Kapitel 164: Spies and Assassins

"Help us?""Help them?" Tiffania and Ralf respectively ask, the latter turning an exasperated glance at the slowly reddening girl.

Jojin crosses his arms and nods sagely, "Of course. Why would we want to hurt our saviour anyway? Only idiots would do that. My master has been gathering all the remaining Reconquista spies under him to set up a new organization, but most of the ones in Tristain were imprisoned by that bastard new king." he says sourly.

Ralf shakes his head, "What good would a spy network even be? And wouldn't the former Reconquista members wish to punish us for Cromwell's death?" he asks, throwing the surreptitious facade away since Tiffania had all but revealed their identities anyway. Additionally, he was truly unsure just what use a spy network would actually be for the group.

Their only real goal now was to acquire the prayer book, Derflinger, and leave this world for the wolves. So unless this Jojin and his master's organization has the location of said book, any information they could have would be useless in the end.

Jojin's eyes widen at Ralf's words, the boy taking a step back in mock shock, "Mister, spies make the world go round! Without someone there to tell you how things are you'd be walking through life blind!" he exclaims, "Plus, I'm sure we can work out something for anyone who still holds a grudge...? Maybe have you all in disguise? Or..... I swear, I'll think of something better, just trust me on this!"

...

"Mmhmm? And you would grant us full access of these resources just because we are acquaintances of 'Batuman'?" Ralf inquires.

Jojin rubs the back of his head, "Erm, not exactly? I told you about those imprisoned spies right? Well, I was hoping to ask Batuman to help rescue them... Most of them don't deserve to be there anyway... Information suppliers and collectors who did nothing but keep their ears open and their pouches filled..."

Tiffania chews her lip and looks down at the broach, "Is that why you gave me this? Is this a bribe?" she asks, now tempted to throw the thing away despite how valuable it is.

Jojin erratically waves his arms in reply, "No no no! I just thought it would be a good way to start this conversation... You can take it and leave now if you wanted to and I wouldn't stop you... But I'd really like you to consider my offer!"

Ralf shrugs, "We'll ask 'Batuman' and see what he thinks. Until then, thanks for the gift, Jojin." he says as he begins to leave, Tiffania quickly following.

"Ah! Come to the bar at the end of this street corner tomorrow if you want to help!" Jojin calls out as he waves them off with a silly grin on his face.

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As Tiffania and Ralf were finishing up with their shopping trip, Michael was exiting the palace library with a veritable catalogue of spell books, theory books, and other things an aspiring mage would need in his inventory. Sure, he wouldn't be able to use them, but Tiffania would.

The only disappointment was the fact that he hadn't found the prayer book in the library... Which was probably a good thing, as anyone else with access to it may have just picked it up and stolen it. Fortunately, he had a vague idea where the royal rooms were located. Which would be his next destination.

He slips out of the library with his invisibility still flickering like a busted light, making sure there wasn't anyone around to notice him. He heads down the hallways, occasionally having to hide inside a room to avoid a patrol before coming out and continuing on again.

"H-hey, you're not supposed to be-Guihk!" a guard starts but Michael buries his dagger to the hilt in the man's throat, stopping him from alerting the rest of the palace. He then quickly drags the body into a nearby room in a nearby room to find a place to hide it.

He could try and store it in his inventory but, up to a certain size, objects need to be dismantled into smaller components, like what he did with those dragon corpses... Of course, that'd also mean that he'd need to 'dismantle' the guard's corpse as well, not something he was particularly willing to do.

As he was entering the room however, he's shocked to find a familiar person lazily slouched in the corner watching something through some sort of mirror... It was a cloaked person carrying a corpse through the palace... That was him!

Indeed, and it's only now that the person observing him realises this and turns around to face him. Loutiel looked more disgruntled than Michael had ever seen him before. "*Ahem!*, So you've arrived...?" he starts but Michael just snorts at him.

"Don't try and play Mr Mysterious now, why are you here, and why are you watching me?" Michael asks, pushing the guards corpse to the side to free his hands in case this becomes violent.

Loutiel shakes his head, "Didn't you hear? I was given the rank of Chevalier by Princess Henrietta herself for my deeds in Antomiers... As for why I was watching you? Well, there's two reasons for that.." he says, getting off of his seat and brushing himself off, "The first is quite simply, boredom... I don't think I have to tell you how boring being a noble is, sitting around, bowing and kissing the feet of anyone who thinks they're your better." he says with an expression that he'd eaten something foul.

"And the second?" Michael bluntly asks.

Loutiel smiles amiably, "Well, you still owe me a favour so, I was just keeping track of you, you see. When I heard you were coming to Tristain, I couldn't help but take a peek."

"... How? This isn't the first time you've done this. But how are you able to keep track of me?" Michael asks, as if anyone else could use Loutiel's methods then he'd have been discovered by everyone many, many times by now.

Loutiel chuckles, "Now, why would I tell you that? You'd just remove it and ruin my fun then. Rest assured that I am the only one able to track you using this method."