On the seventh day after the trio arrived, Nephis was a bit distracted. She hadn't stayed long after the usual training with Ray was over.
Over the last few days she had tried finding all the information she could get about the king and the whole system in general. She found out a few things, but in most cases the people living in the slums kept to themselves or seemed too frightened to talk about the king and his people in the castle.
On the second day she also tried to get some information from Ray, which ended in a blunt refusal. Though, all in all, it wasn't a real rejection, just a delay.
His words were: "Every new person or group needs to find out how this place works for themselves first. Others will only give you smaller amounts of information that would help get a broader picture, but without experiencing it first hand, it would be useless. Still, before you guys do anything too extravagant, tell me."
Which implicated that as long as Sunny and Cass found some informations in the castle, then Ray could potentially tell them even more.
Knowing this, Nephis was currently waiting in a dim alley, between two nearly broken huts. She stood there, leaning on the wall, waiting for her two comrades. Their week inside the castle should be over today.
She could have also waited inside her own hut, at least the one she claimed for herself, but also knew that the two of them wouldn't really know where to go.
It was around noon, when she finally saw them walking out of the castle, down the stairs. Nephis waited for a bit more till they reached close to the alley, before leaving it and meeting up with the two.
As soon as the two were on the same height, Nephis left the alley and walked over to them.
Sunny's shadow noticed her immediately, and both parties met up, but kept quiet for a while, with Nephis leading the way. The trio walked further and further till they eventually reached the outskirts of the slum settlement.
There, in front of them, stood a very damaged stone building. It looked quite stable, even with the cracks in the walls.
"How did you find something like this?" asked Sunny, eyeing the building more closely.
"It was empty and just stood here," she replied matter-of-factly.
The next moment Nephis walked inside causing the other two to follow suit. Inside was only the most minimalistic and spartan furniture. This scene caused even Sunny to raise an eyebrow.
He had gotten to know Nephis quite well over the two months it took them to reach the dark city. Sunny still wouldn't have thought that she would live this minimalistic, she was actually a Legacy after all.
"Just sit wherever you want."
"There… there isn't really anything to sit on…," Sunny muttered under his breath, though, both girls present could still hear him. Cassia giggled lightly while Nephis just looked as indifferent as ever.
"Now, what have you learned?" asked Nephis, leaning against the wall.
Sigh
"Where do we start…, well first of all, the life inside the castle could really be called a sanctuary in this place. You get food, sleep, and safety. The price may be steep, but for most people who have experienced life in the slums, they would do anything to live inside the castle," Sunny started of easy.
"Next, the hierarchy inside of the castle. There are multiple groups living inside together, the guards, hunters, pathfinders, handmaidens, artisans, and the tribute paying people. The first four groups are all led by lieutenants. Though, the pathfinders and Hunter are led by the same individual. As for the lieutenant without a group of his own… he is seemingly known as the king's sword," spoke Sunny, the last words with a bit contempt mixed in. "Regardless, even with these groups there is a clear hierarchy visible, it goes without saying that the tribute payers are at the very bottom, if they are even included. As for the groups under the king, they are called host. Here it gets interesting, the lowest are the castle guards, basically everyone that has a useful aspect can join them. They are tasked with protecting the castle, and only the castle."
Nephis nodded at hearing these things and let him continue.
"Then there are the artisans, a group of people with utility aspects. The only reason they are above the guards is their leader, Kido, who is in a relationship with the leader of the hunters. They are also the next on the list, the hunters are the ones that fetch the meat for the castle inhabitants, successful guards can join them if they are lucky. More or less on the same level are the handmaidens, though, for that I'm not sure. This group, or more specifically their leader freaks me out. The last and therefore highest group are the pathfinders. All of them are veterans of the forgotten shore and dark city, who have hunted in these ruins for a long time and know the most about them. This knowledge also makes them the most priced."
Finished with the hierarchy, Sunny looked at Nephis for a moment, trying to gauge for any reaction of her, but was left with her only merely furrowing her brows.
Shrugging he started again, "Above these groups are the lieutenants, while they seem to also have a ranking of their own, I wasn't able to figure it out entirely. The thing with Kido being together with the Hunter leader was already hard to find out. And, on the very top of the whole castle stands the bright king, Gunlaug, himself. It is also not wrong to say that he controls more or less everything here. From hope to power itself. Aside from that, he doesn't appear often, but when he does, he always makes a grand entrance it seems."
At this point he stopped for a second, before resuming his report looking slightly down, "And by luck or misfortune, we were able to witness one such entrance. It was all yesterday, he came in his whole *golden glory* alongside his five lieutenants and held a trial. Someone from the outer settlement came to the castle, accusing a pathfinder of being responsible for killing some guy, in the end it resulted in the guy evoking the right of challenge, which was then accepted. But in the end, it was all just a game for them, the one taking part in the Duell wasn't even the one accused, nor his leader, it was the king's sword and reaper. The whole battle ended before it even really began, it was eerie."
"Why?"
Nephis asked this one word, but it caused Sunny to relive the moment altogether. "Somehow, the guy couldn't resist, he just… died. From one second to the other. It just happened, in front of everyone present."
Now, even she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, "It… just happened?"
"Yes."
"Okay… and what else were you able to figure out? Maybe the name or the flaw of the accused pathfinder or anything else of worth?"
Sunny proceeded recounting everything he was able to scout with the help of his shadow. Among these things was also the name and the apparent aspect of the accused pathfinder. Ander. That was his name, and he can seemingly turn everything sharper than normal, making able to cut steel easily with his weapons.
Hearing all of this, Nephis furrowed her eyebrows in thought. Next a slight glimmer appeared on her face for a second, as if a realization struck. "Say, where you able to find the person Ray told us about?"
"The handsome, auburn-haired guy? Nope. There wasn't anyone that fit the description Ray gave us. …oh, but I met someone else, you might find interesting."
"Who?" inquired Nephis.
"Caster."
"Caster, from the Han Li clan?"
"I guess, if there isn't another one that looks exactly the same, behaves like him and that recognized us. Then, I would say, yes. That one," answered Sunny in a tone that was mixed between stiffly and slightly sarcastic.
This caused Neph to fall silent once more.
A few moments later, she stood up from her spot and walked towards the entrance. Turning, she looked at her two comrades a bit questioningly, "Are you coming?"
Blinking in confusion, Sunny replied in a perplexed tone, "Where to?"
"To get us our own guide."