Chapter 34: Fourth Episode: Chapter 7 (2/2)

”Come on in, you appeared like a curious little bear just now. I know that you have examined for quite a while, so as thanks, I do not mind if you help examine the other locks in this room.”

”Hehhehhehhehheh!” Oscar broke into a shameless smile. He did not open the Princess’ bedroom door widely; instead he flitted in sideways through the crack that he had already opened.

When Alanis saw little Oscar who was like a thief, she could not help but laughed happily although she initially felt a little resentful towards the little fellow. After all, she knew that His Royal Highness, who she was quite fond of, could not resist temptation.

Oscar sized up the Princess’ bedroom for he could not understand girls and thus was rather curious about the young miss’ bedroom. Alanis appeared to be a person who cared about the delights of life. Her bedroom had all kinds of everyday appliances scattered all over the room. Of course, all these little things, be it the quality or workmanship, were all of the fine and luxurious type.

”Hey, now you have become a curious bobcat. This is my turf, so you should listen to me!” Alanis tried to get the prince’s attention.

”Of course I would listen to you, Your Royal Highness Princess. If you have any commands, I do not mind to stand in and play the role of a servant.” Oscar moved closer to the Princess, laughing loudly with joy.

Alanis twirled gracefully and allowed the little fatty to move over. The princess’ thin and elegant nightdress lifted in a rippling circle around her, then fell and settled back down onto the detailed, fine curves of her body. The little prince looked on, his mouth dry.

The Princess elegantly sat in front of her dressing table. The huge chests of the table were filled with all sorts of hair accessories and hairpins imbedded with diamonds and precious stones.

Oscar was a mature young man. He had not yet woke from the princess’ trance and was debating whether he should now tear off the nightdress on Princess Alanis.

”Oh! Good gracious!”

Oscar returned back to reality. He recognized the voice of the Princess’ maid.

”Oh my goodness Your Royal Highness! I mean, how did you get in here?” Countess Emory carried a huge breakfast tray and stood beside the door in bewilderment.

Oscar rubbed his nose again. He did not know how to explain himself and the excuse about examining the door lock was proven as an extremely silly explanation.

”Mory, it was I who invited His Royal Highness in. He is my younger cousin.” The princess came to the Prince’s rescue.

”Alanis, I have already had a taste of your willfulness, but this is really too much! This is definitely against the rules. I must report this to her Majesty the Queen! Oh for goodness sake, but how would Her Majesty punish me? This is my fault.”

Countess Emory handed over the breakfast tray to the little prince and walked over to face the princess all business like.

Alanis wrinkled her eyebrows but then quickly flashed a mischievous expression. ”Hey! My young lady, what about this? You don’t report my bringing His Royal Highness Prince into my bedroom to my mother, and I on the other hand will promise to take along that little knight on the journey. What do you say?”

Emory caught hold of the Princess’ neck and asked, ”Not reluctantly?” She bored into Alanis’ eyes.

”No! Not reluctant at all!”

”Erm... Then, very well! I’ll let you off this time!” Countess Emory finally could not help but let out a laugh.

Alanis pulled the rather tall countess into her embrace and the two young ladies broke down into hysterics, leaving the culprit of the incident, which was our Royal Highness the Prince, standing there like a real servant and staring blankly at the breakfast on the tray.

By the time the prince came out from Westberg fort, it was already noon. He had declined the Princess’ suggestion to join her for lunch because the youngster felt a need to hurry back to the relay station to have a look. Since the Narcissus knights were proficient in long and arduous journeys, they may be able to give some pretty good suggestions for his journey.

The meeting between the prince and the knights were not official. In fact, they took the opportunity during midday to hold a lunch gathering. The prince had cleared the dining hall in the relay station of all the unnecessary people. However, this small place was incapable of accommodating a squadron of narcissus knights.

Oscar greeted the knights warmly. He personally helped refilled the wine glasses of the knights that did not have any seats.

Just like this, everyone started off the lunch gathering without any awkwardness. The little prince continuously inquired about all sorts of issues while the knights’ replies rather satisfied him. This squadron had magnificent military accomplishments. They had rich experience carrying out specialized missions and in their eyes, protecting His Majesty the Prince in passing through half the Empire was not something difficult.

When the prince was enjoying his meal, the last of the luggage were delivered to the relay station and Oscar was overjoyed. Mother Celia informed him that he could leave early next morning. Of course, to coordinate with Her Royal Highness the Princess’ arrangements, the procession would rest and reorganize at Westberg for a whole day, meaning to say, the actual date they were to set off was the morning of the day after tomorrow.

Oscar knew that the arrangements for the journey was more or less complete. He felt that he really must visit the lair once, as the King of Sins was not someone that the Baron could control. As to how he would make arrangements for this chap who committed crimes as if he were eating rice, the little fatty had a headache just thinking about it.

The prince ingeniously switched his carriage at the relay station. He knew that there were definitely secret agents belonging to the Ministry of Justice or directly under the Imperial household at the relay station, but as long as things are done as hushed as possible, these secret agents would usually turn a blind eye.

The lair was still as it were before. Regarding this settlement place for the poor, Oscar still had clear memories about it. It was here that he knew there was still such thing called ”suffering” in the world. Although during his younger days the prince had personally experienced the true meaning of suffering, but all in all those were already very far away from him.

If a person was born in the lair, then in his lifetime, he is bound to never be able to break away from suffering. Suffering was the fate that all people of the lair must endure.

In a flourishing and affluent corner of Dulin, was a place where the defeated, the mournful and those with cruel desires gathered. Here, no one knew what the ”Titan Codex” was. Here, people were used to lurking in the shadows beneath the eaves. Here, people were used to robbing strangers when they see them, instead of taking off their hats in cordial greeting.

Oscar’s carriage was advancing slowly in the gloomy alley of the lair. The attendant driving the carriage was on high alert, watching the surrounding low rooftops attentively and the lane that did not have the trace of a single soul. Usually those gangsters who rob in gangs would suddenly spring out from the dark alley and stab you, or they may jump from the rooftops onto the carriage roof and squeeze through the carriage’s windows to take control of the unlucky soul inside.

The carriage stopped at the back alley of the Grim Brothers Club. Oscar was not anxious at all and sat in the carriage calmly. The coachmen knocked on the carriage door, and then a set of eyes appeared at the peeping hole of the iron doors.

The doors were opened in an instant and a group of men had the carriage surrounded closely. Although this was a secluded corner, but deadly dangers constantly awaits in the lair.

Oscar passed through the crowd and made his way into the lair. Someone led him all the way down to the entrance of the basement. Oscar knew that this was a casino but it did not seem to have started operating yet.

The Baron was waiting for Oscar in the basement. He initially intended to welcome him outside but that would be too conspicuous. The Baron was now a key player at the lair. The officials of the Ministry of Justice and the best spies were already carefully monitoring the Baron’s every move.

”My apologies for my impertinence, Your Royal Highness!” Thomas Aulet bowed to the prince respectfully and pulled a chair behind the immense office table.

”There’s no need! You know that it goes without saying that I can’t risk drawing any attention here! And do you know Thomas? In future, everything here will depend fully on you for His Majesty the Emperor had smelled something going on over here and so I need to reduce the number of times I visit the lair.”

As soon as Tomas Aulet heard this news, he could not help but feel a little worried. He knew that one of the huge reasons that the little prince could only sit here calmly and safely was due to the Emperor’s wish.

”Then His Majesty did not cause any trouble for you? Apparently this cannot be justified, since we have formed a pact with the Ministry of Justice and if His Majesty does not approve, then I believe our days will be not be that easy.”

Oscar took a sip of the drink that the Baron had prepared for him, ”No Thomas, do not worry about this first. His Majesty the Emperor would not mind about matters such as these. He is definitely worrying about more significant matters. Moreover, he may even need our help.”

This instantly caught Thomas Aulet’s attention. Being able to provide service to the Emperor was naturally a type of honor.

”Ola! Let us discuss about these matters another time shall we? You know that I have to be on my way soon. I only dropped by to see if you had any results recently.”

The Barons face immediately fell. Regarding the little prince’s suggestion, he was all for it. However, when it came to the stage of actually carrying out, he realized that the matter had become more troublesome than was previously expected.

”Your Royal Highness, truthfully speaking, the task that you assigned to me, isn’t it a more difficult than the usual?”

The Baron paused and took note of the little prince’s expression. He realized that Oscar was not unhappy because of that.

”Just the illustrative files for the draft itself had already taken up a lengthy time. You know, if all the various specifications were not detailed and clarified, then I believe you would see a lair that is in utter chaos.”

Oscar nodded his head. A new system indeed required a lot of time and practice to perfect it from every aspect and just the combination of the lair itself was already a very long process.

”Thomas, what you said is right. I also believe that this is not a matter that can be accomplished quickly. I came this time with the hope of aiding you as much as I can. Think about it, is there anything that you still need help with?”

Thomas gave it a thought. He felt that there were just too many areas that he needed help with, and the main problem he was facing at the moment was the lack of manpower. Although all the hired thugs at the lair were under his control, but those fellows were not suitable for jobs that required brains.

”Your Royal Highness, it is impossible for me to handle such a vast territory alone. You know that those guys under me are not worthy to be trusted. I’m wondering whether you could introduce me to a few talented people in the field?”

Oscar knew that this was indeed a problem. The people that he could use was really too little and he still did not have the power to recruit new staff openly in Dulin. After all, this was the capital of the Empire and the capital’s Ministry of Justice was very functional.

”Regarding this... I fear that you may be disappointed. You could hire some able and efficient people from the other provinces, as long as their backgrounds are not too complicated, I believe that we could still use them.”

Thomas knew that there was no other better way as of now. To nurture a group of loyal subordinates was not something that could be achieved in a day or two.

”Very well then, I will send out invites to those proficient people through friends. I believe that as long as our price is acceptable, then there will still be a lot of people willing to work for us.”

”Yes, that’s right, no one would be able to resist money. However, be wary about their attempts to get close to us, if it is for benefits then so be it; if it is for any other reasons, I suggest Thomas, that you exercise utmost caution when selecting helpers.”

”Do not worry about this, I will see to it.”

”So is there anything else that you would like to explain to me?” Oscar stood up, preparing to leave.

”Oh... Yes Your Royal Highness, but is there any urgent matters that you need to settle?”

As soon as Oscar heard that, he sat back down. He did not have any matters to attend to. There was probably no one else in Dulin as idle as him.

”It’s like this Your Royal Highness, we encountered some trouble when I tried to take over Red Light Street. I think we may have neglected one of the big bosses. Initially I thought that the fellow just a subservient to the family, but now it turns out that she was indeed a big boss herself!”

”Hold on Thomas,” Oscar’s interest was piqued. ”Did you just say ‘she’?”

”That’s right Your Royal Highness, it’s a her! The last big boss in Dulin is Red Light Street is Her Majesty the Queen!”

Red Light Street was famous for its reputation as a red-light district of Dulin. To put it in a nice way, it was a neighborhood where the porn industry was most developed; to put it less pleasantly, this street housed two thirds of the brothels and bars that staged all kinds of pornographic shows.

Every time when the sky darkened, the stores that used all kinds of designs of lamps would light up Red Light Street and it was unclear when the name ”Red Light Street” had started being used everywhere.

Red Light Street was peculiar in a sense that females were in charged of everything there. From their big boss all the way down to the lower class of hired thugs, there were all females.

These women revolved around the ”Queen”, monopolizing the whole neighborhood’s bodily business and illegal income that was covered up under business dealings. Although these women on Red Light Street were getting their business from men, but they absolutely shunned men who meddled in their territory.

When the Baron told of those things, Oscar nodded his head in understanding. He was born in Damorga, so he clearly knew just what kind of suffering men could bring upon women. The big boss of Red Light Street had merely beguiled the prostitutes who were just trying to defend themselves and the little benefit they had.

”It seems like... Her Majesty the Queen does not support us working together.” Oscar said enquiringly to the Baron.

”This I am sure. My subordinates have suffered a lot and now they don’t even dare go near Red Light Street.”

Oscar was a little astonished! ”That can’t be! The warriors under you are not just some cowardly rogues! Are the women of Red Light Street all Paladins?”

”Your Royal Highness! It’s not as what you imagined. If you were to go there to spend, those young ladies would wait upon you like a god; but if you were to go there to dig information or to sabotage, to destroy, then believe me Your Royal Highness, even true Paladins would not be able to walk out alive from that street.”

”I still don’t understand the scene you are describing.” Oscar was truly feeling at a loss, he did not understand just how much strength a group of women could have.

”In that case Your Royal Highness, let me put it in another way. Over there, a mere seven to eight-year-old little girl would dare stab you a few times as soon as you reveal any hostility. Imagine just how scary these women who stick close together are.”

Oscar fell silent. He could almost be certain that what the Baron saw was only the surface appearance of Red Light Street. That queen had definitely already developed Red Light Street into an underworld gang. Otherwise, disorganized and undisciplined women would not have such intense awareness on self-preservation and a vengeful heart.

The youngster laughed coldly and this cause Thomas Aulet the Baron who was beside him, to shudder.

”Baron, you may not have any idea on how to deal with one woman, but when you are dealing with a street of women, that is extremely easy. Firstly, find a few people with strange diseases, and then throw them at Red Light Street. As long as your news spread immediately, I believe that the people of the lair would be very willing to build a barricade to seal off that street. Do not forget that in the eyes of most people, they are nothing more than a group of whores. As long as you make them become whores who are spreading a plague, then they will be done for! When that queen realized that she no longer has any patrons visit her business, then she will take the initiative to look for you and negotiate.”

”Then at that moment, do I have the option to see or not to see her?” Thomas helped the Prince to hold up the candle.

Oscar lighted up his cigar and leisurely puffed out rings of smoke. ”You are very clever, distinguished baron. If you have time, then you could entertain that queen; if you aren’t free, then let those whores experience hell!”