"Yes, I want to know about Ela Desar." 

Now the man shifts his full attention to me. "Ela Desar?...She is an exclusive patron of us. I might consider it for 100,000 Gold." 

!

100,000...I only have close to 200,000 gold. 

I close my eye and ponder. 

After a while, I nod and agreed, surprising the man. 

...

"So what will it be?" I say. 

...

The man sighs. "As I said, she is an exclusive patron. This is not a decision I can make alone. Please wait a moment." 

Ela is an exclusive patron? From what I know, she is simply the daughter of a local commoner chef, I don't think she has the status or money. 

If she often visits Flower for information...

A hypothesis pops up in my head. Maybe Huke was using Ela to obtain information without exposing himself. 

He returns with a slip of paper. "The representative has proposed a trade. If you tell us who you are, we can give her information for free. Otherwise, this is all I can offer for a price of 15,000 gold."  

"I'm sorry, I will take the latter."

I pay them and receive the slip of paper. The mysterious man then thanks me for my business and leads me out. 

He stares at my back when I leave the pub. A string of mana connects to the man's ears. 

"What is his response?" a mysterious voice on the other end asks the man. 

The man taps his earlobe and replies "He chose the latter offer. It's suspicious. A few days ago, Despair came forward buying information about him."

"I see. Prepare yourself, something might happen soon." 

================================== 

The slip of paper only states Ela's recent whereabouts and basic information. Nothing else. The schedule for guards at The Bottomless Mountain has the safest routine two days later. For now, I shall engage Ela. 

According to the paper, Ela was seen roaming the Aurora district for the past few days, a mountain abundant in Aurora Mineral. She was mostly seen at pubs drinking wine and gambling at casinos.  

Reaching Aurora district, it wasn't difficult to find Ela. A blonde hair and crimson eyes woman made a commotion with a local vendor, complaining about the price and attempting to negotiate. 

I find it really odd. Someone negotiating for prices can afford information? 

Nonetheless, she storms off angrily and curses the vendor. 

Twenty minutes later, she visits the pub to cool off and release her frustration. She attempts to order a glass of wine but holds herself back when she checks her bag.  

In the middle of the day, the pub has rarely any customers, most are here for regular food. 

Ela sighs and puts her head against the table. 

...

Now, I approach her and sit across. She looks up to me. I smile and ask "Can I get you something to drink?" 

Her eyes light up. "Ah...yes please." 

I order from the bartender a bottle of wine. after pouring a cup for me and Ela, we clink our cups and take a shot down. 

"Ahh...that's the spot." She says. 

"Hello, I am...Measi." I say, using a random alias I came up on the spot.  

"I'm Ela."

"What is a beautiful woman doing alone?"  

Ela smiles and pulls her fringe behind her ear. "It's nothing. I just had a bad encounter."

I lean forward and return the smile, maintaining eye contact. "Another cup?" I hold the bottle out.  

She nods and I refill her cup. We chat for a while until dusk when the sun sets. 

Ela, flushed and drunk, leans her body against me and wraps her arm around mine, purposely pushing her breasts. "Heyyyy...can you carry me back to my placeeee??" She asks. 

I didn't expect myself to be such a good drinker. I wanted to cheat sobering by circulating mana to detox the alcohol but it wasn't needed. 

I carry Ela on my back and reply "Sure...where do you stay at?"  

She guides me back to her room with a flirty and drowsy tone.