Just as morning arrived, I pulled the naked Raissa off me and snuck out of her room. Thankfully, she had tired out quickly and was now happily asleep. Every once in a while, her tail would start going again and I’d be slapped awake. So, overall, the night had been a disjointed one. I still had bags under my eyes come morning, but I had finally decided what I was going to do. Making sure not to wake anyone, I walked to Carmine’s room and snuck in. I had barely made it halfway across the room when Carmine’s eyes snapped open and she sat up.

“M-master…” She blushed. “So, you’ve finally come. Please, be gentler with me this time.”

“This time?” I raised an eyebrow and then finished walking over to her closet and opening it. “Salicia, we need to talk.”

“Ah! Sister… you!” Her eyes went from surprise to anger.

I hadn’t come into Carmine’s room for Carmine. Rather, I sensed Salicia was in here, and she was the person I needed to reach out to.

“I’ve been expecting you,” Salicia responded, standing up like she wasn’t just hiding in her sister’s closet half the night.

“Then, can you guess why I’m here?”

“Of course. The Bandits knew you were coming. They knew too much to be comfortable. They got the jump on us, and we even ended up being killed. That is inexcusable.”

“How much did they know?”

“It’s hard to say, but then again, you weren’t expecting me to have the answers.”

“No, but I need to have those answers before we can begin the next attack.”

“Wh-what are you saying?” Carmine broke in, her brow furrowed in confusion.

“You have a fight today, right?” I asked.

“Ah… y-yes…”

“Then, we’ll stay the day here. I need to go out with Salicia and get some things.”

“Wh-what about my fight? I haven’t done much leveling, and the enemies are growing stronger.”

“I’m a Slave Master with various boosts to those in my party, so you should be stronger now just with me in town. If we have time, we’ll go to the Gladiatorial match and watch. Alright?”

“Ah… yes…”

She looked like she wanted to say more, but she stopped with just that. The pair of us left the house. I put on an amulet I had gained from a dungeon which changed my physical appearance. It didn’t work as completely as Shao’s magic. That is to say that I couldn’t turn myself from one person into another person. I could only make superficial changes to my nose, eyes, and mouth. With Shao’s magic fueled by fairy dust, I could look like anyone, but the amulet used a lot less mana and was enough so I wouldn’t be noticed.

For the first time, I walked through the streets of Alerith and was actually able to see the state they were truly in. The food looked miserable, even by Aberis standards. The people were even more miserable. Most of them seemed to live on the streets. Every alley had been turned into a small shanty town using whatever garbage or wood that was needed to protect them from the weather. The people were dirty and underfed.

The only thing that kept order were Knights, who seemed to still be in a steady supply despite the large group I had taken out only a month or so before. He seemed to be able to produce an infinite number of Knights. It was like the Bandits and their never-ending resurrection. Were the two things connected? I wouldn’t put it past the Imperial Cloud Meadow to send the bandits artifacts to help destabilize Aberis.

We weren’t even in a particularly poor area of town, but the poverty was everywhere. Our district was probably around mid-tier. Even if I wanted to spend the money, the current laws in Alerith kept commoners from buying a better property in Alerith. Well, at least, they allowed commoners to buy at all. I certainly wasn’t going to buy the property as Lord Deekson, a man Lord Rein wanted dead.

There was one place that was spared from this dismal atmosphere. The inner city of Alerith kept out this level of riffraff with a secondary set of walls. That’s where the gladiator rink was. Most people visiting the city would never have seen the poverty in these sections, as there was a means of entering directly to the inner city, which was the path lords were sent. The levels of corruption were hidden for anyone who didn’t look too deeply. I should know, I was one of those who hadn’t seen this the first time I had come as Lord Deekson.

The pair of us reached the market and I turned to Salicia. “Okay, it’s time for plan B.”