“Within our line of work, there are only a few who have a family name,” Black Hammer laughed, “he had gambled until nothing was left. First, his wife ran away, then he even had to sell his house, after that he came to join the ranks of the street rats. He used to live in the Northern District and was an occasionally patron of the Covert Trumpeter.”
Silver Rings and Pott were old acquaintances, while Little Finger looked like any other child from the streets, but Hill Fawkes, Theo actually felt that there was something strange about him… yet, his appearance really resembled someone who had gone through such a drastic change of life, suffering physically and mentally. Yet, within his eyes, there was something, which Theo was unable to grasp, it was like… In the end, after thinking about it, he was still unable to get an answer.
“Alright, now listen, the job you have to do isn’t complicated. The upper ranks don’t want to see that the number of fugitives who fled from the Eastern Region continues to increase. The grain reserves are becoming less and less every day, if it goes on like this, it is only a matter of time until riots start to break out, making it much harder to deal with them. Because of this, they thought of a way to lure them away from King’s City.”
“What do you need us to do?” Black Hammer asked.
“It is very simple; you only have to spread the message that the wasteland in the West is being reclaimed and that the local Lords are willing to accept the fugitives. Moreover, a fleet with mercenaries has already set out to escort them back and will arrive in three days at the canal’s pier. So, the only thing you need to do is to spread this message between those fools outside of the city. Feel free to add the specific details, the more attractive you make it appear, the better.
“But… If the appointed time for the fleet and mercenaries comes and they aren’t there, saying all this will have no use ah.” Silver Ring said.
“Of course, the escort will come,” Theo smiled.
“Ah?” He got startled, “Is it really true that the Lords of the Western Region want to accept them?”
“You fool,” Black Hammer gave him a slap on top of his head, “If you want to play such an act, you naturally have to go through with it. After they get escorted to the Western Region, do you believe they will be able to come back by only relying on their two feet? As for how to handle them afterward, let the local Lords get a headache about that.” He looked to Theo, “This is indeed not a difficult task, but the reward…”
Theo raised two fingers, “Twice as much. My new employer has money, unlike the patrol. He just wants to see some results as quickly as possible, how much gold royals it will cost him, doesn’t matter to him.” He smiled, “Haven’t I told you already, that this is very a good business deal.”
During the following two days, Theo moved non-stop between Margaret’s Chamber of Commerce and King’s City’s suburbs.
Margaret would provide the fleet for the transportation of the refugees while the First Army, who would be disguised as mercenaries, would arrive at the canal’s pier at the appointed time to arrange the screening and embarking.
As for the dissemination of information, Theo wasn’t worried that Black Hammer would handle such a task relaxedly after swallowing such attractive bait. Letting street rats do such work was much more convenient than giving it to outsiders. Although their range of activity was limited to the Northern District, the refugees would certainly spread the news amongst themselves. Furthermore, he couldn’t handle them all at once anyway. Prior to this, His Royal Highness had explicitly explained to him that this was a task which could be done over time by sending one ship after another.
On the day of the fleet’s arrival, nearly one thousand destitute and homeless people had come to the pier, much more than Theo had expected. If he had relied on the First Army to promote the journey, Theo believed that if 100 people had come, it would already have been considered a good result.
