episode_0121

As soon as Gilbert heard that he had obtained information from Wild Rose, he immediately flew to Obitus. There was no problem because I had already received a permission to go out from Brianna.

After arriving at Obitus, Gilbert headed straight to Wild Rose.

My steps naturally quickened because I was curious about how much information Wild Rose had gathered about the Slaves.

After passing through the familiar back alleys and arriving at Wild Rose, Gilbert was able to meet the manager who greeted him.

“Welcome. Mr. Gilbert.”

” Greetings have been said. Did you get their information?”

“To get to the point… . Yes, I did get it.”

Should we say that it is the information power of wild roses?

The intelligence unit under the princess’ direct control also took a considerable amount of time to obtain information, and the fact that they obtained the information first from Wild Rose proved that their intelligence level was quite high.

Although the intelligence unit directly under the princess’s command did not represent the empire, the intelligence unit of the first princess, known as the highest power class, had superior capabilities than the intelligence units of many small kingdoms.

However, the fact that a single intelligence guild obtained information faster than the princess’s intelligence unit showed how capable they were.

“I don’t think you are confident in your words.”

“This is not complete information. To my shame, it was quite difficult to obtain information about Slaves. It felt like someone already knew and was deleting the information in advance.”

“Are you saying you already noticed movement from this direction?”

“Cannot be confirmed. What we do must always be based on accurate information. Speculative remarks are not suitable for information merchants.”

Gilbert nodded his head at the manager’s calm words and was lost in thought.

Normal information guilds try to avoid making speculative statements as much as possible. Their job was to deal with information, and their speculative remarks were like theories derived by simply listing information rather than based on factual evidence.

Of course, unverified theories cannot be trusted unconditionally, and in an information guild where reliability and accuracy are the most important, if a speculative statement goes astray, it will remain as a fatal blemish.

Nevertheless, when Wild Rose’s manager made this statement to Gilbert, he was saying that there was evidence, albeit weak, and that he would measure the information fee by taking that into account.

Gilbert understood the manager’s words accurately and took out a money bag.

“I judge and take responsibility for everything. Tell me everything you know.”

“I thought you would say that. The information fee is 70 gold.”

Gilbert’s eyebrows twitched.

The price went up twice as much as the information fee he had been thinking of.

If you combine the 30 gold given as a deposit at the beginning and the 70 gold now, it was a whopping amount of over 100 gold.

Gilbert took out an additional money bag containing 30 gold from his pocket.

“Confirmation completed.”

After checking all 70 gold, the manager lowered his head, took out a bundle of documents and handed it to him.

It was a paper that had been treated with a special magic, so that if an unauthorized person touched it, it would burn immediately.

“For more details, please see this. Although the Slaves are a point organization, the system is divided. There is a central headquarters, which can be said to be the home base, and seven branches that receive orders from the central branch, and it was confirmed that numerous slave traders were affiliated in the form of a branch organization under those branches.”

The information about the Slaves that came out of the manager’s mouth was the same as what Gilbert knew.

The existence of a central headquarters, seven sub-branches, and slave traders in the form of a branch organization scattered beneath it.

Although it was practically physically impossible to capture all the slave traders in the form of a point organization, it was not impossible to simultaneously annihilate the central headquarters and the seven subordinate branches as long as the location could be specified.

Gilbert’s method of annihilation was to surround and annihilate these eight locations simultaneously. It would be nice to eliminate all the slave traders who engage in human trafficking, but it was unrealistic due to leaks of information and limitations in manpower.

However, if we deal with the leadership that leads them, it will become difficult to carry out human trafficking as openly as it is now. After that, if they were gradually eliminated as a way to strengthen security in each city, the number could be reduced significantly.

Gilbert had in mind a method that was realistic and effective rather than idealistic. The same was true for Princess Serafina, so it seemed like she could clear this main scenario without any problems as long as she knew the location.

However, one thing bothered Gilbert about the manager’s words.

“Do you think information is being leaked to these guys?”

“Not sure. That’s why the information fee was measured lower than it should have been. Gilbert is free to believe, but to be honest, I think the accuracy of the information is below 70%”

It was a subtle number. If you think it’s around 70%, it means there’s actually a good chance.

And since it was said that there was a connection with the imperial power class, it was safe to say that there was a 90% chance that what the manager said was true.

Even if that wasn’t the case, it was difficult to ignore Gilbert’s words due to his personality of always thinking of the worst.

” Numerically, it was said to be 70%, but it could be more than that.”

“That is the reason why the investigation was stopped. I felt like digging a little deeper would raise unnecessary doubts. It is unknown what Slaves’ purpose is, but it does not seem like they are simply trying to raise money through human trafficking. It is unnecessarily too large to say so.”

It was a story full of personal opinions, uncharacteristic of a manager.

Information merchants simply sell the accurate information they have obtained to customers but do not analyze it. Because the risk that must be taken if the analysis is wrong is high, this tendency was especially evident in wild roses.

Gilbert also knew this well, so he looked at the manager with puzzled eyes.

“You can just listen to my personal opinion. It’s just a kind of bonus that comes from having done swat together.”

Gilbert was convinced there.

Because duelists who share a duel always become friends.

***

Gilbert, who returned with the information he obtained from the manager, locked himself in his lodgings. The amount of information was quite large, so it took quite a while just to read it all.

Hours of quietly sitting at my desk and reading through stacks of paper.

After finally reading everything, Gilbert let out a long breath and leaned against the back of his chair.

The nape of his neck became stiff, indicating that he was too focused and not moving. He massaged the back of his neck with one hand and reorganized the information.

First of all, it doesn’t seem like there’s a big mistake.

First of all, it was confirmed that the 3rd Branch was still in the location he knew. Even if it was a wild rose, it would have been impossible to infiltrate all the way inside, so all they could do was check the surrounding area, but most of the facts were consistent with what Gilbert knew.

As a result, the accuracy of information obtained from wild roses has been adjusted upward.

The Slaves’ central headquarters was Gilbert, hidden in a truly unexpected place.

In some ways, it could be said to be bold, and in other ways, it could be said to have caught one off guard.

The central headquarters of the Slaves is the heart and center of the Infractus Empire.

It was in Byzantium, the capital of the empire.

Upon seeing the contents, Gilbert couldn’t help but smack his forehead.

There is an old saying that there is nothing wrong with it, and now it is exactly like that.

Did you say that it is dark under the lamp?

Who would have thought that someone running a human trafficking ring hidden in the heart of an empire would do something big?

If you think about it, in order to have a close relationship with the powerful people of the empire, it was right to be in a place where it was easy to contact those in power. Since they were regularly enriching themselves by paying bribes and slaves, they needed to strengthen their relationship with the central nobility, and the best place to do so was the capital of the empire, which was filled with political heavyweights.

Of course, in theory it was good to be in Byzantium, but it made no common sense to think of hiding in the capital of the empire while engaging in human trafficking, which was strictly prohibited in the empire.

But since he did it so calmly, was he able to hide it?

Gilbert was strangely persuaded there.

Even if you read original novels, aren’t there many cases like that?

A friend you trusted was actually a shadowy figure, or the final boss was sealed in an unexpected place.

Anyway, Gilbert put the wad of paper in his arms and hurried to find Seraphina. Now that they had found their location, it was right to leave the further investigation to her.

Especially if it is the capital of the empire, there will be more places she can reach, so she will be able to quickly determine whether this information is true.

When Gilbert arrived at Seraphina, he said a simple hello and then immediately handed over a stack of papers. I didn’t forget to ask for magical permission so she could see.

Seraphina, who was quickly reading the information over a cup of tea, suddenly became distorted. It was clear that he had seen that the Slaves’ central headquarters was in the capital of the empire.

“These arrogant bastards…!”

Seraphina, who quickly glanced at the information presented by Gilbert, clenched her teeth and became desperate. As a high-level knight, the energy waves she gave off were so ferocious that they made servants passing by her office tremble with an inexplicable chill.

“Priest. Is this true?”

“This information was obtained through a request from Wild Rose, so it must be quite reliable. I think we will be able to figure it out quickly if we compare it with my sister-in-law’s intelligence department.”

“That’s more of a problem. If this were to be true, the entire intelligence department would have to be destroyed.”

For Princess Seraphina, who has always been very relaxed, this was quite an extreme remark.

For Seraphina, who prided herself on having the best intelligence unit, this incident could not have come as a huge shock.

It may be difficult to identify all the criminal organizations in the Empire, but the Slaves were an organization so large that they rivaled most guilds.

It was natural for Seraphina’s pride to be hurt that such a criminal organization was lurking in the heart of the empire and there was no sign of it.

Gilbert quietly wished the Intelligence Department well.

” This is all due to lack of leisure. If I had been a little more intelligent, these scum wouldn’t have become parasites on the empire.”

“Sister’s residence.”

“Stop. I will not allow your remarks. Now is the time to confess your sins.”

Seraphina raised one hand to silence Gilbert. Seraphina was strict with everyone and made no exceptions, even for herself.

“It is no different from throwing away what one should shoulder. It tarnished the mission to protect the subjects and preserve the glory of the empire. It is unbearably shameful that there are scum breathing deep in the heart of the empire.”

Seraphina’s eyes began to burn. If there was someone from the Slaves in front of him, his eyes were so ferocious that he would tear them to pieces right away.

Gilbert could have sworn he had never seen Seraphina this angry. It seemed like the Slaves hiding in Byzantium had upset her.

“Gilbert.”

“Please order.”

“I will personally check to see if they are hiding in Byzantium. So, gather the cadets right now and form a separate unit. So that dispatch is possible at any time. However, the story about this operation should not leak out of their mouths. If something like that happens, I will hold you responsible.”

“God Gilbert obeys the orders of Her Majesty the Princess.”

Gilbert got down on one knee and bowed his head.

The faces of those who had been selected separately flashed through his mind.