Theo walked into a pub, the hot and humid smell mixed with the aroma of wine assailed his nostrils.
Under the dim light, the men took off their shirts, revealing their sweaty backs, sitting at the table in the center, pouring cup after cup of poor quality beer into their mouths, talking and laughing loudly with their companions. Maids wearing revealing clothes were interspersed between the tables, filling the glasses of the guests.
He looked around a little and found his target – a small man sitting in an inconspicuous corner, with a withered wild rose in front of him.
Theo went to the bar and ordered a glass of beer first. He slowly savored the bitter taste, and at the same time, he looked around to see if anyone was secretly watching this short man. The result was very satisfactory. Although there were occasionally people looking at the corner, most of them were unintentional. Only one person sitting at the big table in the center, under the cover of a glass, would observe the movements in the corner.
One person to contact, one person to look after, this was the usual behavior of the black street rats, which was consistent with Theo's understanding.
"Another glass," he shouted to the bartender, "Ice."
"Sir, the price of ice beer is doubled," the bartender reminded him.
Theo threw a silver royal, "The colder the better."
Holding a glass of white mist, he went to the opposite side of the small man and poured the beer on the wild rose at the table. The cold wine flowed along the curled petals, the other side looked up with an impatient face, "You don't want to drink the wine, instead you pour it on the table, are you crazy?"
"To Rose," Theo smiled and sat down opposite him, "I've been looking for you for a long time."
"That only proves that you're not looking for the right person," he said snappily, "Since you're a customer … say, what do you want from me? Asking for clues, stealing, redeeming lost property, or selling stolen goods? "
"None of them, I hope you can help me spread a rumor."
"This is not within the scope of Rose's business," he shook his head.
"No, no, as long as the Golden Dragon can pay, you will be interested," Theo said, shaking his finger. "I'm not a layman, young man. Sometimes, in order to make the prey take the bait, and rumors are the best bait. Without evidence, there is no way to catch them. It's much safer than stealing. "
"That sounds reasonable." The man sat up straight and smiled. "Have you asked Rose for help before?"
"I've asked someone from the same trade as you, a small place. Their names aren't as elegant as yours, and there aren't many things they can do. “
"If the scope of business is too small, it will be very difficult to find a suitable business. It's Silver City, after all. The competition is really fierce." He picked up the wild rose and shook it, then put it in his pocket. "Tell me, what kind of rumors do you want to spread?"
"It's about the witches," Theo smiled, "An organization called the Witch Cooperation Association has found the Holy Mountain in the Western Territory, and has gotten rid of the suffering of the Demon's bite, obtaining eternal peace."
"Bro, this news is really..." The short man smacked his lips. "Really old-fashioned. Although I rarely teach my customers how to deceive others, your rumor should at least be a little more believable. Let me guess, if you don't want to kidnap witches, then you want to kill the Church. If it's the latter, you will only wait for the Army of Judges to send you to the gallows, so I think it should be the former... "He showed a wretched smile," Unfortunately, as far as I know, most of the people who want to catch witches and sell them for money are dead. Although they all carry a God's Stone of Retaliation, those women are not idiots. "
"Why is it not credible?" Theo asked curiously.
"An organization formed by witches is simply like the moon in the night sky. If it is true, the Church will certainly flock to it. If I were a witch, I would naturally not go to that kind of place, and if it is false, then there is no need for me to go there. As for getting rid of the Demon's bite, bro, are you serious? Witches are the incarnation of the Devil, such a big lie, I'm afraid they will scoff at it. "
"Then spread it according to this statement," Theo said without taking it seriously.
"The customer has the final say," the short man shrugged, "In any case, I already reminded you. The cost is twenty Golden Dragon stones. "
"Paid in one go?"
"That's right, Rose does not take a deposit, nor does she collect the balance." He spread his hands and said, "The transaction is entirely voluntary."
Theo sighed, took out a leather bag from his pocket, and poured nineteen Golden Dragon stones on the table. He also grabbed a fingernail-sized silver wolf from his waist bag, counted out a hundred of them, and pushed them in front of the short man. The latter only needed to identify the authenticity of the Golden Dragon stones, and then swept them all into the cloth bag.
With the money in hand, the short man's expression relaxed a lot, "Rose promised to do very few things. Didn't I tell you before, the competition in Silver City is very fierce, if we deceive our customers, our reputation will also decline. If you are not in a hurry to go back to the Western Region and wait for the fish to take the bait, you can stay here for a few more days, and before long, you will hear the news spread everywhere. "
"Will it also reach the ears of the witches?"
"Of course, but whether they are willing to go or not is another matter. In short, I wish you success, if you catch one and sell it to the Church, you will be able to earn back your capital, and if you sell it to the nobles, you can earn even more. Of course, if you can't find a way to get rid of it, and are afraid of being discovered by the Church, you can come to us, we will only charge you 10% of the referral fee. "
The short man snapped his fingers, took the cloth bag and left. After a while, the big man who was responsible for taking care of them also got up and left. After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Theo drank the rest of the wine in his glass, burped, and walked out of the tavern.
In this way, the task given to me by His Highness Roland has been completed, he thought. Fallen Dragon Ridge, Redwater City, and Silver City, he went all over, found the local Black Street Rats, and spread the news – every city had a group that mingled in the dark corners, and even with the tacit consent of the Lord, they would form an orderly and hidden organization, even Graycastle King's City was no exception. What they could do was far more than what they openly said, as for the specific extent, it mainly depended on the number of Golden Dragon customers.
The only difficulty in this matter was to establish a connection with the Rats, he had to say, as an outsider, it was quite difficult to gain the trust of the other party. Just the secret words he had to say had cost him no less than five Golden Dragon coins. Theo sighed in his heart, if he hadn't had a similar experience in King's City, he was afraid that he wouldn't have been able to leave Fallen Dragon Ridge.
On the way back to the hotel, he noticed a trace of a strange atmosphere.
He was being followed.
Although the other party was very covert, as a professional guard, Theo was still aware of the other party's existence. He took out the dagger from his waist, and turned into an alley on the side.
Is it Rose? When he was paying, he deliberately turned the money bag upside down, and poured out nineteen Golden Dragon coins, in order to avoid attracting covetous eyes. Generally speaking, hundreds of silver royals would not make them do something like robbing customers.
With his back against the wall, he counted the approaching footsteps. When the other party was about to pass through the alley, he fiercely rushed out, and in the blink of an eye, the dagger was pressed against the other party's neck.
"Don't move!" Theo shouted in a low voice.
He didn't expect that the other party would suddenly turn into a cloud of mist and disappear.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
