The inn was quiet in the afternoon. Most people were out working.
Osric sat at the small desk in his room.
A faint light that came from behind the dark clouds, shone through his window.
Although recently Ashbrook seemed less gloomy than usual in Osric's perspective—
That was only because of his improved everyday life.
The city itself hadn't actually changed. It was still a dark and corrupt place in general.
But there could still be smiles seen from some regular commoners.
Osric sighed as he looked outside and saw two kids playing pretend with sticks.
'Was I ever this innocent and unaware?'
He then turned his attention back to the thick book in front of him.
This information cost him 12 silver in total. That was by no means a small amount of money.
Osric intended to squeeze every bit of value out of it.
The pages were neatly organized.
Fighters were categorized by brackets, experience, and affiliations.
Some even had notes about their habits inside the ring, but that part wasn't as detailed, since he only paid for their personal information.
He had been flipping through the pages slowly for a couple of hours already.
Osric found it somewhat enjoyable to collect information on people.
The problem was that most didn't fit his criteria.
"Haa."
'I should've expected this from people fighting in an underground arena.'
'Most of them are lowlifes.'
'Criminals, mercenaries and desperate people from the slums.'
But every now and then, a description made him pause.
Among the regular fighters, a few met his criteria, based on what they do outside the arena, their backgrounds and relationships. But that was just on paper. He would have to meet them in person to say for sure.
There was only one among the new fighters that caught his eye.
'Jayson.'
He carefully read a sentence from the description again.
Suspected of having a mana seed and potentially an apprentice knight.
This was incredible information.
Only a very small percentage of people awakened their mana seed. It only happened to kids up to the age of 16. The younger they awakened, the more talent and potential they usually had for becoming a knight.
Of course most people that awakened still never became knights.
'If this is true, he would be an amazing addition to my party.'
What surprised him almost as much, was that Jayson wasn't a mercenary or from the slums.
'It says that he's just 18 and taking care of his mother.'
'Although they don't live in the slums, they're poor and he has to make extra money by fighting in the arena, to buy her medicine.'
'If I can convince him that working for me will make him more money to help his mother, I will hopefully be able to recruit him.'
But then something gnawed at him.
'How do they know that he awakened?'
'And who else knows about it?'
Osric realized that others might be keeping their eyes on Jayson.
'I'll need to be careful and plan ahead before approaching him.'
—
Osric spent the next few hours reading the rest of the information.
He especially looked closely at the elite fighters and champions.
Of the seven champions, some didn't have much information. And the rest were already affiliated with someone.
'Too bad, but I expect as much.'
His real goal from the beginning, was finding at least one useful person among the elite fighters.
He already considered Alice, and that idea only solidified once he read her personal information.
'Interesting. No wonder she's so skilled.'
'Now I need to find a way to get closer to her.'
Among the few dozen elite fighters, most were known mercenaries and criminals.
Only a few didn't have any affiliations and even fewer met Osric's criteria.
'Three guys caught my eye.'
'I don't actually need to recruit that many people.'
Most adventurer parties had 5-6 members.
Osric planned on doing the same right now.
His goal was to recruit at least two people, so that they had four capable fighters in total, including William and himself.
'But it's good to have more options for the future.'
'I don't plan on stopping my growth with a small adventurer party.'
He planned on building a big mercenary band later on and rise even further after that.
Osric looked out of the window, at the disappearing sun.
His eyes looked intense and full of determination.
'This is just the beginning.'