Ruel moved through the crowd as a part of it without giving any intention that he was new in town. He looked at the people around and then stood at a stall noticing the scent of the skewers.

He stood near it feeling his mouth water, being in a human body after so many years had awoken his bodily desires.

The stallkeeper was a skinny old man who looked at him and smiled.

"Want to have a bite, young man?"

Ruel wondered if it would be fine to spend some money here since he still had work to do. But his stomach’s grumbling and the scent of the grilled meat made him compromise.

"Are you going to eat street food?! I’ve never eaten anything that isn’t cooked by good chefs!" Carlos protested.

"You should have the experience of all things." Ruel said before looking at the old man.

"How much for one?" He asked cautiously.

"Five for two copper." The old man said and Ruel blinked, surprised.

He expected the prices to be very high considering the financial issues but to think that he was selling them for such low price.

He bought it first and munched onto the piece of meat feeling its texture starting to melt on his tongue making sure it wasn’t a foul play before he ended up asking.

"Isn’t that a bit too cheap?"

The old man chuckled flipping the skewers on the grill.

"Are you new in town, young man?" He asked and Carlos stiffened while Ruel was calm.

"Yes, I’m a mercenary, I was travelling around."

"Going South?" He asked and Ruel nodded taking a larger bite of the meat.

"Good, good, there are good prospects for your work in South." The old man said as he continued his work.

"You didn’t answer my question," Ruel reminded and the old man looked at him before he sighed.

"Well, that’s because our Baron had just passed away and we are in some trouble. But I’m sure it will be sorted out." He said waving his hand, clearly wary of sharing information with an outsider.

Ruel took the chance and prodded, "You mean it will be sorted out by the heir? I heard the Baron has a son who is going to take over. Isn’t that good?"

The old man’s face scrunched up in anger hearing that and even the few more people around who heard looked at him with frowns. Some of them whispered angrily amongst themselves while Ruel waited for someone to say something that would be helpful for him.

The old man sighed and looked at Ruel seriously, "Listen, young man. It’s better for you to not get involved in this. This is the nobles’ matters, commoners like us better not get involved so, keep your nose out of this business while you’re here and then leave."

Ruel then glanced at the people who maintained a little distance from him and then looked at the old man who went back to grilling before he turned and walked away.

"How dare they! You were asking politely and they are such rude insolent people! How dare they not answer?!" Carlos shouted in his head and Ruel sighed.

"Calm down, son. I’m an outsider here so, it’s obvious that they won’t readily answer everything. Besides, I wasn’t planning on getting my information here in the first place."

"Then where are we going?" Carlos asked and a smile stretched over Ruel’s face.

"Wait and see."

Three of the five spies who were following Carlos were at a loss, they couldn’t see where he had gone off to. They saw him sneak out of the Valmest mansion and run into the streets inside the alley but then he suddenly disappeared from their sight.

One of the three who had been the closest was the most frustrated, his name was Quill.

"What’s wrong? Where did he go?" His partners asked him and he shook his head.

He was the fastest among the group and yet, he was outrun by a spoiled prince.

"I don’t know, I lost him the moment he got out of that alley." He spoke through his teeths frustrated and they stood on the building of the inn in the town scanning the crowd below.

"Don’t be angry, he can’t run away. As of now, we need to look for him." Their leader, Bolt said.

"Should I call for the other two?" The third one, Zen asked.

"No, let them keep an eye on the others, our task was to make sure he stays safe throughout this Trial. If he returns without us knowing then we’ll be notified so, let’s keep looking around." Bolt said and Zen nodded.

"Either ways, that brat is prone to getting in trouble because of his oh-so-haughty nature so, it’s only a matter of time before he exploded and gives away his location." Zen shrugged.

Quill couldn’t be at ease though, somehow, he felt as if Zen’s words weren’t going to work here. They had been keeping an eye on Carlos since the first day he’s arrived in Ryujin and he knew, something had changed about him since the last couple of days. Or else, why would their Master warn them strictly to not approach Carlos at any cost and only keep an eye on him from far?

As of now, he only wanted to do one thing, and that’s to search for this troublesome Prince and make sure things went smoothly as their Master wanted.

"Let’s split and search." Bolt suggested and both Zen and Quill leapt away without any word.

Below, inside the crowded tavern the people seemed like they were having a blast as they all were gathered over a single table where two men sat. One of them was a large guy built as a mountain and another rather leaner and frail looking. The table was filled with the empty wooden beer mugs, and the two were currently downing more mugs.

The large man looked a little uneasy as he chugged at his drink, he was behind by three mugs and the young man seemed like he had no intention of stopping. And the crowd was having fun with this competition.

"Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!"

The chanting was resounding around along with cheers, whistles and laughters.

"Molt! Don’t you dare lose against this scrawny brat!"

Two men from behind the large men shouted, one of them was a lanky man while the other was a short round one.

Molt, the man who was drinking slowly felt the mug dropped from his hand before he slumped ahead nearly smashing his head on the table as he passed out.

The people cheered for the young man who finished the beer and placed the mug down with a triumphant smile.

"Anyone else?!" He challenged and the men behind Molt looked at each other before turning their gazes on the three other men of their gang.

"Is this brat’s stomach a barrel or something? How did he drink so much beer and not even appear drunk?"

"Man, he drinks like a fish!"

The men commented and laughed.

"So, as per the bet, y’all will pay for the drinks tonight!" Carlos announced gesturing at the large men.

"You’re gutsy, brat. You defeated the heavy drinkers of Silver Fang mercenaries on your own." An old man slapped Carlos’s back with a laugh.

Ruel laughed, and then glanced at the men who were glaring at their fallen comrades before he offered.

"It’s fine, I can understand that your territory is having some trouble so, let’s split."

The men looked at Carlos/Ruel who smiled.

"It’s fine, we’re not that broke that we would need the mercy of an outsider." One of the men said and Ruel chuckled.

"I’m a wanderer, man. I belong to wherever I go, if I’m here then I am one of you all. Besides, I had a really good time here and your beer is the best one I’ve tasted so, I can at least do this much." Ruel said, he used Carlos’s face for a smile that was charming to some level.

The men who were prickly before seemed a little disarmed before his sweet words and the smile before they exchanged glances.

"I’ll even help you bring these men home." Ruel added gesturing at the passed out men.

"All right." The duo spoke in unison at that.

Ruel laughed and they sat down at another table.

They ordered some food and Ruel watched as the men ate and drank, he watched as their faces flushed a little before he leaned his arms over the table.

"Say, Lior?" Ruel asked the lanky man, "I heard there are some problems in the territory but when I was buying skewers outside they were selling it so cheap. Why is that?"

Lior gazed at Ruel with dazed eyes, "That’s because we are provided with food but we don’t have money."

Ruel frowned a little, "What do you mean?"

"That means," Refal, the round one started, "that we don’t have money."

Ruel tilted his head slightly, glancing around he could see that the people did have enough food and beer but it didn’t make sense when they said that they didn’t have enough money.

"I still don’t understand, is it related to the Baron’s passing? Or is it because the Baron’s son is a big spender?" Ruel asked, testing waters.

Lior and Refal paused and then looked around as if checking if someone heard them before they looked at Ruel. Refal gestured him to come closer and Ruel leaned in.

"Don’t speak so loudly." Refal hissed.

"Yes, that bastard gets information quickly. Besides, the people he owes money might be here." Lior added.

That sparked Ruel’s curiosity and he leaned further ahead.

"You mean the Baron’s son has debts?"

Lior and Refal nodded.

"That swine is a gambler. If not for him then our Barony was a prosperous place." Refal said.

"Did this happen while the Baron was alive?" Ruel asked and Refal nodded while Lior leaned further in to explain.

"That fool spent away the money from the Baron’s treasury without the Baron’s knowledge and when the Baron got to know of it he had already gave away more than half of the money. The Baron tried his best to fix the issue but it was useless."

"But considering the nature of nobles, if they mess up something like this then, don’t they put heavy taxes on people?" Ruel asked.

"They do," Refal said, "and that swine had suggested that and we were asked for thrice the taxes."

"Then what happened?" Ruel asked.

"That shitty brat gambled it away again." Lior slammed his fist on the table and Refal patted his shoulder to calm him down.

Ruel leaned in again, "And?"

Refal shook his head, "The Baron was too much stressed that he fell ill and he gave the responsibility as the proxy to Miss Nyx."

Ruel felt Carlos’s heart skip a beat at the mention of her name before he asked.

"Miss Nyx? You mean the Baron’s illegitimate daughter?" Ruel asked and the two nodded.

"If not for her then our Barony and our houses would have been gambled away." Refal said with a smile.

"Do you even know what kind of rumours are flying regarding the lady?" Ruel asked, "The people outside the territory say that she’s a lavish woman who brought the Barony to the brink of ruin."

"Who the hell-" Lior almost stood up shouting but Refal grabbed his arm pulling him back down.

"That snot faced swine must have spread those false rumors to save his face." Refal said.

"Quite a dastardly piece of shit, isn’t he?" Ruel muttered and Lior nodded.

"Yes! If not for being the legitimate son, he wouldn’t even be in the Barony right now. Our Young Miss was the one who reduced the taxes to half of the original and she even opened the granary to keep us from starving to death." Lior spoke with tears welling up in his eyes.

"She’s the one who really cares about us. If not for her then that swine would have swindled away the Barony." Refal said.

"And if we already didn’t have one spoiled shitty brat on our hands before that we have another one." Lior grunted.

"You mean the Prince?" Refal asked and Lior nodded taking a gulp of his beer.

"We were hoping Prince Eric would come so that he could teach that brainless fool a good lesson but as the fate had it, we are doomed." Lior shook his head.

"Then, do you want Miss Nyx to be your Lord?" Ruel asked ignoring the jab taken at Carlos.

The duo looked at him before they laughed, "We would love to but as the tragedy would have it for our territory. Even she is to leave soon."

Ruel felt Carlos’s heart beating quickly and he asked, "What do you mean?"

Lior sniffled as he said, "That’s because after the Baron’s death, that swine has arranged her engagement to Earl Kirkland."

"Who is Earl Kirkland?"

"It’s the man whom he owes. And in exchange for our young Miss his debt would be settled." Refal answered.

"Our Young Miss is destined to marry that old lecherous pig, oh, how tragic!" Lior groaned.

Ruel looked at Refal for explanation, "Earl Kirkland holds weekly gambling parties at his estate and a lot of young noblemen attend it. Our Young Master also attended it but he ended up losing great time and when he didn’t have enough money, he gambled away our young Miss."

Ruel felt the rage surging through his veins and despite himself he felt his control slowly glitching. Ruel closed his eyes and forced Carlos back.

"Calm down, boy." Ruel grunted in his head.

"It’s quite a tragedy indeed, but our Miss is so kind and generous that she agreed to it to save us." Refal said and Lior wiped his tears.

"Once she’s gone our homes and territory would be gone for good." Lior sniffled.

Ruel watched as both the men lamented over it and he leaned back as he got enough information that he needed.

"Ruel, I want to beat that piece of turd with my own hands, let’s go back. How dare he force her into an engagement with a lecherous old man?!"

Ruel closed his eyes, "Calm down for now, son. Beating him up right now won’t solve the problem. We now have most of the answers so, we will have to be careful on what we do. Remember, they don’t trust us yet."

Ruel could still feel Carlos’s anger burning in his chest.

"Then what do we do?" Carlos asked and Ruel took a moment before he said.

"Remember, I told you we would need a puppet? I think I have an idea on whom we would use."