God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

"I need names..."

Gilead frowned.

Abigail raised a brow,

"Names? For what?"

'With Wulf, Kaelin and Duke Blackwater dead, the council had been weakened. Even worse, Balangol has abandoned them. In that case...'

Cain shrugged and sat straighter,

"I would like to believe that these people, whoever they are, will see your terrible situation and would like to profit out of it."

Gilead nodded, "They are already afforded the best housing in Valestorm for their families and a lot of resources. But they are getting greedy. Unreasonably so..."

Cain smiled, "Anyone with half a brain would recognize what's going on."

Gilead nodded, "But what's that got to do with you?"

Cain summoned a handgun from his inventory and placed it on the table.

Gilead frowned, leaned over and picked it up to inspect it.

"This... doesn't seem like something from the system."

He paused then asked, "This is your work?"

Cain chuckled, "Indeed. But that's besides the point. I'm willing to make an offer with you. I give you what you need, and you give me something in return."

Abigail opened her mouth, as though about to say something, but Gilead spoke first,

"What is this about?" He said, his eyes narrowed.

Abigail put on a helpless face,

"Most of the blacksmiths, apothecaries, merchants, and even a decent number of independent Hunters are tied to them. Whatever you are suggesting..."

"Whatever you are trying to do, it won't work." Gilead added.

Cain shrugged, "I'm not suggesting anything. I'm just saying; if they won't give you what you want, why not seek it out through other means. Besides, that's not all I'm asking for. I'm asking you to give me a name. I'd like to speak with these individuals myself before we formalize anything..."

Gilead's brows furrowed,

"Cain, I hope you aren't planning on starting anything. If you spill blood here, I guarantee I won't be merciful."

Cain smiled, "Trust me. I don't plan on killing anyone intentionally."

Gilead raised a brow, "Intentionally?"

Seeing Cain wasn't willing to further expatiate, he could only sigh.

He paused for a moment before answering,

"The people that run this thing like to go by the name Iron Beetles. Even I don't know most of their leaders, and the ones I do know, I have sworn to protect their secrecy. They move their products using nameless grunts. Frankly, there isn't much I can give you in terms of intel."

Cain hummed, "There has to be something you can give me, right?"n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Stay tuned with empire

Gilead was silent for a minute. Then he took a piece of paper and scribbled something onto it before folding it and sliding it across the table to Cain.

"I can give you a referral. It's up to you to do what you want with it."

Cain picked the piece of paper up and placed it in his pocket.

"In that case, I will be back after seeing to this..."

Straightening his clothes as he stood up, he gave Gilead a curt nod, then turned around to leave.

A look of confusion on his face, Blaze got up, did the same and followed after Cain.

Once they both left, Gilead sighed and leaned back into his chair,

"Fuck..."

Abigail chuckled as she walked away from behind him to sit of the chair Cain had used.

Wallowing in his residual warmth, she couldn't help but say something,

"There's no need to panic."

Gilead's face turned ugly,

"There is. Those bastards are insane, just as much as Cain is. They'll throw everything into chaos if anything goes wrong. And we'll be forced to deal with the aftermath. There is every reason to panic."

Abigail gracefully leaned forward, picking the gun Cain had left on the table and studying it for a moment before chuckling,

"But there is also gain to be made. Look..."

Gilead raised a brow and picked the gun up, this time, examining it a bit more.

Then his eyes widened,

"This..."

Abigail nodded, "The craftsmanship, the effectiveness... Everything about this piece is many times greater than anything those bugs have ever given us. It's no wonder we lost that battle..."

Gilead went silent. There was nothing he could say. Just this firearm Cain had randomly pulled out of his inventory was better equipment than what a decent chunk of the higher ranked Pilgrims were using.

He knew they were being finessed, but he had never truly understood the magnitude of it until now...

He sighed heavily once more.

"The tours into the Otherworld will be far more convenient with better weapons and equipment." Abigail said, further prodding Gilead.

He picked up his pen and began working on the documents in front of him,

"We can discuss this later. I need to work on these."

Abigail smiled and gave him a nod before her figure flickered and vanished.

Once she was gone, Gilead dropped the pen and let out a tired sigh.

He stared at the ceiling of the office room and shook his head,

"How exhausting..."

***

Walking out of the temple, Blaze glanced at Cain,

"So what now?"

He understood a bit of what had just happened, but he had failed to grasp the whole picture. Cain hadn't even asked what they had come here for and they were already leaving. It made no sense.

Cain shrugged and answered without even looking over,

"Now, we have to find someone, who I'm guessing, is Gilead's secret contact on the Iron Beetles."

Blaze nodded, then shook his head,

"I get that but why?"

Cain sighed, "To negotiate..."

Blaze scratched his head.

Cain pursed his lips, pondering on how he was going to explain it further. In the end, he just shrugged,

"Simply put, in order to avoid future trouble, we have to let the dogs know we've stepped into their territory. And if they decide to bite, we mow them down. Easy as that..."

Taking a moment to process Cain's words, Blaze was finally able to piece it all together.

He furrowed his brows,

"So what you are trying to do is reveal your intentions, and if they don't agree, you'll kill them all. Is that right?"

Cain paused for a moment before nodding,

"In simple terms, yes. In more complicated terms, maybe?"

Blaze sighed tiredly, "Didn't you agree to not killing anybody?"

Cain shrugged then grinned,

"I said intentionally. As long as it isn't my intention to kill, then all's good, right?"

Seeing no flaws in that logic, Blaze was left dumbfounded.

"What's in the paper?" He asked after a moment of silence. They had been wandering down busy and less busy streets for a few minutes now.

Cain answered, "Directions..."

Blaze raised a brow, "To where?"

"Right there..." Cain said, pointing at a building just down their current path.

Blaze was surprised. Sensing his confusion, Cain passed him the piece of paper.

Blaze curiously unfolded it. Drawn onto the piece of paper was a rather strange symbol. It was a simple drawing of a dog-lile creature biting down on the tail of a snake coiled around its neck and biting its eye.

Blaze paused, then looked up.

Just in front of the target building was a hanging board with the same symbol etched into it with the words "Death's Jackal" written into it as well.

"From the looks of it, this place is a bar and a..."

"Whorehouse..." Cain finished, his face a bit grim.

Both of them were silent, understanding the gravity of their situation.

As young men, they were not strangers to the relations between man and woman, and had confronted it at least a few times in their lives.

But this was on another level...

Who knew what they would see in there.

'Gilead, you dirty bastard...' Cain couldn't help but think to himself.

Regardless, it was too late to back down now.

Since it was always night within the City, the entire place was lit with lights from magic c lamps and other sources.

There was also a lot of foot traffic around these places, meaning it was prime location for all sorts of scandalous activities.

In this world, where only the powerful had a say, many that were less fortunate would have to pick up some unsavory work in order to be able to fend for themselves including, but not limited to selling their bodies.

Pushing through the crowd of people, Cain and Blaze quickly arrived in front of Death's Jackal.

Trying to avoid the hungry eyes of those standing at the doors, looking for customers, they quickly made their way into the establishment's premises.

The interior was loud. Since they didn't have to wear the masks and robes, many Pilgrims did as they pleased, opting for more comfortable light armor, ditching the masks as well.

The heavy smell of alcohol, sweat, and other unrecognizable smells assaulted Cain, almost making him stumble backwards.

In the end, he persistent, choosing to momentarily dull his senses.

Then he activated {Eye of Clairvoyance}.

He frowned, 'Interesting...'

They eventually reached their destination after pushing through a sea of bodies.

The bartender, a huge, hairy, burly man wearing a dirty pink apron looked down in them.

He spoke in a deep voice with a thick accent,

"What drinks you want?"

Cain glanced up and smiled,

"Whatever you recommend."

The burly man frowned, them huffed and walked away to prepare their drinks.

Completely unused to this type of setting, Blaze couldn't help but feel very uncomfortable.

"What the hell are we going to do now?"

Cain glanced at him. At the same time, the bartender came back, slapping two mugs filled with an unknown frothy liquid down on the wooden table.

Staring at it, Cain picked it up and shrugged,

"Nothing... Just wait patiently."

In reality, he wasn't going to do nothing.

As he dulled his senses, he also focused them, enough to be able to single out coherent conversations from the background noise.

He smiled lightly to himself,

'This will work nicely...'