Pine Street, Slum Borough, Royal Capital.
It was around 11.30 P.M,
A few ruffian-looking guys knelt on the ground while looking at a black-haired kid with terrified eyes. At that moment, Abium had already given them a good beating and confiscated all of their weapons.
"You! Come here!" Abium pointed his finger at the leader-like guy who knelt a few feet away from him and called him. That guy had an average height, a slightly obese body, and his face was filled with scars. He was around 40 years old, had pitch-black eyes and long gray hair, and wore slightly better linen clothes than others.
"Yes, sir." The gray-haired guy replied with a much respective tone as he stood up with a stiff face.
'I need to be careful with words.' He thought.
Although he was a second-tier warrior, he was utterly beaten into a pulp by this young man, making him shudder inside.
'We provoked a strong one this time! He should be a fourth tier warrior or above. I must warn Boss Godwin about this newcomer. Damn it, there are too many people coming to our slum these days.' He cursed under his breath and stood nervously in front of the black-haired young man.
Meanwhile, Abium slowly walked towards the nearby square rock and asked.
"What's your name?"
"Darby, sir," Darby replied with nervousness on his face.
"Have you guys committed any crimes like murder, or thieving, or smuggling?" Abium silently sat on the rock and asked with a calm tone.
'Why is he asking such a simple question? Is he some kind of righteous guy?' After slightly hesitating, he decided not to lie to this mysterious young man.
"Y-Yes, sir. We killed a kid a few minutes before." Darby said while wiping the cold sweats on his forehead.
"Hmm, who is your gang leader?" Abium signaled others to stand up and continued to ask.
"Twin blade Godwin, Sir." Abium raised his brow at Darby's answer and felt clueless. He knew a few gang leaders' names in the past but hadn't met any of them.
After the arrival of the Chaos Era, the whole Slum Borough became filled with evil cult members and soon vanished from the city map itself.
'Still, the slum will exist for more than five more years. Then, these guys will be thrown out of the city, while the normal citizens from other parts of the kingdom will come and occupy these places. I don't care about such things… But the young talented people in this Slum Borough might become useful for my territory.' After all, his territory needed the human resources most.
'I'm also planning on creating an elite army of warriors in the future. If I manage to transport some talented people to my territory, I could use their strength in a better way.' He made up his mind instantly and asked while taking out a shiny gold coin.
"How much gold does your boss give you per month?"
"We won't betray our boss, sir." Darby's words surprised Abium. He didn't expect this guy to reject him without listening to his offer and became more curious.
"I don't have any ill intentions towards your boss Twin blade, so don't worry. My purpose here is to get some talented kids." He paused for a moment while organizing his thoughts and continued.
"I hope you can make a list of the youngsters in your street and give them to me. But if you dare to play any tricks, I wouldn't hesitate to cut you into half, got it?" Abium gave him a sharp look and threw that shiny gold coin towards gray-haired Darby.
"O-Okay, sir." Meanwhile, Darby nodded his head repeatedly and caught the gold coin with both hands. But soon, he went wide-eyed as he realized that this was not a normal gold coin but a white gold coin!
He only saw a few of these coins in his boss's treasury and felt jolted inside.
"Your next job is: bring me to the place where I could get a fake identity. Also, I need a small house to stay in. The house has to be isolated and near to the city wall. Arrange it for me later." Upon hearing Abium's words, Darby thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.
"Please follow this way." Saying so, Darby bowed his head and started walking on the street road.
On the other hand, Abium signaled other thugs to dismiss and followed after Darby. Both then strolled on the dirt road for a while and soon arrived before a single-storied house.
Abium soon moved towards the entrance door, raised his right hand, and knocked it twice.
A few seconds later, the wooden door opened with a creaking noise and revealed a beautiful woman's face. She had delicate fair skin, an oval-shaped face, long red hair, and amber eyes. She currently wore a brown colored nightgown, tied her hair into a knot, and looked beautiful.
Her simple gaze made Abium frown a little.
'Hmm? She is an apprentice mage? I never thought there would be a mage hiding in the slum. Well, it's slum after all. She must be a roaming mage.' He returned his expression to normal in an instant and quietly watched her.
Meanwhile, Darby let out a fake cough and spoke to the apprentice mage.
"Miss Isemay, we are here to get a fake identity."
"Come in." The young woman Isemay invited both in, entered the reception room, and moved towards the left side cupboard to take out multiple files. She didn't even ask about payment, or his identity, which made Abium startled.
'Wow, I never thought that getting a fake identity would be this simple.'
"Here is the list of people who have disappeared or been killed by monsters in the last few months. All of them had black hair, and most were around 20 years old. Pick a suitable id." She said without emotion and placed a bunch of documents on the wooden table.
On the other hand, Abium nodded and started checking all those documents. After he began to check for a few minutes, he found his name on the list and sighed.
'Name: Abium, Age: 17, Family: Orphan, Job: Servant, Place: Roseglen City, Last Seen: Baxbron Woods…'
'I don't need my own identity. It will only cause more problems in the future.' Abium thought to himself.
"I want an identity similar to this person." Abium quickly took out his record and gave it to that apprentice mage.
"Why not use this one?" Isemay knitted her eyebrows and soon frowned as she noticed that all of Abium's characteristics were similar to the person in this ID.
'He doesn't want to reveal his real identity?'
Without asking any questions, she shuffled through the documents, took a few identity papers, and placed them on the table.
Meanwhile, Abium picked up the papers and started looking at the identification papers one by one.
'Hmm, Benson, hair color- long black hair, Skin color- olive, height- 175 cm, weight- 59 kg, Born in Pale village, age- 19 years. Status- unknown.'
'Jeeves, hair color- short black hair, skin color- fair, height- 180cm, weight -64 kg, Born in Elm village, age- 21 years. Status- suspected to be killed by monsters.'
'Olin, hair color- Short deep blue hair, skin color- olive, height- 172cm, weight- 60 kg, born in Summer village, age- 16 years, status- Kidnapped by slave traders and suspected to be killed by them.'
…
Abium quietly looked at the papers and soon found out all these persons' identities were from rural villages.
"I chose this Jeeves's identity. His height and mine are almost the same." He quickly picked up one particular paper and spoke.
"Okay. I will inform the administrative office and remove Jeevis's current status from 'killed by the monsters' to alive." Isemay said with the same emotionless face and continued to speak about payment.
"As for the payment, it's 5 white gold coins. You can give me 50 normal gold coins or five white gold coins."
"Okay." Without any refusal, Abium took out five white gold coins and gave them to her. Then, Abium and Darby walked out of her house and moved toward another area.
…