Chapter 658
Chapter 658: Another Annoying Problem in the Next City
This time, we’re back to Tatrama for the circus. Thomas and the others have arrived at the next city and we will perform later tonight. And my activity as the living armor will be paused for a while.
As for the rebellion, I think it’s still ongoing for some reason. I don’t know why though. Because I think just Celestine alone should be enough to handle everything. Or at least she can defeat the rebels’ strongest mages on her own.
And because the rebellion is not over, the meeting between kings will be delayed once again. It will be a while until Yuria can be introduced to the other kings.
I have taken care of many people on the list that was given to me from Claudia. Those people were all criminals that the living armor captured. At least those who are near the capital. As for the rest, I don’t know. I can take my time since none of them seem to be dangerous criminal that specifically needs me to defeat them. I think the guards who have been instructed on how to get stronger are enough to arrest those criminals.
That’s why I can come back to the circus without thinking much about them. Though Victoria is still with Ray patrolling Consenza. I don’t know where they are now. And if I need them, I can summon them back here.
“So, is there anything wrong in this city?”
After I checked the city casually with my Divine Vision, I asked Burnes if there’s something wrong with the city.
.....
“I said it before right? There were too many bandits and monsters on the way. That’s why our journey got delayed and we can only arrive now. Apparently, the lord of this city is a lazy man who live the life of debauchery. He doesn’t even have the money for sending the troops to clear the way. And the guild is not maintained as well since the guild leader is a corrupt man who spends money to bribe the lord so he can do anything he wants,” Burnes explained.
“...How the h.e.l.l is this city still standing?” I asked.
“There are some influential people among the citizen. Someone is even suspected to be a mage around expert level. So it’s probably that mage who protected the city from the outside attack,” Burnes explained.
“And now what? Do we even have the permission to perform in this city?” I asked Burnes.
“Yes we have.”
But before Burnes could answer, the answer come from a different person. It was Thomas who answered it.
“We have? Performing in a city of a corrupt lord? How much do we have to pay?”
Since the corrupt lord loves money and women, at least according to what Burnes told me, that guy must be thinking that he can earn more money if he let us play. Probably even some percentage of the income we receive in this city.
“Just seventy percent of the income here,” Thomas said.
“Seventy percent!? That’s a lot! Even if all the members of the circus doesn’t need money except for you, that’s still a lot to take!” I said.
Yes, our circus doesn’t even need to get paid. They were all agents. They have regular income that as long as they can return to their country, they can get all the money whenever they want.
Being an agent mean they will risk their live the whole time during a mission. And that’s why they got paid handsomely. At least it should be higher than the salary of regular guards. Or even captain of the guards like Hill.
What’s important for an agent is their loyalty. Even if we get agents from other different countries staying in one place, none of them were thinking of betraying their own country.
As for me, I’m already much richer than Thomas. That’s why except for Thomas, the rest of us doesn’t need to get paid. But we still get paid normally thanks to Thomas generosity.
Though in this situation, I think it’s fine to not get paid. All the money should either enter Thomas’ pocket or for maintaining the circus. Like the tents, the props for the performance, and for our supply for the next journey.
“But is it fine to pay him that much? Won’t it be suspicious? We can just leave this city and travel to the next one where we don’t need to pay the corrupt lord so much,” I said.
“We can. But Burnes said that there are some things he wants to investigate in this city. And that lord, at first he asked for ninety percent. I reduced it to seventy after negotiation, so it’s still fine. I feel bad that I can’t pay you though,” Thomas said.
“It’s fine. We don’t lack money after all. And those money can be used to maintain the circus. We’re here for a more important job than money,” Burnes said. And I agree with him.
“Right! It’s to make people laugh!” I said confidently.
“...We’re here for two things which are more important than money. Laughter and investigation,” Burnes said.
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Wait, he didn’t think of make the people laugh? He’s a failure of an entertainer. As expected, I’m the best entertainer here.
In the end, we will perform in this city with so little income. But there’s another problem.
“Hey, if the lord is corrupt, that means the citizens need to pay unreasonably high amount of taxes, right?” I asked.
“Yes. The taxes here is abnormally high,” Burnes said.
“Then how do we get audience? Do you think there’s anyone here stupid enough to spend more money for an entertainment? For the low or mid-cla.s.s citizens, they will need to consider if it’s worth it to watch the circus or not. And they are our target audience. Not the higher-cla.s.s citizen who are rich and not lacking in entertainment. Those people thinks that circus is useless after all. So, I don’t think there will be any audience coming,” I said.
“...In the end, we will make the poor people poorer if they come, huh? I guess forcing Thomas to set up a show here is wrong. We should have just left the city and let some people investigate. But we will have an obstacle if we do investigation because the people here, especially those who are under the lord, will be suspicious of newcomer in the city. That’s why we need the circus,” Burnes said.
I see. So, if there are newcomer in the city, and there’s a circus, those who are suspicious of us will think that we are members of the circus.
But why do we have to go that far?
...Don’t tell me.
“Burnes. This is still a city in Tatrama. There should be an agent or two in this city, right?” I asked.
“That’s right. But we have never received any reports from the agents we sent here. Neither from the agents in the past, nor those we recently sent. And we don’t know if they are still alive or not,” Burnes said.
Apparently, they also sent an expert level mage, who carried a pendant filled with Sonia’s soil so he can contact Sonia. But that agent disappeared together with Sonia’s soil. Just how did they make soil disappear? Or maybe the soil lost its magic so Sonia can’t detect it?
“Then I’ll check the city again with my Divine Vision. And since the expert level mage you sent disappeared, we can a.s.sume that the enemy is at least at that level or stronger. If it’s a master level mage, that mage should notice that I’m looking. I’ll also check if there’s anyone who is being imprisoned,” I said.
I was about to leave when Burnes stopped me. There’s another important thing he needs to tell me.
“What is it, Burnes?” I asked.
“I just want to warn you that there’s a high chance that the agents somehow joined with the lord. After hearing that there’s a rebellion in Consenza at this time, there’s no reason that our country won’t experience the same. And if there’s an agent who colluded with the lord, it will be bad because they will have a lot of information about the kingdom. There are too many things to investigate that I don’t think you who can see everything will be enough to do it alone. And we can’t send agents from Tatrama because they might recognize us. Those of us from Tatrama will stay here disguising ourselves as performers and hoping that they won’t recognize us,” Burnes said.
Hmm? I see. So that’s why there are less people here. And those who left are agents from other countries. They are investigating the city.
“Then I think I don’t need to check everything. I’ll just check if there are any master level mage or not. If not, I can freely move,” I said.
“Be careful, Roy,” Wendy said.
Since there’s a chance that the enemy has a former agent from Tatrama, Wendy who was also an agent can’t freely move. She can only pretend to be a part of the circus here.
I used my Divine Vision as I run in the sky above the city, and see that there’s no one who notices me. It’s now time for me to move on my own then.