Chapter 486

Chapter 493: Money Talks, Foiled Shortcut (Please Subscribe!)

Starting from the alleys surrounding the Orario streets and moving forward.

If you walk all the way to the depths, you’ll find stairs leading downward, connecting to numerous night bars exclusively open for adventurers.

Though labeled as exclusive for adventurers, any adventurer with even a shred of pride wouldn’t get drunk in such places.

The loyal patrons here are mostly low-level adventurers who lack real power.

To put it bluntly, they’re Orario’s version of gangsters and thugs.

Following the address and description provided by Mr. Thorn, Izay and Ryu quickly located the bar where he had been taken before.

The people hanging around inside were rough demi-humans who didn’t have much connection with the word “good.”

In the center stood an oak table, surrounded shoulder-to-shoulder by humans and dwarves, emitting hoarse laughter.

They seemed to be burning something, filling the air with a smoky smell.

But neither Izay nor Ryu paid much attention at this moment. After finding the place, they straightforwardly expressed their intention to look for someone.

As hyenas who work for money, revealing employer information without special circumstances is a basic rule for small fry.

So naturally, the adventurers in the bar weren’t willing to answer honestly at first.

Then… there was no then…

It took less than half a minute from start to finish. Izay looked at the bar boss embedded in the wall and repeated the question he asked when they met.

“Isn’t it you guys who abducted Anna Kreutz? Where is she now?”

If my memory serves me right, the big buyer who fancied Mr. Thorn’s daughter Anna went through several layers of covert handovers to keep things hidden.

Intercepting her during the handover would be the fastest way to bring the girl back.

Afterward, reporting the matter to Shakuti would resolve everything neatly.

But obviously, the response didn’t meet Izay’s expectations.

“It’s the Exchange!! We handed her over to them this morning! They paid us! They specifically asked us to avoid abducting the girl violently!!”

The man pinned against the wall revealed everything he knew, his eyes filled with fear after being physically persuaded.

“Exchange? The ones who hired you are merchants!?” Ryu raised her eyebrows in surprise upon hearing this.

“Yeah, that’s right! But I don’t know which specific merchant house, those huge organizations aren’t something a nobody like me can inquire about or offend!”

The Exchange is the gateway representing logistics within the city, gathering various import and export goods. And especially in the Pleasure Quarter, the human trafficking conducted there is extremely secretive and frequent, to the point that even the Guild turns a blind eye.

As for these so-called merchant houses, they are financial groups operating between Orario and various continental nations.

The larger ones almost monopolize all aspects of trade across the continent, accumulating unimaginable wealth. They are the most loyal and largest clients for Orario’s convenient magic stone products.

Getting involved with merchant houses gives even high-level adventurers headaches.

Their group strength may not be impressive…

But they have money!

A lot of it!

And that’s enough.

With money, plenty of adventurers will fight for them.

This guy claiming he knows nothing probably isn’t lying.

Money talks, and those big shots from the merchant houses likely wouldn’t even bother with him, a mere Level 1 upper adventurer, treating him merely as a tool.

After exchanging words, Izay and Ryu silently turned to look at each other, seeing a hint of helplessness in each other’s eyes.

“It seems we won’t get more useful information here. Shall we leave?”

“Let’s go first. Actually, I already have some clues; I just wanted to see if there was a shortcut.”

Shortcut?

Ryu caught this term but couldn’t fully understand its meaning.

Still, she accepted the decision to leave.

Facing only the peripheral informants among the bar thugs, the two decided to let him off for now.

Once they stepped out of the bar and back into the alley, Ryu moved closer to Izay.

“Izay, do you know which merchant house bought Miss Anna Kreutz?”

“No, strictly speaking, the ones targeting her aren’t any specific merchant house… tracing back to the root, the buyers are from the ‘Grand Casino.’ We might have to visit the ‘Grand Casino.'”

Izay shook his head and explained.

He originally hoped to rescue Anna during the handover, but the thug boss said that as soon as they got her, they immediately sent her away.

This foiled Izay’s plan to intercept her.

By now, Anna must have been delivered deep inside the Grand Casino.

She’s probably waiting to be trained.

Now, there’s no way to save her except by going to the Grand Casino.

“!? Are you talking about that store in the bustling area? The ‘Grand Casino’ with extraterritorial rights!?”

“Orario doesn’t seem to have another place worthy of being called the ‘Grand Casino,’ does it, Ryu?”

There are many casinos scattered throughout the city, but only one facility deserves the title of ‘Grand Casino.’ It is one of the two places in Orario not governed by the Guild Headquarters, possessing extraterritorial rights.

The ‘Grand Casino’ was built when Orario lacked entertainment industries. The Guild attracted foreign investment and applied for cooperation with other countries and major cities to construct it. Thus, its management has always been controlled by foreign hands, explaining its extraterritorial rights.

The other place with extraterritorial rights is the ‘Grand Theater,’ which shares similarities with the ‘Grand Casino.’

However, compared to the ‘Grand Casino,’ the ‘Grand Theater’ is much cleaner.

After all, it’s genuinely a place for performances, making money through ticket sales and theatrical patents rather than ruthless gambling.

The news that the culprit was from the ‘Grand Casino’ left Ryu speechless.

The difficulty of this rare act of justice was probably much higher than she imagined…

Initially, Ryu thought it was just a minor boss from a merchant house who fancied the girl, and all she needed to do was to cleanly rescue her and give the offender a lesson.

Who would have thought the perpetrator had such a massive background!?

Snatching someone from the jaws of the Grand Casino could easily escalate into diplomatic issues if handled improperly.

Moreover, entering the ‘Grand Casino’ requires a specially-made invitation.

And she… didn’t have one…