We entered a dimly lit hallway, leading to a kitchen with cooks busy preparing more meals than they should have; a roughly dressed man stopped us in the middle of the corridor, and folded his arms. "What are you looking for, Dwarf?"
"Just a Merlion’s special— a nice bitter drink from below."
The man seemed to accept Gennady’s answer, and he gestured for us to follow him. He led us into a corner of the kitchen, and opened up what appeared to be a cellar door. He lifted the latch, revealing a stairway leading down into a hidden basement.
"There’s only one rule down there, and it’s ‘don’t cause any trouble’, got it?"
"‘Course," Gennady said, nodding. The man seemed unconvinced until Gennady nudged me.
"Oh— yeah." I nodded curtly, catching myself from stumbling over my words.
With my affirmation, the man stepped aside and let us enter; we went down the stairs— it wasn’t a long way down, only two flights at most— and reached a doorway. It was far easier to open than the front door of the Merlion’s Alcove, probably because they didn’t worry as much about noise escaping due to the rambunctious cover they had at the top.
I found my nose wrinkling as the door opened; an eclectic of scents ranging from food, to drinks, to drugs, to sex wafted in my direction, with an incredibly pungent smell leading the assault. I reached up to pinch my nose to protect it from the terrible stench, but only heard the clacking of my gloved nails striking my mask.
I cast my gaze around the room and was greeted by a far more naturally raucous crowd than before, with many of the individuals in it partaking in illicit activities. In addition to being set up like a regular tavern with tables and chairs strewn about with men and women consuming various foods and drinks, there were also various other forms of… entertainment available here.
There were men lounging in violet couches creased with golden lines at its edges, indulging in various kinds of substances: I recognized the smell and smoke of tobacco coming from most of these men, yet a few of them inhaled a colorless gas from a pipe which a hunch told me was the source of the pungent smell.
There was also a gambling area set up in the corner of the room, with scantily dressed women serving alcoholic beverages to the men dressed in robes playing with their gold and silver. While this might not seem like an unusual sight, it was, in fact, quite an uncommon one here in Laxis due to the laws banning any acts of gambling.
I conveniently ignored the corner of the room where moans and grunts were coming from, and followed Gennady as he strode forwards without even blinking. I stepped up beside him, and spoke quietly.
"Do you go to places like this often?"
"Yes," he said, continuing past a table of where an argument just broke out. A man stood up to throw a punch, and bouncers immediately swarmed him and dragged him out of the room. Gennady didn’t bat an eye. "But not for any of the reasons most come here for.
"Ever since I left the Taw Kingdom, I’ve been trying to widen my worldview. They thought I was crazy, but they also praised me as their best, and at the time, I thought that was a compliment. But when they went ahead with replacing me with that Scientist from Xan? I realized perhaps they truly thought me mad."
"Didn’t you say that your King pleaded for you to stay?" I asked, cocking my head.
"He did." Gennady nodded as he sat at the now vacated table. "Him and half of the other Dwarves I knew. But the other half? They’re glad I’m gone, and they’re willing to embrace that madman Bertrand to get it."
I pulled out the chair opposite to him, and took a seat as well. "And what exactly have you been doing to… widen your worldview?"
"For starters," he said leaning in, "I learned magic."
I frowned. "What does that have to do with any of this?"
"Magic itself is against the law. Even in the criminal world, it’s not exactly commonplace to find a spellcaster. But that’s the only place you can find spellcasters. The Dark Crusaders have many connections in the underground, and that’s how I first contacted them."
I drew in a sharp breath, and remembered why I had good reason to not fully trust Gennady just yet; I did not know what his motives were— he told me he just wanted to help me out and return to his Kingdom because of the Abominations, but how much of that was true? What if he was fully aligned with the Dark Crusaders? Could this have all been a trap for me because I killed Victor—
A voice broke me out of my thoughts, stifling my paranoia for just a moment. "Ah, I was told to expect a rather rotund looking man tonight, but I never suspected it to be a Dwarf."
A rough, older looking man approached the table accompanied by a delicate, young woman. The juxtaposition between the two was immediately visible; the man was dressed in rough leather clothing, giving his already tough exterior emphasized by his scowl an even more weathered look. Meanwhile, the young woman wore more of the fashion I had seen in Laxis, wearing pure, white robes that covered everything but her smiling face. Looking between the two was like looking between the fragile bud of a flower and its sharp thorns.
"Oh, uh, Mr Jack and Ms Lisa?" Gennady greeted them.
"No need for formalities, Dwarf. Hearing it from your kind just doesn’t sound right. I’m assuming you’re Gen?"
"Yes, and this is my companion, Aria."
I nodded my head slightly
