City of Fallen Souls: A LitRPG Adventure (UnderVerse Book 3) by Jez Cajiao (fb2 epub reader .txt) 📕

the hell is goin’ on here, what happened to my people, and why you wanted to speak to me, or get out,” Mal growled, and I nodded, sitting forward.

“Sounds fair enough, but it’s complicated… it’d be better told with a beer,” I said hopefully, and he snorted, leaning to one side behind another chair and pulling a handful out. He threw one to each of us, and I popped the cork cap off, taking a swig, ignoring the risk of poisoning or being drugged as I enjoyed my first cold beer in what felt like forever.

I let out a sigh of pleasure, the cold, crisp taste reminding me of a Corona. It was missing only the lime to make it heavenly.

“Right…” I said, nodding my thanks to him as I settled back. “This is going to be a bit complicated, but you and I have a few mutual friends; Oren for one,” I said, catching the slight narrowing of his eyes as I mentioned his name. “Oren was captaining a ship that came for me and my people at the Great Tower…” I began, filling in most of the pertinent facts. Leaving out only details of our forces, I attempted to make it sound like we were far stronger than we were.

“…so that’s how we ended up taking the Great Tower,” I finished.

“So, you’re this ‘Lord Jax’ we’ve all been hearin' about, eh?” Mal said, sitting back and taking a swig. “What’s to stop us from just turnin' you over to the Guard? Seems there’d be a right nice bounty paid on your head and all.”

“Well, first because you’re not a native of the city, as Oren described it. He seemed to think things would end badly for you if you did. Second, there are a lot more reasons why we came to you than simply finding the entrance to the tunnels… and last of all, because if I can kill a SporeMother, one on one, do you really think it’ll end well for you if you try?” I asked him evenly.

“Tell me what’s in it for me and mine,” he said after a few minutes of quiet reflection.

“First, tell me why Oren never mentioned you being the Arena Master. He said you were a smuggler,” I replied, and he shrugged.

“Probably because he’s not been involved with us that much of late. I took over the Arena about a month back, around the time when he’d lost the runs to the villages. He probably just didn’t hear about it. I saw a chance, and I took it; a game of five star with the old Arena Master. He was down on his luck and put the Arena in as collateral.”

“You won it gambling?” I asked him, and he nodded. I couldn’t help but grin as he fingered a pocket unconsciously.

“Perhaps there’ll be time for a friendly game later, depending on how all this turns out,” he said casually and I realized I had just found a way to level my Luck stat, provided I wasn’t too stupid with it. Then I considered that gambling with this man would be fucking insane, as every instinct screamed that he’d have two dozen ways to cheat me if we were both stripped naked and playing underwater, let alone over a beer in a ‘friendly game.’

“I’m aware that the lower level members of the Smuggler’s Guild are required to report anything and everything to a higher authority. As long as they tell you, does that qualify?” I asked, and he nodded. “Good. Then in that case, besides your enforcers—who really know jack shit, I assume—nobody knows that the Smuggler’s Path is back open for business, right?” He nodded again, and I grinned.

“I’ve not claimed it, even though I have the right to, as I realize it’ll be like ringing the bell that I’m in the city. What I’m willing to offer is transferring ownership to you, or to another you designate, once I’ve got my price.”

“What price?” he asked, nodding along as though mildly interested.

“I need to get a few people out of the city and do a little raid while I’m here. Get a few supplies and such,” I said casually.

“How many people?” he asked.

“Oren and his crew’s families, plus a list of people that Barrett here got from the engineers, from Decin’s crew, and from the crew of the Agamemnon’s Wrath…” I said casually, as Barrett pulled a rolled-up list out of his pocket, unfurling it to show dozens of names… most of which had a marker of ‘& family’ next to them.

Mal choked on his beer, spraying it across the room as he calculated the number of people, then sat bolt upright, wiping his chin free of foam.

“Are you insane? How the hell do you think you’ll get that many people out of the city!” He choked, and I grinned at him. “Wait, what kinda supplies?” He frowned, reconsidering my request.

“Oh, you know, manastones, food, a variety of metals and building supplies, a forge, smelter, looms, and the kind of equipment we need to start a small settlement…” I said casually.

“How many manastones…” he growled, and I grinned at him.

“Well, you’ll like this, as I hear you and yours hate Barabarattas as much as I do…” I said evilly. “I want to raid his stockpile and rob him blind.”

“You’re fucking insane,” Mal said, and Soween looked at him, clear concern in her eyes, while Josh sat staring at me with his eyes wide.

“Josh, what are our chances?” Mal asked him, and Josh shook his head.

“None; I mean literally, none. Robbing the city lord? Sneaking a couple of hundred people, people that are skilled and important to him, out of the city? And stealing the most important war resource he has? There’s no chance!”

“Well… you heard the man. Ain’t happenin’,” Mal said, shaking his head. I leaned forward, looking at him.

“Really?” I asked. “Because I’m doing this, with or without you, and I’ll be taking the Legion with me as well. This