The sun was beginning to rise. The darkness slowly faded, making way for the light.
While Emily kept sleeping peacefully in her bed, Alice and I were talking with Lisa.
"I'm sorry you had to sleep on the floor," Lisa said, a bit of guilt in her voice.
"Don't worry about it. Alice and I were planning to stay in the plaza anyway. This was much better," I replied.
"Yeah, and it was really fun to be with Emily. She's such an energetic kid," Alice added.
At that, Lisa gave a small smile.
"That's true. Although this time, she was even more energetic than usual. It's clear she really liked you both."
"You know, even though Emily may seem very innocent, she has a great instinct for sensing people's intentions. The fact that she was so openly cheerful with you from the start made me believe you were good people."
"The time I spent with you only confirmed that," Lisa finished explaining.
I understood what she meant.
My mom had that same kind of sixth sense something that told her when someone was up to no good.
My dad said that helped him a lot during his missions...
"Miss Alice, is something bothering you?" Lisa suddenly asked.
I turned and saw Alice hesitating, but a few seconds later, she opened her mouth.
"Mrs. Lisa… I just had some questions about Emily's father," she asked nervously.
"Oh..." Lisa's eyes widened in surprise.
I facepalmed.
Alice…
Seeing our expressions, Alice immediately regretted it.
"I'm sorry, I should've known it was a sensitive topic. You don't have to answer."
"No, it's okay. It just caught me off guard. It's not a secret or anything. The truth is… Emily's father died shortly after she was born," she said with a trace of sadness in her voice.
"I see…" Alice said.
"He was part of the Iron Jackals. He died in a conflict with the Rustbone Crew," she added, melancholic.
"I'm sorry," I said sincerely.
"It's not your fault," she replied.
A few minutes later, we heard someone knocking at the door.
Lisa quickly opened it.
There were two people.
One of them looked to be middle-aged, broad-shouldered, with a sturdy build and a presence that radiated strength. His hair, black as a raven's wing, had some silver strands stubbornly standing out. He had a strong, slightly wide nose, a square jaw, and eyes that were somewhere between gray and brown.
The second man was taller, nearly two meters, with a wide back and shoulders. What stood out the most was his shaved head, gleaming under the sunlight. He had a tattoo on his face, a sort of wave pattern surrounding his eyebrows.
But what caught my attention the most was the mana they gave off.
The second one was an average Apprentice. His strength was similar to Dorian's.
The first one… was a weak Novice rank.
"Oh, Oscar, Mason. Good morning. What brings you here?" Lisa asked.
"Good morning, Lisa. We heard about the two users that arrived yesterday," Oscar said, polite but firm.
"I see. Ethan, Alice, these are Oscar and Mason. Oscar is the leader of the Iron Jackals."
Just as I suspected.
Oscar was, without a doubt, the strongest person we'd met in the slums so far. With his power, there was no way he wasn't the leader.
Alice and I stepped forward.
"Too weak…" I heard Mason mutter under his breath.
Oscar and the rest of us ignored the comment.
"It's nice to meet you both. Welcome to our zone. I'm sure you've been through a lot, and we'd like to help. But, as you've probably noticed, even here food is scarce, so we can't share anything without getting something in return," he said seriously.
"Of course, Alice and I understand. That's why we're willing to work for food."
"Good to hear that. I'll be clear with you based on what I can sense, you're both weak users, so you won't be useful in strengthening our forces just yet. But you're still stronger than normal people, so for now, we'll use you for manual labor. You'll take care of cleaning, construction, and repairs. You'll also patrol the area to stop any conflicts between non-users. Is that okay with you?"
"That's fine," Alice replied this time.
"Glad to hear it," Oscar said.
Everything was settled… in theory.
But something felt off.
I could sense something strange in Lisa's expression.
Especially when she looked at Mason.
And that guy… he looked at her from time to time, too…
"Alright then. In three hours, another member will come by to give you your tasks for the day," Oscar said, pulling me out of my thoughts.
With that, both Oscar and Mason said goodbye and left the house but not before Mason threw us a look of disgust.
That guy…
I walked over to Lisa.
"Lisa, are you okay?" I asked, concerned.
"Yes, I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" she said, a little surprised.
Your face didn't look fine…
"That guy Mason… do you have a problem with him?" Alice asked, frowning.
"No… not at all. He was an old friend of my husband's. He's helped us a lot since he's been gone," Lisa replied with a small smile.
But…
There was no sincerity in that smile.
Something else was definitely going on.
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An hour later, Alice and I were talking in a secluded spot.
"What do you think we should do,Should we head to Shadow Fang territory Look for that guy, Aiden Or stay here?" Alice asked me.
"We still can't be sure that the killer wasn't Oscar or someone else in the Iron Jackals. Second, we don't know where to find this Aiden, and searching blindly through the center would put us at risk of being discovered and drain our energy."
"I get it. But how are you planning to confirm that Oscar and his group are clean? We've got, at most, a little over a week if we want to finish the mission before the Rank 2 arrives," Alice replied.
"I know. For today and tomorrow, we'll follow their orders. I want to see if we can gather more information from the other groups… and about Aiden."
"Given the little time we have, I think the best option is to use force. My plan is Tomorrow night to neutralize Oscar without anyone noticing and interrogate him."
"We're going after Oscar?" Alice raised an eyebrow.
"Yep. Looking at the other members, most of them are low or mid-level Apprentices. If anyone is stronger, they're still weaker than Oscar."
"No matter how incompetent that Novice kid was, I find it hard to believe he was killed by the Iron Jackals without Oscar being there, even if it was an ambush," I answered.
"Yeah, you're right," Alice exclaimed.
"By the way…" she added.
"What?"
"What are we going to do about that Mason guy? There's definitely something going on."
Alice looked at my face and poked my forehead.
"Don't act like you don't care about what happens to Lisa and Emily. I know you well enough to see how attached you've gotten to that girl. In fact, I'm sure you're already planning how to get her out of the slums once the mission's over."
"Oh, sweetheart… you know me so well," I said in a playful tone.
"Of course. Remember you're the luckiest man in the world," she said with a smug smile.
I know…
"So, what are we going to do about him?" she asked again, this time more seriously.
"For now, we'll try to get information on him discreetly. If something serious comes up… we'll deal with him and clean up the evidence," I said grimly.
"That's why I adore you… mwah," she said, kissing me.
Looks like she liked the last part of the plan…
I just hope I don't have to do anything drastic.