"You won't do it?!" Edwina frowned and her voice turned cold. "This is the mission. You are doing it or I'll personally hand you over to the higher ups."
"…." Varian looked at her abnormal seriousness and clicked his tongue. Unlike him, these people really put their life on line for their missions.
His behavior enraging her was acceptable. If before, she was just trying to assert dominance, now she was completely following rules and doing it for the organization.
"I will do it." Varian said to cool her down. It's not like he's abandoning the mission.
He just knew there were other ways to finish it than getting close with what seemed like an arrogant and bratty rich daughter.
But until he learned about this city and the situation, he decided he'd pretend he's following the original plan.
"It's your first mission, so you might be tense." Edwina's expression eased, but she still had a bit of anger on her face.
Then she tapped on her comm again and thick stacks of files popped up.
"This is the information I collected about Betty. Her likes and dislikes. What she does everyday. Her favorite songs. Her clothes. Her most used swear words…"
Varian looked at Edwina and then at the files and gulped.
'This is stalking on another level!'
Then a thought popped up in his mind. 'Speaking of stalking, did Sia stalk me when I was weak…?'
"I've prepared each and every single detail. Study them properly and approach her. Grow her trust in you and this mission will be smooth sailing." Edwina transferred the files to his comm and said with a serious expression.
In the end, she casually added.
"I'll get you an identity by tomorrow. You can join the Miracle Academy."
"Direct admission to academy?" Varian was surprised.
"I'm an alumni of the campus. And now I'm a TA. I have that much privilege." Edwina's lips curled up and she practically overflowed with pride.
"…"
"When someone investigates, what are they gonna find out?" Varian asked.
"You are the son of a gang leader of other city. I'm that guy's mistress. His gang is in fight with other gang and until they're done, you'll live here.
As his mistress, me arranging this admission won't be doubted."
Varian's lips twitched at his new identity. Son of a gang leader? The fuck! His father was a brave soldier, alright!
"Can you find something better?"
"…Do you think we are running the government? This is the best we can find. Forging identities and making them seem credible is not easy." Edwina rolled her eyes with a displeased expression.
In fact, even this forgery was already pushing her to the limits. But thankfully, once they use this identity, no one would doubt Varian's sudden entry to the academy. Nor would they doubt Varian meeting her frequently.
"Thanks, I guess." Varian said and switched the topic. "So, why kidnap her? And who?"
Edwina stood up and walked out to the terrace. Varian followed.
They were currently on the 135th floor and Varian saw the disturbing cityscape once more.
Edwina's gaze stayed on one of the buildings in the near distance. It read Miracle Middle school.
She turned her gaze away and looked at the city with a mix of derision and frustration. "I can tell, you grew up in a safer environment.
You don't have to worry about being kidnapped. About the gangs that would threaten you. About the crazy fights that might end up making you a collateral.
I envy you people."
In fact, most of the federation was generally safe. But the closer one got to the edge, the more dangerous the planets were.
But even they weren't as bad as these space city clusters.
Varian didn't reply. A part of him did wonder what would've happened if he was born here. But there were no what ifs.
"Let me show you around a bit." Edwina said and gave him a normal face mask.
Varian wore it and felt Edwina touch his shoulder. The space distorted and the next moment, they were in the middle of a bustling but chaotic street.
"Fresh Sea Lion tendrils ! Special Discount!" A lanky middle-and man yelled from a shabby stall.
"Imported Ores! Buy now and sell later!" A fat woman shouted, pointing to the irregular stones in the boxes in front of her.
The crowd was walking through the congested and untidy streets as if they were in a hurry.
If there was one thing in common, they all bowed their head while walking and wore cheap clothes.
There was an aura of gloominess around every single person.
He felt angry for some reason, but more than angry, he felt grief.
"Why?" He muttered, maybe for Edwina or maybe for himself.
Edwina looked at his disheartened expression and her impression of him improved.
Even though he was from somewhere better off, his empathy for the people here were real.
"Nial family is the head of Uranus and responsible for governing the Uranus Cluster Cities." Edwina said as they walked through the crowded street.
They stepped on the cracked tiles and moved towards the opening of another street.
Varian repelled seven pickpocketing attempts already. Most of the pickpockets were children. He didn't get the heart to reprimand and let them go.
Watching them sigh in relief and run away, Varian didn't know what to say.
"Nial family sacrificed a lot of its powerhouses to help Neptune bear the impact of a two front war with Pluto and Abyss.
The result is this…" Edwina said in a complicated tone as she pointed to the buildings across the street.
Varian's keen senses caught everything—drugs, prostitution, robbery, money laundering—the more he observed, the heavier his expression turned.
Even though such things were heard occasionally, in this day and age, humanity had long overcome the problems.
But apparently a section of them still live in destitute conditions.
"The war-stricken Nial family can't take care of the Space Cluster cities anymore.
We were already poor due to the resources Pluto War drained from us.
Then shortly after, with the help of Shadow Order, the gangs sprang up. Now, there are many gangs in Valos.
As long they don't overstep some red lines, even the authorities turn a blind eye to their behavior." Edwina sighed.
"But why do people keep joining the gangs? Without them, the gangs would cease to exist, no?" Varian wondered. These people know the horror of gangs firsthand, so why would they join?
Edwina closed her eyes in pain and muttered. "Poverty induces crime. Crime promotes poverty. People enter gangs to escape poverty. And what they do in gangs make the people poor. Truly a vicious cycle."
*** *** ***
(This won't cost you extra)
A/N: Recently, there was a review stating Volume 4 has many fillers.
There are no filler chapters in Volume 4 so far (maybe 1 or at most 2).
Everything you learn right now might not seem relevant or useful, and some might not make even sense.
This happened again and again, starting with Varian's mother's wish, Sia avoiding Varian despite caring for him and recently, Eric's actions in the banquet which at that time seemed like author lost his brain. (there were some wild comments on that chapter. lol.)
But since you read so far, I hope you can trust me a bit more. What you read so far WILL matter and it'll become apparent the deeper we go into this arc.
PS: This is the last of the 5 promised chapters. Support the story if you can. Today's the last day.. If we reach top 25 (trending, monthly, all-time), we'll have a 10 chapter mass-release.
