I'm supposed to be beheaded right at the start, but I'm immortal!

Chapter 8. A Gathering of Talents: Terella, the Old Wizard: My Mother is Dead

With a mission at hand and being a gentleman, Green firmly declined the girl in the gothic dress's invitation to come inside for a detailed discussion.

The girl said regretfully:

"What do you want to know about the Peaky Blinders?"

Green thought for a moment: "Tell me everything you know."

The old wizard exclaimed, "That's my money! Mine!"

The girl nodded and said:

"As far as I know, the entire Razor Clan practices a technique called 'Razor Slash.' Razor Slash requires constantly killing living beings and absorbing their life essence to become stronger. In the early years, St. Petersburg was poorly managed, and fights and brawls often occurred, resulting in frequent deaths."

The Razor Gang grew in strength by killing countless people in gang fights.

After listening, Green said, "Goodness, practicing this kind of skill is more like a cult than a gang."

The girl nodded, "That's true, but that's all in the past."

The old wizard muttered, "That's my money! Mine!"

Green: "Past tense?"

The girl said:

"Since His Majesty the Emperor ordered a crackdown on organized crime a few years ago, the situation of various gangs in the city has deteriorated rapidly. The Razor Gang, due to their practice of Razor Slash, has blood on the hands of every member, and they almost faced annihilation by the Tribunal several times."

In the end, it was the leader of the Razor Gang who came up with a way to clean up his act and go straight.

"As you know, once a demon reaches the Lantern Realm, its essence and blood will return to the Demon Realm before it dies. However, demons in the Firefly Realm contain too little essence and blood. Cultivating Razor Slash is far less effective at improving your cultivation than killing demons."

"It may be a little, but it's still something. The current leader of the Razor Party racked his brains and finally came up with a solution."

Green asked curiously, "What is it?"

girl:

"That means setting up slime breeding factories! Slimes are harmless, have no fighting ability, reproduce quickly, and reproduce asexually. The leader of the Razor Claws now owns more than ten slime breeding factories, producing tens of thousands of slimes every day."

Although the slime's essence blood is pitifully small, it can't withstand the sheer quantity.

Furthermore, naturally raised slimes are non-toxic and harmless, and their corpses, after mastering Razor Slash, can be used in various industries such as medicine and can be sold for a considerable amount of money.

After hearing this, Green couldn't help but sigh.

Terrell still has a wealth of talent.

Who would have thought that a former bloodthirsty gang would become a major slime breeder?

The girl chuckled as she saw his wistful expression.

"Are you asking me these questions because you want to join the Peaky Blinders?"

Green didn't answer, but the girl advised him:

"Take my advice, now is not a good time to join the Razorfen Downs."

The old wizard, utterly distraught, cried out, "That's my money! Mine!"

Green: "Oh? Why?"

The girl explained:

"You have no idea how fiercely the Peaky Blinders and the Mafia have been fighting lately."

The girl guessed that Green probably didn't know anything about the Mafia, and said to herself:

"In the past few years, during the crackdown on organized crime, the Peaky Blinders were hunted down by the Tribunal. At that time, Frank, the Peaky Blinders' black glove, was arrested and imprisoned for ten years in order to cover the escape of the current Peaky Blinders leader, Forbes.

It is said that while in prison, Forland pondered how to change the Peaky Blinders' situation and came into contact with many low-level adventurers.

He discovered that many adventurers were homeless, spending their days either completing tasks for the Adventurers' Guild or hunting low-level monsters from dawn till dusk. They earned a fair amount of money, but not a lot either, and they were all very depressed. Every time they finished a task, they would go to the Songstress Avenue to spend some money.

However, a large portion of these people still cannot afford to visit Diva Avenue.

Green nodded, agreeing. Aside from the Western Continent, where they were currently fighting the Demon King's army, the Southern Continent, according to his observation, had pitifully few monsters, and many low-level adventurers could only find work as dockworkers.

girl:

"Frant thought, repression is a sign of a lack of love! So after his release from prison, he developed the Shared Magic Puppet, which has an exquisite appearance and is available for both men and women."

Furthermore, the shared puppets have pre-programmed dialogue. Once a keyword is triggered, they can say caring things to the loveless adventurers, such as "It's okay, you're already great," "Short ones are cute too," and "You must be tired after a long day of work?"

Good heavens, is this still Teresa?

Where did you give me this to?

Green thought to himself, "They've even come up with this shared puppet thing. Your Teratra seems a bit too urbanized."

The girl spoke fluently:

"Just a drop of blood essence is all it takes to rent a shared magical puppet for half a day. How can those ugly, penniless, love-starved adventurers who work 18 hours a day resist such temptation?"

"So when the shared puppets were making a fortune and providing a huge amount of life essence for Razor Cutter's training, the former Razor Cutter's Black Glove, Frank, took the opportunity to establish his own party—the Mafia—and launched services such as life essence loans and custom puppets."

Green understood. "But what does this have to do with the Peaky Blinders?"

The girl chuckled: "The production of shared puppets requires a large amount of slime gel, which is slime corpses. Although Frank has founded the Mafia, he has always maintained a cooperative relationship with the Razor Shield, which owns ten slime factories."

"But recently, for some reason, the price of slime gel has been rising. The Mafia wants to get it from the Razor Shields at a lower price, but they can't agree on a price."

Tensions between the two gangs have recently escalated, with numerous clashes reportedly occurring, including one where the leader of the Razor Gang was seriously injured.

The girl looked at Green:

"Listen to me, you shouldn't join any gangs lately. Otherwise, with this appearance, you might die young, which would be a real shame."

Green told the truth:

"Thanks for the reminder. But I don't want to join a gang; I actually need to speak with the leader of the Razor Gang."

"Oh!" the girl exclaimed in surprise.

"Go find him! Hey, why didn't you say so earlier about something so small?"

Green asked in confusion, "Huh?"

He then took a serious look at the girl in the gothic dress in front of him. The girl had light blue hair, delicate features, and an air of nobility about her.

The girl pointed to the magnificently decorated opera house that the two of them were wearing.

"I forgot to tell you, my dad owns a few of these dance halls. The tutor he hired is extremely strict. I skipped school and was just about to hide in one of the dance halls when that ugly old man stopped me."

The old wizard was struck dumb: "..."

The girl's eyes were bright as she looked at Green and gave him a sly smile.

"You can call me Mabel. What I just told you was something I overheard in Dad's office, hehe."

"Oh, it's Miss Mabel. My name is Green."

Green nodded, saying, "I knew it. I thought I was playing some kind of Japanese RPG. Turns out she's a noble lady."

That's not surprising.

"Mabel?" The old wizard finally snapped out of his daze and exclaimed in surprise.

"Mabel Orphania? You're Count Orphania's daughter?"

"Shh! Shh!" Mabel looked around and, finding no one paying attention, said to the old wizard in an annoyed tone.

Why are you yelling so loudly?!

The old wizard chuckled awkwardly, "Sorry, this is the first time I've met such an important person, I was a little surprised and couldn't help it."

Green was also somewhat surprised, thinking to himself that this girl was actually the count's daughter, how ridiculous!

"Alright, alright, weren't you looking for that Razor Gang leader? Come with me, let's go inside and talk about it. I'll be in big trouble if my teacher catches us. I already told you we should talk inside."

Mabel and Green walked toward the magnificently decorated opera house behind them.

Green suddenly realized: "Oh, so that's what you meant when you said we'd talk inside."

Mabel blinked. "Or is there some other meaning?"

The guards at the opera house entrance bowed to Mabel, seemingly used to their young mistress skipping class to come here.

"Hey! I haven't gone in yet! I haven't gone in yet!"

Green and Mabel went inside, while the old wizard was stopped at the door.

Guard: "You're so ugly, and you're wearing a tattered black robe. You don't look like a good person at all. Get out of my way, or don't blame me for being impolite!"

The old wizard: "..."

He hates it!

This world that judges people by their appearance is absolutely terrible!

……

This world that judges people by their appearance is... amazing!

Green would think this whenever he received preferential treatment because of his appearance.

At this moment, Green and Mabel arrived at the top-floor box of the opera house, looking down at the dancers performing below.

Mabel sat on the sofa, crossed her legs, and leisurely began to eat fruit.

She didn't act like a noble lady at all.

Despite being only about shoulder-length taller than Green, she acts like a boss.

"Tell me, what exactly do you want from the Razor Gang leader? If it's for doing something illegal or criminal, I won't help you."

Green shook his head, thought for a moment, and decided to tell the truth, telling the other party about the Raven Doctor's debt to the Raven Gang leader.

Of course, his identity as a fugitive, along with the old wizard, was concealed.

Mabel understood. "Oh, so they're going to collect a debt. That makes sense."

Mabel:

"When I visited the police station a few days ago, I learned from the chief that the Razor Gang hired a Destiny-level mage to set up a magical illusion array in an abandoned factory in the suburbs, and also had people patrolling back and forth outside the factory. They're probably going to make a deal with someone tonight."

"The chief said that the Razor Gang has turned to running a slime factory and has been behaving themselves for many years. What bad things could they possibly do? So he's too lazy to bother with this matter."

Mabel, beaming with excitement, said:

"If you ask me, what kind of deal is going on so mysteriously? I bet they're up to something bad tonight! Aren't you going to collect a debt? Tonight, I'll take you!"

Green hesitated: "You're going too?"

Mabel nodded: "Yes, you don't know, I hate evil the most. If my father hadn't forbade it, I would have joined the Tribunal a long time ago."

In the picture books I read, gangs like the Razor Gang, who have undergone transformations for many years and suddenly engage in mysterious deals, are bound to do bad things.

"When the time comes, I'll bring you along as the hero, stop them from doing bad things, and collect the debts along the way. If Dad sees my achievements, he might allow me to join the Tribunal."

Green smirked. With your small frame, wouldn't you just be a nuisance if you came with me?

Just as Green was about to politely decline, intending to go with the old wizard himself, he heard Mabel say:

"I'm a third-tier lantern bearer. Heh, you don't think I'm weak, do you?"

The lantern is on the third level, then it's alright.

According to Dr. Raven, the leader of the Razor Gang broke through to the first level of Destiny using a fake certificate. He believes that he, Mabel, and the old wizard should be able to easily defeat him together.

The matter is settled for now.

"However," Mabel cautioned:

"It is said that the factory's magic illusion array has three layers of illusions. Each layer of illusion is generated by the desires in your heart. Forcibly breaking the illusion requires a certain amount of mental energy. Once the mental energy is insufficient to break the three layers of illusions or the heart is not firm, one will be lost in the illusion."

Such an illusionary magic spell would be quite expensive for a mage to cast. This shows how much the Razor Gang values ​​this deal; if they get lost in the illusion, they will likely be discovered by the Razor Gang very quickly.

"My resolve is firm; a mere illusion array has no effect on me. But you, can you do it?"

Green raised an eyebrow, sensing a provocation:

"sure."

How can a man say no?

Last night I mastered the Phylogenetic breathing technique, which can enhance mental recovery, and now it will come in handy.

Green snorted coldly, showing no panic at all regarding the illusion array.

Go ahead and test me with all your beauty, beauty, and more beauty.

Film breathing technique, let me see your limits!

After discussing it with Mabel, Green went downstairs and told the old wizard about it.

The old wizard said that the illusion array would definitely not be a problem for him.

Soon, night fell.

The outskirts of St. Petersburg.

The gate of a factory that has been abandoned for many years.

The Razor Gang thugs were keeping a close watch on the gate.

"Click, click"

What was that sound?

The razor gang thugs, drawn by the sound, went to the west corner of the wall and found a piece of plaster lying on the ground. They muttered to themselves:

"Oh, it's probably just a harmless breeze."

While the thugs were away, an old man, a young boy, and a woman quietly sneaked into the factory.

.........

"Walkman! Walkman! Mom has found another fragment of the Golden Tree! Soon we'll be able to restore the Golden Tree's glory!"

A gaunt woman appeared before the old wizard, holding a withered branch in her hands, excitedly calling his name.

The old wizard didn't stop and walked straight into the factory.

The thin woman behind him quickly called out:

"Walk, where are you going? Didn't Mom already find the fragment of the Golden Tree for you? Stay here! Stay with Mom forever!"

Old Wizard:

"What can you do with just one piece? You expect me to keep that? There should be at least ten pieces!"

The gaunt woman paused, then her hands gathered more and more withered branches. "Walker, look! Mom has ten fragments of the Golden Ancestral Tree!"

"Idiot."

The old wizard snorted coldly, ignoring the gaunt woman's attempts to tempt him.

After all, his mother died long ago.