At the Seaweed Bar, sitting at a table in a discreet corner of the bar, was a man wearing a brown wig and, despite the warm weather in Bayam, a thick scarf that covered half his face. It was Danitz, who had come to the bar as agreed with Lewis; if Lewis showed up and ordered a Black Rand instead of the cheap beer he always used to order, it meant he had finished gathering the information; if he ordered anything else or didn't show up within the next half hour, it meant he was still working on it.
"I should have stayed at the hotel, really. What kind of lunatic comes out this early in the morning to drink? Besides, I gave him the assignment yesterday; there's no way he could have gathered all the information he needs already."
As Danitz thought sleepily, he heard the familiar sound of the bar door opening; a young man with slightly curly black hair and light blue eyes entered. He was wearing a brown trench coat and had a cigarette that seemed to be permanently stuck in his mouth. Danitz knew the guy; he was the informant he had hired the day before, the one he believed had some kind of organization backing him up. Seeing him, Danitz couldn't help but think.
"Have you gathered the information already?"
But he quickly dismissed the idea; it hadn't even been a day since he had made the request, and a subject involving the ruins of the Third Epoch clearly needed to be handled with extreme care, as there would be all kinds of forces wanting to take a look. Even if this informant possessed Beyonder powers or had an organization backing him, it would definitely take more than a single night to gather reliable information.
However, Danitz felt his heart grow cold when he saw the black-haired young man slightly avert his eyes to look at him before smiling broadly.
'It can't be... right?'
With wide eyes, Danitz watched as the young informant walked toward the bar with carefree steps and his hands in the pockets of his trench coat, as if it were just another morning in his life. The young informant quickly reached the bar and, sitting down, greeted the bartender as if they were old friends.
"Hey, old man, how's it going?"
"Everything was fine until you arrived, and smoking is prohibited here."
"Jeez, as bitter as ever."
After stubbing out his cigarette with the sole of his shoe, the young informant and the bartender struck up a conversation, with the young informant making jokes about the bartender's grandchildren, which Danitz didn't understand. Finally, after a little more small talk, the young informant placed his order.
"Today, serve me a Black Rand."
"Hmph, did you finally decide to drink a real drink?"
"Hahaha, well, today is a somewhat special occasion."
As the bartender made the drink, he asked, seemingly in passing.
"Why is it special?"
"Well..."
The young informant rested his elbow on the bar and let his head fall against his palm; he looked away at Danitz, who by this point had his mouth slightly open; with a broad smile, he said:
"I'm going to make a lot of money today."
The bartender asked no further questions. As for Danitz, a single thought popped into his head.
'Dogshit.'
***
After finishing his Black Rand, Lewis calmly left the Algas Bar and headed to his office. He opened the creaky door and sat down quietly, resting his feet on his desk. In his hands was a copy of Stormwind Mountain Villa. He had reached a rather interesting part of the story and wanted to know what would happen next. But unfortunately for him, just as he was beginning to immerse himself in his reading, the door rang with a peculiar rhythm. With a sigh, he closed the book and walked to the rusty door; when he opened it, he saw a crudely disguised Danitz with sweat running down his forehead due to the scarf he was wearing. Lewis smiled and said in a tone of feigned confusion.
"Oh? Who are you, sir? Do you require the services of this informant?"
Danitz, gritting his teeth, replied irritably.
"Cut the crap! It's boiling hot outside."
Lewis laughed before letting him in. Once inside his office, Lewis grabbed an envelope from his desk and handed it to Danitz.
"Here you go, all the information you need about those ruins."
"So the rumors were true?"
"Yes, for better or for worse."
Danitz was encouraged to learn that the rumors about the ruins of the Third Epoch were true; his captain, who was fond of all such things, would surely like this very much, but when he heard the informant sigh, he began to have a bad feeling in his heart.
He quickly grabbed the envelope Lewis had handed him and read its contents seriously. At first, he was surprised by how detailed it was, with a precise description and coordinates of where the ruins were located, even a description of what was inside, detailing the destroyed murals and the different rooms.
"This guy... or rather, the organization behind him, really managed to gather this level of information in a single night, without apparently alerting anyone."
However, as he read on, his pupils dilated when he reached a certain part.
"Once you enter the ruins, you will begin to hear whispers capable of hypnotizing or directly driving mad any Beyonders who are not in a high enough sequence. In the deepest part of the mausoleum are a pair of giant stone doors covered with magical symbols."
"These doors enclose something extremely evil; it is suspected to be something with the lingering aura of the True Creator, or at least corrupted by him. The Aurora Order has already learned of this matter and is making sacrifices to feed the existence behind the door so that it can break free from the seal."
'True Creator... Aurora Order..."
Danitz was not ignorant of these names. In the Golden Dream, classes were regularly taught by their captain, Edwina Edwards; although Danitz hated these classes with all his heart, he had to admit that they had helped him learn all kinds of things about mysticism, including the names of evil gods and the organizations that worshipped them. Their captain had taught them this information so that if they ever encountered one of these organizations, they would be able to take the appropriate precautions.
"Dogshit."
This matter concerning the ruins had turned out to be much more serious than he had thought.
Seeing that Danitz had finished reading the information, Lewis finally made his move. He said to Danitz as he took a drag on his cigarette.
"Okay, I want you to listen to me carefully right now; I'd like us to make a deal."
"A deal?"
Danitz looked confused by his words, but Lewis continued with a carefree smile and tone.
"This mission turned out to be much more dangerous than we initially thought, so the price of that information is worth more than just £1,000."
Hearing this, Danitz stiffened and couldn't help but refute it in his mind.
"You did it all in one night! How dangerous could it have been!"
But aware that he was at a disadvantage, he took a deep breath and asked in a solemn tone.
"What do you want?"
"Simple, the price will remain at £1,000; even if you want, I can give it to you for free; however, I want that in the future, if I need help with any matter, I want to be able to count on the help of Vice Admiral Iceberg Edwina Edwards. Of course, if you want the information for free, that will be two favors."
Upon hearing this, Danitz almost immediately wanted to refuse; he did not trust this informant with an unknown background at all, and he did not want to put his captain in danger or expose her to an organization he knew nothing about. But after deliberating for a few seconds, he realized he really had no choice; he hadn't even had time to borrow the money from his captain, so he couldn't pay for the information.
Lewis didn't pressure him while he let Danitz think; in the end, he knew this pirate had no choice but to accept. After all, Danitz was a bit of a coward; he wouldn't just try to run off with the information or try to fight him to silence him. In his mind, he probably believed that he had some kind of secret organization backing him up, a very mysterious one at that; there was no way he would take that risk. Sure enough, after a few seconds of silence, Danitz spoke.
"I need a room."
Lewis was not surprised by this strange request and willingly pointed to a door on the side of the office.
"There's one there, although it's a bit small."
Without another word, Danitz walked to the room and closed the door behind him. The office fell silent again as Lewis waited patiently. He picked up Stormwind Mountain Villa again and resumed reading.
He knew what Danitz was doing; most likely, he would contact Edwina through his dreams to inform her of the situation and let her make the decision.
"It's a shame I can't infiltrate his dream like Klein did; his expression would surely be something to see."
After a few minutes, Danitz finally left the room. He looked at Lewis and, after a few seconds of hesitation, said.
"The captain wants to talk to you."