Ermu
Chapter 145: Seeking Traces (Part 1)
Under the dim lights, men had taken off their shirts, revealing sweaty backs, and sat around the central table, gulping down mugs of cheap beer, laughing and chatting loudly with their companions. Scantily clad serving girls weaved between the tables, refilling the guests' glasses.
He glanced around briefly and located his target – a small man sitting in an inconspicuous corner, a withered wild rose on his table.
Tassa walked to the bar and ordered a beer first. He savored the bitter taste slowly, while surveying the surroundings to see if anyone was secretly watching the small man. The result was satisfactory; although people occasionally glanced at the corner, most of them did so unintentionally. Only one person, sitting at the large central table, was observing the corner's movements under the guise of his beer glass.
One person making contact, one providing backup – the usual tactics of black market rats, which matched Tassa's understanding.
"Another beer," he called to the server, "iced."
"Sir, iced beer is double the price," the server reminded him.
Tassa tossed out a silver wolf. "The icier, the better."
Carrying a glass of beer rising with white mist, he walked to the small man's table and poured the beer on the wild rose. The cold liquid flowed over the shriveled petals, and the man looked up, annoyed. "You don't drink good beer, you pour it on the table. What's wrong with you?"
"A toast to the rose," Tassa smiled, sitting down opposite him. "I've been looking for you for a long time."
"Then you've been looking in the wrong place," he said grumpily. "Since you're a customer... speak. What do you want from me? Asking for clues, stealing things, redeeming lost items, or fencing stolen goods?"
"None of those. I want you to spread a rumor for me."
"That's not within the Rose's scope of business." He shook his head.
"No, no, no. You'll be interested in anything a gold dragon can pay for," Tassa wagged his finger. "I'm not an outsider, young man. Sometimes, to lure prey, you need to create bait, and rumors are the best bait. No evidence, no way to catch them. It's much safer than stealing."
"Sounds reasonable," the man sat up straight, a smile appearing on his face. "Have you commissioned the Rose before?"
"Commissioned your peers, in a small place. Their name wasn't as elegant as yours, and they couldn't do much."
"If the scope of business is too small, it's hard to find suitable business. Silverlight City, after all, is fiercely competitive." He picked up the wild rose, shook it, and put it in his pocket. "Tell me, what kind of rumor do you need to spread?"
"News about witches," Tassa smiled. "An organization called the Helpers has found the Holy Mountain in the Western Region, has escaped the torment of the demons, and has gained eternal peace."
"Man, that news is really..." the small man clicked his tongue. "Really outdated. Although I rarely teach customers how to lie, you at least need to make the rumor a little believable. Let me guess, if you're not trying to abduct witches, then you want to trick the church. The latter will only get a bunch of Judgment Army soldiers to send you to the gallows, so I think it's the former..." He gave a lewd smile. "Unfortunately, as far as I know, most of those who want to capture witches to sell them are dead. Even though they all carry God's Punishment Stones, those women aren't idiots."
"Why is it unbelievable?" Tassa asked curiously.
"An organization formed by witches is like the moon in the night sky. If it's real, the church will swarm there. If I were a witch, I wouldn't go near such a place. If it's fake, then I have even less reason to go. As for escaping the torment of demons, man, are you serious? Witches are the incarnation of the devil, even they would scoff at such a blatant lie."
"Then spread it like that," Tassa said casually.
"The customer is always right," the small man shrugged. "Anyway, I warned you. The fee is twenty gold dragons."
"Pay it all at once?"
"That's right. The Rose doesn't take deposits, nor does it collect final payments," he spread his hands. "The transaction is entirely voluntary."
Tassa sighed, took out a leather pouch from his pocket, poured nineteen gold dragons onto the table, grabbed a handful of nail-sized silver wolves from his waist pack, counted out one hundred, and pushed them in front of the small man. The latter only identified the authenticity of the gold dragons before sweeping them all into the cloth bag.
Having received the money, the small man's expression relaxed a lot. "The Rose rarely fails to do what it promises. Didn't I tell you before, Silverlight City is fiercely competitive. If we cheat customers, our reputation will also decline. If you're not in a hurry to return to the Western Region to wait for the fish to bite, you can stay here for a few more days. Before long, you'll hear the news spread everywhere."
"Will it also reach the ears of the witches?"
"That's for sure, but whether they're willing to go is another matter. Anyway, good luck. Catching one and selling it to the church will break even, selling it to the nobles will earn you more. Of course, if you can't find a way to sell it and are afraid of being discovered by the church, you can come to us. We only charge a 10% referral fee."
The small man snapped his fingers, picked up the cloth bag, and left. Soon after, the large man responsible for providing backup also got up and left. After waiting for about a quarter of an hour, Tassa finished the remaining wine in his glass in one gulp, burped, and walked out of the tavern.
In this way, the task entrusted by His Highness Roland was completed, he thought. Dragonfall Ridge, Crimson Water City, Silverlight City – he had traveled all over them, finding the local black market rats and spreading the news. Every city had groups lurking in the dark corners, and even with the lord's tacit approval, they would form an orderly and hidden organization. Even Greycastle was no exception. What they could do was far more than what they openly said, and the extent to which they could do it depended mainly on the customer's wealth.
The only difficulty was getting in touch with the rats. It had to be said that as an outsider, gaining their trust was quite difficult. The password alone cost him no less than five gold dragons. Tassa sighed inwardly, thinking that if he hadn't had similar experience in the royal capital, he probably wouldn't have left Dragonfall Ridge by now.
On the way back to the hotel, he noticed an odd atmosphere.
He was being followed.
Although the other party was doing it discreetly, Tassa, as a professional guard, still sensed their presence. He pulled out the bishou from his waist and turned into a side alley.
Was it the Rose? He had deliberately turned the money bag inside out when paying, only pouring out nineteen gold dragons, to avoid attracting the attention of others. Generally speaking, hundreds of silver wolves wouldn't make them rob a customer.
He leaned against the wall, counting the approaching footsteps. When the other party was about to pass the alley entrance, he suddenly rushed out, the bishou instantly pressed against the other party's neck.
"Don't move!" Tassa whispered.
Unexpectedly, the other party suddenly turned into a cloud of mist and disappeared.
It's a witch! He realized. Just as he was about to shout, he was hit hard on the back of the neck. He immediately felt dizzy and fell helplessly to the ground.