The bar and information.

*Creak*

The poorly oiled door creaked as I entered the questionable establishment.I looked around, the windows were half broken with glass shards still embedded in their splintered frames and light escaped through the cracks of the rotten ceiling.

It was a grim place.

I could almost smell the crime festering in this place...

The atmosphere seemed to freeze upon my arrival. What few customers were there turned their heads to inspect the apparent newcomer, and I suddenly found myself the center of attention.

'Could we prey on him?' was all that was running through their minds.

Their attention was dispersed when they fully registered my appearance: a gruff, scarred man seemed to fit just right in with these people. Everyone turned back to continue their chatter or insult competitions.

The wooden floor creaked as I treaded further into the bar stand. I sat on one of the simple chairs.

[Layla-Lv3]

HP: 760

MP: -

I was initially surprised by the level of the barkeep here. A level3 was better off just going to the dungeon instead of running some backwater bar to barely make a living.

I looked back at the tough crowd.

'Maybe that's the minimum level you need to be to run something like this in the slums.' I hummed.

No higher-level people came to the slums anyway. As such, a level3 ought to be more than enough.

What I didn't know at that time was that the entire bar was something of a cover-up for the operations hiding deep inside. Mostly human and drug trafficking.

Layla was an otherwise good-looking woman if you managed to disregard the large, circular, deep gash on her forehead.

Her hair was a flowing blue colour... I was somehow still not used to the vibrant hair colours in these lands. It reached all the way to her waist.

She came to take my orders a few seconds after I sat. The service was much better than I had anticipated beforehand.

Her dark eyes seemed to survey me for a moment or two, but she nodded at the end. It seemed like I must have passed some sort of test.

"What do you need?" Layla, the bartender, seemed ready to take my order.

Layla's voice was deeper than I thought it would be. Her rather delicate figure didn't suggest that at all.

Despite my inner ramblings, I responded level-headedly." Just bring me some hard booze. The hardest you got..."

I grabbed my head as it lay down in fake despair.

"Tough day, huh?" she theorized.

I just grimly nodded at her inquiry.

There was a side of me that wanted to just cut this entire charade. I have still yet to experiment with Necromancy... Maybe it would let me have all those answers.

But then again, this acting gig was pretty fun in and of itself.

Besides, desecrating the dead is not on my list to do... I will have to develop a truth serum—

*Thud*

A large mug full of a refutable liquid made its way to my seat: a black, bubbling liquid to be more precise. I could have sworn I saw a face vengefully looking at me.

Shaking the questionable liquide in the wooden mug, I grimaced. Its consistency wasn't exactly pleasant.

"You said the hardest stuff we got. This is it. You'll forget everything the bad you had." came in the deep voice of Layla the barkeep.

My mouth twitched.

'Pretty sure I'd forget a lot more than just the bad day.' I muttered, taking another look at the full mug.

It was something a witch would make to harvest the souls of the living.

"Up it goes." I made an overblown drinking gesture.

Call me a coward, but that thing terrified me. I made sure to store its contents, or rather throw its content at a random place.

At that same moment. A young man going for some light beer passed out with white foam covering his entire mouth.

The poor soul. Lady luck was simply not on his side, it seems.

*Thud*

"Huuuh. That was good." I put down the mug in a show of utter bliss. I made sure to 'wipe' my mouth of any remaining booze in my mouth.

"Th-that was impressive." she stumbled. "I guess you really had a tough day," she whispered.

'Wait. I wasn't supposed to do that?' I paused to look at the empty mug.

'Just how hard is the stuff.' I grimaced.

The young man that passed out twitching would have said— very fucking hard.

Somehow, just like planned, I gained the sympathy of the barkeep, and she kept slipping in some information and ratting thinking I was dead drunk.

-----

My legs shook like a newborn and my arms flailed around. I was being warmly escorted by a couple of guys I shared some talk with inside the bar.

'It is strange how alcohol can make people bond.'

I made sure to keep up my act until I reached a hidden alleyway and transformed back into my usual form.

"Huuuh. Much better. Feels natural." I sighed in bliss.

It was.

The familiar ocean blue eyes and silver hair along with the same sharp feature greeted my sight.

Surely. The most handsome guy in Orario.

According to Layla, some suspicious men were sneaking around a certain part of the slums.

You don't just get called suspicious if you're not downright bad in the slums.

The other rumours were the stuff usually happening. Someone killing the orphan mistress or ransacking another shop. I even heard about some children that got picked up from here to the pleasure quarters.

You know— the usual.

There was little I could do about the other stuff. But those suspicious men seemed to be exactly what I'm looking for.

I hoped it would lead me to where I was thinking. This world was not as superficial as I thought it was at the beginning.

The deep ploys keep running deeper and deeper. Hopefully, I would get some actual clues this time around.

I made sure to equip my invisibility cloak and head to this supposed 'suspicious' place.

I smiled.' There was much to uncover.'

The roads started to get less crowded the more I closed in on the supposed spot. Furthermore, the houses started to get more and more desolate until all that remained were collapsed buildings.

Something fishy was going on, for sure.

-----------------

[Akagi Ken]

Level:5

HP: 7700

MP: 3850

Unallocated Stat points: 156

Valis: ~10mil

-Strength: E420

-Endurance: D530

-Dexterity: D580

-Agility: D580

-Magic: E410

Skills: Gamers Mind - Gamers Body - Instinct - Mind's Eye (True) - Mage - Mystery- MasterSmith- One-Handed Sword Mastery - Rejuvenation - Shapeshifting - Mixing- HeadPatting- Luck- Endless Libido- Battle continuation- Mana Burst.

Magic: Ele magic - Non-Ele magic - Inventory- Space-Time magic.

If you have to help me out, have any ideas or want to read advanced chapters ahead: patron.com/MunirSM