I Level Up Dragons with My Evolution System-Chapter 58: A man in an alley

He grabbed the documents Aurora had on the table. "So he doesn’t live in the upper district, but in the middle district. A good way to hide." Edward nodded, looking at the description and drawing of the Merchant’s mansion.

According to the map, this mansion was quite large, one of the largest in the middle district, so the man had money. They had to be prepared to face strong guards.

Aurora nodded and pointed to the drawings on the side of the map. It was of an older man, about 60, and a young woman in her 20s. "His name is Silas Merchant, and his main business, Merchant’s Tower, is dedicated to selling materials extracted from beasts and building houses in the slums. Apparently, he has contacts with wealthy people in other cities," she explained.

"Silas Merchant?" Lander frowned slightly as he muttered.

Edward turned to look at him. "Do you know him?"

"Uh..." Lander smiled sheepishly. "His daughter is addicted to gambling in the slums; my family runs several small businesses there, and it’s common to see her around."

Edward nodded and looked at the other drawing. He exchanged glances with Aurora before turning to show him the drawing. "Is this the woman?" he asked.

Lander nodded quickly. "Yes, yes. That’s her."

"That’ll do." Edward smiled. "Although gambling in the slums... I understand that they only bet on death matches between strangers there."

"Uh, yeah." Lander laughed. "Drug addicts go there to have deadly encounters... It’s not a good place; my family is considering moving because it’s very chaotic."

"Very well." Edward closed the scroll. "Let’s go there. We’ll investigate the daughter first and take the opportunity to monitor the surroundings of the mansion, since we have to infiltrate it. Any discovery will be useful to us."

"How do we divide up?" Aurora asked.

Edward grabbed a quill, dipped it in ink, and marked a section of the mansion map. "Arnold, if I’m not mistaken, there should be a three-story restaurant here. Rent the top floor and use it to monitor movements in the mansion."

Arnold nodded. "Okay," he replied lazily.

"Aurora, you’ll be in charge of monitoring the surroundings of the mansion, but keep an eye on the entrances. We don’t know if that merchant has good contacts and knows that the academy now wants him dead, so we want to prevent him from escaping."

"Will I receive information from Arnold about any movements?" she asked.

"Preferably, you should receive an update every hour." Edward looked at Arnold. "Don’t be lazy and do as I say," he scolded him.

Arnold pressed his lips together and snorted. He said nothing.

Edward knew he was going to cooperate, so he continued. "Lander and I will go monitor that gambling addict girl. With Lander’s information and my beasts, I think we’ll be able to see her up close frequently."

Lander looked thoughtful. "Are you planning to find out the exact times when that woman is having fun, so we know when we can infiltrate?" he asked.

"That’s my intention," Edward nodded.

Lander smiled. "I think it will be easy, then."

"All right. Let’s get moving. We don’t have much time to gather information."

-

It wasn’t as if the mission had a time limit. Although the academy seemed ruthless in assigning such missions to the students, it recognized how difficult they were for their hearts.

That’s why they avoided setting time limits, unless it was strictly necessary.

Edward and Lander walked to the slums.

Both knew the streets very well; they were able to navigate them without any problems and reach their destination in no time.

Although Lor was large, it had frequent shortcuts that, if you took advantage of them, allowed you to get there faster. Although you still had to walk a few kilometers to cross from the lower district to the middle one.

"Is that your family’s business?" Edward asked before they arrived.

Lander nodded. "Yes, it’s small, but due to its nature, it tends to attract all kinds of characters."

It made sense. A bar with fighting pits and betting sites would naturally attract peculiar characters.

"I’ll look around. Go ahead and find whatever information you can. Don’t stray too far." Edward moved away from Lander and proceeded to search for clues around the area.

As it was a low-income neighborhood in the early morning hours, before dawn, it was difficult to find anything other than drunks, drug addicts, and people getting up for work. He knew this, having lived in the area for many years.

Despite this, he felt reassured by having control over the places where he was going to work, especially on a mission as important as this one.

He allowed his caterpillars to discreetly emerge and hide in the surrounding area, easily covering key streets. It was fortunate that his caterpillars were so small; they could hide anywhere and no one would notice them unless they chose to reveal themselves.

He could perceive what they perceived, even from a distance. However, that distance could not be too great, as his current strength did not allow him to keep them too far away. Still, it was enough for now.

After hiding it and carefully checking every corner, Edward planned to return to Lander’s family business.

Even so, he frowned when he sensed something with one of his caterpillars. There were faint, muffled screams, as well as the sound of something hitting something else. He couldn’t tell just by listening, so he ran toward the place.

It was hidden between the cracks of some stones in a building, in a position that was difficult to detect even for a Beast Master.

’From the alley.’ He leaned against the wall and then jumped into the alley on the other side, before hiding among the accumulated trash bags.

The terrible smell of something rotten flooded his senses, but he quickly endured it by slowing his breathing. On the other side...

Four men were beating a guy to a pulp.

Thump. Thump. Thump...

Although the muffled cries of the man tried to escape from his mouth, each time he received a kick that prevented him from uttering even a word.

On the other side of the alley, a woman stood with her arms crossed over her chest and an arrogant look on her face, staring at the man on the ground. Her clothing was ordinary. A one-piece dress made of rough brown wool with white lace gave a feeling of durability.

After more than five minutes straight and until the guy was turned into bloody pulp, the men let out a snort.

"That’s what you get for betting on things you can’t afford," they taunted.

The woman behind them pushed past them and kicked him in the stomach. "You want to bet with my lady and not pay the bet when you lose? You’re dreaming! We’ll see how your family ends up!" She turned around and left.

From the way she spoke, she was the subordinate of some rich young woman.

That didn’t catch Edward’s attention, but rather the bracelet she was wearing.

’It’s gold and has the Merchant’s Tower insignia...’ Edward nodded. Was he to assume that this woman was the subordinate of his target’s daughter?

After watching them disappear across the road and knowing they wouldn’t be coming back, he got up and put on a black hood. Then he walked over to the man on the ground.

The man on the ground shuddered when he saw someone come out of nowhere; he felt fear in his bones... but suddenly he saw a small bottle with a red liquid on his hand.

The dying man’s eyes seemed to come back to life when he recognized what it was...

Then Edward leaned over slightly. "I have a few questions for you. This will be your reward if you’re willing to cooperate."