Corruption

Okay, the Reapers have been dealt with. That only leaves one more thing for me to deal with. I need to stop the corruption within the city guards. Scaring the Reapers like I did may have worked for them, but if I do that with the guards, they could call the military out of fear. So, how would I stop corruption with the city guard?

Whatever, I'll figure it out when I get there.

I went there once with Kelly after we had an incident with vandalism. Of course, it wasn't their main headquarters, but there was a map on the wall that showed all of the different buildings across the city, and buildings that were used by the guards were labeled. The building in the center of the city was the largest of all of the buildings used by the guards. It also happened to be labeled as their main headquarters.

So if I had to guess, I would say they call the shots. If they do, that means they're probably the ones who accepted a bribe from the Reapers and ordered guards out of this district for the next few days. So then, all I have to do is go there and fix the problem, right? Should be a piece of cake.

Comparing the labeled map from the small building me and Kelly went to to the map in the corner of my vision, I quickly figured out where to go. Zooming across the rooftops with my white mask concealing my face, I arrived to my destination in only a few minutes.

The entire district was different from the one that Kelly and I lived in. The differences were obvious, especially the boundaries of each district. The state of the buildings on one side of the street compared to the others side made it clear which district you were in. For comparison, the district Kelly and I lived in had buildings with relatively dirty exteriors, while the ones in the main district had clean buildings, plenty of decorations, and better dressed people. The main district must be for the privileged.

Right now, I stood on a building opposite of the main headquarters for the guards. I had to look up to see the top. I stood on a three story building, one that I'm certain was a hotel of sorts, but the guards station stood an entire five floors high. This might take a while.

Oh hey, the sun is rising. Off to the east, a beautiful sunrise was beginning. A quick glance at my clock told me that it was 6:32 in the morning. It's been almost an entire day sine the cafe received that threat from the Reapers, yet it feels like months have passed.

First, I had to get reinforcements from Daniel while everyone else worked to prepare and Kelly went to negotiate, then the actual fight broke out soon after I returned with help, then I had to rescue Kelly, then I had to learn the reason behind the gang war from Daniel and get a mask, then I had to take care of the Reapers, and now I have to deal with the city guards. If that isn't a lot of work, I don't know what is.

As I thought I myself from my perch, a group of well dressed guards left through the main entrance, entering a carriage and slowly riding off. I strained my ears to their limit to try and hear anything they might say, and I managed to listen in.

"It's hard to believe that it would be this easy to make money! All we do is ignore the district for four days, and we get paid more than the noble pays us in a month!"

"You're telling me. To think that once every few years, any one of the gangs in that poor district scrounges up enough money to afford our services for a few days."

"Right!? It's a win-win in my opinion. The population in the poor districts gets trimmed a bit, saving money on food items and what not, and we get more money. We also get to spend more time in the better districts, which is a nice benefit."

Three in total, each of them bragging about what they've done. It seems like they don't care about what they've done in the least. In fact, they seem proud of it.

"I only wish there were more people within the guards ranks that we're like us. Most of them join because they are goody two-shoes who want to stop crime, but they don't know that you can't stop it, that you can only work alongside it and try to control it instead. Thankfully, because we hold the highest ranks within the guards and are trusted by the noble who owns the city himself, no one can stop us!"

Interesting. It seems like only these three are in on what's happening in the district. In fact, it seems like they're the ones who arranged it with the Reapers. They also said that no one else in the guards has the same ideals as them, so they aren't let in on their con. Everyone in the poor district knows about what's happening as common knowledge because of how often it happens. That means the other guards also probably know about this too, but can't do anything about it because they can't prove a thing. That means I only have to deal with these three.

That certainly makes things easier, but that still leaves the question of how. Scaring them wouldn't work, especially if they're the head of the guards, and Im not fond of the idea of killing them, even if they've let all of this happen. I could just carry them at max speed far away from the city, but that leaves the risk of them coming back and starting a search for me. That leaves only one option that I can think of.

Okay, I know what I'm going to do, but how am I going to do it?