Quentin left after saying goodbye to Leon, who remained standing in front of the entrance to the mercenary headquarters. He wore a thoughtful expression as he reflected on what the old man had said.
For him, raising his voice to stop an injustice or something wrong happening was normal. He had been raised that way, under the rules of modern civilization. His parents had educated him like that.
But he was in a new world now, with new people, new beliefs, different ways of life. Different histories. Much of Leon's common sense still belonged to Earth. And as Quentin had told him, what he did was not wrong.
What would have been wrong was being too weak to finish what he had started. 'I'm not willing to change who I am. Because of that, I need to become even stronger.' He looked up at the night sky, at the stars shining alongside the three moons.
With a light sigh, he went to his room after paying his last bronze coin for it. He made a simple bandage for his head, just so the wound wouldn't stay open. Tris would have to heal him tomorrow, which wouldn't be a big problem.
'At least tomorrow's meal is with James.'
Morning came, and with the rising sun Leon was already on his feet, doing some stretches inside his room.
'I need to get my body moving early in the morning.' With a short warm up routine, Leon left his room and headed to the meeting point with the group. James had already chosen one of the jobs for them, but Leon still had no idea which one it was.
When he reached the gate, Leon saw the trio from his group already there: James, Camile, and Tris.
"Good, you made it Leon. We have work today. We're going after the bandit called Hog. He's hiding in the city's slums." As he spoke, James noticed the white bandage on Leon's head, which left his hair slightly messy.
"You got hurt, Leon! You were supposed to rest yesterday!" Tris said, quickly walking toward him.
"Young people… always full… of energy," Camile said with a light laugh.
"It was just a small hit, nothing to worry about."
"I'll be the judge of that!" Tris said, removing the bandage and applying healing magic to the wound. "Ah, good, it really was minor. We can't have you injured before the mission, Leon! You're important!"
Tris said casually as she closed her hand and the warm light faded away. "Yeah… it should be fine now."
"Mhm. Thanks, Tris." Leon smiled, then asked, "Where are the slums? I haven't gone there yet."
'Actually, I haven't been to almost any part of the city… This place is huge.' He sighed and turned to James, who began speaking.
"It's more to the northeast from here next to the north wall. It's not very large, but it's a problem for the authorities to deal with both them and the monsters around. So as long as they don't cross an acceptable limit, most people ignore them."
Leon kind understood it.. Since there had been places like that on Earth too, so it wasn't new. With that, the group set off.
He just didn't know what state the place would be in. After about an hour of walking up and down streets, climbing and descending, they arrived at the area. The place reeked. Sewage ran through the middle of that part of the city.
People lay slumped in corners begging for coins. Suspicious looking figures. And much more, all piled together.
"The nobles who control the city usually throw everything they don't consider useful into this place. Unfortunately, it's turned into something like the city's dumping ground," James said with a sigh.
"Not even the church comes here anymore. Now we only have religious points in the more distant areas," Tris said, clasping her hands together with a saddened expression.
The only one indifferent was Camile. Leon looked at her, but it didn't seem like she wanted to comment on the place.
'Nobles… I don't think I'd like meeting one. From the way James described them, they only think about themselves. And there's also the issue of adventurers being banned.'
"Where do we need to go to find the target?" Leon asked while looking around at the deplorable scene and sighing as well.
"Further in. We're still at the entrance… It gets worse ahead."
Nodding after hearing James, Leon tried to stay alert. Fortunately, he didn't have any money left on him to be robbed by a pickpocket, which didn't make him very happy either.
As James had said, deeper into the area the situation became more dangerous. Instead of poor people like at the entrance, the scene shifted to countless bars filled with shouting, fighting, and arguing. Markets selling things Leon couldn't identify, likely all illegal as well.
Every now and then someone would approach to try to bother the group, but James would tap twice on the chest of his armor where his mercenary plate was attached. The men would glance at it, recognize James's rank, and quickly step aside.
"In this place, we don't pick unnecessary fights. If possible, do as I did. Show the difference between us and them so they drop any ideas," he said in a serious but lower tone than usual. They didn't need to fight the entire district just to reach their target.
After a few more minutes of walking, James stopped in front of a stairway leading downward and looked at his group.
"The place where he was seen operating is down there. It's a series of tunnels used for illegal activities. So I want you to focus on the objective. Anything else is not our concern right now." James finished, looking directly at Leon.
"And remember, our safety comes first. Leon, you and I protect them, so stay sharp."
"It's not like we… the two of us… can't protect ourselves," Camile said, raising her hand as a staff appeared in it, embedded with bluish stones at its tip. Tris nodded in agreement.
"I'll keep that in mind, James," Leon replied.
They all began descending the stairs. With each step, the sunlight faded slowly, as if they were entering another world. The warm glow of the sun was replaced by the colder, lifeless artificial light of oil lamps burning with bluish flames.