Chapter 759

Chapter 23 – Tracking (Part 2)

The night wind was calm, brushing past silently.

The nights in Aletheon were brightly lit, but at this hour, there were few pedestrians on the streets. Many shops had already closed early. The area around Jasmine Lane was somewhat livelier due to the presence of taverns, brothels, and gambling houses, but compared to daytime, the bustling noise had diminished sharply. There were only a few drunkards on the road, most lying drunk by the roadside. Occasionally, a carriage would pass quickly, unwilling to linger.

This made it very easy to track someone.

Those two men, who seemed to be from the city’s Warhammer Army, walked along the street under the cover of night until they reached the alley entrance. After leaving Jasmine Street, they turned down several narrow, deserted streets and entered an old house at the end of one of them. Soon after, they emerged, having changed into black cloaks with swords, and began walking briskly towards the southern part of the city.

I followed closely behind them.

The nights in the city were truly quiet. Apart from the occasional barking of dogs or a drunk staggering down the street, grabbing a bottle, and singing softly, the occasional sound of a carriage speeding past, almost no other sounds could be heard. Most streets appeared unusually desolate.

I followed them across rooftops, leaping through the silent night, and soon arrived in the southern part of the city. I passed through one old street after another, during which I often heard their whispered conversations.

“Three people have been hiding in the city for a year… Ha! They’re really bold… But nobody noticed. Honestly, that’s impressive, but I guess they must have gotten help from some noble… ”

“They hid in a place where no one would find them, a farm under construction outside the city. That was indeed a hard spot to locate. But recently, something happened outside the city…”

“What happened?”

“Aletheon City is going to distribute land. You know about this, right?”

“Mm-hm.”

“The farmland outside the city, some of it has already been rebuilt. The rest will probably not take long… I think by the end of this year… It should have gone directly to the Lord Mayor, but after the large estates were built, only the Lord Mayor had the authority to plan the farmlands and establish farming regulations… But you know, the Lord Mayor died in the heretical war two years ago, including his two sons…”

“I don’t know why, but the new Lord Mayor hasn’t been appointed yet… It’s said that there was a lot of contention over it, but nothing has come to light. We can hardly hear any news about it… But from what I know, the newcomers in the coin office are deeply involved…”

“…They won’t give half an acre of land to the poor. Forget about those refugees who fled here hoping to settle in Aletheon… Let me tell you, there’s no way out here for those who have nothing left. They will only become serfs.”

“Just like when planning the hunting grounds outside the city, only those who pay money and get permission from the nobles can hunt, and most of the meat they bring back, especially the best parts, must be returned to the noble who owns the hunting ground, leaving them only a little bit…”

“Even so, what can you do? A commoner, nothing more! Not even the slightest complaint can be made, and private hunting is strictly forbidden; otherwise, they will be punished with the blinding penalty for poaching…”

“Do you know? In these matters, we Warhammer Army members are considered the despicable henchmen, our reputation is already ruined in many people’s eyes! Only because our leader can gather unimaginable benefits…”

“As a result, the commoners can no longer afford meat, and there’s little hope that the price of bread will drop anytime soon. At least in the short term, it’s unlikely… So those refugees who want to survive will either leave the city with their families in ten days or so…

They all starved to death or fell sick on the desolate roads outside the city, with no one to even give them a proper burial… Otherwise, you would have no choice but to become the slaves of those high and mighty lords, choosing to stay in this city, working tirelessly just for a scrap of food, living a miserable life worse than that of a dog…

As for us? We are like the vicious dogs and hyenas raised by the upper class! We never starve but never get enough to eat either, chained up at home to guard and protect, and occasionally getting a sip of wine if we do a good job… Just living mindlessly like this…

Oh damn, there’s nothing wrong with this, but the problem is that they’ve swallowed so many gold coins, yet no one is willing to spit out even half a coin to reward us these people who put their lives on the line… What a bunch of filthy, extremely greedy bastards… I heard this wasn’t the original lord’s family’s idea, but you know, they don’t have many capable men left…

But many people still don’t realize this, Westeros… They’re all like your naive wife, eagerly waiting to see how much farmland they can get, only a few people have seen through some of this…

Damn it, why did you bring up my wife? Hasn’t anyone ever told you that you talk like Blair’s grandmother?

Listen to me, this is important, I just want to make sure you understand… That’s just how I am… Where was I again?

…A few people, yes. Only a few people who know the truth, they started getting restless, and under the support and encouragement of some nobles who opposed them, they had several conflicts with the bank and our Warhammer army this month…

At first, both sides were quite restrained, but as the conflict couldn’t be resolved, both sides gradually lost patience. The other day, there was another disturbance at the suburban estate, led by someone with a hot temper. Without any good words, they got into a fight with the Warhammer soldiers guarding the estate… And then the unexpected happened.

I wasn’t there, but apparently, during the dispute, a noble lady who happened to be present tried to stop the situation from escalating further, but accidentally got injured instead…

After that, three men suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They moved quickly, without warning, and were extremely angry. Without any hesitation, they beat the person who hurt the noble lady until he was covered in blood. There were so many people present, yet none could stop them, not even dare to step forward to try, watching helplessly as they finished their beating and escaped with the lady…

Wait… Were they the three people you mentioned?

That’s right.

How can you be sure about this? Because it sounds more like the lady’s personal guards.

Ha, personal guards? Personal guards dressed like beggars? If they were really guards, wouldn’t they jump out to protect the lady before she got hurt? Don’t they fear losing their heads!

Why do you know so clearly…

Because coincidentally, the person who was beaten knew my friend.

…Is that the person we’re meeting tonight?

No, no, that was just a scoundrel, and he’s already dead… His bones were broken in several places, unable to survive even one night, and he died before dawn the next day…

But when my old friend saw him, he was still alive. He said the people who beat him weren’t the private soldiers of the nobility; they wore tattered clothes but used knightly moves. This person had seen the training camp of the Church Knights in Philadelphia before and could recognize those things.

And because my old friend joined the ‘Knower’s Society,’ he had a list of fugitive members of the Third Knight Order. Coincidentally, he was handling some matters and immediately sensed something was off after hearing this. So he waited at the scene for a few nights, not expecting much, but he actually found something… Look! They’re right there…

In the alley near the city gate, the two walked quickly while talking. In the dark ahead, two figures awaited them.