World Development System 74 5. Grey and his conclusions.

Grey then signaled to one of his men to go and look at the location where the incident took place.
Grey thought a bit and said, "So it seems there was something bigger going on than what our employers previously knew. And from the looks of it, it seems that those people in power have gotten more rotten than what I previously thought."
He murmured a bit in a soft voice which could hardly be heard, "Do we need to do some cleansing or wait for a perfect time."
One of his men heard him and said, "oh please, we have the same problems in Fireabyss kingdom and if not for our assassination business who knows what sort of business Bluesea house would have chosen."
This guy had a big beard and an average height. His name was Martin.
Grey got irritated as heard this and said to him, "Then you can bloody expect me to not work over here. And if not for Vlad, I would have rather been a vagabond to achieve my goals."

Grey again focused on the current situation and said to Jake, "Apart from your last decision in the fight, most of your work was on par. I guess you weren't trained by Vlad for no reason for achieving these results. Go to the backroom and rest, your work here is done. When you have recovered, meet me before you leave for North-frontier town."
Jake nodded and then left for the room upstairs to rest.
After watching Jake leave.
Martin looked at Grey and said, "Isn't this kid quite different from others we had seen earlier, Maybe only Dearil is only his match?
Grey said in a bland tone, "Who knows, only time will prove whether he is different or not. However one thing is for sure, He killed those men without any hesitation and this is a good sign as an assassin."

Martin smiled and said, "The fact that he decided to tail the bar owner was good enough or we would have to go out with him if he left for the bar in the evening or the canyon. This alone proves that he has good instincts and good decision making which he took without any hesitation."

Grey smiled a bit and said, "I guess that was a good decision on his first mission or he would have fallen for Vlad's trap and struggled more for the current mission as Blacktiger would have been on his guard."
***
Professor Hague just arrived at the north-frontier town, He was currently in the market looking through people.
He looked like a man in his late 50's with a little bit of white hair, he wore a coat like most of the scholars, he was of average height. His eyes were deep as they reflected the pains he had gone through all these years.
Professor Hague looked at some slaves who were buying their daily necessities and he looked quite astonished after looking at their faces.
He approached a certain shopkeeper and cautiously asked him, "Hey, if you don't mind can I ask you a certain question regarding the slaves over there?"

The shopkeeper smiled and said, like he always said to the newcomers in this town, "Though I don't know all the details, However, from What I know, I heard that Lord had decided to give the slaves the same wages as other people who work at his factory as he wanted to reduce their deaths and increase efficiency and hence these slaves have a different look compared to slaves from other domains."

Professor Hague observed keenly and said, "However, that still wouldn't explain that look in their eyes as their fates are still tied to slavery. aren't they?"

The shopkeeper thought in confusion and said, "I don't know, however, it's still better than nothing and they may be glad that Lord John bought them instead of someone else."
Shopkeeper changed the topic as he didn't like where this conversation was going as he said to him, "Anyway, why don't you try this specialty from our town, it is called a hotdog, it's quite delicious, it is rumored that Baron John personally created some of the dishes we recently provided in our stalls. and it was also under his orders that Hope spread their various recipes to the locals."

Hague could see a lot unlike what others couldn't see as had researched a lot on the topic of slavery and understood the mentality of slaves and from what he saw he believed they were commoners just like others who didn't show any signs of slavery if not for the slavery mark.
Hague murmured in a small voice, "I guess his plan for removing Slavery systematically was true when he wrote it in his letter and not just lip service from him when he mentioned that."

Hague saw the shopkeeper as he prepared the Hotdog for him with sauce sprayed on it, "Its a pretty interesting snack, which type of herbs are you using on it. is it really edible?"

The shopkeeper smiled a bit as he had experienced the same thing earlier and said in an all-knowing tone to Hague, "Alone, they may not be edible but if mixed with certain things they are quite delicious. Recently a lot of chefs in Hope are experimenting a lot with various herbs and trying to make various dishes, if you want to try something special then I would recommend you to go to Hope and try their Ice-creams as they have quite the reputation and are always sold out as they are liked by the traveling merchants and nobles."

Hague looked at Tornwall and asked, "Is he really the boss of the forge? He doesn't look like a slave as he has quite an intimidating demeanor and looks like someone who is experienced at this work."

The shopkeeper laughed after looking at Tornwall and said, "Well, he is a slave only in name, he will most probably be freed in a few years after making some achievements, he is the chief forger of the town and has quite an influence on Baron. Recently from the rumors, I heard that Baron John just started the construction of a brewery for him and his men for his recent achievements."

Hague: "The commoners here have a different look compared to the commoners of other bordering towns, what is the difference between them?"

The shopkeeper said: "Ohh, it is most likely the taxes which were reduced to the minimum in the whole of Aelius kingdom by the baron and solving the current problem on yields which occurred recently."

Hague was quite surprised at the reduction of taxes from John as a new noble, He thought, 'Quite surprising, I think Protection of a Domain requires a lot of money and resources, I wonder why he is so confident that he reduced the taxes to the bare minimum.'

Hague looked around and saw that someone was looking after him, he smiled and thought, 'It seems he already knows about my arrival here and sent some men either for observation or my protection. I guess they are amateurs from the way they are tailing me. They may be the recently recruited personnel and need more training. Anyway, I guess I should try the famous ice-cream here which I heard about in Imperial capital as well.'

Hague smiled a bit as he thought of ice-cream, paid his bill and asked the shopkeeper before leaving, "So can you give me directions for that famous restaurant, Hope?"
The shopkeeper gave him directions happily as he tended to other customers.
Hague immediately left for Hope,

Meanwhile, the men tailing Hague thought,
One of the men was Joe tailing Hague, he thought and asked, "Is he some big shot or spy that we need to keep an eye on?"
Other man Marsh said after hearing him, "Mostly likely a big shot as we were ordered to keep him safe if any commotion occurs"
Marsh then continued as he removed a small diary and began to write the current events, "I guess Jay has his own thoughts. We should just complete our job and report about the happenings which take place. our only job is data collection and reporting to our superiors."
Joe said in an angry tone as he heard of giving reports, "Damn, we have to write all this shit, can't we just report him in verbal instead of writing?"
Marsh smiled as he understood as Joe hated it and said to him, "Well it is compulsory for every official to attend the schools and universities, I guess it would be beneficial for us later on."

Joe cursed out in a murmur, " Fuck this, I hate it"
Joe sighed as he irritatingly said, "I guess its part of the job and since Jay says it, I will do my best. But I still frigin hate it."
Marsh smiled and said, "hahaha, it's okay some people felt the same and you are only one expressing these emotions and John says that it is necessary then I guess it would be necessary for everyone."
Both of them were local men which Jay hired for the police force and they were currently doing their job of tailing Hague instead as Jay was currently lacking men.
Marsh, "Come, it looks like he is entering Hope for the famous ice-cream, I guess he is a big shot."
Joe's eyes sparkled as he saw the Big restaurant as he grinned with a big smile and said to Marsh, "Come we should follow him in the restaurant as it is part of our job,"

Marsh sighed as he understood from Joe's smile that he wanted to bill the ice-cream to their work-related expenses because of their need to tail Hague in Hope.
Marsh couldn't say no as he said, "Okay, we will go in and follow him. I bet Jay would curse us for more expenses."
Joe laughed as he entered in a Jolly mood and said to Marsh, "It's okay, It's okay you don't have to worry, he himself is a big foodie and comes here every day. So I don' think it's a big deal."
Both of them entered as they tailed Hague from behind.

Chapter end