Lowly Ascent

Anders's school life was quiet and uneventful. He spent day after day simply going to classes and wholeheartedly learning to become stronger.

Like clockwork, he would walk with Serril to their classes and meet Fiona. If Anders didn't have his driving force for being here, he would've just stopped going to classes on account of how boring they were.

Nothing eventful ever happened, and all he learned were theories and information. The only thing that he could count as a hobby was all the training he did with Professor Nevan.

For learning, Anders had already memorized the first 6 volumes on common bacteria, and there were over a hundred volumes! How does someone memorize hundreds of books on diseases?

But Anders knew of a person who had done such a thing. 'He did it, that murderous liar memorized all these books, didn't he? So why can't I?'

Those were the thoughts pushing him forward. 

As usual, Anders said goodbye to Serril and Fiona to secretly train with Nevan. When he entered the training room, Anders was startled to see Lord Augustus standing beside Nevan.

Noticing his presence, Augustus spoke, "Good, you're here. I don't believe you are satisfied, so I'm here to tell you about a mission. We believe it's connected to that master of yours."

"What?! Please tell me, did my master enter the city?"

"Nothing like that, but a group under him did. A caravan entered the city with suspicious individuals. However, the figures left the caravan immediately upon entering the city and appeared to have gone into hiding. The city the caravan came from was Carc, which is where we pinpointed where the Defiant Slave is hiding."

Anders went to one knee and lowered his head, "This servant of the Empire wishes to hunt down these individuals. Please allow me to."

Augustus was startled by such a response and laughed, "That's how a servant should act! I will have someone give you the details. Oh, and you should bring those friends of yours. They could prove helpful."

Augustus left, and Anders continued his training. The next day, Anders found a folder underneath his pillow. The contents described a profile of the figures and where they might have hidden in the city.

'Great! With this I can find leads!'

Armed with this information, Anders decided to trust Augustus's words and rope in Serril and Fiona. On their way to their next class, he attempted to bring them along.

"Do you guys want to explore the city with me?"

His two friends looked surprised, and Serril took the initiative to ask, "You never wanted to explore the city before. Why do you want to now? Don't you have to study after class like usual?"

"Not for the next few days, which is why I want to explore around the city! Will you guys come with me?"

Serril and Fiona turned to each other, smiled, and agreed. They had never seen Anders take such initiative before. They planned to visit the lower districts after their last class and take Anders throughout the city.

...

A trio of students walked through the packed streets of Salazar. Anders was holding a map while Serril was eating sweets. Fiona was the one directing them.

They had already spent an hour going from shop to shop.

All three of them were wealthy. Anders was from a prominent family, Serril was from a merchant family, and Fiona simply stated that her family was rich.

Buying whatever they wanted, Anders directed them closer and closer to the area where the information concluded the servants of the Defiant Slave had the highest chance of being.

'The hideout of the cloaked figures should be near!'

"Hey, let's check out over there." Trying his best to seem oblivious, Anders pointed to an alley leading to the slums.

"Uh, we shouldn't go there. That place leads to the back alleys, which are part of the slums."

Anders acted perfectly, putting on a curious face and saying something along the lines of "I've never been to the slums. Let's go!" and ran into the alley. Chasing after their foolish friend, Serril and Fiona followed.

Anders directed his pursuers to a decrepit building that looked like a warehouse. It was a very old building and seemed out of place in the alleys.

'Out of the 6 locations, this has the highest chance!'

Anders ignored the yelling from Serril and Fiona to return with them, his bloodlust already started to rise, he walked up and entered this abandoned warehouse-like building.

Inside was a vast open space, and about 20 figures sat around a table eating and drinking high-quality food. They had white theater masks lifted above their faces or to the side.

The scene felt wrong and out of place, and it was obvious they noticed Anders as many looked at him before going back to their meal. This put Anders off, but Serril and Fiona entered a few moments later to see the same odd scene.

The curious Serril was the first to speak. "Excuse me, pardon our intrusion, but... what exactly are you doing?"

One of the men in black wraps answered, "Eating."

"Yes, but it seems so odd that you're doing it in a warehouse, and it looks like food only the wealthy can enjoy. Pardon me again, but you folks don't appear to be wealthy."

One of them laughed hysterically for a few moments, "You're right! But we were kindly offered such food from a local restaurant for our devotion. The restaurant owner just so happened to have the same religion as us."

Fiona interrupted before Serril could continue his questions, "Religion? That's a very old term... isn't it when a group of people believe in a deity? A being beyond death and has great power?"

"That's right, lass. We believe in a god. Many of us were even blessed by our lord."

'Religion?'

Anders's face scrunched, these figures seemed in no way connected to Cain even if all his internal alarms were going off.

'How do I do this with Serril and Fiona here?'

Serril spoke, "We apologize for the intrusion. It seems we have no reason to be here. We will leave."

The three turned around and headed for the door.