[Some hours later]
In the span of about three hours, Bulat had managed to clean everything up and had the bodies of the dead men transported outside the city and burned.
Now he sat in his study, staring at a frozen Henry and contemplating what to do next. Zaoin had disappeared for some reason but Bulat did not hold that against the man, although he was more than a little upset that he wasted a lot of money on hiring Mercenaries.
Looking at the frozen form of Henderson, He couldn't help but be curious if the man was still alive in there, he doubted that he was, he had been frozen for over three hours now.
"Well Doc McAllister, will probably tell me if he's dead or not.'
In any case, the only thing worth thinking about now was how to proceed. Bulat did not know if Arthur was going to return and threaten him or kill him but he felt confident the Explorer wouldn't kill him, otherwise, he would have done so hours ago.
If Arthur is not going to kill Bulat, this then gave the Slum boss plenty of time to think of a plan.
No doubt there were witnesses to the attack on Arthur's carriage, meaning if Bulat wanted to have Arthur arrested, he would have to bribe the witnesses.
From there he would then spin the story in a way that paints him as the victim of an attack by an Explorer.
Bulat was sure no one saw Arthur's wife getting taken, meaning he could just deny that allegations, not only that but he could also mention how Arthur had threatened him when he visited the Explorer's home, making it seem like Arthur had it out for him from the very beginning.
However, there was an issue with this plan. Firstly, Bulat did not know which nobles were backing Arthur. The unfortunate thing was that if a sufficiently powerful noble had your back, you could get away with a lot of things.
Another issue was that he did not know how Arthur found him so quickly, only his men knew about that base near the city wall.
"Did he beat the information, out of Zaoin?"
That was a possibility however Zaion was an experienced Mercenary, there was no way a few minutes of getting tortured would be enough for him to give away that information.
Another option was that Arthur managed to get info from one of his men….
His thoughts paused for a moment as the realisation struck him like a bolt of lightning.
"That thieving son of a bitch!!"
Of course, it was Darren, now it made sense why he suddenly disappeared.
With Darren at Arthur's corner, that meant the Explorer also now had something against Bulat that could be used the moment he tries to do something against Arthur.
"Damn!!"
The next best thing now would be to bluff, since they don't know which noble is backing Bulat, making it seem like a noble of a higher rank than a Baron would be the best move.
"Using that, I could propose a truce, while I work behind the scenes to get rid of them."
That's the conclusion Bulat reached, although the issue remained, he did not know which noble was backing them. All of this goes out the window if a Marquis is their backer.
One thing you don't want is a Marquis breathing down your neck after making attempts to have his people arrested. In that scenario, his entire business and livelihood would go into the pits of the abyss.
*Knock Knock*
A knock interrupted his thoughts and he gladly welcomed the distraction. He allowed the person to enter.
"Doctor McAllister, thank you for coming"
A man with dark brown skin, and amber colored eyes entered the room. He had long dreadlocks tied together by a pure silk white ribbon. He wore a primarily brown trench coat, that looked to be clumsily stitched together with mismatching pieces of cloth, along with black trousers and sandals.
Doctor McAllister entered and stood at the center of the room, he took notice of the frozen body tucked at the corner but ignored it as a small smile appeared on his face his gaze settling on his long-time client.
"Of course! That cadaver you volunteered, contributed greatly to my work. Never seen cells so hungry for mana before, blue crystal is quite the fearsome drug."
The Doctor spoke with an elated tone, like a scientist on the verge of a breakthrough. His eyes convey a certain madness hidden deep within him.
"Work?"
Bulat's curiosity got the better of him, he figured the doctor used the dead bodies he collected for something, how he never asked before however now he couldn't help but be curious of what McAllister was up to.
"It's nothing special, just continuing the work of Sage Yeia"
"The mad Sage?!"
Bulat failed to suppress his shock, the mad Sage otherwise as Sage Yeia, a historical figure, who was widely considered to be crazy during his time, his ideas on how to bring beastmen from extinction were beyond out there.
"I assure you, that man was neither mad nor crazy, his ideas were just misunderstood"
McAllister stood in defense of the Sage, forcing Bulat to give him a raised eyebrow, worry flashing over his face. It wasn't because he was concerned for the doctor, no, Bulat was concerned that he may have allied himself with a madman.
"I'll take your word for it, anyway, would you be willing to get that off my hands?"
Bulat rightly changed the subject as he pointed to the frozen form of Henderson. His curiosity about McAllister's work faded as quickly as it came.
'Hopefully he isn't fucking animals, just to prove an ancient theory'
With that thought he left it there and moved on. Still thinking about it, it made sense that McAllister would be a fan of at least one of the three Sages.
"Oh! I thought that was a new type of decoration, to give the room a more menacing atmosphere."
His eyes focused on the frozen corpse and he pressed his lips together, that was certainly interesting.
"It's a frozen body, having that in my office is ghoulish. I'm not so disgusting as a person"
Bulat frowned as he defended himself, it was offensive that the Doctor would even say that, Having such a thing in his office was not his style. Besides eventually it was going to melt and wasting money to have it refrozen would be stupid.
"Hmm, whoever did this froze this person to the very bone, this is definitely a corpse now. Where is the other arm?"
Bulat was satisfied to have it confirmed that it was a corpse. Now he can pilfer its items without much issue.
"Don't know, it broke off somewhere, do you want it or not?"
"Very well, how much?"
"Ten healing positions and a free medical consultation"
"I don't understand why you keep insisting on this but I am more of an alchemist than a medical doctor"
The doctor protested, as much as he trusted his own skills, he wasn't the type to believe that just because he knew about a specific subject then that meant he was just as good as a professional.
"Yes, but you know enough about the human body to be a medical doctor"
Bulat insisted, he didn't have any medical issues as of right now, at least not any he's aware of, but he wasn't so stupid as to think he wouldn't have any in the future.
"Very well, I'll return this evening to retrieve the body."
McAllister shrugged and decided to move on, he wasn't about to pass up such a good corpse over something like not being a professional medical doctor.
"By the way, I've been a bit out of the loop because of my work, but I'm hearing there was a conflict earlier today, any news you wish to share?"
"None that concerns you."
McAllister could only shrug his shoulders in response, he was going to find out eventually, but he should have the free time right now as his work was almost complete.
"Fair enough. Would you like the medical consultation right now or at a later date?"
"Later, I need some stress release right now"
"Hey, that's healthy if you do it often you won't require a medical consultation"
The doc let out a hearty chuckle and Bulat could only roll his eyes before standing up and the two exited the study.
.....