"Phew... that freezing feeling sure brings back memories." Hanxing looked around. His clothes seemed rather thin amid all the ice and snow, and a puff of white vapor escaped his mouth.
"Hey there, customer! Need anything? Satisfaction guaranteed." Hanxing turned around to see a sleazy-looking, blue-haired middle-aged man standing before him. "Who are you?"
"Oh, silly me and my clumsy tongue. I forgot to introduce myself." From the moment Hanxing saw him, he knew the man didn't seem like a good person, but he kept listening. "Sampo Koski, a pleasure to meet you."
"I suggest you tell me what you're really after, or my blade might not be so discriminating." His blade was already half an inch out of its sheath as Hanxing gave the man calling himself Sampo a cold look.
"I'm just a merchant. Is that really necessary?" Sampo looked at the slightly drawn embroidered spring saber, his confidence undiminished. "I can get you whatever you want. For example, the whereabouts of those outsiders-"
"Outsiders?" Hanxing caught the keyword. "Is one of the outsiders you mentioned named Caelus?" Sampo gave an ingratiating smile. "Naturally. They're the only outsiders we've had recently. All I ask is that you let my goods go. It's hard enough running a small business, after all-"
"Let your goods go? Do I look like the kind of person who would do that?" Hanxing couldn't help speaking up. At the same time, he thought, Do the Stellaron Hunters have such a bad reputation? Don't tell me they rob people every day?
"You're not a Silvermane Guard?" Hanxing was curious about the unfamiliar term, but kept listening. "If we're on the same side, that makes things easy. As long as you pay the price, I can give you something of equal value."
"Then... would fifty thousand Shields do?" Hanxing put on an air of ignorance. After all, he really didn't know the exchange rate for the local currency. For all he knew, one Shield could be worth a hundred million Credits.
"Fifty thousand Shields?" Sampo was secretly delighted. It looked like he'd found someone with more money than sense. "Of course! I can throw in everyone's identity for you! Judging by how you're dressed, you don't look like a local either. You're an outsider too, right? I can even throw in an overview of the planet!"
Hanxing inwardly cursed. It seemed he'd been taken for a ride. But he couldn't take back what he'd said, so he could only ask for a little more within reason.
"Throw in a mask too." After giving it careful thought, Hanxing made one final request. "Sure, sure! You're a big customer, after all." Sampo readily agreed, unable to suppress the smile on his face.
Hanxing cut open a spatial portal, and a constant clinking rang out. Before long, fifty thousand Shields had piled up in Sampo's bag. Almost as soon as he had all the money, Sampo left in the blink of an eye.
Looking at the Astral Express Crew's location and the overview of Jarilo in his hands, Hanxing pondered. Belobog's Underworld? I should get moving now.
A red spatial portal appeared and vanished, and Hanxing materialized in front of a lavish building. "So this is the Goethe Grand Hotel? It really is pretty luxurious." After that remark, Hanxing headed for the hotel lobby.
"Hello, how may I help you?" A young woman in a staff uniform gave a slight bow. "Hello, a room with a large bed, please. I'll book it for five days to start."
"Certainly. Once you've registered your identity, you can check in." Faced with such a valued guest, the attendant didn't dare be negligent and took out a register. Despite its name, the registration wasn't particularly strict; only a name and phone number were required.
Hanxing quickly filled out the register. "So, how much will that be?" "Fifty thousand Shields," the attendant promptly replied.
Hanxing: ...
Right now, all he wanted was to rush over and kill that guy called Sampo. Just like that, he'd been swindled out of enough money to stay here for five days.
"All right, get me a bag, please." Hanxing cut open a spatial portal, and the sound of clinking filled the lobby.
"What a show-off-" A voice sounded from somewhere, dripping with contempt.
Hanxing ignored the voice. After getting his key, he took the elevator out of the lobby.
"0422" was engraved on the key. After getting out of the elevator, Hanxing glanced at the signs and headed for his room. "Click, clack-" As the door opened, Hanxing lay down contentedly on the large bed. "I have to say, this is pretty comfortable."
Soon, he poured out some daily necessities from his space: cups, clothes, towels, and the change he had left.
"Damn Sampo... you'd better pray you never see me again." Hanxing couldn't help cursing him under his breath again. Looking at the five hundred Shields he had left gave him a headache. "What's left would barely pay for a meal, would it...?"
After all that, Hanxing had a rough idea of the exchange rate here. Five hundred Shields might really not be enough to buy any food. "Looks like I'll have to make this quick."
He looked at the location again. Surprisingly, it tracked them in real time. Hanxing could only console himself with the thought that, at least, the real-time updates would save him a lot of time.
Meanwhile, with the Astral Express Crew.
"Hey, you got here pretty fast." A girl dressed in white and purple spoke first, looking at the three members of the Astral Express Crew.
"So, what is Wildfire doing in the Great Mine?" If any of the Stellaron Hunters had been present, they would certainly have recognized the young man asking the question as Caelus.
"Haven't I told you yet?" the girl named Seele replied. "Hmm, long story short: there used to be lots of mining areas underground, but in recent years, an erosion called the Fragmentum has spread beneath the surface. A lot of mines were hit and can't be worked anymore."
"The mining area we're headed to is relatively intact, and the environment is fairly clean. A group of vagrants whose homes were swallowed by the Fragmentum went there and settled down. Most of them are actually fairly decent people...
"But when you get that many people together, some troublemaking scum are bound to slip in. The result is that the vagrants fight with the miners every other day, and they often steal and rob the miners' resources-but that's still small stuff.
"This time it's different... Just in the last two days, a large-scale conflict suddenly broke out between the miners and the vagrants, and things got pretty ugly. The mining area is the Underworld's lifeline. We have to keep the Geomarrow supply flowing so we can get the supplies allocated from the surface through the transport line." Seele explained the situation in the Great Mine to the group.
"Those vagrants are going too far!" the pink-haired girl said angrily after hearing Seele's words. According to the information, she was March 7th. "Let's not talk about it anymore. Let's go in first." Seeing that the mood wasn't right, Caelus tried to calm things down.
"Oh, right-and you. Once we see the boss, we'll have to see what he decides to do with you." Seele turned on Bronya again. "As it happens, I'd like to meet the Underworld's leader too." "Hmph, fine. Take a good look at how much of a mess things are down here." Their words were thick with hostility.
"All right, you two, stop arguing. Let's go in first." March 7th stood in front of them, trying to mediate.
The two had no choice but to stop arguing, and everyone headed toward the Great Mine together.