"You want to know about the murder?" the boy asked.

"Yes. I don't live down here. So you could say that I am new to this floor. So I don't anything about this Alman guy. So would you mind telling me about this murder?" Arvin asked.

​​

"Well, it is no secret. So I don't think that there would be any problem telling you about the murder." The girl said while looking at the boy. Unknown to Arvin, the girl was looking at the boy so she could ask him whether they should continue their conversation or not.

"Alman is the son of General Ruth of the Bahamut Empire. She is one of the most ruthless and strong beings below the 10th floor. Alman's father was from the 1st floor, so his majesty of the Bahamut Empire ordered him to be stationed on the 1st floor. There he was in charge of counting and making a list of all Earthling that appears on the 1st floor and report it back to the empire." The girl said.

"So 'The Merchant' had him killed?" Arvin asked.

"That is the news. Apparently, before dying, Alman had recording crystal with him. In that crystal, he confessed that he was doing a job for a guy named 'The Merchant'. It also showed a guy killing him. But due to his mask and the only clue that the Bahamut Empire have against the killer is 'The Merchant." The boy added on.

"Interesting… from my point of view I think this may be the wrong 'Merchant'. I don't think that this is the 'The Merchant' from the upper floors." Arvin said.

"Why?" the girl asked.

"Little the Merchant that I know is a ruthless and calculating son of bitch. I cannot see any reason for him to send a man down here to kill a man. And that too a man with no significance? I think that this guy must be posing as the Merchant." Arvin said.

"Oh…" the girl said.

"Well thank you for your time. Now I would like to take my leave. Thank you for sharing the information with me." Arvin said. And then he started getting with a bottle of wine in his hand. But as he was about to go, the boy started speaking…

"Old man… if hypothetically this is was really the job of the Merchant then what would that signify? The boy asked.

"That would mean that the Merchant is planning something very significant," Arvin said mysteriously.

"What if that someone is just using the Merchant's name?" the girl asked.

"Then that person is either already dead or would be dead in few days," Arvin said and then he started walking out of the bar.

…

Then without wasting any more time, Arvin went back to the cage that he suppose to be in. As he had some time on his hand, Arvin started reading books while sitting in the cage. He also instructed Loki to inform him whenever someone approaches this room. This way he would be able to read freely…

The next morning, one of the workers of the inn came back to take Arvin. As Loki had already informed him that someone was coming, Arvin had already transformed back into a Cougar. When that work came back, Arvin thought that he would be taken back to Xander and his men. But on the contrary that work took him to a shed just behind the inn.

There Arvin was given a bath. He was washed and thoroughly cleaned. It was bad enough that he was in the form of a Cougar, those guys that were washing him touched him at the places where he didn't want them to…

After a thorough bath Arvin was brought in front of Xander and his men. They were all ready to venture out. The workers handed over the leash of Arvin to one of Xander's men. Then all the party checked out of the inn.

Xander and his team then started walking towards the inner part of Palm Springs. After walking for around 20 mins they finally came to their destination…

Xander's destination was what looked like to be a restaurant. It was not a very fancy restaurant but it still looked very fancy. Not to mention this restaurant was deep inside the city. That meant that this restaurant was bound to be good.

That restaurant was a three-story building. And it looked like that it was an open restaurant. There were no windows nor any walls on the street side of the restraint. There was just a railing on the sides. It seems like a weird restaurant to Arvin. But he was currently in a body of an overgrown cat so who was he to complain.

Xander and his goons entered the restaurant and started walking straight towards the backside of the restaurant. At the backside, they eventually found themselves in the kitchen of the restaurant. But they didn't stop there. They started venturing deeper into the kitchen until they all came across a pothole just at the back of the restaurant.

One of Xander's men opened the pothole only to show the stairs that were hidden behind the pothole. Then turn by turn they started going inside that pothole. Arvin had a little problem using the stairs but he was able to make it inside without tripping. So that was a win for him.

At the end of the stairs, there was a tunnel. While Arvin came down, Xander had already moved forward in the tunnel. Arvin didn't want to lose sight of Xander as he was the main reason that he was in this disguise right now. So he started walking hurriedly towards the end of the tunnel. But as Arvin got close to the end of the tunnel, he started hearing voices.

Arvin started hearing the cheering of people. He started hearing loud curses and most importantly he started hearing roars of some sort of beasts. And it seems that they were fighting one and another. Before he could even take a glance at what was happening, Arvin started having a bad feeling about this…