The skin below Catherine's left eye, was a shade different from the rest of her face, Catherine had brown skin, however the area below her left eye was a tad lighter, as if someone had used lighter brown dust to add color to it.
'hmm that's odd…'
He decided it simply ignore it, he didn't really think much of it as his attention was focused on their current conversation.
"As my wife has told you, we're currently in conflict with Bulat, and we'll need some help from you and the rest of the neighborhood to get rid of him for good"
Catherine felt her chest fill with a sense of relief, the prospect of someone having the power to get rid of Bulat actually making attempts to do so was reassuring however there was a problem.
She pressed her lips together, hesitant to speak and reject their plea for her help.
"... I'm afraid I won't be much help to you, in fact I'll be more of an obstacle…"
Her husband worked with Bulat quite closely, any information Arthur and Esme tell, will inevitably be known to her husband and by extension be known to Bulat.
She readily told the two about her husband's connection to Bulat, making it known that any information they shared with her would be detrimental to them.
Even if the event she promises to keep things a secret from her husband, he'd eventually figure out that there's something going on in the neighborhood and question her about it.
Unfortunately, Cathy was never a good liar, it always showed on her face and even if she was, her husband was the sort to get information one way or another.
"Hmm, so your husband is working with Bulat… is he doing it for any specific reason, like he's being threatened or owes Bulat some money?"
Cathy shook her head, in honesty she did not know anything about that, she didn't think he's being threatened by Bulat.
"I wouldn't know the reason why he's working for Bulat, as a woman that's his business not mine."
"Oh right, is it possible for me to speak to him?"
He nearly rolled his eyes when she said as a woman it wasn't her business but he figured it would be better to meet the man, and figure out a way to have him turn against Bulat one way or another.
Thinking about it further, he realised that he might have to speak to all the men in the neighborhood, as he did not know if women were allowed to discuss something like this, although by the looks of it, neither Esme nor Cathy had said anything regarding that.
Maybe they were allowed? Regardless he was in no mood to debate what women can and cannot do, it was honestly annoying having to think and consider what he could and could not talk about, hence why he often chose to disregard that rule.
Cathy could not give Arthur a definitive answer to his question, considering her husband worked for Bulat, she didn't know if he would be willing to talk to the people completely against his boss.
It was also possible that he might see it as some sort of trap or an attempt to use him against Bulat.
Their discussion continued for a few moments before Cathy decided it was time to leave, promising that she would speak with some of their neighbors about this to bring them up to speed before Arthur and Esme talk to them.
Once Catherine left, Arthur let out a sigh and let his body slouch on the couch his arms resting on the top of the backrest
He wasn't necessarily tired but more annoyed that he didn't kill Bulat when he got the chance and now things were getting annoying.
"Are we going to visit the rest of our neighbors tomorrow or today? It's still quite early"
Esme leaned her head on his side and rested her head on his shoulder.
"The sooner we get to it the better, so let's do it today"
Arthur saw no reason not to make preparations right now, the quicker they're prepared, the better. He also hoped that Duke Lionmane's subordinates were still monitoring him, which would make it easier to contact the Duke.
"Oh! I thought you would want to pick up where we left off, before we got interrupted"
A small pout showed itself on her face and Arthur could only relent to her demands. It was fine either way.
"We can do that, but I need to check something outside, you can get ready in the meantime"
As much as he loathed it, he wanted to first check if Duke Lionmane's servants were still around and have them contact the Duke for him.
....
[Central– East district]
The East district of Central, also known as the Merchant's district, was the centralized market of the entire capital, Merchants coming from other cities and neighboring kingdoms, came to this district to trade and sell their goods.
This made the east district the central hub of business within the capital and thus it was heavy with foot traffic, filled with stores and traveling caravans selling and trading new products from all over the kingdom and beyond.
This made it so that if one is looking for a specific product or item, it was highly likely to be found in the East district, items circulated in the capital always end up in the East district one way or another.
Darren exited the pawn shop and kicked the dirt in frustration. The item he was looking for was nowhere to be found.
It has been a day and a half already and he is no closer to finding the necklace. The longer he took to find it, the harder things were going to be for him.
What was worse was that he never really made an excuse to explain his sudden absence, no doubt by now Bulat has already assumed that he ran away.
"I can't return without that necklace"
A whisper escaped his mouth as he entered an alley and vanished from the public eye, keeping to the back streets and corners of the district.
He wasn't exactly clean, he wasn't outright dirty but his clothes did not necessarily match the vibe of this place and thus attracted dirty and judgmental looks. It made it obvious that he did not belong here and it was that fact that made him all the more frustrated.
It also didn't help that there were a lot more guards out and about, The East district got a lot of foot traffic so it made sense however the fact that the Knight guard was so present in this part of the capital only further showcased how different this part of the capital was from the slums.
If that job didn't go sideways, he would be one of these people now, a normal guy, living his life just like the rest, instead of a slumrat.
"If I can't find it here, I'll never find it, what else can I do?"
He leaned on the wall of a building and dropped to the floor. He couldn't help but lament his luck, how could it be so bad?
It shouldn't have been like this, they were just simple targets he could rob, make some money, would then use to pay some of his debt from Bulat and slowly free himself underneath the thumb of that loan shark.
In his frustration, the young man couldn't help but feel himself getting hungry, he hadn't eaten today and despite carrying some money with him, he knew any food bought here would bankrupt him immediately. He'll have to endure it for the time being.
Somehow things have gotten worse, not only was it a mistake to steal that necklace, but now he couldn't go back to Bulat without getting killed and the protection he was hoping to get by returning the necklace was unfortunately out of his grasp.
"Fuck!!!"
He cursed out, his frustration reaching its peak, he couldn't return to Arthur and Esme without that necklace, it was already difficult enough getting them to agree on the deal.
"Maybe I can beg and plead?"
The wife had seemed like a kind enough person so some groveling should tug at her heartstrings, Darren also remembered that she said something about understanding what it's like to live in a place you didn't like.
A little begging would be enough to get her to sympathize with him, however, the issue was the Explorer.
"He didn't seem to care at all, even told me to suck it up and live with it"
At the time Darren had no room to talk back or even be angry at Arthur's comment. However thinking about it now, he couldn't help but bite his lip in frustration.
"An Explorer telling me to suck it up and accept my fate, heh! What would he know? Everywhere he goes people lick his feet like he's a disciple of Sol"
A person like that wouldn't get the struggle of poors like him, the struggle of having to grow up never knowing when your next meal was coming.
"How can I simply accept it when I know that my life could be so much better than this?"
He couldn't, the only thing that separated him from normal people wasn't the fact he was a thief, it wasn't the fact he grew up in the slums, it was the fact he lacked money.
If only he had money…