As the conversation between me and the boy—whose name was apparently, Clifford—ended, we both settled inside my shack.
He brought the bag of sack that he has been carrying, over to my personal table and then opened it. Revealing a bunch of books.
It turns out that those were the books that I treasured very much.
"Where did you get these?"
I asked Clifford whose nose was filled with snot and his face covered in soot and filth.
"The Big Bros told me to take some of it because you treasure it so much! They also told me to hide it and keep it safe until you return. It all happened back when we were attacked by the new gang!"
He just smiled at me with his toothy grin before taking a seat across me and stared at me with his chest puffed up, as if he was so proud of himself and wanted me to praise him. In which, I eventually did by smiling at him softly and patting his head. I also handed some piece of sweet bread to him, which I got from the guard after being released from prison.
Putting my gaze back onto the books that he had carried with him, I read through the titles of the few books and was extremely glad to see that the ones saved were the ones that I indeed greatly treasured.
[ Book of the First Hero, Kim Yeon woo ]
[ Different types of Herbs: The Poisonous and The Medicinal Herbs ]
[ Ancient studies of Diseases ]
Those were the three books that I greatly treasured because of how helpful they are in the slums, especially when diseases are common in this place.
The first book though, yeah. It was just bedtime stories that everybody else keeps, I mean....every men's dream was to become like the First Hero, Kim Yeon Woo. Even me, that is why I kept a copy of that book.
"You did well in surviving up until now....thank you"
I expressed my gratitude towards Clifford who, beamed up upon hearing my words and giggled like a child. He is a child.
Watching him act like one tho, sorta left an incredible feeling in me.
"Do you know where the base of that new gang is? What do they call themselves, again?"
I asked Clifford before me who had just finished eating all of the sweet pastry that I had just given him.
Hearing my question, the ears of the boy before me then perked up before he took a glass of water to drink and swallow the food that he has been chewing. Upon swallowing everything, the boy then opened a map of the Silvania city and then pointed at a certain area in the slums. Northwest from this place.
"When the Big Bros were captured, I secretly tailed all of them and was able to find their base. They have been settling in there for three weeks now, and they call themselves [ Malicious Serpents ], it is being led by Jeferson. Someone blessed by the God of Winds"
Hearing the snot nosed brat brief me everything about the enemy territory and the threats, I couldn't help but marvel at this kid's ability.
Being able to tail those people and find their base, is surely a great feat. Especially for a brat his age. I should keep him around for future plans.
Humming in deep thought and trying to imagine how dangerous the place could be, I tapped my fingers on the wooden table before I opened my mouth to ask Clifford a question.
"Any signs of Jeferson interacting with someone? Not his subordinates but someone like....a superior of his?"
Then, I voiced out my question to the kid. This should be the question that will help me confirm my suspicions. Suspicions if this was done by the one who I think it is, and if so...then blindly rushing into that place will surely a bad idea.
"Mhm! Yeah! I often see him interact with a hooded person. It happened just yesterday! And they seem to be handing Jeferson some money."
Bingo. They are indeed the ones. The money might be some sort of payment for everything that Jeferson had done to my turf. I was indeed right, there is no way some blessed would attack this place if not ordered by a higher up. And no higher up would attack this place unless it is out of personal vendetta.
"Alright, later tonight....we will be heading off to their base to scout more and try to find out more about their base. yes, you are also coming with me, so prepare yourself."
I gave the plan to Clifford and hook him with me into scouting because he seemed to have a good potential in that field, and bringing him with me might increase my success rate of scouting. Before I soon then landed my gaze on a mirror stationed nearby, and I saw my hair which was greatly disheveled especially when it is not tied up.
"For now though, I should take care of this"
I muttered as I looked for anything sharp in the shack and only found a broken piece of glass.
Once the sharp broken piece of glass was in my hand, I soon then turn it into a makeshift dagger and started cutting my long ebony black hair with it.
"Wahh, you look more like human now. Big Boss!"
Commented Clifford as soon as I finished cutting my hair, which...somewhat irked me.
'Yeah, thank you for that unnecessary opinion'
I rolled my eyes at his words and started to brush off the remaining hair that clung to my skin and also cleaned up the hair that had accumulated in the floor, I also started patching up my wounded knuckles before I soon then looked at the mirror and stared at my reflection.
'Indeed, I looked a little human now'
I huffed in agreement to Clifford's words.
————
It was nightfall, the sounds of screams and the sounds of the thugs laughter have become common in this slums now.
Since my turf have been abandoned for weeks now, the activity on the slums have moved on to another sector. My turf was in Sector B and Levin's was in Sector C.
Sector A was close to the entrance of the slums, and it is the closest to the city where the nobles often do their dirty works in there.
And according to the maps, The Serpents might be around Sector A, so we are currently heading there.
The travel in the slums is actually not that hard nor is it that slow like the noble carriages, we just walked after all.
So we arrived at our destination really quickly, and the destination was....a red light district. I expected much, and I could also tell that this was done on purpose so if a nobility were to come here, they wouldn't be suspicious of being involved with a slum syndicate. At worse, they will only be branded as pervert who came to please themselves with a paid prostitute.
"They are very wise"
I mused and took that idea into my mind, before we went deeper into this district and had Clifford point me to the Serpent base, which I already expected. It was a brothel.
But it was then when a presence appeared behind me.
"Greetings there, Slumdog"
The presence behind me greeted me as I slowly turned to look at him. When I did so, I was met with a man whose weight class was double mine.
When I met eyes with the man, I soon averted my gaze and put it on Clifford to see his reaction, but seeing his terrified and also surprised expression....it seems like it was wrong of me to doubt him.
'I even poisoned the pastry that he ate'
Yeah, I did poison the pastry that he ate with a slow acting one to try and take him down because I thought he was just trying to lead me on and fool me into walking to the enemy's maw. Sweet pastry given by a guard my ass. There is no way those pieces of shit would give me a sweet pastry. It was just something I bought for myself and poisoned it, before feeding it to this suspicious brat. Why? Because this is how the law of the slums work. Do not trust anyone, not even the kids. If they survived long enough in this accursed place, then they must have done something untrustworthy.
But seeing his reaction, it seems like this kid was genuine in helping me....at best, he must have been the one fooled by the enemy.
Glaring back at the fat man before me, I opened my mouth to mock him.
"Wow, I did not know pigs could talk"
Then the man before me delivered his fist forward to punch me.