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Brando and The Shire stopped.
In front of them was a strange building, which seemed to be a large illegal building made up of many roofs stacked together. A tin chimney snaked up along the layers of roofs, and a lazy black cat lay on the red tiles, wagging its tail and half-squinting in the sun.
The old white wall was covered with ivy, and a wooden sign was placed outside the door of the shop with a line of words written in italic Cruz – "Indulgent Rose".
Seeing this line of text, Brando knew that he had found the right place.
This was 5-201 Suman Street. On the surface, it was an alchemy shop with a 30-year history, but in fact, there was a secret underground. Brando knew that this was one of the secret contact points of the Hazel people in the city.
"This is it?"
Brando nodded.
The Shire looked up and down at the place and couldn't help but say, "It doesn't look any different, but those Hazel people are so well hidden, do you really think they need to intervene?"
"It's not a question of whether it's necessary or not," Brando swept the dust on his chest with his hand and replied matter-of-factly, "It's just a matter of convenience for them, but they can get a lot of benefits, and even if they fail, there's no loss to them, so why wouldn't they agree?"
"But there's no such thing as an airtight wall in this world, my Lord, they should know very well that the Cruz people will find out who helped us behind the scenes."
"So what?" Brando asked back, "It seems that you don't know the Hazel people, The Shire."
"Does my Lord know them very well?"
"Naturally."
In fact, the relationship between the Empire and Hazel was very special. Before that, Hazel used to be a loose city-state. The short Hazel people were naturally good at magic, but unlike the Bugas, they were more interested in research and development of all kinds of storage devices. They believed in the Dragon Crystal of Wisdom, and thought that the spark of thinking and wisdom was the power to inspire everything.
In that era, the Empire's strategy towards Hazell was to secretly support some city-states, create conflicts between city-states, and maintain balance and balance, so that Hazell would never be able to form a political and military entity that could threaten the Empire.
This balance had been maintained for hundreds of years.
But about 130 years ago, a prophet was born among the Hazel people. This sage put forward a famous hypothesis — the theory that 'the individual is the whole.' In this theory, the Hazel people believed that the wisdom of an individual was limited, but the collision of ideas could make wisdom sublimate, thus giving birth to a god-like brilliance.
Therefore, the Hazel people believed that in a whole, the wisdom of each individual was crucial. The whole was composed of individuals, so individuals would also be an indispensable part of the overall wisdom.
Under the guidance of this theory, the Hazel people carried out a thorough revolution — the revolution of the popularization of magical technology. At the same time, a republic composed of city-states was established like lightning. By the time the Cruz people reacted, they found that a powerful opponent had appeared beside them.
The hatred of the past hundreds of years made it almost impossible to have peace between the two countries. On the one hand, the Empire had great power, but the Hazel people's legions armed with magical technology were not at a disadvantage against the Empire.
So the war broke out.
Although the Empire was powerful, only one out of ten people could be trained to become a qualified knight. On the other hand, although the Republic's individual strength was weak, their ordinary soldiers only needed to be trained slightly and equipped with magic devices to possess power close to that of a knight.
The Empire had the Mage Corps. Although the Hazel people's Magic Shooters were not good at fighting, they had artillery and tanks. The Empire had the Pegasus Knight and the Griffin Knight. The Hazel people also had airplanes and airships. Even if there was a slight difference in combat strength, they could make up for it with numbers.
It would take the Empire about five years to train a qualified pegasus knight, but it would only take the Hazaire people six months to build an airship. Even if it was three or four airships in exchange for a knight of the Empire, it was still a good deal.
In fact, after decades of popularization and progress of magical technology, the Hazel people gradually recovered from the situation of losing on the battlefield and even launched a counterattack. If it were not for the outbreak of the Demonic Wave, the Cruz people were likely to face an embarrassing defeat on the Western Front.
"In fact, the most recent war between the Cruz people and the Hazel people was seven years ago. At that time, the White Legion invaded Banlin Valley and occupied Banlin for three years, but not long after that, they were driven back by the Hazel people."
"The Empire did not publicize the defeat of Banlin because of this reason, but in fact, the Hazel people have the advantage on the border at the moment."
"The war is not over yet. It's just that both sides are exhausted and unable to fight anymore. They can only stand on the confrontation front, which is also the border."
"Under such circumstances," Brando replied, "do you think the Hazel people will be afraid of the Cruz people's anger? They can't wait to extend the front to other places — "
"Have they not considered a truce?" The Shire was a little incredulous. "Especially since the Empire does not only have the Republic of Hazel as an enemy."
"Hundreds of years of hatred, how can it be so easy to disappear?" Brando shook his head. "Maybe one day in the future, the Hazel people and the Cruz people will restore the normal relationship between countries, but that will also be after all the blood has been shed."
"This is a hatred of generations, it must be appeased with blood."
"That's terrible." The Shire could not help but sigh.
The two of them had only stood outside the house for a moment, but they had already attracted the attention of the people inside the house. A rather respectable young noble from a foreign country, accompanied by his wizard followers, was carrying a sword. The black leather of the scabbard and the silver ornaments on the scabbard were obviously very valuable. One look and one could tell that this was a generous guest.
In many big cities, magic shops did not only cater to wizards. Ordinary people were their main customers. Deodorants, insect repellents, and some convenient alchemy products, including all kinds of incense, were all daily necessities.
However, the real big customers were the adepts.
"Sir outside the door, don't you want to come in and have a look?" The boss with a big belly shouted from behind the counter.
"You don't have the things I want here." Brando smiled back.
The boss was unhappy. "Hey, young man, don't talk big. I promise you with the credibility of the thirty years of Addicted to Roses that you can't find a more complete range of goods than here in the Empire. This place has a good reputation, you can go and ask."
[That's more like it,] Brendel thought.
"Is that so? Then I want the Glory of Zel, the Unyielding Sword, the Light of Thinking, and the Glory of Wisdom."
The boss's face changed. "I don't understand what you are talking about, young man."
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand. Ask Mutt to come out and see me. I want to talk about big business."
The boss looked at the two of them with a complicated expression. Although they were far away, he could still see Charles's snow-white teeth as he smiled at him. His face darkened, and his shoulders sank slightly.
But Brando opened his mouth. "I know you have a type IV flintlock under the counter, but that thing is useless to me. In a quarter of an hour, the patrolling cavalry will pass by here. You won't do anything stupid, right?"
The boss froze. After a while, he spoke again. "Who are you?"
His voice was a little hoarse.
"Foreigners." The County answered with a smile.
Brando shook his head. "Who we are is not important to you. What's important is that we have no evil intentions."
"I can't guarantee that." The boss frowned.
"Although the Empire is big," Brando glanced at him. "But I can still find Roby Castle."
Roby Castle was the headquarters of the patrolling cavalry. Hearing Brando's words, the boss believed him. He put down the gun and carefully looked at the two of them. Then he said, "You guessed wrong about one thing. Mr. Erouine, the gun in my hand is a type III rifle."
Brando remembered that in this era, Hazel's type IV rifle had just been developed and was not officially installed. And the foreign spy departments naturally changed their weapons even later.
Regarding this small mistake, he did not take it to heart and smiled.
The boss looked around vigilantly and then waved to them. "Come in and talk, the two of you."
Brando and The County walked into the shop. The light in the room was slightly dim. The first thing they saw was a variety of cabinets and shelves on the wall. There was a dazzling array of strange items on the shelves. Most of them were all kinds of potions. There were a few daggers and a light crossbow on the counter. There was also a box covered with velvet. The groove in the middle seemed to be used to store these weapons.
He turned his head again. On one side was a huge glass window. From the inside of the shop, he could clearly see the situation on the street outside.
It seemed that these Hazel people were still very vigilant. The layout of the shop was very conducive to observing the movements outside. It was easy to defend and difficult to attack. The specially arranged messy room was easy to hide weapons. As long as there was an invasion, the people in the shop could defend at any time.
The key was that even after such a layout, 'Indulgent Rose' was still the most traditional magic shop.
At least from the outside, there was no flaw.
Hazel and Cruz had been fighting for hundreds of years. Who knew how many spies there were in their respective territories. They were already very experienced in this aspect.
"Two sirs, please wait for a moment. I have to ask Mr. Mudd's opinion."
"As you wish."
The boss knocked a few times on a piece of metal embedded on the counter. It was sometimes long and sometimes short. There was no pattern to it. But after a moment, he looked up and said to Brando, "Mr. Mudd agreed, but there is one condition. You can go in, but your follower has to stay."
"Then I'll stay." The County shrugged and replied indifferently.
The boss was slightly stunned. He thought that the other party would hesitate. He did not expect the other party to be so straightforward. And why did the wizard follower not seem to care about the safety of his master? Whether or not there was danger, as a follower, how could he just let his protector leave his side?
Of course, he did not know that The County, as a Planeswalker card, could be summoned to Brando's side at any time. So, there was no difference whether he left or not.
Brando smiled at him, "Since I dared to come here alone, I naturally have full confidence."
"In that case," the boss's expression changed again, "then come with me."
He opened the door and let Brando in. The two went up the stairs to the second floor. In a room on the second floor facing the street, Brando met the person in charge of this place.
It was a Hazel man who was half the height of an ordinary human. He wore a decent black suit with a white vest inside. Silver chains hung on his trousers, a pocket watch in his pocket, a cane in his hand, and a hat on his head. His hair was meticulously combed.
He did not look like a spymaster. Instead, he looked like a gentleman.
This short Hazel man had a moustache and wore a monocle. When Brando looked at him, he squinted his eyes and looked at Brando through the monocle.
"An Erouine man," he said. "Why is an Erouine man here at this moment?"
Brando looked at the short man. He only knew that the other party was called Mutt. As for his experience as the person in charge here at this moment, he only learned about it from his personal resume.
This meant that this guy was later promoted because only NPCs who had reached a certain level of status would be given detailed resumes by players to facilitate quests and gain reputation.
Judging from the bureaucratic system of Hazel, this guy was likely to be promoted to an ambassador or the deputy director of the security department after meritorious service.
"I'm here to ask you for a favor." Brando went straight to the point.
Mutt smiled: "I think I know who you are."
Brando did not mind. It would be strange if Mutt could not guess who he was. As a spy network, if they did not know what happened in the Empire recently, they might as well go home and plant sweet potatoes.
"You are Count Tónigel. Oh, I heard that you will soon be Count Randner. You know, I'm very happy to see you here at this moment, because your appearance here means that the Empire is in trouble."
Mutt shrugged: "You know, I'm happy whenever the Empire is in trouble. Praise the light of wisdom and thinking. So, Count Randner, what can we do to help you?"
"Also," he waved his cane: "What benefits can we get?"
"What I need your help with isn't troublesome at all." Brendel replied.
"It's not troublesome," Mutt nodded: "This is one of the reasons. I know you have more to say, so please continue."
"I want you to help me investigate the whereabouts of a person. This should be easy for you."
"Then, who is it?"
"It's her," Brando corrected: "Countess Wa Lache. You should have heard of her before, right?"
"So it's her," Mutt's monocle reflected the light: "I understand now. Wonderful, it seems like you want to make the Empire lose face."
"It's not just a matter of face," Brando said: "It's also about the Highlanders."
Mutt took a deep breath: "I have to say, you're right. It seems like this is a good deal." He paused for a moment: "In other words, we only need to help you investigate the whereabouts of Countess Wa Lache."
"That's all. I'll do the rest."
"Then, what benefits will you get? As far as I know, the Empire is the Republic's enemy, but not necessarily Erouine's."
"The greatest benefit is to be able to save my subordinates."
Mutt couldn't help but take a deep look at him: "The Republic never gives up on any of its subjects. Wisdom and glory are one, and the individual is all —"
He reached out his hand: "It seems that Hazel and Erouine may not necessarily have to fight side by side on the battlefield, but they can still be good allies."
Brendel smiled and shook his hand. "It's a pleasure working with you."
…
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