I wasn't sure how to respond to that. It sounded like a pretty sad story, and part of me didn't want to pry, but at the same time we needed to know what the fuck was going on. I decided to let Callie handle this, she was better with people than I was mostly, and was mostly taking charge right now anyway. Sure enough, she broached the subject in the most tactful way possible. "I'm sorry to hear that, but I wonder if you might clarify a bit about what exactly happened to cause one of your people to turn on you like that? Emery made it seem like everyone here was pretty united."

Cicero gave a small, sad smile. "Yes, I heard him talking to you outside the tent. He knew that of course, he'd hardly have told the story so close to where I sat if he hadn't wanted me to know. I suspect he has a better grasp on this situation than most involved. Emery is a quiet and subtle person, but he hears much more than anyone imagines. Well, he also probably wanted to spare me the pain of recounting it myself, and to slip in a bit of a reprimand for being too much of a coward to speak to my brother, not that he would phrase it as such. He rarely does things for a single reason when he can accomplish more than one goal."

I hadn't gotten that impression from Emery, but then, that was probably the point. It was odd to see someone who operated so subtly in this world we lived in. Ascendant powers didn't lend themselves to that sort of subterfuge, even stealthy Ascendants were mostly just a more edgy kind of flashy. Either that or they used their lack of presence as its own kind of attention gathering tactic, cultivating a reputation of whispers and efficiency by spreading rumors of their terrifying deeds after the fact.

I could tell from her demeanor that Callie was a bit surprised too, and a tad impressed. Emery making it to even H rank without any notable presence was pretty impressive. She shook that off though and focused back on our host. "Does this rogue element have something to do with your brother then? We met him and he seemed really nice. I'm not naive enough to assume that means I know him well enough to think he wouldn't do something like this, but Emery seems pretty certain he doesn't bear you any ill will." I'd gotten the implication too when he mentioned Emery knowing more then he let on, but Abel had clearly gone above and beyond for his brother, and causing him trouble spat in the face of that effort.

Cicero nodded. "You aren't wrong. My brother does not hold his situation against me, as much as he really should. The same can not be said of everyone here, however. While Abel never blamed me for having to leave, he was not without friends in this place. Starbreak, who I suspect is behind this, was a childhood friend of ours. We were inseparable when younger, and I admit I had a bit of a romantic interest, but she was always more interested in Abel. After he left, Melissa blamed me for driving him away. Suspected I was jealous of them. She's resented me ever since, though she's done her best to conceal that."

Callie looked at him hard for a second, reading the subtext there. "You agree with her. You feel like you ruined things and that's why you can't bring yourself to clean house." Cicero tipped his hat, giving her a rueful smile of acknowledgement. She sighed. "That actually makes this more complicated, not less. If this was just business we could narrow down who she's working with based on her known associates. From the way it sounds though, she just wants you gone and is willing to work with anyone to get it done. I take it this Starbreak person is powerful?"

I assumed the same, Ascendants tended to listen to people stronger than them from what I'd seen. If she was capable of forming a faction inside the circus she was probably as strong as Cicero. Sure enough, he confirmed it. "Yes, Melissa always shared Abel's love of combat. She was going to be part of the act he was planning as a matter of fact. She's one of my most powerful managers. Abel refused to allow her to follow him when he left for just that reason, wanting to make sure I would still have her support. As you can see that didn't work out very well, but then, Abel was always better at fighting than dealing with people."

That was interesting actually. Spruce Bunny had seemed...friendly. He was an outgoing and cheerful person, if a bit odd. I had a hard time reconciling the image of the two people as they were described to me. That said, this whole thing left me wondering one thing. "How can we actually help? Because I somehow doubt you're sharing your family drama because we're good listeners. Not that I don't appreciate the trust, I get how hard it is to open up like that, but if you're telling us this you probably have at least some kind of idea of what we could do to ameliorate the situation right?"

The mustachioed man laughed softly at my bluntness. "I do. If you're willing to help me. I realize I have no claim on your time or energy, as I don't actually know either of you. If you can help with this, however, I would be extremely grateful. In fact, I'd even be willing to allocate you some territory in the cavalcade if you'd like. It is far from simple to acquire land in the WCP after the forces have settled in for so long. Only the E district has available space on demand, mostly because there are so few E rankers to take it up."

I had no response to that. I hadn't even considered getting land in the WCP here, but given my access level it might actually be a smart idea. I looked to Callie, content to let her make this call. We were going to be leaving this planet eventually, because we weren't stopping at E rank. That said, investing in territory might not be a stupid idea, since we were going to be leaving friends behind. We couldn't possibly take every single person we knew out into the major universe. Hell, Cark was almost definitely a no go because of Cass.

Callie looked intrigued, but cautious. "This is an interesting deal, but pardon me for saying that it doesn't seem particularly balanced. You're offering us territory to get involved in outside business, but there's a pretty decent chance that the territory might get snatched by your competitors, then would you even be able to give it to us? You're basically creating a situation where we only get paid if things work out, which is helpful to you for sure, but makes this kind of a risk for us. Shouldn't you pay something up front?"

While we were planning to help, Cicero didn't actually know that, or at least not to what extent. We had our own reasons for doing this, but if we let everyone assume we would work on commission that would get out and become part of our reputation. Recursion made reputation an important part of being an Ascendant, and forced us to be careful about anything official we did. Especially in costume like we were now, we had to keep in mind how we wanted to be perceived by everyone else.

Of course, this took me a minute to puzzle out, while Callie saw it pretty much instantly. I wouldn't be bringing that up though. As much as I was in awe of her instincts and skills for this kind of thing, I knew she learned most of it under less than favorable circumstances. As much as she might not want to admit it, her dad had played his part in making her a more effective Ascendant. Because she spent so many years working around his manipulation she gained an innate understanding of how cultivation worked and how to turn situation to her advantage. Midknight was probably going to seriously regretting giving her a reason to get so competent.

Cicero just smiled widely, like we'd passed a test. "Of course. I confess I don't exactly know what people your age might be focusing on these days. I'm willing to make a down payment on your assistance, given you prove to me that you can accomplish the task I'll be setting you. If you're expecting payment up front however, even partially, I'll need to test you to make sure you're suitable for my purposes. Are you willing to undergo such a test? If so you can pose your request to me and we can work out the details before you assessment."

The older man's gaze was still kind, but there was a sneaky gleam in it that let me know he'd been aiming for this. Us offering to help was great, but he had no reason to think we were capable of much. I wasn't even sure he knew who we were yet, not everyone watched the scavenger hunt stream. A G ranker who ran his own small faction would be unlikely to waste time vetting newbies from the academy. With little to no chance of co-opting them and not enough reputation to convince them to switch sides it would be a pointless exercise for him.

With that in mind it became a matter of finding out exactly what we could do to see if we would be useful. It occurred to me that promising to pay us later with something he might not even have could have just been bait for this exact outcome. I felt stupid for missing it, but luckily Callie seemed to be unsurprised by the whole thing. She really was better at this. Still, it was no wonder Cicero managed to retain control of his faction even when someone inside it wanted him gone. This guy was way sneakier than he let on.

Callie didn't look upset by this turn of events though, she looked happy, and I was able to figure out why as soon as she started talking. "Fair enough. We're happy to undergo the test, but since we took the initiative to help you and you're making us prove ourselves, we hope you can show some sincerity. If we pass the trial and can help you pull off whatever your plan is. If we can manage your test, we want you to fully outfit our team of four in custom F ranked costumes. We'll need that in writing, by the way."

I saw the older man literally flinch when he heard that. He'd been expecting her to ask for chits or something, maybe a bigger slice of the pie, four sets of custom armor a rank above him would be...pricey. I was sure he had enough to afford it, this place probably raked in a ton of money, but it would bite into his funds hard. He hesitated for a minute. "IF, and I mean if, you can successfully clear my trial and are willing to enact my plan, and if you are willing to sign a contract binding you to that course of action...I agree."

I felt a grin split my face as I considered what we would be taking into battle with us soon. Granted, I'd need to stick relatively close to my current style to prevent degradation of my legend, but still, an F ranked costume would last me for quite a while at my current rate of cultivation. I was a bit worried about the trial though. The ring master must be desperate to be willing to commit to that, and I was guessing his trial wasn't going to be anything to sneeze at if we had to earn that kind of payoff. We would pass it though, and after that...we'd see exactly what this plan of his was.