Published at 12th of August 2024 7:40 am

Chapter 120 Dusk And A Masked Man

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Elmer had no idea of how he could get ahold of the location of the underground cartel he sought out—at least before this moment.

He’d been lost in thought after figuring out an efficient method to bypass Fate’s Mirage’s effects, and had spent the major hours of Saturday trying to come up with something that would hand him the whereabouts of the hidden place which would effectively double his income.

There had been the idea to use the opium to determine the underground cartel’s location, but since the only person he’d met who had known about such a place was dead he’d decided not to waste his already depleted spirituality. After all, he could only use divination to find out the location of a person, not the location of a location.

Following countless searches of his mind for an answer—obviously while keeping out, with the help of Mary, Pip’s bickering of him being locked up too much from reaching his ears—Elmer had come upon a single plausible resolution for his plight.

Seek Levi Harold out.

He believed that if there was anyone who possessed any knowledge regarding illegal things such as opium and the underground cartel, then it would be the pawnbroker. But Elmer knew better than to pay a visit to Lev without making sure his real identity was kept hidden.

And that train of thought was what had brought him to this moment.

His hair dyed black, and being garbed in his vigilante fit of a black shirt, vest, boots, gloves, and his pale smiling mask, Elmer had donned the form of the eerie reaper. He was seated on a window sill mysteriously while shooting a piercing gaze at the stocky, thick-coated puss of british blue with a broad face and golden eyes that was hissing offensively at him.

Did he really give off so much of a bad vibe in this form that it even scared animals?

He was not even using the silver essence he’d presumed to represent force from his experiments to enhance his presence at this point in time, unlike how he’d done with Edgar and the rest of his victims. So how come he was being seen as dangerous?

Was it the mask?

Most likely.

“Wh-Who are you…?” A voice of low but palpable panic broke Elmer from his thoughts and brought him back to the matter at hand. The owner of the voice had been none other than Lev, though not in his usual smug state, but in a defensive, frightened one.

Elmer had first of all checked if Lev was an Ascender after he’d creeped into the man’s apartment while he’d been sleeping. He’d done so purely as an act of caution in order to prepare himself for conflict. It had been three months since they’d last met, a lot could have happened in three months.

Well, the man was not an Ascender. And having confirmed that, Elmer had snuck back into the sitting room and caused a loud noise by rattling the window to wake Lev and his cat up.

He was at least glad that his once-acquaintance could sleep soundly now. He’d been of help to a person.

Time to act nonchalant, I guess… Elmer cleared his mind and focused.

“You may call me ‘the reaper’.” He had already imbued the essence of gray into his larynx, so his words had come out harsh and raspy, solidifying his eerie presence.

“The reaper?” Lev shrank back further, his cat now almost taking the lead.

Elmer wished she would stop hissing, but he understood her aggressiveness at him. He was dressed in an awkward way and had trespassed into her home with two hours left till curfew time. This was the hour of crimes, and he seemed a criminal.

In fact, he couldn’t even deny that. Considering all he’d done, and his current state, in all actuality, he was.

“What do you want?” Lev continued, his amber eyes narrowed, causing his pretty face to take on an unpleasant expression.

“Nothing too serious.” Elmer remained still and uncanny where he was seated on the window sill, both his hands within his coat’s pocket. “Money.”

Lev visibly shuddered. “I don’t have any!” he quickly voiced. “Not…” He trailed off when a few seconds passed and the reaper remained silent. His eyes perused the floor shakily as though he was contemplating whether he should or shouldn’t say what he had in mind. When the pressure of the frightful presence before him did not subdue, he gave in. “Not now. I do not have any money at the moment.”

“At the moment?” Elmer decided to play along after a short silence. “When will that change?”

Lev’s eyes shot up from the floor to the reaper. He was unsure what to say, that much was obvious.

Elmer smiled underneath his mask and decided to end his unnecessary conversation there. He then took out the purple opium from his pocket, bringing it into Lev’s view.

The young pawnbroker instantly had a dazed look tacked upon his frightened expression.

Elmer had become quite good at understanding people’s reactions, so he knew he was on the right track.

“I do not wish to waste my time… And yours of course,” he began, his voice heavy and overwhelming. “You know what this is don’t you?” Lev hesitated, his eyes moving between the purple crystal and the mysterious figure who held it up in the moonlight’s glow.

Elmer was not willing to delay and slowly interrogate, so he immediately went toward the most efficient route to take in scenarios such as this.

“Your grace for hesitation has been exhausted.” He tilted his head in an inexplicable manner, directing his gaze at Lev’s british-blue puss, and sent a wave of silver essence upon her. “Hesitate one more time and she dies first.”

The cat’s piloerection and hiss instantly disappeared as though it had never been there, and her eyes widened as her pupils dilated. With a high pitched meow, she rapidly fled underneath the couch positioned to the wall of the sitting room, obviously trembling in her hiding spot.

The abrupt change of his cat from offense to distress left Lev extremely befuddled. He understood the gravity of his situation now. It was evident from his face.

“I will not ask again.” Elmer straightened his neck once again while retaining his dreadful demeanor. The silver spirituality essence he had instantly dispelled though. He could not handle making use of two spirituality essences simultaneously for a long period of time—not in his state.

Lev’s heartbeat hastening was made known to Elmer as the pawnbroker said with a trembling chin, “I do.”

“Good,” Elmer huffed. “The underground cartel, where can I find them?”

Lev’s neck bent forward. “That… That I do not know,” he replied in a quiet voice. And when the reaper remained silent, he quickly added, “I swear on Chronos’ throne itself. I do not know where they are located, how to find them, or anything about the drug’s making process. I just… I just deliver them as I am told to do.” His hands were raised, palms showing.

Lev, my man, we both know you do not worship Chronos, so what’s the use of swearing in his name…? Elmer lampooned inwardly. But he believed Lev. Well, he had no choice. He was not going to kill the cat after all.

Still, he was not planning on ending his interrogation there.

Dipping the opium back into his pocket, Elmer asked, “Who gives you the drugs to deliver? Do not try to act smart or waste my time.”

“He…” Lev cleared his throat while rubbing his sweaty palm on his baggy pants. “He goes by Mr. Hank.”

Hanky…?!

Elmer was surprised—a bit. Then he quickly put two and two together.

Heh… So that’s what it was…? I always wondered how you were able to afford a room in a middle class street as a pawnbroker, Lev, I see now… As for Hanky, is he really selling that drug in his bakery, and that’s why there’s so many customers…? Wow, you both are really amazing… There’s really a lot of money in this business…!

Discreetly clearing his throat, Elmer went on, “Address?”

He had one for the bakery, but he needed that of Hanky’s home since that was where the man would obviously be at the current hour. And the fear he’d imbued in Lev made sure he had it.

“Foreign District,” Lev had immediately answered, raising his hands up again as some sort of white flag to indicate his pure intentions. “Berk Way. House 14. That is all I know.”

Foreign District…? Elmer’s eyes twitched beneath his mask. Why is Hanky living so far away from his workplace…? Wait… Is it because the underground cartel is located in the foreign district…?

A plausible deduction that Elmer knew he had to ascertain at once. But in order to complete his whole enigmatic appearance he had to leave as mysteriously as he had come in.

A good entrance required an even better departure.

He measured the distance between the sill where he was and where Lev was standing, deducing it to be about eight feet. It was enough.

Shifting indiscernibly away from the sill, Elmer took a first step forward, and another, until five was completed and his presence was no more.

Through it all, Lev had leaned backward in fright while whimpering uncontrollably. He had not blinked, so he knew that the figure who had been shifting closer to him had not run away or jumped out the window like the vigilantes or robbers in stories did; this one had vanished into thin air.

The thought of the sort of powers the reaper possessed made his knees crumble and give out in relief. He had never come face to face with an Ascender since Elmer Hills, but the vast difference between how he’d felt with encountering these twoleft him bamboozled. He’d no doubt survived an encounter with a powerful being. An Ascender he felt would be no less a beast.

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