After taking Theo to a small room on the second floor of the tavern, the brawny man ordered the bartender to continue cleaning, and then closed the door.
This place was used to entertain customers with special needs, and it only charged twenty-five copper royals a night, so the environment couldn't be considered elegant. The narrow bed had an unpleasant musty smell, and the bedding was wrinkled, as if it hadn't been washed and dried for a long time. The cracked wooden table was missing a corner, and the cracks were filled with black floc, making the table look greasy and dirty. But Theo was too lazy to care, he sat on the edge of the bed, quietly waiting for the other side to speak.
"It's been a long time," the brawny man grinned, "Since Sir Naji replaced your position, how come you don't even come to the tavern? Even if you're no longer responsible for this matter, you can still come and have a drink. "
His nickname was Black Hammer, the watchman of the "Underground Trumpeter" tavern, and a member of the Skeleton Fingers. It sounded scary, but he was just one of the many rats in King's City's Black Street. The rats formed their own cliques, divided their territories, and according to the different businesses they operated, they formed a huge and loose organization. These underground organizations were more or less backed by great nobles or wealthy merchants, and the Skeleton Fingers were no exception. But unlike domestic dogs, most rats didn't choose to be loyal to a single person, as long as there were benefits, they could work for anyone.
"Enough nonsense," Theo said bluntly, "Tonight, you call Sylvie, Swineherd, Silver Ring, and Pottery Pot over, right here in this tavern, I have something to arrange."
"These are the people of the Underground Trumpeter," Black Hammer was startled, "Just them alone are enough?"
"As I said, this is a good business," he shrugged his shoulders, "Seeing that you've done a lot of things for me, I specifically looked for you."
According to the usual procedure of dealing with the Black Street, the first thing to do was to find a contact person, and then the other party would decide whether or not to accept the task. After the two reached an agreement, the contact person would entrust the task to the right person, and at the same time collect the fee. Of course, there was no contract or written proof to guarantee this process, so whether or not the employer's expectations could be achieved was completely unknown. Generally speaking, the more famous an organization was, the more they cared about their own credibility, and the higher the commission fee was, while the new organization charged a low fee, but it was easy to end up with nothing. These rats and the city patrol formed a delicate balance, working together to maintain the order on the surface of the kingdom.
Before entering the palace and becoming a palace guard, Theo had served in the patrol team, responsible for handing over some inconvenient matters to the various Black Street organizations. Therefore, he was well aware of the few most powerful groups of rats in the capital, which also saved him the time to deal with the informant. As for the reason why he chose the Skeleton Fingers, it was because they weren't completely broken.
"May I ask, who are you working for now?" Black Hammer asked after hesitating for a moment.
Theo didn't answer, but pointed his thumb in the direction of the palace behind him.
Most people only knew that he had become an imperial guard, but they didn't know that not long after, he had been selected by Wimbledon III to be the personal guard of the 4th Prince, and had followed His Royal Highness to Border Town. They must have thought that he had been in the palace for the past six months. Besides, he was only pointing in the direction of the palace, he wasn't lying. The royal family didn't only have one Timothy, Roland Wimbledon was also a member of the royal family.
"I understand," he nodded. "But Sylvie and Swineherd are no longer here, can I choose my own men?"
"What happened to them?"
"They died." Black Hammer said bitterly, "Last winter, they had a conflict with the people from Dreamland Water. They sold poppy flowers and sleeping ferns to the northern part of the city, so Casas led the others to drive them back. Sylvie's neck was cut, and the blood simply couldn't stop, while Swineherd's canal was filled by them. "
Theo frowned, this kind of thing was simply ignored by the patrol team, they would even deliberately provoke the rats to bite each other from time to time in order to control their strength and numbers. As for the people who died, no one would care. "That's fine, but you have to remember, it must be someone from the tavern."
…
After leaving the underground trumpeter, Theo took a deep breath.
The rotten and damp smell of the tavern made him a little nauseous, until the hot air rushed into his lungs, slightly dispelling this muddy and dull feeling.
Although Black Hammer had kindly invited him to wait in the tavern, and even claimed that he would take out the best wine to entertain him, Theo was not willing to stay in a narrow place for too long. If there was an accident, he wouldn't be able to detect it immediately.
Next, he decided to go to the inner city and find a reliable inn to book a room for tonight. As for the soldiers of the First Army, they were already very familiar with camping at night, so he didn't need to worry about it.
After nightfall, Theo once again returned to the underground trumpeter.
At this time, the tavern was already open for business as usual, and from time to time there would be customers coming in and out. He first watched in the dark for a while, and then followed behind a drinker into the room.
As a low-end tavern in the outer city, most of the people who came here to drink were civilians, and the drinks were also cheap and inferior ale. Ten copper royals could be used to drink several bowls of it. In the midst of the noise, he quickly found Black Hammer's men, they were sitting around a partition against the wall, and there was a white phalanx on the table.
Theo calmly walked over, and immediately someone made way for him.
"Good evening, my Lord," Silver Ring and Clay Pot nodded in greeting.
"Let me introduce these two to you, she is Pinky," Black Hammer patted the tiny girl next to him, then pointed to the young man next to her, "Hill Fox, recently joined the Skeleton Fingers."
"Fox?" Theo's eyes stopped on the other party's body, and the latter seemed somewhat reserved as he bowed his head in greeting.
"In our line of work, there are very few guys with complete surnames," Black Hammer laughed, "He lost everything in gambling, his wife ran away with someone else, even his house was sold, and he had no choice but to join the black street. Rest assured, he used to live in the north city, and occasionally visited the underground trumpeter. "
Silver Ring and Clay Pot were both old acquaintances, Pinky looked no different from an ordinary street kid, but this Hill Fox, Theo felt a little strange … His appearance and expression really did seem like the kind of person who had experienced a drastic change and become mentally and physically exhausted, but his eyes also contained a kind of indescribable thing, it was like … Theo thought for a moment, but in the end he couldn't get an accurate answer.
Well, since he lived in the Northern District and was an acquaintance of the tavern, it shouldn't be a big problem. Moreover, the first task he had to complete was to transport the fugitives, so there wouldn't be any risk.
"Listen, it's not complicated. The higher ups don't want to see the number of fugitives in the Eastern Region continue to increase, and the food used for relief is decreasing every day. If this continues, sooner or later a riot will occur, and when that time comes, it will be much more difficult to deal with, so we have to find a way to get them out of King's City. "
"What do you need us to do?" Black Hammer asked.
"It's very simple, spread the news that the Western Region is being reclaimed and the local Lord is willing to accept these fugitives, and that the escorting mercenaries and fleets have already set off, and will arrive at the canal pier in three days. What you have to do is to spread this news to those idiots outside the city, you can freely add the specific details, the more real the better. "
"But … if there is no mercenaries and fleets when the time comes, no matter how real it is, it will be useless," Silver Ring said.
"Of course there will be such things," Theo smiled.
"Ah?" He was startled, "Is there really a Lord of the Western Region who wants to accept them?"
"You idiot," Black Hammer slapped him on the back of the head, "If you want to act, you naturally have to put on a show. After they are transported to the Western Region, will they be able to walk back to King's City? As for how to deal with them, let the local Lord worry about it. "He looked at Theo," It really isn't a difficult task, but as for the reward … "
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