As Esme and Arthur were going to bed, Bulat had a rather rude awakening from his comfortable bed.
Darren had arrived and started making a ruckus, demanding to see him. There was no doubt about their attempt at scaring Arthur into paying the protection fee.
Bulat was perfectly fine hearing the news about that tomorrow morning however Darren was insistent on meeting now, forcing some of Bulat's men to have to wake him from his slumber.
As one might imagine being awoken from your peaceful slumber by a rude guest who, for some reason, can't wait til tomorrow to deliver the news caused one to be a little angry.
Bulat, along with Charlie and Big Mike, stood in the hallway of his home, one that led from the door to the living room. Darren was on his knees before them, panting something fierce. It seemed as though he ran a full sprint all the way to the heart of the slums.
"He's an Explorer!"
However, the moment those words left Darren's mouth, the anger Bulat had been feeling vanished and was immediately replaced by shock.
"Are you positive about this?"
Bulat asked for reassurance, it's possible that Darren was just lying to cover up the fact that they could not take on a single mercenary.
"Yes, I'm certain that he's an Explorer"
He looked at the thief before him and scrutinised his eyes, it was not beneath Darren to lie in order to save his own skin, any slumrat learned to lie very early in their lives so that they could live and gain something to survive
"If this is a lie, I will be taking your fingers. All of them, got it?"
Darren gave him a hurried nod, already imagining how painful the process of having his finger cut off would be.
"hmm"
Bulat let out a hum of contemplation. Having an Explorer in his sphere of influence would be troublesome. It could embolden everyone in that area, making them unwilling to cooperate and be unwilling to pay the protection fee.
While it's possible that the Explorer could just protect his own and as long as he is left alone, he won't do anything, but how long will that last?
After all, if the Explorer is a half-decent guy, some urging and complaints from his neighbors would be enough to get him to intervene and completely destroy Bulat's business.
"A good move would be to get rid of him, take him out of the equation entirely"
He said that more to himself than anyone else. That would indeed be a good move, a threat to his control of not only that edge of the capital, but his control of the slums, that threat needs to be removed as quickly as possible.
But how can he do that? The threat was an Explorer, an individual who faces the threat of death daily. Hiring simple mercenaries with powerful magic items is a good option. However, should they fail, Bulat will not survive an Explorer seeking revenge.
The best option it to hire another Explorer, however the problem with that is the fact that they are rare, meaning to find one he'd have to expand a lot of resources, not only that even if he does find an Explorer, they're mostly likely rich enough to not need any money and if they do need money the price for their services would exceed what he's willing to pay.
This means that if he wants to hire an Explorer, he needs to find one that is poor and desperate for money, and unfortunately, that is far too rare.
Slaying monsters is a job that only Explorers can do, and thus, they are paid handsomely well by the Explorer's guild.
"Alright, for the time being, get out of here, I need to sleep on this. Charlie escort this fool out"
Bulat stated as he turned his back on Darren and made his way into the interior of his home. Specifically, he made his way to the kitchen, and he was being followed by Big Mike.
"Oh! Big Mike strip the other two fools of their items"
Bulat ordered, this would be the first time he has ever taken an item from Gus. Gus was typically the person he sent to take items from others.
"But boss, isn't Gus a debt collector?"
"I have plenty that can take his place, do as I say"
Big Mike gave him a nod before he turned on his heel and made his way towards the door. The man was not conflicted about the task he was given, the question he asked was asked out of curiosity rather than concern.
Bulat was left to his thoughts as he made his way through the kitchen and immediately made for the fridge.
'If I can't get an Explorer, I need either magic items or guns lots of them, and then a particularly powerful Mercenary or two'
He thought to himself, although he had plenty of men under him including some of the city guards, he was not sure whether to use his own men or to use Mercenaries.
Mercenaries were for the most part wannabe Explorers, they got themselves some decent magic items and decided to fight monsters as well, the only difference is that they are often hired by people to kill other people or to do things like protect merchant caravans more often than they actually fight monsters.
They also don't have guilds and are more like freelancers, unlike Explorers no matter what monsters they kill the Explorer's guild won't recognize them nor will it even register them as part of the guild.
Due to this there can be a little bit of hostility between Mercenaries and Explorers, although it's mostly one-sided.
Still compared to the Explorers, Mercenaries would be much cheaper so it would be a much better option to just hire a bunch of Mercenaries however even if they're cheaper that would still be a lot of money.
"hmm"
He hummed, allowing his thoughts to flow, as he made attempts to think of a way to deal with this new problem.
He considered the options available to him however, if he could do this without wasting money that would be the best option, however, the people he can use without spending enough money are not strong enough to do the job.
"In the end, looks like I'll have to use a significant amount of money, if I want to really get rid of this guy"
Those words left his mouth with an unpleasant bitterness.
He was never the type to like the idea of losing money, which is why he has people who owe him do most of his work, promising them that as long as they do as he says, their debt might get reduced, emphasis on "might"
He also did not like the fact that he had to pay some nobleman to keep his business going and without being harassed by some overly righteous knights who think the world works on good morals and justice but he still paid anyway as it maintained his business.
"Before anything, I need to appraise this new threat personally then act based on that impression"
He decided, if he truly wanted to get rid of the Explorer, then it was important to get a good look at him, get an impression of what kind of man he is before finding a way to get rid of him.
With that decided he let out a sigh and finally opened the refrigerator and began to choose the snack he wanted to have before going back to bed.
…..
"An Explorer"
Darren muttered to himself as his hurried pace carried him to his humble room at the Inn.
He made it a point to hurry and get to his home, mostly because if he walked at a normal pace he might attract some unwanted attention.
While Bulat held control of the slums and ran his business practically uncontested, that did not mean there weren't people willing to try something.
Bulat wasn't the only one who had underlings in the slums and it's not uncommon for some drug dealers to try and usurp him.
This meant that just because Darren was under the banner of someone like Bulat who's considered the boss of the slums, he was still in danger of falling victim to the schemes or whims of the other bosses in the slums.
However, right now, the young man was not concerned with that, in fact, it was the last thing on his mind, everything was completely blown away by the fact that an Explorer was in the city.
That fact alone would be enough to get people gossiping, if he could use that information just right he could perhaps get himself out of Bulat's control.
"But how?"
That was the question the young man asked himself.
Unlike the likes of Leo and Gus, Darren only became part of Bulat's crew mainly because of a botched job at central (central area of the capital) It was where all the rich folk lived and it was essentially a treasure trove when you looked at it from the perspective of a thief like him.
Had the job gone well, right now he could have been relaxing in his own house in the center of the capital and enjoying his life after having carved his way out of the slums.
But reality was a nymphomaniac that loved fucking people in the ass, and among thieves, betrayal was as common as dirt on the ground.
"In any case that's in the past, I need to use the information I have now to benefit me"
Those words escaped his mouth however he couldn't really think of anything that would work long term.
What he needs is something that will get him out of Bulat's thumb and preferably get him out of the slums permanently; however, he had no idea how knowing the whereabouts of an Explorer would help in that regard.
It would be easy to sell the information to someone who could in turn protect him from Bulat but he didn't know anyone who would be willing to do that for the information he has.
Even if he could sell such meager information, there wasn't anyone in the slums who could protect him from Bulat. Worse of all, should Bulat find out, there's nowhere he could run to escape Bulat.
"Fuck! I can't really think of anything right now"
He cursed, frustration filling the pits of his stomach. He scratched his head and let out a deep sigh.
The feeling of fatigue and hunger began to settle onto him, he hadn't eaten yet, however he wasn't going to eat, instead decided that he needed to sleep and think about it tomorrow.
Despite having the money to buy food for himself the thought of eating was not a priority, he didn't want to waste the money he had, he had already eaten earlier today and now he'll eat tomorrow. Eating food twice a day was a luxury to the likes of him