At the eastern district of the Manasvir Empire’s capital, Macnadix City, many of the Manasvir Empire’s royal guards were standing on guard around the outer periphery of the Christian Hotel. Bella took a look at them from the entrance but didn’t go out to chase them away. These imperial soldiers came under the reason of protecting Princess Pamela and President Isaman, so Bella couldn’t say anything.
The general leading the group was the Empire’s only female general, General Fanny. With long, dark purple hair, this general was looking at Christian Hotel’s entrance with a rather cautious expression. She led her team here to hunt down the night demons that escaped the imperial palace. Things had been getting more dangerous around there with all sorts of demonic beings out, which caused all kinds of rumors to arise.
The ladies staying at Christian Hotel were all students from Olsylvia Academy. Most of them were royalty and aristocrats from other empires, so things would be hard to deal with if any accidents had risen. Night demons usually were weakened during the day, but General Fanny wouldn’t dare chase after them at night.
“General, madam, I can’t detect the reflections from the night demons anymore. In my humble opinion, I think we should deal with them in daylight!”
“Well… Let us hope so. We… I will pull out for now. All of you guard this place well.”
General Fanny hesitated for a moment but chose to leave. She really wished to go inside the Christian Hotel to see what on earth was going on with Prime Minister Anna and the others that they didn’t return even though it was so late. However, she could only leave under Her Majesty the Empress’s orders. If General Fanny went in now, it would be hard for her to escape the same fate as Prime Minister Anna and Archmage Ronnie, so she barely made it out of misfortune tonight.
Before leaving with a large group of royal guards, General Fanny did not notice the shadows that followed along with her group, but Bella did. They seemed to be mutated versions of the night demons who could now remain active even during the day. However, General Fanny was surrounded by so many royal guards that Bella decided she didn’t need to care too much.
After a moment’s hesitation, Bella went alone to visit a senior sister of hers who was rather special. The older sister of Mask of Darkness Society’s leader Samson was the leader of one of the four major evil organizations, Chairman Sally Roy of the Eye of Darkness. Sally Roy was a student of Olsylvia Academy by name and came for the qualifying competition, but kept a low profile and didn’t even show up for the pool party, which was quite a shame for Bella as she was looking forward to seeing the real body of this mob boss missy.
Sally Roy’s heart actually wavered at the swimsuits that Bella designed, but her body was covered in all sorts of scars that she really couldn’t bring herself to walk out in those swimsuits, so she just waved it off. When Bella came to look for her, Sally Roy looked a little surprised. Dressed in a black men’s suit, she could not guess what Bella had come to see her for.
“Grand Duchess Bella, you… Why did you leave a bunch of princesses and young maidens behind to see a bad senior sister like me?”
“Well, Chairman Sally Roy… No, Senior Sally Roy, I wanted to go somewhere and figured that a professional like you could show me the way, so please help me out!”
“Uh… Grand Duchess Bella, you’re going… there! I don’t really like going there…”
“Senior Sally Roy, just once, okay? I have something I need to do there, we can talk about the reward!”
When she heard that Bella was going to the western district of the capital Macnadix City, even a mob boss like Sally Roy felt a little troubled. The western district was the entertainment zone filled with nightly establishments, out of which, the two “silver” organizations, The Amour Organization and “Esem Club” had huge branches located there.
Even though Sally Roy was quite a notable character in the underworld, she still felt some disdain for such places. Bella’s tone sounded very sincere, so it wouldn’t do well for Chairman Sally Roy to refuse. After all, she strangely had some good sentiments about this girl, Bella.
“Junior Bella, are you sure you want to go? I can bring you, but the reward is not necessary. We get along quite well, after all. Only… we’re currently on prohibition. Teacher Ingrid and the others won’t agree…”
“It’s fine as long as you agree, Senior Sally Roy. As for the curfew, would a bad senior like you really follow it?”
“You naughty junior. To think you dare make a conjecture about your senior’s thoughts… I admire that. Why don’t you join the Eye of Darkness?”
Bella declined Sally Roy’s invitation to join her society. She would much rather prefer snatching Sally Roy for her own Rose Society. Since she succeeded in pushing down the daughter of the Skeleton Tower’s lord, Kleina, Bella started taking an interest in all four of the human underworld’s major evil organizations.
The western district of the capital, Macnadix City, was the holy land of entertainment; nicknamed the human world’s finest holy ground for merriment, the legends said that even the most upstanding person would fall here. In earth’s terms, this would be a corrupt paradise where sex, gambling, and drugs were all gathered into one entity.
The most famous locations in the western district were the Las Vega Grand Casino, Durix Nightclub, Nerodis Underground Trading Center, and a few others. The more secretive places, which required a veteran to lead the way there, would be Sima Taboo Secret House, Radekz Secret Market, and the Bradley Assembly.
Las Vega Grand Casino was the first gambling casino in the human continent, and it was said that only the Chosen One blessed by the God of Gambling could get rich here overnight and reach the pinnacle of his life. Nerodis Underground Trading Center was the largest nightclub of the human race, where the most beautiful ladies of the entire continent “traded their youth for money, for tomorrow.” Not only human beauties, but it was also said that many beauties from other races could be found here too.
Nerodis Underground Trading Center was Bella’s aim for this trip. She wanted to buy a map of one of the locations in the qualifier stages’ monster hunting locations, the Forest of the Wild. Such maps could only be purchased at Nerodis Underground Trading Center. Many secret maps, even for the locations banned from sale by the Imperial Union, could be bought at Nerodis Underground Trading Center.
Of course, it was hard to talk about the locations of Sima Taboo Secret House, Radekz Secret Market, and Bradley Assembly. Even Chairman Sally Roy felt too embarrassed to speak about it. However, Mob Boss Sally Roy did tell Bella with reluctance under her unremitting questioning.
The Bradley Assembly wasn’t as mysterious and taboo compared to the other two places. It was a meeting place for the underground evil forces of the human empires, known as the “Underworld Council.” This was the place where the rules of the underworld were established. Four times a year, each leader of the evil forces in each human empire would come for a meeting to discuss matters on territory and power in the Underworld. Chairman Sally Roy had been there a couple of times and could be considered one of the “Underworld Council’s” frequent visitors. As the leader of Eye of Darkness, one of the four major evil organizations, she was a frequent visitor to the dark council.
Sima Taboo Secret House was a secret “S&M” club where all sorts of interesting games were played. The people who go there mostly came from the upper echelons of each empire. It was rumored that many members of the Fraternity were high-level members there. The Radekz Secret Market was even nastier. Its location was said to be right beside the Sima Taboo Secret House. It was a mega slave market run by the “Horrorshow Group” of the four major evil organizations of the human underworld.
For the sake of the human empires, the imperial Union had long issued a joint decree banning the trade of slaves. Strictly speaking, all the slaves sold at the Radekz Secret Market were illegal, but the underworld’s legal documents were even more unreliable than the ones back on earth.
The Manasvir Empire had long since acquiesced to the existence of the slave trade in Radekz Secret Market, and the Empire was entitled to half the cut for each sale. Such humongous profits would be hard to refuse for any empire.
When speaking of these two places, Chairman Sally Roy had a very unnatural expression on her face. As a girl, such places clearly conflicted with her. But Chairman Sally Roy couldn’t understand why Bella was so strangely interested in these places. After hearing Chairman Sally Roy’s descriptions of these places, Bella’s eyes shone as if she were very interested in them. This girl’s tastes truly were different from any other.
Security wasn’t too strict around the outer periphery of the Christian Hotel, so Bella invited her “partner in crime,” Assassin Noreya to come so they could head out together with the Chairman of the Eye of Darkness, Sally Roy. The only friends Bella could bring to such places were only Puppet Master Elaine and Assassin Noreya, “bad girls” like Bella. As for the others, Bella felt that they were still too pure for these sorts of places.
They weren’t so lucky with Puppet Master Elaine. Her big sister, President Isaman, had invited her to the gardens to chat, so Bella could only invite Assassin Noreya to come help. Noreya easily agreed. The three came out of Christian Hotel’s back entrance together, successfully moving around in broad daylight. The royal guards who were there on watch weren’t disciplined enough, and the guards who were supposed to be stationed at the back entrance had already slipped off to do their own thing.
Things really started to heat up in Macnadix City’s western district now, but it was currently daytime, so not many people were around. Bella and the two others came here on a special black carriage. Chairman Sally Roy was still wearing her classic men’s suit with a butterfly-shaped mask on her face.
Bella was dressed as Sally Roy’s attendant guard, and she picked out the same skin-tight outfit for herself as Noreya with a black mask on her face and several assassin swords on her back. To make the disguise a little more authentic, both Bella and Noreya wore “Eye of Darkness” armbands on their right arm, which they borrowed from Chairman Sally Roy.
After disembarking, Bella followed Chairman Sally Roy and began exploring the western district. The time they were heading to Nerodis Underground Trading Center so they could buy the map of the Forest of the Wild. As for Sima Taboo Secret House and Radekz Secret Market, Bella was interested in these two places, but this would have to wait for the future before they returned for a “pilgrimage.”
“Boss Sally Roy, long time no see. It’s not the time for the Dark Council yet, what brings you to hang out in a place like this?”
“Gunther? Why are you here instead of taking care of your Black Wolves Gang!”
At the entrance of the western district’s entertainment zone, Bella saw many bare-bodied “Otherworld Gangsters” whose tops were covered in all sorts of magical tattoos and scars, similar to the gangsters back on earth. The ones loitering outside were only lackeys or punks. Their main task was to work as cheap fodder for mob bosses like Chairman Sally Roy in exchange for payment.
Even though Sally Roy and the others have already disguised themselves and put on masks, the “Eye of Darkness” insignia on their arms were not hidden. The other gangsters could immediately tell that these women were the members of one of the four major criminal organizations, Eye of Darkness, and didn’t dare try anything funny with them.
As Gunther was talking to Sally Roy, Bella was secretly assessing him. He was a tall man with big burly muscles and a rapacious face accosting Chairman Sally Roy. Bella wasn’t impressed by his name, Gunther, the gang leader of the Black Wolves Gang, and instead found it a little funny. It was really too easy for a person’s mind to wander with the name Gunther.
The Black Wolves Gang was a small gang with just over a hundred people. Even though Chairman Sally Roy was a woman, most of her underworld peers looked down on her a little in their hearts. But still, they showed her the necessary respect whenever they saw her. The etiquettes of the underworld were still followed after all.
“Well… Chairman Sally Roy, this is how it is. This year, we…”
“Never mind. I’m not here for work today, it’s better to look for the Blood Skulls for that. My Eye of Darkness isn’t into dealing with that sort of business.”
Chairman Sally Roy dismissed Gang Leader Gunther’s deal quite contemptuously. This Gunther’s Black Wolves Gang mainly dealt with helping loan sharks in collecting debts. They were the type of clowns who liked to bully the weak. The Eye of Darkness was an underworld organization, but there were still some things that Chairman Sally Roy won’t do. Bella appreciated her behavior for that.
“Boss Gunther, isn’t that woman too cocky?! Those two assassins she got with her have pretty hot bodies. Why don’t we…”
“Mead, you better watch your damn jocks and don’t stir any trouble. You think you can mess around with a woman like that as you please? If Sally Roy doesn’t care, we’ll just look for the Blood Skull’s boss. They’re just on the pricier side… Sally Roy may be a female gang leader, but her prices aren’t as cutthroat…”
“Boss Gunther is wise. Well, uh, can we head to Durix Nightclub today? I can hardly control my pants…”
“Seriously, Mead? Damnit, we’ll talk about this tonight…”
Unlike the mess of thugs outside, the inside of the western district was the true upper echelon of underworld society. Just like Chairman Sally Roy, these people changed into black suits and put on masks. Women wore butterfly-shaped masks, while the men wore devil-shaped ones. The men were dressed in black tuxedos while the women wore black evening gowns. It looked just like a gathering for wealthy people.
Chairman Sally Roy was considered one of the odd ones out. She was a woman, but she wore suits like men. She just couldn’t wear strapless evening dresses like the other women, the scars on her body were too obvious. For the sake of her image and authority as the head of the Eye of Darkness, this was the only way Sally Roy could dress.
There were no royal guards or other troops stationed in the western district. This place was like a “country inside a country,” and the laws of Manasvir Empire and the Imperial Union did not apply here. The order was maintained by various dark organizations here. The main blocks were currently under the administration of the Underworld Association, which was the dark guards in charge of by the Dark Council.
This wasn’t Chairman Sally Roy’s first time here as she was able to bring Bella and Noreya around with much familiarity as they strolled leisurely around the central area of the western district. The mobsters here were on a higher level compared to the punks loitering outside. The mobsters here pretty much wouldn’t use any profanities when talking to each other. They mostly whispered exchanges, similar to the interactions between noble young gentlemen and ladies of high society.
“Hey Dragon One-eye, you got your loans paid back yet? Those farmers at Judd Village sure are tricky.”
“What else can you do? Just kill them all and burn the place down. That village is full of bad luck, the soil is not good for farming, and the lassies aren’t much to look at. The boss at the Horrorshow Group isn’t interested either. After all that, I still had to pay up a few thousand gold coins to bribe the city lord, Earl Vern!”
“I told you that your loan shark business has no future, but you didn’t believe me. I recently started reselling slaves to the bigwigs at Skeleton Tower for their demonic experiments. They make no distinction between gender or age. They pay by count, at least one gold coin per head.”
“You’re better with the whole business thing after all, why don’t you take me along as well on the next ride? I’ll follow you, and we can split the profits seven to three, I’ll just take the three.”
As Bella walked past these “gentlemen and ladies” and heard their conversations, Bella was speechless. They were all dressed so normally, but their contents were one worse after the other. It was either about loans and murder or desecration and so on. It was simply like a criminal research club. If the cops were to scope for a sudden spot check, none of them would be able to escape. All of them would be packed up to the jail to wait for their sentences.
Nerodis Underground Trading Center was laid out like a normal human market with plenty of light, only without the shouting. This was one of the rules of the underworld trade. Shopkeepers won’t take the initiative to shout out what they were selling. If you wanted to buy something, you could just go there by yourself, ask the shopkeeper, and pay for the item after asking the price.
Like the rest of the western district, Nerodis Underground Trading Center accepted all manner of currency, from gold coins to gold nuggets, gems or jewels, cores of high-level beasts, equipment, everything was fine. In short, all forms of possessions were accepted. Based on these rules, Bella was actually even wealthier than Chairman Sally Roy. This demon didn’t have much gold on her, but she had plenty of other stuff.
“Ladies, we do have a map of the Forest of the Wild, but the only one we have has already been bought at a high price. I’m afraid you’re too late.”
“Hey shopkeeper, could you tell me who bought it? I’d like to have a talk with the buyer.”
“It’s… Miss Sally Roy, it’s someone you know. It’s the young mistress of the Blood Skull, Veronica.”
