Chapter 136: Calm Before The Storm.
Exiting the 'Outlaw's Shack' shop, Felix walked out through the corridor as he made his way to the main hall of the Underworld Castle.
Meanwhile, he held the black coloured compass with mysterious symbols he got for free and grinned while looking at it's description.
[Name: Cursed Compass
-Grade: Low Epic
-Description:
• A mystical compass created by the Dark Mages of the Forgotten Empire.
• It absorbs the residual soul of any recently deceased being, and indicates the direction to their most treasured possession.
Current Souls: 0/10]
He needed only one glance through the description for him to know that this thing was something many would fight over.
In fact, he thought the grade low epic was actually not giving any justice to its ability.
'The dark mages of the forgotten empire? I seem to have read something about this forgotten empire in the library before.'
Felix knit his brows as he remembered a book explaining about the brief history of some parts of this world.
In there, he read about an Empire that ruled over the entire western seas, which had suddenly gotten destroyed and disappeared in a few days after angering a force they shouldn't have.
Though it was hard for him to believe that an entire empire vanished within a few days, Felix chose to believe in it as he knew how strong the inhabitants of this world were.
'This inspect skill is really incredible! To think I got such a treasure with my luck, it sure is amazing...'
Keeping the compass safe in his robe, he wondered what kind of treasures he could find with its help.
*****
Felix walked out from the Underworld Castle and moved towards the black market area as he had some work there.
Without wasting any time, he headed straight towards a deserted corner of the place.
A building appeared in front him, and he briskly stepped in.
Entering the hall, he saw a gray robed man guarding the place, who at his arrival, nodded at him and walked upstairs to notify his boss.
Felix waited downstairs and some time later, the man returned as he gestured his hand towards the room on the upper floor.
Stepping upstairs, Felix turned the knob and entered a messy room that was full of papers and ink, while simultaneously removing his mask.
A man wearing a dark blue suit with a robe on his shoulders sat behind a desk as he fiddled with a pen while staring at a paper.
"Mr.Dealer, it's nice to see you.", Felix greeted as he walked to the middle of the room.
"Oh Felix, you're here. Tomorrow's the big day, I presume?"
Mr.Dealer grinned as he placed the pen down and gestured towards a seat.
Sitting down, Felix nodded.
"Yes, the guild wars will begin tomorrow. And that is also the reason I came here.", he added as he narrowed his eyes.
"I wanted to ask if you knew anything about the involvement of the dark guilds in tomorrow's events."
Mr.Dealer leaned back on his seat, and clasped his hands together, a sharp gleam passing through his eyes as he smiled.
"Hehe, you're asking the right person. There's no one else in the entire underworld that knows the dark guilds better than me."
Felix showed an impressed expression as he asked in interest.
"Then can you tell me about the hidden scenes behind all these guild wars and such releated to the dark guilds?"
Turning serious, Mr.Dealer stared at Felix into his eyes and replied.
"I usually sell this kind of information for a high price, but as you're a comrade of mine with a similar goal, I can tell you about it."
Felix nodded rapidly as he grew excited to understand the truth about everything that was happening, so that he may not remain clueless at any situation.
"Please tell me about it."
Mr.Dealer took a deep breath to start his explanation and responded.
"Alright, then listen carefully."
*****
As Felix walked out from Mr.Dealer's base building, he stopped on the road and glanced above with a thoughtful face.
'It's a lot dangerous than I thought...'
He gulped at the sheer prospect of things happening exactly as Mr.Dealer mentioned.
It was not that he was afraid from the battles and chaos, but a large place like the Edenmont City had many innocent people and children, who had nothing to do with the fight among all these factions.
He didn't care who was right or wrong, but the mere fact that the dark guilds were not going to stop until they conquered and almost destroyed this city in the process for an unknown reason made him feel restless.
'I don't have any time. I need to get stronger if I have to survive in this bloody situation!'
Gritting his teeth to release the stress in his mind, Felix decided to go back to the library to increase his knowledge and information regarding many things that may come to help him.
He walked back to the Underworld Castle and entered the library, ignoring the snoring librarian as he shuffled through the shelves to read books of all kinds, especially of the combat tactics.
A few hours later, Felix exited the Underworld Castle after having another bout at the Nether Cuisine.
He looked as if he was ready for war as he took confident strides and made his way to leave the Underworld.
*****
Coming out from the hidden tavern, Felix entered some alleys and removed his mask, before blending into the crowd.
The sun slowly settled down on the horizon, its rays falling on the streets where people of the city bustled around.
Vendors sold fruits and vegetables, people bargained as they desired, little kids played around at the corners as few carriages passed through the wide road.
Walking in silence as he glanced at his surroundings, Felix sighed as he knew everyone would be facing many troubles from now on.
He clenched his fists, hoping he could do something to help them but he was too weak currently.
Even he was not sure if he could survive the 'guild wars', which wasn't just a feud between a few guilds, but something more sinister.
As for running away?
That could've been an option if he had just arrived to this city yesterday, but after living here for more than a month, he had come to develop some feelings for this place.
The bunch of travellers who had unknowingly brought him to this Edenmont City, the five kids who invited him to the guild Twilight Chaos, the receptionist Miss Elsa, his current teammates Steve, Roven, and Eric.
And people like Mr.Dealer, Falcon, Bellard, Henry, Dufus, Sir Graham and the rest from the Underworld.
Everyone who he had met in this city treated him well, unlike in his previous life where he was just a lonely orphan being the target of many troublesome people.
As he walked on the road, the street lights got turned on one by one.
In front of him, a middle-aged woman looked around in panic as she muttured something under her breath.
People seemed to look at her in confusion but the woman was pale as a sheet of paper as she kept repeating the same words.
"....Ria...Ria...where are you, Ria...where did you go?"
When Felix reached beside her, his sensitive ears picked up her words, giving him an idea of what was happening.
"Umm excuse me, are you looking for someone?", he asked politely.
The woman flinched at the sudden question but nodded in panic as she controlled her emotions.
"Y-Yes, I'm l-looking for Ria, my daughter. She...She was...I don't know...where she is. My Ria..", the woman could not bring her words together as if she couldn't believe she lost sight of her daughter.
Felix understood the situation and calmed down the lady as he assured her with a smile.
"Don't worry mam, your daughter must be somewhere nearby. I'll help you find her."
The woman couldn't calm down as she continued muttering and looked around the place in panic.
"Excuse me for a second."
Felix sighed and placed his hand on the woman's shoulder, before using his skill as he closed his eyes.
'Flashback!'
A brief moment later, he opened his eyes back and called the lady as he pointed at a nearby clothing shop.
"Mam, I think your daughter has entered into that building. Why don't we look for her there?"
As Felix convinced her, the woman nodded and followed behind him as they entered the shop.
"Hmm? Ria....?"
A 4 year old little girl was running around in the brightly lit up clothing shop as two of the employees chased behind to look after her.
Hearing her name being called, the little girl turned around and shouted in delight.
"Mama!"
Before the little girl could run upto her mother, the woman arrived beside her as she took her in her bosom.
"Sniff Ria...my Ria...."
"Mama....Mama..."
Seeing the joyous moment between the mother and the daughter, Felix smiled sweetly as the two employees walked toward him.
"Are you their family member?", they asked.
Felix shook his head as he handled them.
"No, I'm not. I was helping the woman find her daughter."
The two employees turned to look at each other and simultaneously bowed at him in slight tears.
"Thank you....thank you very much for bringing her mother. We're ashamed to say this, but we couldn't handle a single child. It's only because of you that we won't be getting fired from our jobs."
Felix waved his hands at them, not minding doing a good deed.
"No need to thank me, I just wanted to help the lady. But it's alright now that they are back together again."
The employees looked at him with happy smiles, and muttered amongst each other after taking a deep look at him.
Then they turned to him and said hopefully.
"Sir, we're willing to gift you any of the clothes from our store. Please feel free to try them out and take them home, our shop will too benefit from it if you do so."
Their goal was gifting him anything and at the same time advertising their clothes, killing two birds with one stone.
Felix didn't hesitate to agree to the deal which was the same as the previous time.
He then tried out various of different clothes, as the woman and the little girl also helped him choose the ones that suited him the most.
Although all of the clothes present there looked better when they were especially on him.
'I better not turn out to be a narcissistic...'
As he received the few bags of clothes from the shop, he waved his hand to bid the two employees and the mother-daughter pair goodbye, and walked away.
'Map!'
Turning on the map skill, Felix found his way back to the guild building as the three moons peeked out from the clouds.
Holding all the bags on his one hand, he used the other hand to take out his id card.
He swiped his id card on the evil eye on the door, which glowed red as usual before opening the door.
Separating the many bags on both of his hands to maintain the balance, Felix stepped inside the guild building as the doors opened up.
But suddenly, he paused at the doorstep.
A number of eyes turned towards him as he felt the rising bloodlust and adrenaline filling up in the main hall.
With lots of shopping bags in his hands, Felix remained frozen as a thought emerged in his mind.
'Why am I feeling a sense of déjà vu....'