Since the first howl of the beast, no person dared to leave their house in the Red Zone. Most of the barons stayed in their shelters under their mansions while their guards stayed on patrols to their houses and businesses back and forth. A few of them were lucky enough to stay in the shelter with the barons as their personal guards.
Five of the most influential barons created an alliance named Red Coalition in mockery of the political party of the Golden Zone named Golden Coalition. Becoming self-proclaimed governors of the Red Zone. With that alliance, everyone in the zone had to obey them, each known sector was controlled by them.
Baron Belver Markiz controlled the whole sector of human trafficking. Most of the slaves sold at the auction were in his possession or caught with his help. Each building beneficial to the alliance was made by his slaves.
Baron Lucius Strada took over the gambling world with the pit as the center of attention. He was the one who supported the Red Coalition with extra cash when needed, often even leaning toward the loaning business.
Baroness Minerva Almerker oversees all the brothels in the zone that bring customers from all over the city, even from the other side. With this business, she possesses the biggest intelligence network. All the secrets slip into her hands, making her a valuable asset in the group.
Baron Danavan Slot is the man behind each unidentified and illegal substance that runs through the city. Drugs for pleasure and military purposes alike. The zones are no problem for him as he works on both sides without complaints.
Baroness Matilda Drosov supplies the whole Red Zone with weapons and armor, arming all the people who are willing to pay for her service. Because of her outside contacts, the trade goes even miles away from the city. Out of the whole group, her word carries the most value as everyone wants to be on her good side. Bringing the trade from outside gives them a lot more money than they could gather in the city alone.
All of their mansions were located close to each other, connected by the same system of underground tunnels that were like a labyrinth for the people who were from the outside. Many tunnels lacked reason, like becoming wider or narrower, ending in the middle of the turn, or with stairs to nowhere. All of that was made to confuse people while the ones trustworthy knew each secret of the tunnel.
At the heart of the network, there was a small room with only one entrance, a thick steel door protected by four guards. Each one of them was wearing heavy armor with barely any gaps in it. Their movement was limited, but it would be the same for the attackers as the tunnel leading to the door was narrow. Their only weapons were maces, with a few gaps, through which a red light was coming, making them visible from afar, but staying hidden wasn’t their purpose. They were the last line of defense.
Behind the protected steel doors was a conference room with an oval table, five chairs with red pillows around it. One wall was covered by a wine rack with many bottles from dark red to pinkish and ending with white wines. On the wall to the left of the entrance were two bookshelves, and between them there was a blackboard on it written hours with a number of the docks.
Opposite the blackboard was a map stretched along the whole wall, all the streets, back alleys, and buildings were marked on it. All the planning was made here in that room. Out of five seats, three were already taken. The light from the chandelier placed them in a dim light that only highlighted their faces.
Closest to the wine sat old man Belver Markiz, wearing a black suit and dark red shirt under it. Any blood stains barely visible because of the color palette he specifically chose. His grey hair was slicked back, but it wasn’t as it used to be since old age was showing its signs. The current hairstyle was made to hide the balding spot on his head. To look more refined like nobles, he had a silver monocle and in his left hand a wooden cane with a silver handle.
The old man tried to show confidence and incuriosity toward the other two, but he couldn’t exactly hide his anxiety. It was even harder when he was facing a true confidence and feeling of superiority from the other two barons.
To his right, near the blackboard, sat a woman in her forties, trying to hide the signs of old age with make-up. Some could mistake her for a young woman with her well-made eye lines and hidden wrinkles. Her colorful dress could be spotted from anywhere in the dark place known as the Red Zone. Her whole body was hidden under the dress, but the way she sat on the chair, cross-legged with her chest puffed out, showed the character to be unladylike. Her face was partially hidden behind a see-through veil tied around her short ginger hair. Even though it wasn’t hot in there, she had a habit of waving her green fan with flowers painted over it, no matter the weather or time.
With his back to the steel door sat with a hump so bad his spine was placed higher than his head. Even with that, he was two heads above everyone in the room. All over his face, he had burn marks from fire and chemicals alike. Many of those marks were hidden under a dark brown hat and coat with matching colors. Underneath, the man had many belts and small bags attached to them. Always carrying drugs to sell at any moment, given the time. In some situations, he just takes them himself.
Meetings like those often stressed him, so he took drugs to calm himself, but this time he had to add more every twenty minutes. The monster lurking in the city widened his anxiety. He reached under the coat and took a small green bag. After a moment of consideration, he put it away and grabbed something else. He pressed the needle of the syringe with yellow liquid in it to his forearm and took a deep breath before sinking it into his skin. His arms were burnt like his face, but there were more scars. Many small ones were left by the thousands of injections.
The wheel on the steel door began to turn, the guards were opening the door for someone. A steam was released from the pipes beside the door, realising a bit of pressure constantly placed on the door to ensure the safety of those inside. Through the steam entered a woman in a grey military cap with a golden eagle placed in the middle of it. As she moved forward, her long coat followed her feet. The coat was mostly grey with red lining and golden buttons. Its ends of the sleeves were red, made out of a different material than the whole coat, more resembling a cloth for wiping the weapon out of blood. The long collar was of a darker shade of red with many different pins, orders awarded for many battles.
The woman wore the coat as if it were a cape. Under it, she wore a simple grey shirt without buttons. Her pants were baggy with a grey camouflage pattern, the ends hidden under dark leather boots reaching halfway to the knee. Right by her shoulder, a saber with a golden hilt and guard, the rest of the blade hidden in a black scabbard. As she sat down, the rest of the people could finally see her face with an eye patch on her right eye, a scar from the forehead to her jaw, a souvenir from the battle. Compared to her military look, her black hair was well-kept and long, leaning on her back, below the blade-bone.
At her appearance, everyone went stiff, even the woman in a colorful dress straightened her back and sat normally, not daring to show an undignified side of her to Matilda.
“Where is Lucius Strada?” Asked the woman in military uniform, her voice sharp but commanding.
“He didn’t arrive yet… Lady Drosov.” The man with a hump answered quickly, almost stuttering and forgetting the woman’s name in the rush. Anxiety was clear on his face and the movement of his eyes as he tried to avoid any visual contact.
“It’s not yet confirmed information, but a little voice reached my ear and told me that his mansion was on fire. Or at least a smoke was coming out of the building.” Minerva added proudly as she bragged about her intelligence network, quickly gathering information.
“The monster in question might have attacked his mansion after destroying the chimney.” Matilda considered the possibility of Lucius being in a hard spot or even dead.
“Actually, the smoke appeared before the monster’s screams…” Minerva corrected Lady Drosov’s thinking as she leaned one of her elbows on the table.
“So the monster attacked him first?” Matilda asked, not making any presumption as she valued the information given by Minerva.
“Don’t think so… There were no screams before the smoke appeared. Actually, it was almost silent the whole time. Maybe some lower barons are trying to cut Lucius short.” Minerva shrugged her shoulders, showing no interest in Lucius at all.
“Maybe the pirates were behind it? One group tried to sell me unique slaves, and one of them ended up being almost as strong as Strada’s favorite man. She almost KILLED ME! They might be targeting us!” Belver Markiz burst out, blaming the pirates as the culprits. With the wind of emotion, he stood up but quickly sat down as he felt the gazes of everyone in the room on him.
“That’s a likely possibility… But what would they gain from attacking Strada? I can understand targeting my ships with weapons, but gambling that happens mainly in Liberin City? Someone is trying to attack us from the shadows… Everyone better be on high alert. I’ll send my men to investigate Strada’s mansion.” Lady Drosov wrote a command on a piece of paper and put it in a bottle. Near the doors, there was another pipe with a hole in it. As she pushed it inside, the bottle was sent up toward the surface using the same pressure from the gate to lift the bottle. “While we wait, we’ll discuss ground coverage and future shipment changes…”