Rohan then rose from his seat and stepped outside. Without wasting time, Rohan and his group began heading north.
After they left the Light People's territory, Rohan glanced at Edmund. "That really didn't look like a group of ultranationalists to me."
Edmund exhaled softly. "But does it even matter? Extremists or not, things would be simpler if they were. I almost wish they were, because extreme people are predictable."
Arminius let out a short laugh, almost under his breath. "Ultranationalists?" he said. "That's a nice label. Clean. Convenient."
Rohan, on the other hand, remained silent. He did not speak again, even after they parted ways near the city gate.
At that moment, just as Rohan was about to leave the city, Arminius called out and stopped him.
"Hold it right there, little bro. Change of plans. We gotta hit an apothecary and a bookstore first," Arminius said.
"Why though?" Rohan asked.
"Alright, here is the situation. Before I left the church, Belluci put in a request. Said she needs some substances. Nothing shady, mostly. Then Keana, she wants books. Mechanical technology, real brainy stuff."
Arminius shrugged. "I didn't mention it earlier because I figured we would just run into a bookstore or an apothecary on the way south. Easy, right? Except no. Not a single one in sight. Can you believe that?"
He spread his hands. "So now, my brother, we gotta actually go looking. Apothecary first, bookstore second."
Hearing that, Rohan let out a small sigh of relief.
Looks like Belluci and Keana are finally starting to heal. I was afraid their past would keep them from doing anything at all. It's good to see they are moving forward.
Rohan, of course, had no objection to Arminius's request. The two of them set off right away to look for an apothecary and a bookstore.
Along the way, Arminius glanced over and asked, "So, where are your two bodyguards? Those guys usually trail you everywhere."
Rohan simply explained that he had lost his two bodyguards due to a disagreement.
Afterward, they asked for directions a few times until they finally found a bookstore.
However, to their surprise, the store did not have any books on mechanics at all.
"The Octavian family has forbidden such books from being sold," the clerk explained.
Arminius blinked, then let out a short laugh.
"Oh, that is beautiful. A whole city, and suddenly books are illegal? What is next, thinking without a permit?"
Rohan, on the other hand, kept his thoughts to himself.
First they taxed my church an absurd amount of money. Now I find out they have forbidden these kinds of books from being sold? What the hell is wrong with that family?
Afterward, Rohan and Arminius went to the next bookstore. To their disappointment, it did not have any books on mechanics either.
"Why don't we look for an apothecary first?" Rohan suggested.
Arminius, still baffled by the complete lack of mechanical books, just gave a distracted nod.
Soon after, once they found an apothecary, they stepped inside. Arminius walked straight up to the counter, flashing an easy smile.
"Alright, my good man, quick shopping list. Nothing too crazy," he said smoothly. "I'm looking for 100 milliliters of wyvern blood, 200 of naga venom, about 50 grams of acid slime brain, and let's say 25 milliliters of chimera blood. Standard stuff, really."
The old clerk stared at him. "Brat! This is an apothecary, not a poison market! We do not sell such dangerous ingredients!"
Rohan gasped when he heard the list of ingredients Belluci asked for.
What is Belluci trying to do? Poison an entire city?
Arminius, unfazed, stared at the clerk with an easy smile.
"Alright, fair enough, not your line of business. I respect that," he said. "But let me ask you this. Where would a man go if he did need these materials?"
The old clerk snorted as he lit a cigarette.
"Where else? Go to the underground market."
Still with a grin, Arminius turned to Rohan. "Well, you heard the man. Legit business is overrated anyway," he said. "Come on, little bro, let's go pay a visit to the underground market."
Naturally, Rohan did not want to enter an underground market, especially if it was within the territory of the Lastbender family.
However, he also assumed there could not be just one underground market in such a vast city.
With that in mind, he turned to the clerk. "Is there an underground market not controlled by the Lastbender family?"
The old clerk smirked. "Let me guess, you messed with the Lastbenders, didn't you?" he said, letting out a rough laugh. "Gahahah… I can tell."
Rohan did not respond.
"Well, alright, I'll tell you," the clerk said, his laughter fading. "There's one in the south, near the territory of the Light People. Down below them… it's not just Light Stone mines."
He leaned in slightly. "There's an underground market there too. Not run by the Lastbenders."
After the clerk gave them directions to the underground entrance, Rohan and Arminius did not waste any time and set out immediately.
"You ever get that feeling the city's messing with you? We go all the way out, do our thing, and boom. Right back to the south. Like we planned it. Which we didn't."
And whose fault is that? Rohan thought with a frown.
Not long after, they found themselves standing in front of a square building. From time to time, people entered and exited through its doors.
Without hesitation, they followed and stepped inside.
Inside the building, they found a staircase leading down into the underground.
The descent was long, taking nearly a full minute before they reached the bottom.
When they finally stepped off the stairs, they were greeted by a vast underground expanse filled with stalls and clustered buildings.
The entire area was brightly lit by countless lightbulbs.
"Would you look at that," Arminius said, letting out a low chuckle as he glanced around. "This takes me back. Home sweet home, minus the charm."
He gestured lazily at the surroundings.
"Back where I'm from, sunlight wasn't exactly our thing, so we got creative. Built places just like this. Cozy, if you ignore the whole 'morally questionable' atmosphere."
Rohan did not respond. He simply walked toward the nearest stall, ignoring Arminius's sudden wave of nostalgia.
The stall was lined with various books stacked across a wooden table. Rohan reached out, brushing his fingers along the rows before looking at the person behind it.
"Do you have any books on mechanics?" he asked.
The old woman behind the stall smirked.
"Wrong place, kid," she said. "These are books on how to cut people into pieces. And if you're feeling ambitious, we have some of the finest methods of torture in history."
Rohan blinked once, then turned and walked away, rejoining Arminius as they continued deeper into the underground market.
After a while, they stopped in front of a particular stall and approached a man who appeared to be selling various vials of blood.
"Nobody sells those kinds of ingredients in this market, boys," he said. "Why not just buy these? This is elf blood mixed with werewolf blood. When a human drinks it, it can heal both mind and body."
Rohan felt his skin crawl just from hearing the details of what the old man was selling.
Arminius, completely unaffected, asked, "Why not sell vampire blood?"
The old man shot him a look of disdain. "Why would I? Vampire blood is useless. It stinks, it's dirty, nobody wants it."
At that moment, Arminius was about to kick the old man in the face, but Rohan held him back.