CHAPTER 848: SECRET CODE

"Waiter! Another! Wahahaha~" Alice shouted, hoisting up her empty mug while Elias groaned next to her.

Surprisingly, she managed to find a mead she enjoyed a lot and they’ve been stuck in this tavern for around an hour now.

At this point, Elias was beginning to wonder if this cooperation was a good choice or not.

He thought they would be gathering information but instead, they’ve just been relaxing.

He was proven wrong with the shopping but what’s the reason this time for the mead? Or was it simply because she liked the drink?

Elias needed to figure out how Alice operated as a Hunter.

Though that comes with more exposure to Alice’s actions. So for now, he’ll simply let her do her thing and see what happens.

Finishing another mug of mead, Alice paid her tab and bought a large supply to take with her.

"Phew~ that was good. I didn’t expect them to have something so tasty in store." Alice licked her lips with a satisfied grin.

"Are we going to go to another tavern now?" Elias sighed, glancing around them.

At this point, it was getting rather late into the day with the sun setting on the horizon.

They should find an accommodation for the night unless they want to sleep on the streets.

"Nope, we’re going to visit a broker." Alice chuckled, holding up a small slip of paper.

"Eh?"

"The tavern was a front for the Underground. But they have to make it hidden." Alice smirked.

The code was hidden within the menu and her orders doubled as communication.

Of course, she enjoyed the mead but most of it was asking for an informant.

There were hints and clues in the menu and Alice even ordered an extra menu for clarification.

In the end, she settled on a Moon Herb Mead with a Travellers Platter for one, delivery via courier and make sure the bread isn’t stale.

When decoded, she was essentially asking for information on the current situation from an informant, private meeting no extras and the informant must be a handler with eyes and ears everywhere while avoiding city watch.

After placing her order, the bartender gave her the coordinates to the informant.

With Alice explaining the situation, Elias widened his eyes in surprise.

To the outside perspective, all she was doing was ordering mead like usual. But in reality, a series of exchanges was happening under the table.

Navigating their way through the city, Alice read the instructions carefully and began to trace the path of the tree roots.

Ducking and weaving through the giant roots that coiled around the city, she took several turns in the alleyways.

At the end of this journey through the city, they arrived at a tavern hidden through the gaps of the buildings. A dimly lit door with two people standing guard, invisible to the naked eye.

Alice took the lead, she walked up and pressed the note against the chest of the first invisible guard, surprising him as he didn’t expect her to discover his presence.

"I believe this is the ’ticket’, right?" Alice smiled.

Undoing his camouflage, the guard burned the note and opened the door.

It was an elevator of sorts and Alice stepped in with Elias following behind.

The doors slammed shut and the elevator was hooked onto a rail system of sorts.

She could hear the tracks being adjusted, the path changing based on where she needed to go. And finally, they started to move.

Through the gaps, Alice could see several tracks splitting and merging, twisting to different levels and some even going higher into the building.

As they descend into the depths, Alice closed her eyes, opting to use her senses rather than eyes.

Everything was covered in darkness after all.

There were... several ’cavities’ in the depths of the city.

Obscure and hidden. Large corpses were being harvested, leviathans of colossal sizes transported from an alternate route it seems.

Useful parts being smuggled into the Abyss through the gateway.

Beast harvesting wasn’t the only thing that she sensed.

There was also a market sprawled across a large chasm. Lanterns made from a mix of beast parts and metal illuminated the surroundings, humming with a small echo of energy.

Strange transportation reaching other cities could be sensed, large moving contraptions with the sound being dampened by arrays crafted from Abyssal Engineering.

Those above ground were ignorant of the moving masses of metal beneath their city.

The elevator changed tracks once more, a steep dive towards the bottom.

There were other elevators moving along side them before changing tracks.

"To think this was under the city... Don’t you think the guards would do something about it?" Elias furrowed his brows.

"Like what? Shut it down? They can’t do that. The underground is too important when it comes to dealing with the Abyss. And as much as they hate it, Extalia is too entwined with Abyss Blood to ignore the Underground." Alice shook her head.

"Of course, that doesn’t mean the Underground would simply operate out in the open either. Cross the boundaries and people will naturally begin to complain or take matters into their own hands.

"The Underground must remain a neutral and covert organisation. Perhaps with a few hints of favouritism here and there but only for those they owe favours to."

Naturally, that being Allura.

An organisation such as the Underground needed to be careful of how they treat their... vip clients. Lords that can wipe out branches with a wave of their hand.

Despite being ignorant of the core workings of the Underground, certain assumptions can be made based on what Alice has seen.

After a little while, their elevator started to slow down before stopping completely.

The doors creaked open and Alice stepped out.

They arrived at a strange location with a single tree illuminated by natural glowing lights, filling the room with a soft blue hue.

In front of the tree sat a grey haired woman with elongated ears.

The hair, long and messy, reached to her ankles with her height being relatively the same as Alice.

Rather short.

As for what she was wearing... it was more accurate to call it a nightgown.

She turned her head, vibrant violet eyes gazing towards her guests.

"Welcome~" She spoke lazily.

Alice could tell this woman was exhausted.

The way she moved, the bags under her eyes. Her overall aura was one of lethargy.

"I believe you wanted an information broker right? What do you desire?" She asked.

Her movements were slow and gentle. Strange vines appeared from the floor, twisting together to form seats.

Alice sat down and crossed her legs.

She couldn’t help but wonder if the girl in front of them was an Elf or simply someone who looked like one.

Feeling Alice’s stare, the girl’s ear twitched slightly.

"I’m not one of the elves that serve the royal family. I simply had the misfortune to drink some blood that’s been mixed with elven blood thus granting me these ears. It does make it rather annoying to step out as all eyes are turned to me." The girl chuckled, her finger tracing her ears.

Adjusting herself to face the duo, she kept a professional smile on her face.

"Can you tell me about the current situation with the Zenia family and the noble houses?" Alice went straight to the point.

The girl tilted her head, surprised by the contents of Alice’s question.

"Hou~ I wonder for what reason you are inquiring about this family. But before I begin, are you able to afford the toll?" She narrowed her eyes.

Alice tossed over a coin pouch fill of gold and platina.

Weighing the pouch in her hand, the girl smiled and lifted up the hem of her nightgown ever so slightly. Elias was about to turn away when he saw a row of teeth on her stomach.

*Krrr...

The ’mouth’ opened and a tongue swallowed the pouch.

The girl’s body tilted from left to right. Then after a moment, she opened her main mouth and spat out a few coins.

"Your change~" She presented the coins.

Looking at the saliva coated coins, Alice winced a little, creating some blood to cleanse it before storing it back into her pouch.

"The information of the Zenia family has been hard to come by. They’ve tightened their security and most of the spies have been dealt with. Are you wanting information on the houses they’ve taken over or the houses they’ve yet to consume?" She asked with Alice folding her arms.

It was probably easier to know about the houses they haven’t taken over yet.

"Tell me about the houses the Zenia’s have yet to take over." Alice requested.

The girl nodded her head and closed her left eye.

Twitching for a few moments, she opened her left eye, revealing its change.

Several pupils could be seen squashed next to each other, twitching and pulsing.

"There are currently three major houses that have yet to fall to the Zenia family. They’re holding their own but one of them are already on the verge of falling.

"House Varyn, House Serathei and finally, House Nightingale. Despite their fall from grace after the take over of the Abyss Blood business by the Zenia family, the Nightingale family has committed a firm foothold in Abyss Engineering.

"They’re refusing to bow down but are on the verge of being swallowed once more." She explained as Alice blinked her eyes, surprised to hear the name Nightingale.

After all, in the past when she was at the academy under Rosalyn, she had actually met a member of the Nightingale family.

Miki Nightingale, Luke’s friend from the same department.