Simon’s party arrived safely in the slums of Tarados. He was stunned by the conditions, which were far worse than he had imagined. The people here were like shriveled zombies, sitting by the roadside simply waiting to die. Their ribs protruded sharply from beneath their skin, a testament to extreme malnutrition. The buildings were dilapidated, the alleys suffocatingly narrow, and the dried-up river was choked with garbage. Corpses were a common sight, swarmed by flies and stray dogs that no one bothered to chase away. It was a city utterly devoid of hope.
[Wait! Wait! Wait! Why did we come to a place like this?!] Cal’s clone shrieked as the necklace shook. [I feel like my main body’s presence has gotten fainter than when we first entered Tarados! Didn’t we come too far?]
"We have to gather information before we can go anywhere," Simon said calmly. Having entered a sealed territory cut off from the outside world, intelligence was not an option, but a necessity. If Cal’s clone could provide a real-time sense of direction, finding his main body would be easy, but it seemed his senses weren’t that precise. It was time to hit the streets and listen to the locals. Erzebet had already dispersed with her spiders to do the same.
’I hope we can find the client in this town,’ Simon thought. He needed to know who had sent the request to Kizen. That person would know the situation in Tarados better than anyone, and finding them felt like the key to this mission.
"To think this town has changed so much..." the driver murmured, looking around in disbelief. "During Tarados’s golden age, it was a city of vitality and youth, bustling with adventurers and merchants. Now, there’s not even a trace of that left."
"That golden age," Kajan said, turning to look back, "must have been when the gold mine dungeon was still around, right?"
"Yes, that’s right."
Simon also turned. "Is the dungeon still here?"
"Of course not. I heard it vanished without a trace after the dungeon master died..."
Just then, a small, grimy girl of about seven or eight shot out from a side street, shoved the driver, and vanished into an alley. The man staggered and fell.
"Are you alright?" Simon asked, rushing to his side.
"Yes, yes! I’m fine."
"More importantly," Kajan said, scratching the scar on his cheek, "check your belongings."
"Pardon?"
The driver scrambled to his feet and patted himself down. A look of shock crossed his face. "M-My coin pouch!"
The little girl ran deeper into the alley, her breath coming in ragged gasps. The passage was so narrow that most adults would get stuck, but her small frame allowed her to sprint through it. ’I got it! I got it!’ Hope flickered in her eyes. ’With this money, I can save my brother...!’
"Hello."
She rounded a corner and shrieked. Simon was crouching there, a gentle smile on his face.
"Stealing is wrong," he said softly. "Won’t you give that back?"
’What! How did he catch up?’ She backed away, then spun around to flee, but she didn’t get far. Another man was blocking her path.
"It’d be strange not to run into a pickpocket in the slums," Kajan said, his scarred face terrifying. He moved through the narrow space with an unnerving, snake-like grace.
"Now," Simon said, holding out his palm. "Give it back."
"N-No!" she cried, clutching the coin pouch to her chest and curling into a ball.
Simon gave a troubled smile.
"W-Wait a minute!" The driver’s voice, ragged from exertion, echoed down the alley. He was staring at the girl. "Lisa! Is that you, Lisa?"
The pickpocket finally looked up. "M-Mister?"
"Haha! Sorry the house is so shabby! We don’t have much, but please make yourselves at home!"
Simon, Kajan, and the driver followed the girl, Lisa, into her home. Simon was horrified. ’People live in a place like this?’ The space seemed to have been carved out of a building’s foundation, not intended for habitation. It was squalid and filthy. The air was thick with the smell of mold, and the thin mattress on the floor was torn to shreds. The wallpaper was peeling, and the window was broken.
"Would you like some water?" she offered, holding out a worn-out cup. Simon saw yellowish water with strange flecks floating in it and politely declined with a smile.
"Lisa! Where’s the bathroom?" the driver called out urgently.
"Go outside and walk waaaay over there until you see a dried-up fountain. Turn right, and you’ll find the public restroom!"
"...A public restroom?"
"Yep! Everyone in town uses it! If you’re lucky, you’ll only have to wait in line for three hours! If you’re in a hurry, just go ahead and pop a squat anywhere on the ground!"
Simon gave a bitter smile. It was heartbreaking to hear a girl her age speak so casually. The driver, looking resigned, trudged off toward the restroom, while Kajan surveyed their surroundings. Simon was left alone with the young thief.
"How do you know the driver?" he asked.
"We lived in the same village for a while. I was friends with his kids." She added nonchalantly, "They’re all dead. His wife, too. I had no idea where he went after that. Never thought I’d see him here."
The mood plummeted. Simon glanced around nervously. "Do you live here alone?"
"With my older brother," she said, her expression darkening. "But he was taken by the soldiers."
Every path the conversation took led to despair. He now understood why the people on the streets stared so blankly, without a shred of hope. At least Lisa was talkative and tenacious. In Tarados, that made her an oddity.
"Why was your brother taken?"
She looked up, her eyes still wary of the outsider. Simon met her gaze and waited patiently.
"...You must never, ever tell anyone else."
"I promise."
"My brother," she began, her voice barely a whisper, "was caught trying to go outside to get help."
"Outside?"
"Yeah. To the important people outside of Tarados. He wanted to let them know what was happening to us. It’s forbidden for residents to contact the outside world."
Simon leaned forward. "How did he ask for help?"
"I don’t know the details," she said, her head drooping. "He just said that important people from above would come soon to help us. That he would inform the entire Dark Alliance about what’s happening in Tarados."
He was starting to get the picture. Simon gently guided the conversation, and before long, the girl opened up, treating him like a friend she hadn’t seen in years. It was clear she’d been desperate for someone to talk to.
"Your brother sounds amazing."
"Of course! He was scouted by the revolutionary group!"
A revolutionary group.
"He saved money. He kept saving and saving to ask for help from the outside," Lisa explained. "The other men in the group said my brother betrayed them! But that’s not true! He said the group was corrupt, too, and this was the only way. He took the money they’d collected and left Tarados!"
"That method of asking for help..." Simon said, now certain. He took out the request form and unfolded it. "Are you talking about the request sent to Kizen?"
Her eyes widened. "Kizen? Kizen? Yeah! I’ve heard that name before! I think I heard my brother muttering it!"
It was confirmed. The client was a member of the Tarados revolutionary group—and Lisa’s brother.
"Lisa," Simon said, showing her his student ID with the Kizen insignia. "I’m the person your brother called for."
A short while later, Simon, Kajan, the driver, and the newly returned Erzebet were all crammed into Lisa’s tiny home.
"Alright," Erzebet chirped, transformed into a pink-haired student and flashing a V-sign. "I shall now share the information my spiders and I have gathered!"
Simon, knowing her true age, just smiled. On the wall behind them, a banner woven from spiderwebs read [Revolutionary Strategy Meeting], lending a surprisingly resolute air to the squalid room.
"The people in this town wouldn’t even talk to us," Simon noted. "How did you get information?"
"Hoho! A charming woman has many ways to lower a person’s guard."
"...What kind of ways?" Kajan asked, his pride still smarting from his own failure.
"For example," Erzebet said with a shrug, "tying them up in spiderwebs and hanging them from a high place?"
Ignoring that, they listened to her report. Tarados was currently divided into three factions. First, the Black Wolf, Ganes, who led a band of thieves called the Ganes Guild. Second, the lord of the territory and his subordinate, the Iron-Blooded General Amin. And third...
"They are called the ‘Order’," Erzebet finished, winking at Simon. This was undoubtedly the fanatical faction that had captured Cal. "Nothing is known about them. No one knows their identity. But it is said they entered this territory some time ago and have maintained a close relationship with the lord."
"Suspicious," Simon muttered.
"I’ve heard the name in passing myself," the driver interjected. "When I worked as a driver in Ebrun, I saw a lot of strange goods being brought in from the outside. I think the Order was buying it all."
"I heard my brother say it all the time," Lisa added. "He said the Order is the mastermind behind this whole situation! That they’re controlling the other two factions from the shadows!"
"R-Really?"
Incredible. Lisa’s brother, Simon’s client, had already figured out the truth.
"Yeah!" Lisa insisted. "The soldiers capture residents who have committed crimes, and the bandits kidnap people. But he said neither side has facilities to hold prisoners!"
Kajan picked up the thread. "And the conclusion is that the ‘Order’ was the one taking them. They probably instigated the bandits to kidnap orphans, the homeless, and the mentally disabled from outside Tarados as well."
"Add to that the artificial chimera monsters roaming the wilderness," Simon said. "It’s certain." They were the ones who had experimented on Cal. All the clues pointed to one thing.
"The root of this is the Order. If we crush them, it will all be over," Erzebet declared, spreading her arms. "However, it will not be so easy. To get to them, we must first deal with the lord and the Ganes Guild. Tarados is more fortified than it looks."
Their system was diabolical. The Order funded both the lord and the Ganes Guild. The Ganes Guild roamed the wilderness, kidnapping people indiscriminately and delivering them to the Order, but they never touched the towns protected by the lord’s soldiers. In exchange for this "protection," the lord imposed crippling taxes on the residents. If a town refused to pay, the soldiers would simply leave. Then, the Ganes Guild would launch a full-scale assault, and the residents would be captured and sent to the Order. Those who fled into the wilderness faced one of two fates: being devoured by chimera monsters or being hunted down by the bandits.
’Vicious,’ Simon thought. They had created a sham conflict between the soldiers and bandits to exploit the people from both sides. Many residents still saw the soldiers as their protectors, but in reality, they were all on the same team, staging mock battles while rarely engaging in a real fight.
"It seems the ‘Revolutionary Group’ was formed to break free from this system," Simon concluded.
"That’s right," Lisa confirmed. Their goal was to earn enough to keep the soldiers stationed there while simultaneously building the strength to fight the bandits on their own, all in the hopes of one day liberating Tarados. But Lisa’s brother had said the group itself was corrupt, meaning its leaders had likely been bought by the Order as well.
"Now, what should we do?" Erzebet asked, looking to Simon. "There are two options. We can cut off the Order’s limbs by defeating the Ganes Guild and the lord first, ensuring a safer final battle. Or, we can launch a surprise attack and destroy their main base before they even realize we’re here."
Simon closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them.
"I’ve decided."

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