The God of Jesters
Chapter 487 - 8.00.4 Rosso’s big city adventure.

Chapter 487: 8.00.4 Rosso’s big city adventure.

It was easy to see what the Royal family was playing at. They were putting out a piece of bait to distract the Noble families while consolidating their strength to their peak again.

This truth is known to all, but fools will deny a delectable piece of meat thrown their way, and the nobles were anything but fools, or so they believed themselves to be. "So should we target someplace else?"

"Some place else? They are guarded now, I believe it won’t take long before everyone under them becomes aware of what we had been planning, it might cause some issues if the word of it were to get in the open during the operation. It’s better to remain calm for the moment." Jannat ordered, suppressing his men from doing some stupid things out of loyalty or other stuff.

"And don’t look at me that way, the orders from above still haven’t been fulfilled, we still have to deal with the Vermilions in one way or another... and I have thought up a perfect place to do this."

There was not only one way to weaken the Vermilion family before the auction, just like there were not only small businesses that paid protection money to the Vermilion’s.

Although calling themselves nobles, they still have a hand in some entertainment industries, specifically the ones that border on legal and illegal, like casinos. "The firebird will be our next target. Though this is more dangerous than before, the Vermilion’s won’t expect it."

With the war over on both fronts, it took just a year for the world to move on and go back to their little conflicts, trying to one-up each other for the smallest amount of profit while ignoring the misery they leave in the process.

But that’s just the world, at the end of the day, everyone has to think about themselves. And if you can’t, you will be left behind by the world and then die.

That’s the fate of those who can’t look after themselves, the fate of those who are not self-sufficient.

"I don’t have much time boy, I have been bound, so it’s your time now. Go look for that old man, he might have a way." Those were the first words that Rosso heard in his dream, words filled with the gentleness of a mother, and the authority of a father. These words woke up Rosso in the sewer and the remaining information in his head made him explore the world on his own.

He went all over the Brihma in the last two years, including the infamous archipelago which was considered the den of thieves and murdered. But at the end of it, he couldn’t find that old man no matter what.

What he did find though was a trace of that old man, a trace that led him to a place which felt wrong the moment he had set foot in it.

’My mind, it’s more... closed?’ The young man found this feeling a bit odd, it was as if a greater will was suppressing him somehow, preventing access to his "abilities", but that was only a feeling, as with a simple experiment, he was happy to learn that he hadn’t lost his powers. But this still put him on edge. ’The knowledge in my mind considered this a red zone, meaning certain death if I were to go here.’ Still on the outskirts, Rosso found it hard to make up his mind so easily.

Rosso doesn’t mind death from the moment he opens his eyes. He never even understood what death was or why should he fear it, which was caused by his lack of understanding of what life was.

Because the most he had come across was just one misery after another, with the funniest part of all being the desperation some people show to continue their miserable lives in the face of death.

Won’t you feel relieved to end it all? Won’t it be better to try for it in the next life?

To him who doesn’t understand life, he thought of such childish thoughts when he looked at the surrounding misery.

But even carrying these cynical views on life and death, it never deterred him from the order that the voice had given him. He never stopped, he never feared anything. But when his life was actually on the line, something clicked in his mind, almost like an instinct that he hadn’t had before. "If I am gone, is there anyone else who can do this besides me?"

Was there anyone else? No, his creator never spoke such words, nor had he come across others on his journey so from the looks of it, he was alone.

"This is a conflict of want and thought. I..." Rosso paused for a bit before looking around him. Though none bothered to look at him.

Just a young man in drably clothes and a single bag, he didn’t stand out from other young men who dreamed of coming to the capital. Of course, to enter the city, to begin with, you need to have a referral, which wasn’t that hard to acquire with the knowledge that was in Rosso’s head.

"Thinking too much, my mind is still not mature enough. For now, I will focus on looking, though to hide from curious eyes, I will find a job. A simple job where I can collect more information on the world and... who was I." Since his awakening two years ago, Rosso has never stopped moving, he just kept moving around and looking for an individual who he can sense when he gets close enough.

Sadly, that moment never came so he needed to learn new methods, and for that, knowledge was important as well. "With peace, I would have time to understand, with understanding, I would have better ways to find the target than just depending on the soul’s links."

Rosso’s turbid eyes cleared for a bit, as he moved out of the station and chose to remain in the outer area of the city, never daring to get even close to population centers that might possess some strong eyes. And who knows if he is found out deeper into the city.

’The inner city is under the watch of the tripartite domain where nothing hides away from them... it’s a death zone for me, so I can’t get closer to that area no matter what happens.’ And while looking for a library, Rosso made some rules for himself.

From where he could move around to which places he would visit on what days, and when he would reshuffle his schedule to add a bit of chaos, just to confuse those who chose to keep an eye on him.

’Food, I need seven sacrifices per week, life, ants, ants can work for now, but I would still need to sacrifice a greater life on the level of goat.’ With those thoughts, Rosso changed his name to Muzaffar and wore a cap that the followers of the sun usually wore.

If he thinks hard about it, in their culture, it was common to sacrifice a goat each month to the god of the Red Sun and share the meat in the community. Though such traditions are only followed by city folks, even then it’s followed by homes that are pretty well off.

’I can find a part-time at butcher’s, my skin tone is perfect and with some more modification, I might be able to find a job at a butcher’s.

One after another plans were made, ideas on how to conduct himself, what personality he might need to develop, and who he can interact with. ’My face, it’s good, one of my creator’s mistakes, mediocrity might be better for people in my position.’ Among the people he needs to stay away from, there are women, specifically older women who seem to show some goodwill to him wherever he goes.

’This face can cause issues, The beard seemed to be an appropriate way to hide it, it will take time, but this is manageable.’

He needs to stay away from women, the rowdy young men who waste their time for no reason, and the children who are something akin to chaos incarnate. They are beings that are as hard to predict.

’Interaction with people in position, authority not needed as long as they can provide me information, though if they hold a higher position, it might attract unwanted attention, so 3rd level people at most. I can’t go above those.’

’Then interaction with people of the underworld, although I lack the information on this city, it’s impossible for the underbelly to not exist, it might just exist in a form I don’t understand, so there is also that.’

’The third will be interaction with the city itself, I need to map it out, need to understand the ins and outs. A map can’t help me much with that, personal experience is always better.’

"Sir, is there a position open for librarian?" This was the second day and after taking a rest in a small hotel, Rosso took out a proper suit from his bag and wore it to find work in the city. As he planned ahead, his target was the libraries around the city.

"Do you think I would need any help here?" The librarian asked, pointing toward an almost empty library. Though calling it a library would be too much, it was just a bookshop for poor people.

"Pardon my request, I will be leaving," This was just the first shop anyway, no need to be desperate.

And it was such thought of Rosso that became his unbecoming. "Huh?’ He walked and walked for hours, he even took a bus to a different part of the city, but wherever he went, besides the bookstore he had seen before, there were no places selling books in this place at all. "??"

What was going on? Wondered Rosso before he asked an old passerby. "Books, why would we need books? The nobles provide us with jobs, they provide us with food, why is there a need for us to bother with such hard things?"

Was the amalgamation of answers that Rosso heard.

Turns out, the only reason he found a bookstore close to his hotel was because of the train station, some nobles were always holding interest in books, so a shop was opened close to the station to cater to their interest.

"This place... " He looked around, and the people genuinely did feel happy. Which is a bit odd in his eyes.

An oddity that is hard to understand. ’Well, I can only go deeper, where the real population resides.’ Only the inner city was dangerous, anything outer was still safe so Rosso in the end chose to take some chance and enter deeper into the city.