"We thank you for your assistance once more... But please, if you are going to lend us aid, do try not to get distracted and pick a fight with your summons half way through. We can''t be sure if you''re giving up or just taking a moment to yourself and it does affect how we operate as we''re not sure whether to keep working around you or go back to being self-sufficient..."


    Ares gave a wry smile and stuck his tongue out at the official who''d just politely handed him another 200 high grade. The guy wasn''t saying anything unreasonable so Ares didn''t give him any hassle and simply agreed to be more co-operative going forward. In his defence, that bird needed some serious scolding and punishment!... And yet, Ares was going to go and feed the damn greedy thing some fatty tuna... Whatever, both the eagle and Rox had earned it so Ares wouldn''t take that away from them just because they were being hard headed. More so the eagle, anyway. Ares'' relation with the eagle was slowly deteriorating into one that resembled Charity and Leo''s! Ares didn''t want that level of sourness between them. Not because he cared about the dumb bird or anything but because it would be inconvenient to keep squabbling in the midst of combat over silly nonsense.


    Ares took his earnings and went to go find Aejaz who was hiding form the very real shitstorm that had been running riot while Ares was dealing with the gulls. Just because Ares killing them that didn''t mean they were going to stop dumping on innocent pedestrians; that was practically their life''s calling! Anyway, Aejaz could be a bit of a clean freak, which was strange considering how messy his room got, and general hygiene was something he cared about quite a bit. If his well-slicked hair, freshly washed clothes, or smooth-as-a-baby skin got bird poop on it he might actually shed some tears. He was honestly probably more traumatised by this raid than the twisted one and he was going to be walking around with his head tilted upwards to keep an eye out for birds for some time to come. Actually, now that Ares thought about it, what was this idiot going to do at night? Look down for the twisted and up for the birds at the same time!? He was going to have an existential crisis later when he realised keeping track of both at once was impossible. Or maybe he''d just stay inside a building and look down until Hunter''s gadget was installed Federation wide? Living life as a coward must have been truly difficult but that wasn''t Ares'' problem and so he ignored it.


    Ares handed over ten high grade stardust to Aejaz and pat him on the back. "This is for two reasons. First of all, I want you to take Rox and the eagle to go find some good tuna and I''ll catch up with you in a bit as there''s something I want to go do real quick. I''ll be borrowing your Concealed Serpent too, thank you very much..." Ares did a ''gimme'' gesture with his upturned palm and Aejaz handed it over without a fuss. "... And second of all, you can keep the change, however, much is left after paying for the meal, and consider it a bonus for getting though the twisted ordeal in one piece. There, now we''re even!" Ares didn''t really care about being ''even'' with family but he felt like it would be nice to give his brother a bit of spending money... If Aejaz wasn''t a thief who could earn his own stardust, Ares would have given him more... Only ten high grade might have seemed stingy considering how much he''d received as of late but, between checking to see how Aejaz handled a decent chunk of high grades with regards to being a spendthrift or saving properly, and Ares building up a solid foundation of his own in case he needed it, he wasn''t going to be handing out too much anytime soon. Maybe Ares would throw it all at an auction item if it was truly worth it. Maybe he''d upgrade the sect with it. Maybe he''d treat his family when he returned from his journey. Any of the above, as well as few other options, were all perfectly valid choices. Having lots of stardust was great but there wouldn''t be lots to have if he kept giving it away like free candy. Ares wasn''t being cheap, it was an investment! Into himself!


    Anyway, he was also hoping he could maybe help the Federation out a few more times and increase his earnings by another two hundred high grade, or more, whenever he lent this country his aid... Why was it two hundred every time? Did Ares get short-changed again?... Well, actually, no, the Federation was just being logically consistent as, apparently, Hunter had come up with another one of his gadgets again... Some kind of anti-air gadget that wasn''t really explained to Ares in great detail, because it was still in its infancy compared to the electrical net for the twisted, but seemed like it might solve that problem as well... Had Ares dealt with the twisted and the seagulls even a month prior to today he might have earned more as they were bigger threats with no solution on the horizon. It was bad timing but what was Ares supposed to do? Go and chuck Hunter off the Federation and bury him at sea so Ares could earn more moolah? It''s not like the guy was doing this specifically just to troll Ares... Though if he were then Ares would have to give him some serious props for the expert shenanigans he was pulling here and Ares wouldn''t even be annoyed, impressed if anything.


    As for where Ares was going right now, as he disappeared with a few Shifts and the Nyxian Prowler / Concealed Serpent in his grasp... Aejaz assumed Ares would fill him in on the details later but Aejaz did notice his brother keep peering down at a certain spot while he was Voidwalking in the air to deal with the gulls earlier. He must have spotted something that piqued his interest... Or more like someone who piqued his interest as that would explain the Concealed Serpent / Prowler strategy he was using as that was good for tailing people. Putting two and two together meant that Aejaz could take a pretty reasonable guess in that this had something to do with the Firestarters. Though how Ares managed to identify one as such was questionable as it meant the guy or gal must have been doing something that would give themselves away... Were the Firestarters already trying to burn things down? This quick? The journey was still in the early stages and so land wasn''t yet too too far away for rescue to be inconceivable in the case of emergency. Not that Aejaz wanted them to cause trouble at all but surely it was better for them if they waited a bit longer?... A bit longer until Ares rounded them all up and they were either sentenced to prison or executed so they couldn''t potentially set Aejaz ablaze! Aejaz knew he wouldn''t be so lucky but also realised dwelling on it wasn''t going to get him anywhere and that it was best to just leave it to Ares.... Though he could also take some of the work off Ares'' back and keep an eye out for anything suspicious he saw while ''doing the rounds'', so to speak. He was technically involved in this, as everybody aboard the Federation was, so just ignoring it didn''t really sit right with Aejaz. It''s not like these were big, scary monsters or anything, it was just a bunch of weak cultivators.... Presumably. if they weren''t weak, they wouldn''t need to scurry around in the dark like rodents avoiding mouse traps... Though maybe they had one particularly powerful member who doubled as a leader? Aejaz definitely didn''t wanna run into anyone like that or he''d cry and go looking for Ares to beat up the spooky person.


    Aejaz scouted out the local area... For food! Definitely for food! He absolutely wasn''t looking for stores to rob tomorrow! Anyhow, in the end, he himself didn''t find anything but the eager eagle had located a place that smelled pretty great and dragged Aejaz and Rox over thatta way. Ares would be able to find these lot easily, as he left a nothingness marker on Rox to help track him down, so they went in without worrying if their brother / master would be able to find this place. It wasn''t well hidden like Remmy''s or anything so, honestly, if Ares just Voidwalked over the Federation for a while he might even spot this place by himself and make an educated guess that this was where his brother was. The outside was fancier than the many casual fish and chip shops lying around so it definitely stood out compared to the competition.


    There was typically only one high end fish-based restaurant in each section of the Federation as nobody wanted to compete with each other over the few customers they would already get regardless. They made a lot of money with each visitor but there were less of them and sharing that customer base would only lead to the downfall of one business or the other in short time as every lost customer was way more detrimental than usual. There were some bold individuals who wanted a specific spot, and built their own restaurant nearby another pre-existing restaurant in a bid to run the other guy out of ''town'' but, at that point, it was basically a contest to see who could do better and the locals encouraged it. It was always fun to people watch and see who went into which restaurant and see how the tides turned over time. Sometimes high class nobles would get involved and spread dirty rumours or visit one business exclusively to show onlookers which one was truly the ''best'', spreading its reputation further and helping it win the war. Plenty of sly tricks could affect the odds of which restaurant would come out on top which is what made betting on such things quite titillating for the higher brow folk who treated it as something of a replacement for the usual horse riding they gambled on. Plus this was interactive as they could throw wrenches into the work if they were subtle enough to not get caught.


    You could mess with businesses on the Federation to some extent but getting caught was the real issue. In fact, many laws on the Federation involving business harassment only came with light sentences attached but the catch was that those same punishments got exponentially more severe if you were caught in the act instead of admitting to it. It was all like one big game for these people and it fostered a very competitive environment where people could lose their livelihoods at the drop of hat because it was like a miniature sport to some rich douche who was bored of their significant other and wanted to kill some time. In fact, in richer parties, that were hosted on the cruise ships with luxury suites and other such accommodations, most of the bragging done surprisingly wasn''t about how successful their businesses were at the moment, although that was very much part of it and major acquisitions were like honeyed nectar to these people, but rather gossip about who did what to which business was almost always the hot topic. These people just lived very different lives to the average person but the thing that was true of both groups, rich or broke, was that they enjoyed seeing which of the two nearly identical businesses that were going head to head would win out in the end. As these businesses were usually the higher priced ones, it made no difference to the locals who couldn''t afford it anyway when one of them disappeared! Plus the rich and pomp folk would never buy from a ''loser'' either... Though there was that one trend way back when someone did it ironically as a fashion statement for a clothing store and that caught on for a while. Still, that phase ended as quickly as it started because some other new-fangled idea caught everyone''s attention and the previous fad was forgotten about in the blink of an eye.


    Getting back on topic, this restaurant was challenged once and never again because it was an absolute blowout victory. It wasn''t known at the time but this restaurant was heavily favoured by the higher ups on the Federation and the second anyone else dared intervene the biggest of big guns were brought out. Supply chains vanished overnight, some food was poisoned, and one of the employees even went missing under mysterious circumstances after some suspicious forged documents were found in his possession by various officials that ''proved'' he didn''t have a right to be aboard the Federation. Long story short, this place was untouchable through and through. It''s not like the restaurant ever asked for this protection, they were confident in their own business, but that didn''t stop the higher ups from taking measures into their own hands to ensure the long livelihood of their business. It had been somewhat of a hidden gem up until that one point but now it was frequented all the time and people were starting to catch on to why it had been protected in the first place.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The food here was probably some of the best you could find on the Federation and it was cheap! For nobles anyway. The lower, more affordable prices for some of the more middle class businessmen had put off the elite who turned their nose up at the ''inferior'' bearing of the business and its clientele but that changed basically overnight and they were regretting not coming here sooner... Though some did ask the shop owner to raise their prices a bit and basically lock their old customers out of being able to afford a dining experience here... Naturally he refused and things were kept as is with no one being able to do a damn thing about it thanks to the protection racket that was essentially being ran with defence in exchange for good food with the higher ups. Anyway, long story short, it stood out in the area as there was nothing else of such high calibre near it. It really brought up the vibe of the place as it had been stylised to match the surroundings when it was first built to boot.


    The owner was someone who came from a pretty ordinary background, and didn''t like the idea of showing off his wealth and the difference between him and everyone else, so he kept things quiet on the aesthetic front which was appreciated by the locals. Having some high-class anomaly right outside the front of your rickety house was a special kind of insulting and they had some friends in other places on the Federation that complained about such a thing non-stop. It ruined the neighbourhood but they couldn''t do a damn thing about it either. This particular restaurant had some classy flair to it, with various sea-faring designs hand-crafted by an expert on the front of their store, but the overall vibe was peaceful and casual. It was sort of like one of those places you could find at tourist destinations in quieter places, where not as many people frequented because it was out the way, with some old lady in the back kitchen cooking classic recipes that had been handed down through her family for generations. It gave off the impression that the cook here was a homely person and very comfortable with the food they produced and the quality of the experience as a whole.


    And then there was the smell, the smell that had found the eagle before the eagle found the restaurant. Aejaz had originally believed the eagle couldn''t tell the smell of good fish apart from bad fish, because it was a bird and probably didn''t have any standards anyway, not that Aejaz did either, but the second he''d arrived outside the building he immediately understood everything. Curried fish... Maybe that was the specialty of this place, or maybe it was just what everybody ordered, either way it smelled damn good and the fatty tuna could screw off! Aejaz knew what he wanted! In fact, it seemed like all three of the group members had changed their minds on the spot the second the smell wafted into their nostrils and, really, they couldn''t be blamed. The smell was localised to the store front but potent whenever you walked by and was like a drug that encouraged you to keep inhaling until you ran our of room to breathe. Exhaling was actually a major disappointment to the senses because it was time wasted that you could have spent breathing in the lovely, spiced scent.


    Honestly, it didn''t even matter what fish it was, monkfish, mackerel, prawn, as long as it tasted even half as good as it smelled then this was going to be one of the best dishes these lot had ever eaten. The bar wasn''t quite as high for Rox or the eagle, obviously, but Aejaz had eaten some great stuff from Remmy, Ares, and Shu before! The fact that this could compete was seriously impressive but it also made a lot of sense. Central land was a hub for all sorts of cuisines to show up in and occasionally even mesh well together, and that attracted a lot of chefs, but so too did the raw allure of MONEY that could only really be earned in a place like this. No matter how great a chef you were, there were limits to what could be accomplished in terms of monetary gains anywhere other than the Federation which was abundant with people who had way too much money to spend. Thousands of high grade stardust as mere tips weren''t impossible if you got lucky enough and had some curious noble come visit the opening of your restaurant.


    The trio stepped in and it almost felt like they opened the saloon doors to a wild west bar or something because everyone turned to look at them before they could even get a lay of the land... In hindsight this made sense. Gossip about who was where, who was wearing what, and who was shagging who would drive the nobles crazy so, at a place like this, everyone was always on high alert for the next juicy rumour so they could be the one to attach their name to it and spread it first. Some of these nobles even hired middle-men to go hang around restaurants and relay news to them regarding who showed up while also disseminating it to everyone else under their master''s name. The fact that you could make a solid living out of such an easy job, sitting around all day and openly spying on people, was quite baffling to most people but it was perfectly normal here. It was a desirable job too as you could do it for a few years and be set for life if the person who hired you was generous enough. Even if they weren''t the minimum wage for jobs like this was pretty damn high because if you were caught cheaping out by another noble then you''d be ridiculous as a poor man and your reputation would go up in flames. The middle-men frequently talked with one another so everyone''s wages were known and, if a noble tried to be sneaky about how much they were paying relative to everyone else, it would all come out in the wash. The middle-man they hired would tell the others and then their masters would know in turn like some kind of game of Chinese whispers. The wages would fluctuate as the rumour went further and further form the source and you eventually had some wild claims being made, about how some middle-men were basically just unpaid slaves, that were repeated ad-nauseum even by those who knew better just to spite the person getting ridiculed and further screw them over. It was their own fault but nobody cared about that, or the morality of not paying their workers, these lot just enjoyed seeing someone fall from grace. Again, these nobles and other such elites made games of the strangest things...


    All eyes were on Aejaz and co but most of those very same eyes darted back towards their own meals shortly after as they recognised ''Ares''. It was actually Rox but having him here was incredibly helpful otherwise there would have been trouble. The ''dregs'' of society were ''allowed'' to dine here but that didn''t mean some of the elites wouldn''t try and throw stardust at them to get them to leave and maybe even resort to subtle threats if that first trick didn''t work. There were, however, some people who didn''t recognise Ares and thought this ragtag group consisting of some weird handsome fuckboy, Aejaz, a bird, the eagle, and a dodgy human with red eyes, Rox, shouldn''t have been allowed here. They were tempted to make a scene and cause a kerfuffle but were held back by tthe fact that the other nobles went back to their own business as if they knew better... If this group were actually of some kind of meaningful social status then picking a fight with them would backfire horrendously so they decided to wait and see how things went for now... Though they really didn''t like the fact that a magical eagle was eating in this establishment! A few people were sending glares at it but they were taken aback when the thing sitting on a seat with its chest puffed up glared back! This damn bird had a temper and was very capable of mean mugging people! Aejaz was getting more and more astonished with this bird''s ''fuck everyone, everywhere, all the time'' personality as it was really unexpected! It had been such an obedient eagle who just loved chasing stoats not even a month or so ago! What happened?!


    Anyway, Aejaz and co scoured the menu and asked the waiter to come back in a bit when their cohort arrived which turned out to be sooner than expected. Ares came swaggering through the front door with a smile on his face. Maybe he''d found a good lead or maybe he really just liked the smell of this place and that put him in high spirits. Either way, he was here now and everyone was extremely confused! Two Ares! their confusion was irrelevant though and Ares ignored them while taking his seat and speaking to Aejaz. "You really did pick this place in the end, then, huh?" This one sentence confused Aejaz because it made it seem like Ares already knew about it... Did this have something to do with the person he stalked? Thankfully, Aejaz didn''t have to wait long for an answer. "The guy I was following was trying to set fire to this place while the gulls were attacking and everybody was distracted with that issue. He stopped when I glared at him with Omniscience and threw some pressure his way. He then took to hiding until the coast cleared, or I let him believe as such anyway while I was chatting with Federation official, but then I chased after him as he led me back to some kind of hideout.


    I eavesdropped for a while and learnt a few things. First of all, apparently nothing was supposed to kick off yet, it''s just that that specific guy wanted revenge on this shop because he''d been hard done by it at some point in the past. He, along with a few other people, tried to set up a restaurant around here but catastrophe after catastrophe struck as a result of them trying to go toe to toe with this business. They assumed foul play, because it was kind of obvious even though they couldn''t get their hands on solid proof, so burning it down as payback was the reason they joined the Firestarters to begin with. Apparently the guy trying to light the fuse near this place had spent all his life savings to even get aboard the Federation legally as a new citizen. Some time after that, he doesn''t really know when, those documents were replaced with fakes and he was tortured for a good while by the officials before being thrown headfirst into the ocean. He was saved by a passing sailor and that was the start of his everlasting grudge. He sought various ways to get back at this restaurant and the Firestarters took note of his attempts before bringing him into the fold.


    Anyway, again, he acted out of line, of his own will, so he was fiercely reprimanded and received quite the beating. He was kicked around like a dog for a while but the conversation eventually shifted and the person who was seemingly in charge gave everyone there a reminder that a big meeting was taking place soon. I know when and where so I''ll be sure to crash it and say hello when the time is right. Unfortunately, however, not all their members will be attending as they''re being split up into two different venues for convenience. Basically, I ought to be able to deal with half the Firestarters at once on that day and then hopefully find the rest some other time. All quite convenient and I''m in a good mood because my life has just been made that much easier. My task to hunt the hidden foes has been simplified, fending off various threats has gone well thus far, and this place seems to really know a thing or two about cooking! Great start to a great day and surely this is a good omen of things to come!" Aejaz winced at that last line because that was surely a red flag! Aejaz had read enough books to spot the cliché statement that backfired horrendously! Why couldn''t Ares just be happy in his head instead of saying it out loud?! Was he some kind of character in a film or a book or something!?