Chapter 32: Coming to Us, Part 1

“Join us? You mean the one who caused a big stir in the town that afternoon?”

Dean asked back with a slight hesitation, while his mind was already turning rapidly.

Clearly, the current situation had changed from what he remembered—although Mold was greedy, hypocritical, and sinister, in his original memory, the other party hadn’t done such things!

Dean was completely certain of this.

Because after the fact, his teacher, the Grand Duchess, had investigated everything about this Tax Officer thoroughly, not even missing his past treason; however, that treason was against the Iron Cavalry of City, while now it was Goth, an ancient Kingdom.

Of course, as someone who would later conspire with City and was now in contact with Goth, Dean wasn’t too surprised.

It was just the deviation from his memory that made him have to be cautious.

As a man given a second chance, Dean knew very well that his advantage wasn’t the knowledge from his ‘hometown’, nor the ‘System’ on his body, but that unique ‘memory’ of Goedz’s changes that belonged only to him—once these ‘memories’ changed, he would lose his current advantage!

Even though this ‘memory’ would eventually become unrecognizable as he made continuous changes, but… at least, until he was fully prepared, this advantage could not be lost!

However, this didn’t mean Dean would let go of this opportunity to eliminate this Tax Officer—this was originally his plan and required no changes at all.

As for why the other party chose to contact the spies of Goth?

Dean already had some guesses—it was probably due to threats from the Thieves Guild!

In the afternoon, the Tax Officer’s failure to find anything had clearly enraged those people who walked in the Shadow.

In fact, they had already placed the blame for murdering their colleague entirely on this Tax Officer; otherwise, he wouldn’t be so urgently looking for a protector.

As for Baron Tier?

Although Baron Tier had many flaws common among Nobles, he was always very anxious about the security of his Territory. Whether it was bandits or the Thieves Guild, they were the primary targets for this Baron to eliminate.

Therefore, this Tax Officer definitely wouldn’t seek the Baron’s protection!

Because that would only expose his transaction with the Thieves Guild, or even more unknown secrets, to the public. Even if the possibility was small, considering the Tax Officer’s concern for his future and his life, he would absolutely not be careless. Even a tiny risk, he wouldn’t take.

Of course, more importantly, perhaps in the Tax Officer’s mind, even this Baron might not be able to protect his safety!

After all, although this Baron advocated crushing bandits and the Thieves Guild, bandits still ran rampant in Tier Territory, and the Thieves Guild raged—comparing the two, the Tax Officer, who had little to do with either, knew the gap between them best. Perhaps in a head-on collision, the Baron’s side had the advantage, but compared to such covert maneuvers, obviously the Thieves Guild side was the winner.

So, he needed some people who also walked in the dark corners to deal with the Thieves Guild.

Leave everything to experts, not laymen!

Clearly, this Tax Officer understood the importance of this phrase very well.

And facing the Thieves who walked in the Shadow, the spies who also hid in the darkness were clearly matched opponents.

As for being controlled and threatened after betrayal?

For this Tax Officer, as long as there was enough profit, he had no problem committing regicide or Patricide—not long ago, the Baron Tier he secretly harmed was for him like a Father figure, was it not?

“Exactly that one!”

The Spy in front of Dean nodded, then a smile appeared on his face, saying: “This Tax Officer has clearly encountered considerable trouble—although he usually acted excessively, compared to this current trouble, it’s obviously a drop in the bucket… I think we can accept this Tax Officer’s loyalty!”

“Can you confirm its authenticity?”

Dean asked cautiously on purpose.

As for the other party’s grasp of information about Mold?

Dean was not surprised at all. As the head of spies in an area, if he couldn’t grasp even this basic information, he would have long been replaced by someone else.

Of course, from the other party’s words, Dean could also be certain that the other party didn’t truly possess the ‘real data’ of this Tax Officer Mold; at most, there were just some pieces of evidence of dirty hands, which were harmless even if exposed. If there really were decisive evidence such as ‘ambushing merchant caravans’ or ‘selling stolen goods’, Mold wouldn’t need to find them himself; these spies would rush up and capture the target themselves—Dean, who had once walked in the Darkness, was not unfamiliar with the methods of spies.

That was why he was so certain.

“Absolutely! Recently, I had a pleasant conversation with this Tax Officer…”: The head of spies showed a smug smile on his face, “I believe our Tax Officer has considerable sincerity. After all, he provoked an opponent he shouldn’t have. If we don’t protect him, he will surely die a miserable death! As for that Lord Baron? If he doesn’t want to die a little faster, he will definitely not notify him!”

“Very good, Pine No. 1!” Dean nodded, saying: “I think I need to meet our Tax Officer!”

“That is only natural, Your Excellency!”

The head of spies nodded without any hesitation—in fact, this seemed natural to ‘Pine No. 1’. After all, judging from the information he got, the situation of the Your Excellency before him was not very good. Thinking from the fact that he had gone directly past Vauban County to Tier Territory, it could be imagined that the news about that Your Excellency ‘Silver Goose’ coming from Vauban County not long ago was true.

As a Big Shot who had operated in Vauban County for thirty years, this Your Excellency ‘Silver Goose’ obviously wouldn’t directly hand over power to a sudden newcomer, even if that newcomer had done something quite remarkable in the Three Southern Counties. After all, the South was the South, and the Northland was the Northland.

It had to be known that the Three Southern Counties were not large, their total area was only comparable to Yorkshire in the Four Northern Counties.

Your Excellency ‘Silver Goose’ had considerable reasons to prove that he could do well enough.

And the ‘Hive’ wouldn’t excessively force such a Big Shot who had ‘worked hard and made great contributions’; unless, the other party really did something unforgivable, or… the Your Excellency before him was even more outstanding.

However, judging from now, it seemed impossible.

But this didn’t prevent this head of spies from being respectful toward Dean—he had already made up his mind not to get involved in such Big Shots’ struggles.

His spy career had long taught him what it meant to protect oneself to stay safe.

No matter who won or lost between the two Big Shots, he hoped he could keep his current position and peacefully enjoy everything now.

So, he needed to please both sides, but not too much on either side.

This was undoubtedly very difficult, but it couldn’t stump this head of spies—

“However, the situation of this Tax Officer is a bit special, and our manpower has also been sent out to deal with his trouble, so…”

Speaking, this head of spies deliberately showed a worried expression.

“So what?”

Dean asked, pretending not to know.

“So, I can only provide an opportunity for Your Excellency to meet the other party!”

The head of spies lowered his head in fear as he spoke.

Although the other party’s expression was very realistic, Dean still caught the smugness in the corner of his eyes when he lowered his head for an instant.

“Looks like something happened that I didn’t know about!”

Dean thought in his heart, but for Dean, who had other ideas, this was actually a very good thing. So, Dean hoped the other party would do this. However, on his face, Dean appeared to be thinking, and after a full minute, he nodded reluctantly: “Alright!”

“My Lord, I am terribly sorry! But please leave the subsequent matters to me!”

The head of spies bowed again, then said very confidently, and very crisply—because he was very certain that he had ‘independently stepped out’ of the struggle of the two Big Shots. Everything afterwards had nothing to do with him. Even if Your Excellency ‘Silver Goose’ from Vauban County questioned him, he would have reasons to evade.

After all, by convention, he not only had to ensure Dean’s personal safety within Tier Territory, but also arrange a safer place for Dean to stay. Moreover, when meeting with such ‘fresh blood’, he needed to arrange enough manpower to deal with unexpected situations.

But now, he had cleverly evaded all of these with sufficient reasons.

For his own ‘cleverness’, this head of spies gave himself a smile as an appreciation.

“Here tomorrow!”

This head of spies said this.

At the same time, this was also the parting of the two—the head of spies left first, then Dean patrolled the surroundings again, reconfirming that there was no one else, before truly leaving.

Returning to ‘Snow Bear’s Home’ all the way, Dean quietly returned to his room.

After checking that the hair tied on the threshold and door frame he had placed hadn’t been broken, Dean finally lay comfortably on the bed—although he had rested a bit in the morning, Dean, who hadn’t had a good rest for many days, wouldn’t mind having a more sufficient rest opportunity tonight.

After all, the matter of tomorrow night, and the subsequent matters, still required his large amount of Stamina to deal with.