As Dahmut looked at the streets of the grand capital of the Ralum Kingdom from the window of his recently purchased shop, he was thoroughly underwhelmed by the so-called wonders of the capital. Maybe it was unfair of him to think that, as they were merely the outer ring of the city, filled with commoners and commercial districts, but considering the difficulty of entering officially, he had expected more.
Maybe it was working for the boss that was distorting his perception.
As he looked around, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic. From childhood, he had always found it easy to distinguish whether people were being honest. For most of his life, it had been a useless talent, but nothing compared to the benefits of the System.
After all, who cared if he claimed that he could sense whether people were telling the truth, when the nobles could just order people to tell the truth, and their Charisma would solve the problem. Or, they could use Perception to solve it.
So, Dahmut ignored it while working as a guard, treating it as a useless ability … until a mysterious old man who was making waves in the camp offered him a job. Nothing impressive, just a guard for a dice pit, to prevent the drunks from getting rowdy. In exchange, he offered good money and protection.
At the time, Dahmut accepted the job for one simple reason: When the old man offered protection not just for his workers but everyone in the camp, he was being completely, absolutely honest. Dahmut decided to trust his instincts.
It turned out to be the best decision he had ever made. He had followed his promise when it required standing against the Black and Red gangs that tried to force them to work for free, and kept everyone safe. More importantly, Dahmut was fascinated by the way he dealt with them. He had met many warriors who could have done the same, but it would have turned the camp into a bloodbath.
Instead, only a few unfortunate people perished while he pacified the camp. That alone was worthy of Dahmut's loyalty.
It didn't take long for Dahmut to realize that didn't even register as an achievement for him. One thing that life had taught him was that the world was unfair. The two classes one was born to, the System one and the social one, had defined everything about their life.
It was possible for a village dweller to rise to be a town dweller, but it required years of dedicated work, and even then, one would end up as nothing more than a servant with nothing to his name, but they would be able to enjoy the security of the town — not that it was a small benefit, as villages disappeared all the time.
But, the boss broke everything he knew about the world.
He pulled a few strings, and somehow, they managed to register as an official guild in a dungeon town, with the right to their own land in the outer town. When he established a casino that was even more magical than magic, that somehow compelled people to spend their money without a hint of mana or Charisma that produced more money than an actual silver mine, Dahmut was lucky enough to be chosen as a guard.
When the bigger guilds inevitably targeted them, Dahmut was ready to die to defend the place that had turned into his home in mere weeks.
He didn't need to do anything more than a momentary posturing when the outer city suddenly fell into battle as the Night Blades had found themselves fighting against some kind of hidden force. Others thanked the gods for the fortune.
Dahmut had other suspicions. Not because he had any evidence to support his conclusion, but because he didn't believe that the disappearance of the boss and the sudden conflict had no link. Euon — Edward, apparently, but it felt weird calling him that even after learning his real name — was not the kind of man who let things happen to him.
Soon, that turned into a pattern. They needed mana stones, the boss disappeared, and the stones appeared… Cultists appeared, trying to sabotage the city, they were coincidentally caught by the guards… Better weapons, skill stones, abilities… The boss never took credit, always fading into the background, but at that point, Dahmut knew where to look.
People who tried to fight against the boss would find themselves with more important problems … or dead.
He kept his mouth shut. Why shouldn't he, when he could feel his sincerity whenever he tried to defend the weak and the downtrodden. He killed people, sometimes honorably, sometimes dishonorably, from the shadows, but always to keep those in need safe.
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They survived against beasts, cultists, and rival guilds. They survived when cultists started to get reckless and filled the land with corrupted beasts and started ambushing their trade caravans. They even survived when a mysterious church dared to challenge the kingdom by recklessly killing nobles — though the truth turned out to be even more amusing.
At that point, he had assumed that Euon and Zolast were some kind of retired adventurers who were forced to abandon their lands and chose to live their last years in the border regions, only to be forced into action when the disaster struck. Everything had fit.
It was because of Mahruss that Dahmut realized something was wrong.
Since Mahruss was the manager of the casino, they had spent a lot of time together, and he knew most of his secrets. He had always been a very meticulous manager, though a bit worried, always spending lots of time with small details.
As a result, he was always stressed.
Then, one day, he stopped worrying.
That alerted Dahmut. There were many possible reasons for such a change, and some of those reasons were quite bleak. Dahmut started watching him carefully, trying to understand what had changed, and why he started treating the work in a much more lackluster manner, disappearing for long periods.
It didn't take long for Dahmut to realize that the disinterest came from the sudden improvement of power. Mahruss was stronger, far more than what could be explained by a new ability. Strong enough to be impossible.
Knowing what to look for, Dahmut realized that Mahruss wasn't the only one that had changed. Karak, Silas, Terma… in other words, people closest to the boss. It was not something that could be granted by a retired guild employee.
For a while, he was scared that it came from a deal with the gods. If there was one thing he had learned, gods were selfish creatures that never gave more than they took. Imagining the cost of such a reward was scary.
Therefore, when the boss called him for a tale and an offer, the truth came as a relief. At least, a Hero was something he could understand. Dahmut accepted the offer for the Heroic Party immediately.
The challenge of setting up a spy organization was harder to accept. Not because he was afraid of the risk, but he was afraid of failure… He didn't want to be the weak link after receiving such an incredible opportunity.
"Now, to work," he muttered and started cleaning the shop. At the same time, he mentally went through Euon's teachings about how to set up the organization. The first step was the leader … which Dahmut technically qualified as, but only because of the instant and permanent communication line created by the Heroic Party. Otherwise, he would have never dared to pull that.
He needed to find several trustworthy and capable people to act as handlers, though Euon had been insistent that the meaning of trustworthy was very different for spies. He just needed to make sure their mouth would stay closed, and even if they spoke, he needed to make sure the tale they had told pointed in a different direction.
Somaton was an excellent choice.
Once he set up the handlers, he needed to give them the freedom to find their agents and set their own delivery operations, each known only to him and no one else.
It was going to be a challenge, especially since some of the information Euon required was unknown even to most nobles, requiring him to discover the ones holding the information along with every little dirty secret they had to turn them into assets just to save them.
Then, there were dead drops to be prepared, codes and ciphers to be designed and rotated constantly, safe houses and escape paths to be established… A lot of work. Luckily, he wasn't afraid of working hard —
His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp dagger pressing against his neck. "Try to pay more attention to your surroundings, boy. You're a spy now," Euon said as the dagger pulled back.
Dahmut blushed. Not a good start to his new career, particularly since he knew that Euon didn't use his full abilities. He never did to keep the challenge manageable. "Sorry, boss," he said. "I was distracted by how to find my handlers."
"It's important to focus on big problems, but never at the expense of your situational awareness. With your Perception, you don't have the luxury of lacking awareness."
He nodded, knowing that the boss hated long platitudes about future performance. Using success to redeem failures was the rule. "Yes, boss."
"Excellent," he said as he looked around. "Nice choice. Out of the way yet close enough to the main street that you could use your Perception to watch people, but not close enough that people would suspect you. Near the gates, with enough commercial flow, and a nice large basement that you can expand further…" he said, and continued listing, followed by a list of things that needed to be fixed.
"There's a reason you're the teacher, boss," he said, fascinated by the number of details he had caught.
"Good. Now, do you have any ideas about how to find some handlers?"
"Not yet," Dahmut answered.
"I looked around when I was returning from my scouting trip, and I discovered some things that might help you. Give me a map," he said, and with a pen, he started leaving several marks on the map, marking several suspected agents for various nobles, three suspected high-ranking handlers for Somaton and one for Xurat, and several good targets.
Even with his advantages, Dahmut would have required weeks to collect the information that the boss had managed to put together in a few hours.
He had a lot to learn.
"Where should we start?" Dahmut asked.
He smirked. "Why don't you try to come up with a plan first," Euon answered.
Dahmut decided to start with a daring plan. "What if I take down the handlers of the Somaton agents and pose as their handlers…."