I hope that the underground guild members there, if there are any, are decently strong. Losing to the roluk back in the Green city during such a crucial moment, I would've failed without my friend's help. I need to get stronger. From here on more and more powerful people may appear.

"Hey Henry." I say keeping stride with him as we walk through the slums. "Do you think I'm strong?" I ask.

He scrunches his nose and his cheek, "Why wouldn't you be strong? Carlyle wouldn't just let anybody in."

"I'm asking you, if you think I'm strong. Not what Carlyle thinks."

Henry waits a moment before answering. Looking at Anne he says, "Isn't that the part where you're supposed to say, he let you in though." She looks up, as if surprised she's being talked to. "You're awfully quiet today Anne."

She quickly answers, "Why don't you answer Rai- the Thirteenth's question."

Oh please. Not again. It's always the simple things.

Henry glances back at me, "Rai something huh? Is that your name?"

I furrow my brows, "No?"

He gives an exaggerated nod, sticking his chin out. "Alright, I understand. You trust Anne enough to tell her your name but you won't tell me." he throws up his hands. "That's cool."

I sigh. The problems are just multiplying themselves. Soon enough everyone of the Twelve are going to know. I don't think that it'll be that big of a deal as long as they don't know that I'm a student at the academy. All of them so far seem friendly enough. Actually, the most dangerous one, in my eyes, is Carlyle.

"Will you answer my question?" I ask.

"Yeah." he says.

I wait a moment for his answer before I ask again, "Was that your answer for both?"

"Mhm. Overall I think that you're quite strong, just work on some of your magic and get over that stiff form of yours and you'll be good."

"Sounding a little cold there." Anne comments.

"Given up on the silent treatment Anne?" Henry says with his hands in his pockets.

"My name's Rainen." I suddenly say. "Don't tell anyone or give it away." I look over at Anne who turns her head and starts whistling.

"Heh. Sorry for guilt tripping you there. I really meant what I said before. It's fine if you don't tell me your name. I trust you enough." he says.

"Yeah. That's easy to say after you found out." I respond kicking a rock on the ground.

"Yeah, that's right." he chuckles. "Let's get back to the task on hand. Since we don't know who might be here, we should stick together or something bad may happen."

"Like last time." I say without thinking. Anne flinches and casts her eyes downward. "Ah, sorry Anne. I-"

"No." she says. "It's fine. You weren't trying to bring it up. If anything, I should be the one saying sorry. You know, for attacking you after you tried to help me." she rubs her forearm.

"You attacked him?" Henry asks. "What happened there?"

I crane my neck to the side, "It's nothing big. I just provoked her a bit. I chose to do it."

"He did it to make me feel better." she says.

"Alright, alright. Settle down guys, there's no need for that right now. So, we'll stick together." after saying that he leans in next to me, "Sorry about having you do something like that. I didn't know that you'd get hurt." he apologizes.

"And there's no need for apologizing either, both of you."

They both nod and we continue through the slums passing by drunks and homeless people. Each person we pass by has a foul stench, it's like how I used to smell after training with my master. Of course, it wasn't all my fault, I'd usually be sent to the ground by him. "You never learn do you? I've always said for you to use your speed, not try and overpower me." he'd say.

A man walks up to Anne and puts his hand on her shoulder. It's obvious from the bottle he's holding that he's drunk, his clothes don't make him out to be an average citizen here either. It's all torn up and very dirty. How much money does he spend on drinks?

"Hey~" he says stumbling a little bit. "Why don't you ditch those two there and come home with me tonight?"

Anne's face is twisted in disgust, she's gagging a bit. Her nose is pinched by her hand, his breath must be really bad. With a weak flash of green light the man drops the bottle and slumps to the ground. Henry catches the drink and gently puts it next to the man's face.

"Here ya go." he says.

"Why'd you do that?" Anne asks.

"Because broken glass is dangerous. It's also no good to ruin other people's possessions Missy."

Henry's sister is pregnant right? Gee, I wonder what gender he wants the kid to be. I could imagine it, he does love his sister very much, she took care of him for a while too. Maybe he wants to take care of a little version of her.

Anne turns her head annoyed, "What's up with that speech?"

He shrugs his shoulders, "I don't know. Let's keep going."

"Uh, hey. What exactly are we searching for?" I ask looking around. "None of these guys seem like they'd know anything going on around here." mostly because they were knocked out drunk, or paralyzed with a spell.

"There are a few social hubs around here. Lots of the shadier stores and shops tend to be around there also. We're headed towards one, we can ask the people there if they know anything." Henry says.

Three minutes pass by. The world is suddenly being filled with the sound of life. Many people, elves, dwarves, humans, beastmen, etc. wander the streets. Some rest their heads against the stands while others sleep on the floor outside of shops. Going on around, the sounds of bartering, disputes, and snores can be heard.

The rancid smell is gone, not entirely but it's mostly gone. None of them seem very friendly, they ignore us like everyone else but those who do notice don't have very friendly looks about them. Looks are always deceiving but I'm talking about those looks.

Their clothing is better, less ragged and torn than those in the alleyways. Lots of black, browns, and grays, very different from the usual cities' bright colors that I'm used to seeing.

"Who do we ask first?" I ask looking around. Lots of them probably won't know anything at all. "Is there some kind of source here too? Maybe another member of the Twelve I haven't met yet?"

Anne responds, "If another member of ours were here, which they're not, then they'd be on the mission. There's no real informant here either. We'll have to go around and ask blindly. Taverns are always a good place to start, if not then weapon shops maybe?"

"Is that how it is for your missions?" Henry asks Anne. "I prefer asking the guards around here. They're a little bit more shady but that just means it's easier to get info from them. Just drop them a little coin here and there and their lips will unravel faster than I can take this dagger out from its sheathe." he takes out the weapon by his side.

It's a fine looking dagger, I wouldn't mind adding it to my collection.

"Where'd you get that?" Anne asks.

"I took it from someone at the auction." he says.

"Why?"

"As a prize. It's enchanted, the blade is also very sharp and is finely made. The guy there was probably from a rich family or something."

"Can I take a look?" I ask.

"Here." Henry easily hands it over for me to inspect.

"Done yet?" they both ask.

I look up. I've only just got it.

"You've been staring at that thing for like three minutes." Henry says. "I don't mind if you keep it for a day or something but we gotta get moving."

"Oh, yeah, sorry." I hand over the knife and the three of us go inside the nearest tavern.

It's not anything special to look at. Imagine a regular tavern with circular tables in the middle, rectangular ones hugging the side and a small area in the back where the owner is serving drinks. Simple wooden stairs lead to the second floor, a place for the weary to sleep after a long day.

The room is far from empty, people line the walls and fill the middle. The seats by the bar are occupied by sleeping men, each knocked out by the liquid that fills their stomachs. Anne and I take an empty seat in the back of the room by a corner. A server peers at us and makes his way over. Henry goes up to the bar and drops down a gold coin.

Anne and I order and wait for both him and Henry to return. Our food gets to us first, the bread sits uncomfortably in my mouth as I wait for my saliva to soften it.

"Simple stuff eh?" Anne says. She's having some stew, by the faces she's making, it's not too bad.

"Might as well have a quick meal rather than one that could take a while. We'll be moving as soon as Henry gets back anyways."

She takes another spoonful, "That's true."

Henry saunters over to us, "Found it. There's a large warehouse that the locals say have been having a lot of activity lately. We'll go there to investigate, after you two finish your meals." he stares at my plate. "May I have one?"

"Go ahead." I say wearily. It always has to be by a warehouse doesn't it?

-----------------

"Do you see them?" Henry whispers.

"Shhh." Anne puts her finger to her mouth and gestures down. The two of us fall into a crouch beside her. We got in through the window and are on a platform just above. There's a lot of boxes here, it makes for very good cover, the warehouse is much bigger than the one that we usually stay in too. It would take about a good three minutes to walk from one side to the other.

A young girl in a cloak stands in the middle of the warehouse next to a man with a tail and long pointed ears, a dog man, he's talking to another man with black hair. Black hair strikes me as oddly familiar.

"So, what's his ability?" the dog man asks the girl.

"He can amplify the magic of his allies." she says.

"That's useful. Alright, nice to meet you. You were sent right? You came all the way from the Green city?" the dog man asks sticking out his hand.

I feel a sinking sensation in my stomach. Could he be?

"Yeah. Something bad went down there and I left. Wasn't safe for me to stay there anymore. Met up with your boss and he told me he could use someone like me so I took his offer." they shake hands. I'm almost sure it's him.

"Used to be part of the Twelve there huh?"

Henry and Anne look at each other.

"Yeah. Mission went wrong, being hunted now."

Fuck. It's him.

"Mission went wrong? Who are you being hunted by?"

He crosses his arms, "A few knights."

"Oh?" the dog man says intrigued. "Aren't you supposed to be working for them?"

"Heh. Well, that may be what it's like here, but over there it was a little bit more for money than serving the empire."

"It's money for us too." Henry whispers.

"It'll begin in what? Four weeks?"

"Yeah." the dog man responded. "In two months we'll be starting the operation, right now, just sit back and wait for orders."

"Gotcha." the fifth leaves the room.

"Operation?" Anne scans the room. "I doubt it's a drug or weapons deal. There's no reason for them to have this many items of importance in one place."

"But why else would they have a warehouse?" I ask.

"Maybe it's just a base." Henry adds in. "The mission's done. Let's get back and report to Carlyle."

The three of us sneak out the window back into the night.

----------

"They've left." the dog man says. "Should we send someone after them?"

The fifth stood up. "No, the boss doesn't want them knowing. We should have them think that they've gotten away unnoticed, a trail would only backfire. I already have an idea where they could be anyways. They're back right?"

"Yeah."

"Wahahaha." A girl with crimson red hair laughed. "We're back!"

"Did you check the warehouses?" the fifth asked.

"Yeah. They were empty though." Maria pouted. "I really wanted to fight with that guy in black again."

"You can do that next time." a gorilla like man said. "Guess you really won the bosses favor fifth. Don't wanna give us your real name?"

"Heh. Nah, I like to keep my identity a secret, although my face has been seen by an enemy before."

Maria sat on a box, "So when do we actually start? We're getting close right?"

The fifth smiled, "Yeah, only four more weeks."