The sound of my leather boots hitting wet stone echoes out the empty stone tunnel as we climb down the last step of the ladder.

Squelch, squelch.

The cloaked man climbed first, but his boots didn't make any sound at all, so I didn't know there was a puddle right beneath us. Sigh. Luckily, this is also a cheaper pair of boots and not my academy's uniform boots.

Glancing up, I see that the hole that leads back up has been sealed without my knowledge, making me panic a little.

What am I thinking, trying to mingle with a bunch of criminals like this? I must have gone crazy. What if the man draws some sort of hidden weapon and tries to kill me now? I won't even have the time to retaliate.

I'm so out of my depths.

Still, I need to do this. The armor is too valuable. And besides, knowing that doing this is helping a man prove his innocence also boosts my conviction a bit more. Yes, I'm doing a good thing, even if the motive is selfish.

Taking a breath to compose myself, I look towards the cloaked man again. This time he's holding out two items that I hadn't seen on him before. A plain white mask and a strip of cloth.

Curiously, I observe the mask a little more, finding a small sigil that looks like a flower with five petals. I didn't know about this detail, since in the game, the moment you enter the back door in the pub, it teleports you to the Underground immediately.

The mask must be to hide my identity, and the cloth, I can only assume, is a blindfold. The man is as quiet as ever even when I take the mask and cloth from his hands.

Shrugging to myself, I place the mask on my face and it immediately sticks in. It must be some sort of enchantment. I can feel the subtle mana doing work, and I know that with just a slight push, it will fall off immediately. But others won't be able to take it off without exerting a large amount of force.

While marveling at how such simple enchantments can be so effective, I am broken out of my revelry by a small cough.

"The blindfold," the cloaked man said softly.

Embarrassed, I quickly tie the strip of cloth around the mask's eye slits as well, leaving me entirely in the dark. If I'm not wearing the mask right now, my face will undoubtedly be quite red.

Before I have the chance to panic at the loss of my vision, a calloused hand grabs my wrist and begins to lead me forward into the tunnels. Or should I say sewers? I can hear the sound of rushing water within the tunnel as we walk forward, so I assume we're in some sort of side tunnel to the sewers.

With the existence of Geomancers, building complex structures such as a city-wide sewage system are rather trivial. Adding the fact that the Evermist River is running right through the city, there is no shortage of water, either.

As we continue into the sewer proper, I start to feel a strange calmness. Even if the darkness reminds me of my dream that threatened to consume me, the warm, steady hand keeps me grounded in reality. Even at the total lack of light, the hand is reliable and strong. It's like the hand of that shining God in the dream, holding and pulling me out of that lonely world.

I had never felt as conscious about a person holding my hand as right now.

I feel blood rushes to my face even harder. Why am I thinking about such random stuff while being led by a criminal into some deep, dark, and humid tunnel?

Hopefully, it won't take too long.

===

Regrettably, it took too long.

Well, at least for my taste.

Being blinded by a piece of cloth, I could only use the sound of my constant footsteps to count the time, so I don't know for sure how much time had passed. But the path we took seemed to twist and turn every dozen steps, and we had to stop from time to time as well.

If he was doing this to throw me off from tracking the proper path to take, then he had certainly succeeded.

Well, regardless, the moment we reached the Underground proper, the man simply released my hand and took off the blindfold himself.

Taking a moment for my eyes to readjust to the light, I blink fiercely as I try to take in as much of my surroundings as I can. And all I can say is that I'm quite impressed.

We seem to still be in the sewer, but the area in front of me is a large, open nexus of sorts, as multiple different tunnels and pipes lead into this tunnel and dump their contents into a large moat, which then flows into an even larger river. Even so, the air is surprisingly fresh, indicating that the river leads to an outside area not far from here. Rows of magical lanterns lit the place in a warm magical glow as not a small number of people walked around and interact with each other.

This must be the Underground Trading Centre. Or just Underground for most people.

I see merchants and peddlers laying strange and most likely illegal items onto stalls and rugs, bartering and advertising their goods to customers and passersby, each of them wearing a green mask with the same sigil as mine. I see adventures wearing armors, nobles and their guards, thugs and criminals, mercenaries. All manner of people, all moving about, all have different colored masks on their faces.

I turn my gaze opposite the river and find what I can only describe as an underground building, its wooden walls a stark contrast to all of the stone around me. With bouncers standing guard in the front of the door, the 'building' is the most orderly thing that exists in such a disorderly area.

Feeling a tug on my arm, I turn to see the cloaked man from before is standing next to me, his face now covered with a white mask as well. Though his mask has an extra detail around the flower sigil as a thin circle almost encompasses the whole thing, save for a gap at the bottom.

He jerks his head, signaling me to follow.

Since I don't know any better, I can only helplessly do so as he leads me towards the wooden 'building', and as we come closer, I make out the sign on its front saying Black Rose Auction. Is this some kind of black market auction house?

The bouncers at the door only glanced briefly at the cloaked man's mask before opening the front door to allow us entry.

Within the auction house, a large wooden reception counter with multiple clerks sitting behind partitions made from the same material is the first thing I see. The large thing takes up almost half the room with stairs leading downwards on either side of them.

My guide quickly beelines towards a specific clerk, who is the only person with a white flower in his shirt pocket. The handsome, 20-something-years-old man that is the clerk smiles lightly as we approach, showing his immaculately white teeth. He speaks in a song-like voice while looking at me.

"Hello, dear customer, how can I help you today?"

I scratch my head a little, not knowing how to respond. Honestly, everything is going so fast I have a hard time keeping up.

"Uhmm, I wish to find a specific person to deliver a secret letter. Can you help me?" My voice comes out a little distorted. This mask is seriously cool.

"Yes, of course. Dealing in secrets is our specialty, after all," he said while chuckling. "Who is this person that you're looking for?"

"I'm looking for Billin the Traitor, a dwarf that's hiding with you."

There's a slight pause in his action as his smile becomes a little forced, but then it's gone the next moment as he speaks again.

"I see. May I ask what business that you have with my friend? And how do you know about his existence?"

The moment I entered the Black Rose Auction, I have turned on my Soul Sight so I can easily see that he's a lot more agitated than what he's letting on. I can see his arm subtly shift behind the counter a little, preparing something. I keep the detail to myself.

Doing my best to make myself sounds more reassuring, I speak slowly.

"Calm down. I'm your ally, not your enemy. I'm here to help him prove that he's not the traitor, but I need to speak directly with him."

"Is that so? How am I supposed to know that you're telling the truth?" His voice contains much more venom than before, his smiling facade crumbling entirely.

"Look. If I wanted to expose him, I would have done so already. Why would I need to go through all this trouble to meet with him? He's under your boss's protection too, right? So if I wanted to hurt him, I won't be able to do it here anyway."

He squints his eyes at me. "Who the fuck are you? How do you know so much about him?"

"Who am I doesn't matter. What matters is that I'm here to help. I don't need to meet him now, but send this letter to him, and he'll know if I'm trustworthy or not." I said as I produce a rather unassuming letter from the inner pocket of my jacket.

He eyes the letter suspiciously as I slide it across the counter. After a long moment, he hesitantly grabs it and puts it somewhere behind the counter that I can't see.

"You're awfully suspicious, but what you said makes some sense."

I'm a little surprised. I thought he would be a little more distrusting.

"Huh? You'll trust me just like that?"

He shakes his head. "No, I don't trust you. But I can't do much against you anyways, so I have no choice but to trust you, for now."

"I see." I don't know what he's thinking, but I see that his aura has calmed down a lot. Wait, hold on. There's still another issue.

"Is there a way for us to contact each other? You know, if you decide you want to meet me again."

The young man sighs as he ponders for a moment, before taking out a small key and hands it to me.

"I shall leave a response in the mailbox at 2505 Dreamer Street one week from now. Use this key to open the mailbox."

I grab the small silver key and swiftly pocket it. Dreamer Street is in the Residential District if I recall correctly. I nod my head at him and stand up but am suddenly stopped by a strong grip. Turning to face him again, he asks me with a small smile like when we first met.

"What's your name, dear customer?"

Uh, okay. No way in Hells am I falling for that.

"Just call me Gray."

He takes back his hand, seemingly a little disappointed. I nod my goodbyes once again before leaving the counter.

Turning towards the door, I'm surprised to find the cloaked man standing next to the door, waiting for me. I walk towards him and he gives me a small nod.

"All done?"

"Yes."

"Then come."

That's all he said as he grabs me by the wrist again and leads me back through the twisting tunnels.