Hearing Nick’s blabbing, flame wolf snorted and seemed it was about to attack, when Nick suddenly had an enlightenment.

“You were not enjoying the view! You were looking for something!” He pointed down towards the city and flame wolf stopped in surprise, “They took something from you and even if you can vandalize and kill half of the city, you might not recover it! Am I right?”

Wolf tilted head a little in surprise, but Nick didn’t stop.

“I don’t know how they managed it, but someone stole something from a rank six beast and you are not a magpie, you’re not hoarding shiny objects … the only thing you care about is probably … are definitely your children!” He was certain he guessed correctly. Someone really has somehow managed to steal cubs of the rank six beast! How stupid one had to be to attempt something like this?!

“Someone took your children and you are trying to identify where exactly in the city they are kept before charging down there and trying to rescue!” Nick took few steps toward the cliff as if he could see where the cubs were, “But you can’t go down even if you find out, because there is no way for you to leave alive in the end, even if you find them! The whole city will hunt you down! Am I right?” He turned back to the wolf who was not burning in flames anymore but already had the same gray color which made Nick and others take it for a rock earlier.

The wolf had a distinguishable sad look in its eyes and gave a quiet whimper while pointing its nose towards the southern side of the city.

“So you know where they are?” Nick’s eyes lit up, “How many kids do you have? Three, two?”

At the last guess wolf nodded.

“Alright, two. What would you say if I tried to help you get them back? It is not my first time helping a rank six beast. Five years ago I and silver eagle were captured by bad people and I helped him escape. I don’t know if you guys know of each other, since we are from Mainland and you live here on the Nestri continent.” Nick thought for a moment while the other three were looking at him in shock and surprise, each for different reasons, of course, “My friends will stay here with you and I will go down to investigate. If I am successful, may be I will be back with your children right after dark, if not, I will gather information and return sooner.”

Wolf looked at this weird human boy and thought for few minutes.

“I understand you might think I am trying to run away or exactly opposite – to gather forces to hunt you.” Nick interrupted it’s thoughts, “But, you see, our friends got captured and now are brought to the capital at this very moment just to be sacrificed to that freak emperor! And one of them is his wife!” Nick pointed at Steven.

“We crossed this mountain range to intercept before they are brought to the capital or it will be too late.” Nick sighed, “As I said, I have a friend, a rank six shadow eagle and I’m familiar with the way you use your Qi. Therefore I’m sure you already know what I have told you is truth. Please decide if you are willing to agree to my proposal, otherwise … trust me – for us to stand here and wait is almost as unbearable as for you.”

At this moment Nick was already absolutely calm. He was not certain if he had managed to convince himself with his monologue or suddenly became brave, but he didn’t care anymore if he was eaten and really just wanted to save the girls.

The wolf looked at him for a minute, then pointed with the nose at the southern city again.

“Alright, can you give me better coordinates?” Nick understood they had a deal, “I will point from one place to the next and you let me know if it is closer, alright?”

After three more minutes under the shocked stares of Clayton and Steven they had almost pinpointed the building the cubs were held in.

“Good, please take care of my companions. I will come back as soon as I find out something.” Then Nick turned to his friends, “Guys, the rank six existences are extremely proud and this mother here is very irritable at the moment. Therefore if she doesn’t want to talk, let her be for a while, just recover. I’ll be back soon.”

Nick smiled and took a step towards the cliff and then, started to climb down like a big spider, just backwards. The wolf looked at his two companions in a surprise, it knew it was impossible for a young Qi practitioner to do this.

“He … he is very special, you see.” Steven stuttered and wolf nodded and then lied back down while still staring at the southern part of the city.

Steven and Clayton sat down as well and started to practice their Qi techniques – as soon as Nick was back, hopefully they would be on the road again, this time may be even for several days without any stops.

Nick climbed down as fast as he could, but after a long while he noticed that to his big surprise he wasn’t even half way! Now he got an answer why the city wasn’t afraid of the landslides and avalanches and why they could barely discern the human figures on the ground. The cliff was over kilometer high and from the bottom of it to the closest buildings there was still a distance of almost half a kilometer, may be more. It was only visual illusion that made everything seem closer.

This realization made Nick break out in a cold sweat. He was already tired and there was a high risk to run out of Qi before reaching the ground. This made him increase his pace and fifteen minutes later he was darting through the streets of Rolum towards its southern side. The sun was already behind the Heaven mountain range and the mountains cast long shadows over the city. The cliffs were also covered in shadows and no one could notice a lone youth coming right down from the top.

Nick soon reached the part of the city where the wolf thought its cubs were kept. The houses here were similar to those in the center of Anula and nothing seemed out of ordinary.

He went in a tavern, sat at the table and tried to listen to surrounding conversations, but no one spoke of anything noteworthy. When waiter also couldn’t provide any decent information, therefore Nick asked for directions to the contact person he had the recommendation letter for.

Luckily the address was only two blocks away and after couple of minutes Nick was at the gates already changed in his ‘mercenary attire’. His idea was simple – he had to buy horses anyway and if this person was anything like the old man in Berin, it was possible buy information here as well.

The gates were open so he proceeded inside and knocked at the door. It was opened by a middle-aged servant who, after listening to Nick’s request, called over his master.

The contact person turned to be an older woman, but still energetic with lively eyes and dressed in expensive clothes. After she saw the visitor her tone turned cold.

“What do you want?”

“Madam, here is the recommendation letter, I hope you could …” Nick didn’t manage to complete his sentence when the lady already held the letter in her hands. For some reason the hands were not wrinkled at all and didn’t look much older than Nick’s. From her previous move it was obvious she was a Qi master and probably practiced a technique that trained her hands in a peculiar way.

“Why did that old bastard send you to me? I don’t like him and I don’t like you either, go away!” She angrily said and almost slapped the door in Nick’s face.

“I don’t care about old man too, I want to do some business, not chit chat.” Nick tried to feel out her weak spots and may be use a gold as a bait.

“What business? You don’t even have a coin on you!” This time she really closed the door with a loud boom.

‘Seriously?’ Nick was shocked, ‘Wait! How did she know I don’t have a coin on me? She checked my pockets while grabbing the letter earlier? She’s a master thief!’

He thought for a minute then knocked on the door again. The door was opened by the same servant.

“Please pass this small present to your master and tell her I want to do business.” Nick passed a small and dirty linen sack to the surprised and a little bit disgusted servant.

The latter closed the door and still went to pass the message and a half minute later door opened and a smiling face of the old lady greeted Nick.

“Welcome to my humble home, would you like some tea?” She said.

If she was an old thief and a woman at that, there was almost definite weak point to her. Nick picked out a couple of shiny jewels he ‘inherited’ from king Black and gifted them to her. He didn’t need money if he had something better.

But even if Nick wanted to settle everything immediately, he had to follow some protocol, thus they sat down and made introductions. Her name was Salma and Nick most likely did guess her occupation correctly, except she called herself ‘an old adventurer’.

When the tea was brought and they tasted it, Nick apologized for any potential offense in advance, and explained that he and his companions were in a hurry. They wanted to buy nine excellent horses and may be some information, if possible.

“As long as you can pay in the currency you showed a moment ago, we can discuss anything.” Salma smiled in return.

Sighing with relief, Nick haggled for the price on horses a bit, then passed over few more gemstones. He had no idea of their worth, but was certain he was paying at least triple the price or may be even more. Then he took out a bit bigger shiny translucent stone, probably a diamond, and, while playing with it, asked if during the last few days there has been a caravan passing the city on the way to Olava which was bringing a tribute to the emperor consisting of young and beautiful girls.

He didn’t even notice how, but the diamond suddenly disappeared from his fingers and was already on Salma’s palm. She was caressing it like it was her own child for a minute and then called over her servant, gave few instructions and the latter quickly ran out, probably to gather information.

“Madam, there is another thing I would like to ask, but since I already generously rewarded you, I would appreciate if you could give me this information for free.” Nick smiled at her, while she furrowed her brows.

It was true, he had paid a huge price almost for nothing, but she hated to give away things for free. On the other hand from Nick’s point of view, although he could continue throwing gemstones at her without caring much, he had to act as if he knew their worth at least a little bit.

“Someone in this city managed to acquire two cubs of a rank six beast. I would like to know where they are kept and, if they are not in Rolum anymore, I how are they transported, to where and when they left the city.”

If Salma was just furrowing her brows in a light annoyance before, then now she had a serious, even unfriendly expression. After they looked at each other for almost ten minutes in silence, she raised her hand with spread fingers.

“Five? You want five gems for this information?” Nick got a small shock. Even though he didn’t care about those, it was a heavy price.

“Yes!” Salma nodded, “As well as answers to two of my questions. First, why do you want to know this and second, how did you get your hands on pirate king Black’s treasures.”