Chapter 412 — The First Day in Horsman City

"We found him in a cellar. He seemed to be trying to leave the castle through a tunnel, but we caught him," one soldier reported. "He says his name is Green, a fur merchant in the territory. He was arrested by the lord for failing to pay taxes, and when he heard the lord had been defeated, he tried to flee in the chaos."

"Green..." Daidalos looked up at the black-haired, hook-nosed man before him, and the man promptly offered a smile that appeared quite fearful and humble, bowing at the waist and speaking in the tone least likely to provoke hostility: "Sir, I am merely an honest merchant... I had originally intended to go to Cecil to do business, but as you know, Count Horsman hated Cecilans. Merchants who wanted to trade to the southeast would be squeezed and detained by him under all sorts of pretexts, so I..."

"Green? Wolfe, intelligence advisor to Count Horsman, low-tier stalker, thirty-two years old, male, gaunt, black-haired, hook-nosed. In his early years he was a mercenary of some repute in the Horsman region. He was nearly beaten to death in a dispute over an exploration mission, but while recovering at home he discovered a knight's sword sealed within a wall, and used that as his opportunity to enter Count Horsman's castle..." Daidalos casually pulled a card from a stack of documents and read aloud while raising his eyes to look at Green. "...On the night of Count Horsman's defeat, your dinner was potato stew with lamb, and you drank two cups of Kalna wine. Correct?"

Green's smile froze on his face. His eyes slowly widened, filled with disbelief.

As the head of an intelligence network, he knew all too well what that card casually drawn from the stack meant.

"Mr. Green, Cecil is everywhere. Please remember this well," Daidalos said, tucking the card bearing Green? Wolfe's detailed intelligence back into the file folder and looking into the man's eyes as he spoke slowly. "You should not have lied from the start. It does not help you shorten your labor term."

Green? Wolfe felt cold sweat beginning to seep out. He unconsciously repeated a certain word from the other man's speech: "...Labor?"

"Yes, labor. By order of Duke Gaoyang? Cecil, all heirs and kin of defeated nobles, household knights, and superhumans serving as vassals shall undergo labor reform. Mr. Green, you will come to realize the glory of being a Cecil citizen through great labor."

The two soldiers stepped forward half a pace, sandwiching Green? Wolfe between them.

"You should count yourself fortunate, Mr. Green. Duke Gaoyang? Cecil is merciful and just, and Cecil's laws are strict. The law punishes you while also protecting you. You need only labor, rather than being stuffed into an artillery crater like those who stubbornly resist," Daidalos said as he took out a pre-printed document, filled in the key information, signed his name, and handed it to one of the soldiers. "Send him to the prisoner-of-war camp first, then to the North Shore Development Zone. They're short-handed there. This is his identification and transfer document."

"Wai—wait a moment!" Only now did Green? Wolfe belatedly react. The Cecilans' peculiar way of doing things was completely different from what he had anticipated. Not a single one of the plans he had devised upon being captured had come into play, and this left him deeply unwilling to accept it. Moreover, he did not know what the other meant by "labor reform." Faced with this unfamiliar concept, he felt an instinctive unease. "I am willing to swear loyalty to Duke Cecil—I still have much property, all hidden in my country estate. I can hand it all over, sir. I can ransom myself. I know the rules of ransom... Sir, I have an idea... No, no, no, I have a suggestion..."

"You will of course swear loyalty to Duke Cecil. Of that I am quite certain. But that will be after you complete your labor reform," Daidalos interrupted Green? Wolfe. With a formulaic smile on his face, he took the document back from the soldier as he spoke. "But regarding your bold idea, Cecil has a complete set of laws—attempting to bribe an administrative hall official to evade labor reform. Recommendation: extend the labor term by two months."

Green? Wolfe was instantly dumbstruck, then watched helplessly as the document, after some new entries were added, was handed back to the soldier.

"Mr. Green, I wish you a smooth reform and an early becoming of a glorious Cecil citizen. Goodbye."

After the soldiers departed with the former "intelligence advisor," Daidalos could not help but shake his head with a smile and said to the colleague beside him: "How could they possibly imagine that among the technicians building the magic web and the merchants operating in the territory, there are Military Intelligence Bureau agents?"

"And this is supposed to be an intelligence chief," one administrative official said, shaking his head as well. "We could grab any random goose back home and it would be better than this sort."

"Why a goose?"

"I don't know. That's what the lord said—he said the director of the Military Intelligence Bureau is only marginally better than a goose."

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