Reincarnated as a Son of the Sword Saint and the Sage
Chapter 79 - 79: Continent's Underworld

Morning.

A man in his forties, cloaked in a black robe, traced the narrow alleys of a certain area within the capital city of the Dwarfen Kingdom. A dilapidated neighborhood where unfortunate people live in a state of poverty, the slums.

The man deliberately ignored all the impoverished people that he encountered at every turn, thinking it was their fault for putting themselves in such desolation. The population largely consists of orphans and people who failed to raise themselves in the city.

He passed some rugged structures, or, as they called them, "shelters," as he was going to his destination. He is definitely not living in the streets, but he somehow memorized this maze-like, confusing area since he uses it almost every day.

His job is to deliver the goods that were manufactured by the syndicate he's been working for—illegally produced addictive narcotics called blue quartz.

Blue quartz is a type of extremely addictive stimulant made by a certain monster called Crystal Hermit, a D-ranked monster that released an addictive mist that was more potent than what Mist Pumpkins give off.

This drug gives the user a feeling of bliss as if they are in the seventh heaven. That feeling made them want to try again and again until they lost their minds. For that reason, all countries have banned its manufacture and distribution.

As a syndicate that works underground, they have to move inconspicuously by straying away from the light. Slums are one of their cloaks to conceal their activities.

The man continued walking around until he reached a building that wasn't as odd as the others. He pushed the wooden door since he knew it didn't have something like a lock.

What awaited him inside was a robust man sitting in a lotus position facing a low table. He has a sword on his waist, defining his ability to fight.

"How's business going on?" The swordsman asked.

"Not as good as usual. Recently, more soldiers and knights have been deployed throughout the city. They had increased their awareness of us again."

The news of people getting addicted to drugs has been reaching the ears of the authorities in the city. Aware of its negative effects on the population, more soldiers and knights have been deployed throughout the city.

"You said that right. But it's unlikely we would be discovered as long as we are under his protection."

"I have been hearing about this man from time to time, but who the heck is he?"

"As if I ever knew." The robust man folded his arms in frustration. "Only our bosses knew that information."

The organization they have been working for has hierarchy among its members. The top is the one who ruled all whole organization. Below it, the heads of each respective division. Direct subordinates of them, then the subordinates' underlings, and so on.

The two are at the bottom castes of different divisions, so they don't have the authority to access such information.

"Ah! I'm tired of the women in this city. I want to have something new. Maybe I'll have elves next time."

"Ha! As if you got money for that! Only exclusive members can have some high-class women."

The robed man suddenly blurted out his hidden desire. A dream to share a bed with a member of the elven race. Just as the man exclaimed, he can't afford to pay one.

There are races other than humans living on the continent; elves are one of them. Elves are a long-lived race that are nature lovers and rarely leave their home country, the Elven Nation of Forester.

Although built with a weak physical body, elves have a high affinity for magic in exchange. They are proficient with marksmanship and experts at wielding bows.

But they have a trait that the other races don't have: all of their members are remarkably beautiful, and none are considered ugly. That fact made many dream of having one of their own.

For that reason, elves are illegally captured and branded as high-quality goods from illegitimate groups. The organization the two are joining is the top group that sells and offers elves.

"Hmph, I have to get more supplies to please our seniors. Maybe I will be promoted if I sell a bunch."

"Yeah, yeah. Good luck with that."

After the casual conversation, the swordsman gives the robed figure permission to pass the hidden passage to their secret base in the Dwarfen Capital.

◆◇◆◇◆◇

"…So that's how it is."

Inside the living area where they have been staying, while the rays of the morning sun still bathed the interior in light, Michael uttered those words.

"At least we find a facility for this Five Headed Hydra organization, but it is just a small fraction of a division."

"Indeed. It's better than nothing." Michael nodded at Lucy's statement.

They are currently in the base, on the 30th Floor of the dungeon, inside their house, to be specific. Discussion in a crowded city doesn't seem to be the safest option, so they unanimously agreed to set the meeting in the safest place they knew.

Above the table they have been facing, a large translucent panel steadily floated, radiating a pale light. Within it, a sort of something like a broadcast was played in front of them.

The twins attentively focus their deep blue eyes at the live feed of a suspicious individual they've been eyeing since last night. The man in the question didn't have any idea that he was leading the Myriad Wings to their hideout.

After leaving the tavern last night, Michael deployed a Clairvoyance to watch him the whole time. Even if he had an anti-intelligence magic item in hand, it could not detect something that was cloaked in God's Veil.

"Who do you think is the one who "protects" that they have been talking about?"

"…I don't have in mind. Maybe a dwarfen official?"

"That's the only thing we can think about now."

They don't have concrete evidence yet, so they can't reach a certain conclusion. The fact that the syndicate hasn't been discovered yet implies someone works behind the scenes to distract the authorities.

Michael remotely navigated his Clairvoyance around the secret hideout of the drug syndicate they have been investigating. He paned the screen and taped something that caught their eyes.

"Hmm? Is that Crystal Hermit?"

"... seems much more likely."

Dozens of blue-crystalline rocks are piling up behind the door of one of the rooms in the underground hideout. A room that is used for storage purposes.

Each had a diameter of at least a meter and beamed a pale azure glow that slightly illuminated the whole room. Each of the crystals there were the carcasses of the Crystal Hermits.

"Where on earth did they procure this amount of Crystal Hermits without the kingdom noticing? I thought those were hard to find."

"…Crystal Hermits are arbitrarily rare because they tend to be alone all the time. Their numbers are scattered all over the world and are still considerably large if you count all its living members." Michael paused to pass his Clairvoyance through the wall. "As for how they smuggled those blue crabs, they used this."

"A transfer circle, huh?" Lucy muttered what they saw on the footage. "The prisoner said that the Five Headed Hydra is quite a large organization. It's no wonder they can hunt large numbers of monsters and slip them to several cities through transfer gates."

Transfer circles are magic devices that transport people and objects over long distances. Transfer circles are usually made in pairs—a sender and receiver, and vice versa.

Transfer circles are like the Warp podiums that Raphael made. The remarkable difference between the two is that while Warp podiums activated instantly, transfer circles took several seconds up to minutes, depending on the size of the cargo, to cast.

It needs a lot of materials to create and a handsome amount of money to fund, only producing a handful of pairs in a year. Only a few people have transfer circles of their own, mostly for escape purposes and urgent errands.

"Since it's supposed to be a large syndicate, they either are financially stable to afford one, or in the worst case…"

"They are capable and powerful enough to create their own." Michael finished what Lucy was about to say.

This is going to be a serious case, that's what they thought. The organization carelessly uses expensive transfer circles as a courier for their supplies and support, which is hard to believe.

It deeply indicated that it was a trivial matter to them to use such rare items and that they could do something bigger than they are currently showing off. That thought made Uriel let out a tired sigh.

"Seems like we're hitting a wall thicker than we initially thought. The sun is happily shining, but our melancholic mood ruined it."

"…Indeed." Michael agreed with his older twin sister. "We have more things to do for the next few days. Extensive preparations and planning, such as gathering intel, laying groundwork, and many more…"

The Five Headed Hydra is the top underground organization on the Northern Continent. A group that is lurking in the shadows and gradually corrupting the righteousness of some countries.

Uncertain of the vastness of their influence, Uriel couldn't rest and asked. "Do you think they have already reached our territory?"

"…Well, I can't say for sure. I don't notice any suspicious activities in the territory either."

"Then, what are we going to do in the meantime?"

"…Let's find out who is protecting them first."

Michael remarked as he maneuvered his remote vision.