Birth Of The Crafts-God

Chapter 57 The Central Prefecture

"Is this how you treat a citizen?" Lucas looked at the hand and asked calmly, seemingly unaffected by the chokehold.

"Cut the crap. Don't think because I saved you last time that I'm on your side. You know what you did." The woman stared at him with a menacing expression on her face.

"And that would be?" Lucas stared her in the eye, unfazed by her expression.

The brown haired man smirked and answered, "Murdering of a hyuman and causing a commotion in the city."

"So, self defence?" Lucas responded.

"The deceased was a valuable asset to finding the ones behind the assassination as well as taking down an underground organisation or two. But thanks to you now, none of that would happen." The lieutenant scoffed.

"So, I also helped you clear out some trash." Lucas smiled self-assuredly.

Not only the lieutenant, but even the other two men were stunned by Lucas' response. His reaction was definitely not what they expected and all too calm, almost as if he wasn't even their target.

"That's enough talking, come with us." The woman let go of his neck and ordered.

Lucas massaged his neck a bit to relieve it of the slight pain. However, he didn't go with them just yet.

"I'm a victim in this entire incident, but rather than treat me as one, I've been threatened and harmed by you. What makes you think I'll now go with you? What if I do, and you end up trying to silence me? With such a risk, do you think I'll take it?"

"Are you intending on resisting arrest then?" The red haired man asked with a confused look on his face.

Although Lucas' actions were a bit against the law, it wasn't too serious as he had been attacked by the assassin. However, if he resisted arrest, it would make things even more problematic for him. The man just didn't get why Lucas would want to make a mountain out of a molehill.

"No. I just don't trust myself to be safe in your hands." Lucas replied.

"From the very beginning, your actions have been recorded by a hidden camera in my store. Even if you try to accuse me of resisting arrest, I can simply present the video recording to the court and clarify the incident. By then, it wouldn't be me who is in trouble, but you. I can sue for trespassing, assault and battery, as well as speciesism.

It might be true that humans like myself are looked down on, but in the eyes of the law, we are all equal." Lucas smirked.

The lieutenant, her deputy and the brown-haired man finally realised that their opponent this time wasn't an ordinary individual. He was a crafty fellow who they had to treat with caution.

The woman stared at Lucas but didn't say a word. As a result, the atmosphere became even more cold and the temperature was steadily dropping.

"Fine. I apologize on her behalf. We won't harm you or anything, but we do need your assistance for the ongoing investigations." The red haired man sighed.

Lucas nodded as he knew this was the best he could get from them. Pushing the group more might be counteractive to his plans.

When he stepped out of the store with the trio, Lucas noticed that the store had been surrounded in all four major directions by other members of the Patrol Corps. They were in place just in case he tried to escape.

Lucas only glanced briefly at some of them before departing with the trio in the hover car they came with.

It took almost an hour for the hover car to reach its destination, but during the trip, no one said any word.

When the hover car landed and Lucas came out beside the brown-haired man while the other man and the woman walked ahead of them. Lucas scanned the area and discovered that he was in an entirely new area. This wasn't the West Wing district as he knew it to be.

The air was fresher, the buildings were more stunning and modern, even the roads were paved with a different material than those of the West Wing district. The hover cars in the air were also more luxurious in terms of appearance.

"Welcome to the Central Prefecture district. You've probably not been here before, I take?" The brown haired man smiled.

'Makes sense.' Lucas thought while ignoring the former.

The Central Prefecture district.

If Baylands City was the capital of Baylands city-state, then the Central Prefecture was the capital of Baylands City and the major centre of Baylands city-state. This was the region reserved for the city-state's richest and most influential factions and powers.

Whether it was the wealthiest families, the top freelancer guilds, top 500 companies on the continent, or the city lord's office, they were all based here.

Every important administrative agency was also headquartered here, and as a result, the security was on a different level.

Unlike the West Wing district that was littered with underground organisations and human traffickers, the Central Prefecture had none of that. Describing it as being on an entirely different level wasn't enough; it was at least two levels ahead of the West Wing district.

The cost of housing and living was much higher, and acted as an obstacle to anyone interested in living here.

However, the most notable barrier was the indispensable requirement of owning a Recognition Permit, which was a special kind of document granted to people who had lived in Baylands City for at least ten years and fulfilled a couple of conditions or were related to residents of the Central Prefecture in some manner.

It was this absurd requirement which had led to the Central Prefecture being termed as the Forbidden City[1].

There were exceptions for special guests and visitors, but the rule was applicable to those who intended on residing within the 'city'.

"I thought I was just heading over to a station." Lucas asked the brown-haired man.

The fellow smiled before responding, "This is our station. Ah, I think you made a mistake about our identities. We aren't you average Baylands City Patrol guys, but members of the Red Fang. I'm Barry and the red-haired fella over there is my mini-boss, Nafir. As for the missus..."

The brown-haired man, Barry, liked around carefully and walked closer to Lucas before muttering, "she's my boss, Lieutenant Lily. A pretty girlish name, if you ask me, which is probably why she doesn't like anyone calling her by that. Just call her lieutenant if the need be."

Lucas was surprised and glanced at Barry, wondering why he told him such information. Actually, he had guessed it. Based on Barry's cunning appearance, Lucas could fathom that his intention in saying this was to have Lucas do exactly just that; to call the lieutenant by her name at some point.

Although he didn't know what would happen, Lucas reckoned that the result wouldn't be good for him.

The trio headed into the building and were greeted by the individuals there; to be specific, it was the lieutenant, Lily, who was greeted by them. It seemed like in the Red Fangs, the rank of lieutenant was somewhat high.

As they walked, Lucas scrutinized the area as well as the individuals here. Just like Barry and Nafir, they all possessed a certain vibe. Based on his past experience, Lucas determined this vibe to be that of a killer. Every single individual in this building, even those at the desk and the ones laughing intimately, were all killers, and professionals at that.

'This is like a den of monsters.' Lucas thought as he calmly proceeded forward with the trio.

Being a killer didn't mean they took the lives of others hyumans. Lucas guessed that the lives they took were mostly that of desolate beasts.

He had heard of the Red Fangs once, when he was reading about the organisations to look out for in Baylands City.

Despite being a government agency, the Red Fangs operated almost like a private militia. They were under the command of the Commissioner of Police, just like the Baylands City Patrol Corps, but they took orders directly from the Director of the Red Fangs.

They didn't handle average internal security issues like the regular Patrol Corps, but mostly ones related to desolate beasts and organised murders. They also took on high risk and high-profile cases that the regular Baylands City Patrol Corps couldn't handle.

However, one of the most interesting discoveries about the Red Fangs was the fact that they carried out missions outside of the city -a stark contrast to the regular Baylands City Patrol Corps who always operated within the city.

These external missions were mostly joint missions with the City Defence Force, and they entailed exploring the Wastelands and other dangerous regions, as well as quelling terrorist groups, riots and beast tides in the other fifteen districts.

Terrorism was one of the major problems faced by the current hyuman society and it was somewhat unavoidable. With hyumankin having expanded and raided various other civilisations, they didn't always eliminate all the intelligent lives they encountered, but forcefully assimilated some of them.

However, in some areas, these intelligent lifeforms were treated like second class citizens, and sometimes worse.

Considering humans, the ancestors of hyumans, were treated terribly and even trafficked by underground organisations, one could imagine how alien lifeforms were treated.

This resulted in some of them banding together and forming terrorist organisations, wreaking havoc throughout the galaxy.

Eretre was a planet that was ninety percent occupied by hyumans, but there were some alien life forms here. Although the majority were in Digress city-state, some were scattered all over. They lived in peace and isolation, but a few of them occasionally carried out terrorist acts.

The Defence Force and the Red Fangs were the organisations who handled such rogues. So, it was inevitable that they would have a ton of blood on their hands.