Before Taloress and I left the inn to explore the city, we first fetched the urchin I picked up earlier from the wagon.

“Psst. Oi, you still in there?” I whispered by the wagon entrance beside the driver's seat.

A moment later, a dirty face peeked from the doorway. “I'm he— whoa! It's you? I thought it was the mister who was talking. Your voices sound exactly the same.”

“We're fraternal twins. Now let's get going before somebody sees you,” I replied.

“I'm damn sure fraternal twins don't work that way, though…” the kid muttered.

“Here,” I said as I flipped a silver coin in the kid's direction. His eyes and mouth widened like saucers. “It's time for you to work for your money.”

“Where do you wanna go?” the kid asked with a large grin as he pocketed the coin.

“Lead me to the headquarters of the Hartman Company.”

At the mention of the company's name, the kid's face visibly paled. “What? Why do you wanna go there?”

“Hey, you're not supposed to be the one asking questions. Now lead on,” I said with annoyance.

“We can't just go there!” the kid exclaimed. “There are gangbangers everywhere, and they mess up anyone who wanders too close or shows even a bit of interest. Those meatheads would fuck us over! And with those milkers of yours, I bet they'd fuck you literally.”

“Watch your mouth, brat,” I chided as I smacked him on the head, although what he said was probably true. Now that I was riding Taloress, people would be seeing me as a woman, and with her recent upgrade to her freaking mammaries, it would be a source of inconvenience. Well, not that it mattered. Taloress could beat any common thug that has the guts to touch her. “It doesn't matter. Just do what you're supposed to do, I'll handle the rest.”

To further motivate the kid, I flipped another silver coin his way. The additional payment easily made the kid's fearful expression disappear. Ah, the power of money.

“There are people watching the inn, so you'll have to exit through the back entrance,” I said to the kid. “Once you leave the building, find somewhere to hide and just stay there. I'll come for you.”

“How are you gonna find me, then?” the kid asked, but I ignored him as I left through the main entrance of the stables.

I wasn't familiar with the layout of the city, so I just chose a random direction to walk in. Just as I expected, some of the people who were watching the inn started following me. I didn't need to look behind me to know that three of the men from Rella's entourage were trailing a fair distance away from me, blending in with the crowd. There were a lot of people walking the streets despite the late hour, but I could easily distinguish the three men from the crowd with my fabric sense. The unique weave of their clothes stood out to me like beacons.

With the location of my stalkers known, losing them was a walk in the park. The crowd of people that my stalkers used to blend in became an advantage to me as I quickly weaved between the throng, disappearing from their sight. The stalkers tried to close the distance in an attempt to find me, but I quickly entered a nondescript alley and rushed away.

With Taloress' high physical abilities, I ran through the alleys with tremendous speed. Moments later, I found the kid with my fabric sense, hiding behind a pile of garbage in a secluded alley.

“Of all the possible hiding places, you really chose a pile of garbage?” I said as I entered the alley.

“We're in the inner city,” the kid replied as he rose from his hiding spot. “None of the rich assholes around here would spare a glance at a pile of trash, making it the best hiding place.”

“Fair point. Now lead the way.”

“Before we proceed, I just wanted to let you know our journey's goin' to be stinkier than a hag's ass,” the kid said as he led me deeper into the alley.

“What do you mean?”

The kid led me to a manhole cover covered in trash, and that's when I realized what he meant. “Oh no. No, no, no, no. I'm not going inside the sewers!”

“We ain't got no choice, lady. The Hartman Company has pretty tight security. If you really wanna check their place out, it's this or walking in the open streets,” the kid said as he started prying the manhole cover open.

“Can't we just run through the alleys?”

The kid shook his head. “The Hartman Company is located in the middle of their territory, and they control the entire area, even the alleys. We'd easily get spotted there. It's the same reason why we can't just walk through the streets like normal fuckin' people. Every person inside their territory is accounted for, so we'd easily get noticed if we walked openly. Going through the sewers is our best bet since it's unguarded.”

“How do you know the sewers are unguarded?”

“Nobody in the inner city goes into the sewers,” the kid snorted as he descended into the manhole.

“Sounds like a big security liability to me,” I muttered as I reluctantly followed, returning the manhole cover to its place as I descended. When I reached the bottom, I realized why nobody went into the sewers.

“Fuck, I think I'm gonna throw up…”

If the stench in the slums was bad, then the sewers were on an entirely different level on their own. It was to the point that I could taste the smell in my mouth.

“Here, eat this,” the kid said as he retrieved a bunch of herbs from a pouch. He ate some as well as he handed the herbs to me. “They'll make the stench bearable.”

I snatched the herbs from the kid's proffered hand and opened up the lower part of Taloress' mask to stuff the leaves in my mouth. When I started chewing, an intense minty flavor suddenly pervaded my mouth and the smell of menthol overwhelmed my sense of smell.

“Ugh, what the heck is this?” I said with a scrunched face as I forcibly chewed the herbs. The minty flavor and smell were strong enough to even overcome the nasty stench of the sewers.

“They're called Ice weeds,” the kid said as he chewed, his face not even flinching at the intense flavor. “It's a pretty common weed outside the city. Alchemists disregard them since they have no use for their potions, but for people like me, we use them to make traversing through the sewers easier.”

“Why would you even need Ice weeds? The slums have no sewers.”

The kid grinned. “I use Ice weeds to sneak into the city using the sewers.”

No wonder the kid knew a lot about the inner city despite not being allowed inside.

With the stench dealt with, we proceeded to traverse the sewers of the inner city. I kind of hoped that the sewers would be a bit cleaner since we were in the inner city, where everything was supposed to be clean and pristine. Unfortunately, that didn't apply to the sewers.

We walked through large circular tunnels, the walls covered with so much filth that the gray of the stone wasn't visible anymore. The tunnels were dark save for the occasional lights that bled through the grates that led to the streets of the inner city. I was worried that people outside might spot us, but the kid said it was extremely unlikely unless someone crouched down to peek inside the grates.

The only good thing I found about the sewers was the presence of walkways on either side of the tunnels. It meant that we didn't have to walk through the filthy water that flowed in the middle, saving me from the stress of having Taloress get stained by human filth and trash.

After half an hour of walking in silence, I decided to make light conversation with my guide. “By the way, I didn't get your name,” I said as we walked at a steady pace.

The kid hesitated for a moment before answering. “It's Pincher.”

“Is that really your name? Kind of weird to name yourself after your profession,” I commented.

“It's not weird, it's an honor,” Pincher said. “I'm the best thief in the slums in my age group.”

“Of course you are. I find it doubtful that other toddlers would be better at pilfering than you.”

Pincher's face twisted in anger. “I'm not a toddler! I'm thirteen fucking years old!”

I almost stumbled from the revelation. The kid was the same age as me! “You're thirteen?! Then why do you look like a midget?”

“Don't call me a midget, you big-breasted cow!”

Master, this child's insults are unacceptable! He deserves punishment! Taloress exclaimed angrily.

“Fine, fine, I'm sorry. But I'm curiously honest though. You're too small for your age.”

Pincher looked annoyed, but he still answered. “Hard to grow bigger when eating twice a day is already considered lucky in the slums.”

I realized the callousness of my remark and quickly apologized.

“It's fine, I'm already used to it,” Pincher said with an absent wave of his hand. “Enough 'bout me. What's up with that goofy mask of yours?”

“It's not goofy,” I said defensively.

“Yes it is, and you honestly look like a weirdo walking around with it,” Pincher replied without mercy. “You're lucky we're using the sewers as our route, or else you'd be gathering attention to yourself like a virgin in a whorehouse.”

“First, it's not weird, and second, it does its job perfectly if it gathers attention,” I shot back. “I'm a— I mean, my boss is a merchant, and if more attention comes our way, then it means there's more business and profit.”

“Fair point,” Pincher said. “It still looks weird and creepy though.”

“Where are we right now?” I asked to change the subject.

Pincher approached one of the grates near the ceiling of the sewer and deftly climbed the wall like a spider. He peeked at the streets outside. “We should be in the Red Light District right now, which means we're close.”

“How do you know so much about the area, anyway?” I asked as I stepped around a dead rat.

“Because I'm a thief,” Pincher said with a roll of his eyes. “What, you think I go around stealing from people in the slums? The most valuable thing to be stolen there is a box of matches. No, most of my targets are those in the outer city, and the sewers are the best way to move around the place unnoticed, as well as the best escape routes for a thief.”

“But that doesn't explain how you know the layout of the inner city so much.”

Pincher hesitated for a moment before answering. “As much as I hate the inner city and the rich pricks living here, I still visit sometimes for a change of scenery. You don't know how tiring it is to see the same old dog-eat-dog world that is the slums and the outer city. Even a local like me wants to see something else other than poor bastards starving to death. The inner city shows me things I could never have in life, but at least it doesn't remind me of how hopeless my situation is.”

My mind wandered to the things I saw when I entered the city. Never once have I heard a child's laughter, or any laughter at all. The only things I saw were the despondent and hopeless expressions of the people walking the streets. I had detected thousands of living people with my fabric sense, but the place still felt dead. I could only imagine what Pincher's life must feel like, waking up every day in a place filled with so much despair.

A part of me felt furious at the blatant corruption and injustice of the government of Halros. I couldn't comprehend how they could allow the situation to fester so much and still laugh merrily while they sat on their thrones built atop the backs of the poor. For the situation to become this bad was blatant proof of the government's corruption. How much tax money was going into their pockets instead of being spent to help the poor?

Part of my anger also went to the suffering people. Why won't they stand up and fight against the tyrants who do nothing to help their situation? From simple observation alone, I could tell that more than ninety percent of the city's population belongs to the outer city and the slums. The elite stood no chance in the face of an armed revolution.

But no matter how angry I got about the people's plight, that only made me a hypocrite. After all, I had the power to change all of this. I was an Ascendant, a being people spoke of in stories and legends. If I decided to unleash my power and call the people to arms to fight against their tyrants, I was confident they would follow behind me. What person wouldn't want to take the chance to change their pathetic situation and overthrow the people who had been abusing them for years?

But I wouldn't. Even if I could, I wouldn't, because then it would be me who would suffer for it. I knew I was powerful, but I wasn't delusional enough to think that I could ignite a revolution and not suffer from the consequences. A revolution meant that the former system would be overthrown in favor of a new one, and I was sure that the King wouldn't allow that, no matter how justified it was. I had no intention of fighting against an entire country.

And so I'll simply watch from the sidelines, angry at all the injustices but too selfish to do anything about it. It was a very pitiful sight, one that I could only try to justify with the flimsy reason of ‘it's not my fault.’

The rest of our trip went on in silence. I was too ashamed of my hypocrisy to even try and offer empty platitudes to Pincher. It would be the very heights of shamelessness to tell him not to lose hope in life when one of his best hopes at getting a better life was walking beside him, too selfish to do anything about the situation.

“We're here,” Pincher whispered, dragging me out of my reverie.

The kid led me to one of the grates that served as a window into the streets outside. When I peeked through, I realized that the grate was located directly in front of the headquarters of the Hartman Trading Company, giving me a good view of the large austere building as well as the expansive square it was located in.

“Your job's done, kid,” I said as I flipped a coin at Pincher. His jaw dropped at the golden luster of the coin. “Get yourself something good to eat. Meet me behind the inn three days from now. Now go.”

“Thanks, lady,” Pincher said with a very happy grin as he skulked off into the sewers, leaving behind a pouch of Ice weeds for me.

I sighed. I gave him a gold coin to somewhat help the kid with his situation, but in the end, it was just a way for me to alleviate some of the guilt I felt for not doing more for the people's suffering.

I shook my head to rid myself of any stray thoughts and returned my focus to my main objective. To be honest, my plan wasn't simply to assess the city, but to check out the company that Rella worked for. The possibility of having dealt with a criminal all this time was nagging at my mind badly, and I wanted to know the truth, whether Rella truly was a bad guy.

“Now the question is, how are we going to spy inside the building?” I muttered.

The classic way to spy on something was either to sneak inside or infiltrate their ranks. The second option was already out of the question since I doubt Taloress or I had the necessary skills to accomplish it, and even if we did, infiltrating a large organization was time-consuming, not to mention I had no idea where to start.

Sneaking inside the building was a viable option, although it was extremely risky. I was confident in my ability to avoid the guards since I could easily detect them with my fabric sense, but there was a huge possibility that a big company like the Hartman Trading Company had other means of securing their building other than hiring guards. Like magical artifacts, for example. With my piddling knowledge regarding magic, I doubt I'd be able to get past any security feature that involved magic.

I should've brought Tedd with us, I muttered in regret. He could've sneaked in easily with his small body.

Why not just give birth to another puppet, Master? Taloress suggested.

Huh, I did not think of that.

That's actually a great idea, although is it fine if I use a part of your body to make it? I asked. The only fabric I had right now was Taloress' body, so I had to use her fabric to make a small puppet for spying.

It's fine with me, Master. I have excess fabric in my boobs.

Uhh, okay.

I ignored the fact that I was going to create a living being out of Taloress' boobs and began the procedure. I took hold of… ahem… Taloress' breasts with my Authority and harvested a small lump of fabric from both to keep their sizes equal.

The two small lumps combined and started morphing as I exerted my Authority over them. The form I decided to use on my new puppet was a rat since it was small and stealthy, and even if it got spotted by any of the guards, they would probably just ignore it.

Once my decision was final, I started shaping the lump of fabric in the image of the large sewer rats I'd seen earlier. A body of about thirty centimeters long from nose to the tip of the tail, dark grey fur, and four distinct incisors. When the body was formed, I felt a weird sensation as something inside me broke off and joined the rat puppet. Now that I knew what to expect, I was able to better feel the sensation, although I still had no idea about what it was.

A few seconds later, the large rat started moving its head lazily as it woke up. Once it got its bearings, the rat started making mental squeaking noises.

“Nice to meet you too,” I replied. The rat couldn't speak words, but I could easily understand its thoughts and intentions. After asking for its opinion, the rat decided to be a ‘she.’ “Alright, from now on, your name is Squeaky.”

Squeaky looked extremely happy as I named her, standing on her haunches and doing a little jig. I felt a bit guilty since I didn't make any extra effort in thinking up her name, but at least she was happy.

I am Taloress, the Blooming Lady, and I am your older sister, Taloress said smugly.

Squeaky made impressed squeaking noises and greeted Taloress with respect, which made my immature puppet feel smugger about herself.

As Taloress haughtily welcomed Squeaky to the Broken Heart Company, I couldn't help but wonder how my ability to bring puppets to life worked. At first, I thought it was an automatic procedure wherein every puppet I created was alive and sentient. But while I was creating Squeaky earlier, I just instinctually knew that I could've made her a lifeless puppet. It boiled down to whether I decided to break off a part of myself and infuse it into the puppet or leave the puppet as it was. But then how did Taloress, Mr. Marion, and Spider come alive when I didn't consciously infuse them with a part of me while I was making them? Was the default setting of my Authority set to ‘make every puppet alive upon creation?’

I was a bit miffed that I still knew so little about how Authorities worked, but there was no use complaining about things that I couldn't do anything about, so I returned my focus to my objective.

“Alright, here's the plan Squeaky. You sneak inside that large building over there and scout each room. Try to avoid being spotted by the guards. You look like a normal rat but if they manage to catch you, they'll immediately notice that you're a puppet. How you move around inside the building is up to your discretion, but if I deem it necessary, I'll take full control over your body, okay?”

Squeaky gave an enthusiastic affirmative, standing on her haunches and saluting with her tail before she was off.

The distance between the grate and the Hartman Company Headquarters was large due to the expansive plaza that surrounded the building. I expected Squeaky to take quite a bit of time to traverse the distance since she would have to hide from patrolling guards, but I was surprised when Squeaky shot through the open space like a bullet and reached the building in less than a minute.

“Oh yeah, I forgot Taloress is made of Grisly Bear fur,” I muttered. “Which means Squeaky is made from the same stuff. No wonder she's so fast.”

Squeaky ran along the wall of the building and started sniffing around, trying to find an entrance aside from the heavily-guarded front door. Moments later, Squeaky found a vertical pipe that led to the gutters on the building's roof. She started climbing up the pipe, embedding her sharp claws on the smooth metal to create her own footholds.

But Squeaky didn't climb all the way to the top of the pipe. Once she was on the same elevation as the third floor, the highest floor of the building, Squeaky used her sharp claws to make a small hole in the pipe wall. She didn't bother making the hole as big as her body. Once the hole had a diameter of a centimeter, Squeaky squeezed herself through the tiny gap, her soft body easily morphing to allow her to fit. When she was out of the pipe, she scurried over to an open window. Just like that, she was in.

I severely underestimated how effective Squeaky would be. I initially thought she would be acting like a normal rat and start circling the building until she found an entrance on the first floor. But I forgot to consider other factors like her high intelligence, her natural abilities as a puppet which included shape-shifting, and the material her body was made of. With all those things in play, Squeaky was a very effective infiltrator.

Nice job, Squeaky.

Squeak!

Now that Squeaky was out of my field of vision, I closed my eyes and activated my ability to use her senses. The sight of towering furniture suddenly greeted me. Whoa!

I forgot that Squeaky was a rat and that everything looked big for her. Seeing through her eyes felt like looking at a world of giants, which was a novel but frightening experience. I felt like a small bug that could be easily crushed, which was not a fun experience at all. Fortunately, adapting to Squeaky's perspective wasn't that hard and soon, I was assessing the room in earnest.

The room that Squeaky entered seemed to be a normal office. Identical desks were arranged neatly throughout the room and shelves crammed with documents lined the walls. The room was illuminated by numerous light bulbs powered by magic, evidence that the Hartman Company was extremely rich. I had a good look at the prices of magic crystals used to power magical devices back when I shopped in Vont and they were not cheap.

I would have loved to check out the documents lying on some of the desks to gather information about the Hartman Company, but unfortunately, there were people inside the office. Despite the numerous desks, there were only a few people in the room working, but their presence still made it impossible to take a look at the documents. I'm pretty sure they would easily spot a large rat rifling through their papers.

Instead of trying to reach the papers on the desks, I instructed Squeaky to exit into the hallway and go straight to the largest room at the end of the hall, which seemed like the owner's office. It seemed like the most important room and probably contained sensitive information about the company.

With my fabric sense, I knew the room was currently empty of people, which made entering a lot easier. Squeaky squeezed herself through the gap under the door and she was in.

The room was big, but what caught my attention was the extreme opulence in every inch of the office. The furniture, the walls, the ceiling, heck even the floor was lined with gold. Exotic paintings were hung on the walls, and judging by their quality, I was confident they were made by genuine Artisans. I had an inkling about the value of Artisan-made paintings from the gossip I heard in Vont, and from what I heard, a single painting could be valued in the tens of thousands of gold. This room had four of those paintings. And here I thought I was rich after earning a few thousand gold.

The sheer amount of wealth on display in this room was staggering, although all it did was make the place look gaudy. I guess what they said about money was true: it can't buy class.

The novelty of looking at gold-studded furniture soon wore off and I instructed Squeaky to start looking for important-looking documents to read. She started with a pile of papers on top of the gaudy desk in the center of the room.

“It looks like we found the ledger,” I muttered as Squeaky spread the papers on the desk. “Hmm, this looks legit. Wow, the Hartman Company is raking in the dough. More than ten thousand gold in profits in a single day?”

The ledger contained a detailed list of all the sources of profits of the company, which mainly consisted of casinos and auction houses. The establishment with the highest profits seemed to be a high-end auction house called Dagula's. In one day, it managed to net five thousand gold, half of the company's daily profit. A further breakdown of the products sold in the auction house was listed along with their prices, the highest one being—

“What?!” I shouted incredulously, shocking Taloress. “That bitch fucking scammed me!”

I felt my temper flare as I saw the most expensive product that the auction house sold: Artisan-made clothing. It was possible that the Hartman Company had another Artisan that they bought the clothes from, but I wasn't that naive. There could only be one person that the Hartman Company got their ‘Artisan-made’ clothing from, and that was me.

I wasn't angry about the fact that they sold my clothes in an auction. Heck, it was an honor since it meant my creations were considered extremely valuable. But what made me extremely furious was the fact that they sold my clothing for thousands of gold each while they only paid me ten measly gold coins. I knew it was also my fault for letting myself get fooled like that, but that didn't mean I wouldn't retaliate. Oh, Rella. You'll regret fucking me over.

Squeaky continued rifling through the papers as I stewed in my anger, but I was surprised once again when we reached the last paper at the bottom of the pile. The label on top of the paper only said ‘Miscellaneous Enterprises,’ but I had a really good feeling that it meant something else.

Unlike the previous pages, the last page didn't list down the specific names of the businesses, but rather only general names. The profits of the businesses on this page also weren't included in the company's official income. The list included Security, Adult Entertainment, Alchemical Products, Goods Transportation, and so on. The names looked mundane, but I was confident that there was more than met the eye. After all, how the heck does a ‘Goods Transportation’ business make thirty thousand gold in a single day?

I had no chance to peruse the page further as I belatedly realized that a group of people was approaching the room. I instructed Squeaky to quickly put everything back in its original position and hide behind one of the furniture in the room.

The door opened, and when I saw the first person who entered the room, my breath caught. It was the Baronet of Erfeld.