The journey after that was fairly smooth.

It was a normal journey, noisy but unnoticed, with petty arguments, someone pounding their chest and someone else bursting into laughter.

Meanwhile, Arendt was acting like the perfect traveler. He portrayed the second son of a wealthy family who enjoys traveling and continues his journey with his brother, who is on his first long trip abroad, along with a group of mercenaries.

That was the role Arendt played during this trip.

The group couldn’t help but feel a little taken aback as they watched Arendt chatting comfortably with the travelers they occasionally encountered at shelters or inns and telling clever lies.

Meanwhile, the knights who had secretly become immersed in the drama also acted as mercenaries. Richt, who had no talent for acting to begin with, simply kept his mouth shut, adding strength to this clumsy drama.

Thanks to that, they were able to arrive near their destination without any major problems other than the incident that occurred on the first day.

As soon as they reached the castle walls of the territory, Richt finished communicating with Laius.

Richt, who had put the communication crystal ball back in his pocket, gave a brief report to his colleagues.

“He’s over there.”

Arthur nodded to one side.

As he shifted his gaze, he saw Arendt chatting lightly with a group of travelers.

Rider muttered vaguely.

“That kid… If you look closely, he’s actually quite good at blending in here and there.”

This is something they learned on this trip.

It was amazing how he could carry on a conversation with people he was meeting for the first time without any hesitation, even though he was just talking nonsense.

Arthur waved his hand.

“He’s the kind of guy who jokes around even with His Highness the Crown Prince. Why are you bringing this up so suddenly?”

“That’s what’s interesting.”

Glenn grumbled too.

He felt like he was going to explode after just a few words, but he got caught up in that guy’s strange words and before he knew it, he was talking nonsense along with him.

“Damn. By the way, shouldn’t we be going in now?”

“Yeah.”

As the travelers who had been talking went into the city and Arendt walked back to the group, Glenn immediately gave him a rebuke.

“What were you talking about? What are you going to do if you get noticed?”

“I can’t help but stand out. I’m just so popular.”

Whoosh!

The fist split the air, but Arendt dodged it simply by tilting his head back.

“Tch.”

“Don’t you realize? It looks much more suspicious to just freeze. It would be much better to just punch your employer.”

Glenn, who had been growling fiercely, had no choice but to keep his mouth shut at the words that followed.

Arthur approached Arendt, who was standing up straight again and shaking off his clothes, and asked him.

“What did you talk about?”

“There was nothing special. Even though it looks fine on the outside, there are a lot of bad rumors about this place, so they recommended that we not leave our rooms at night.”

“It seems like we’ve come to the right place. It looks quite peaceful from the outside…”

Arthur grumbled in response to Richt’s reply.

The scenery vaguely visible through the entrance was full of the atmosphere of a quiet and peaceful countryside village.

At that time.

Rustle.

At the unfamiliar sound, all the knights turned their heads and closed their mouths. A young man in plain clothes looked around as if searching for something and then discovered the group.

The young man approached them with a nervous expression on his face. The group also stiffened their shoulders a little, but soon relaxed.

It was the signal that had been agreed upon in advance.

“Are you, by any chance, knights?”

“Are you Handel from the Intelligence Service?”

Richt stepped forward.

Only then did the young man named Handel nod in relief.

“Yes, my name is Handel. I was contacted in advance, I apologize for appearing like this.”

“You’ve had a hard time. Is is okay for you to leave the station?”

“I took a separate vacation. You don’t have to worry.”

“Does the fact that you even took a vacation mean that we can’t expect cooperation from the chief of police here?”

Arendt, who had been listening quietly, suddenly interrupted. Handel nodded awkwardly.

“Unfortunately… yes.”

The knights’ faces hardened.

Handel quickly looked around, made sure no one was there, and quickly continued speaking.

“The captain was bribed by the men. The deputy commander who resisted was falsely accused and imprisoned, and the other members who saw this were unable to even dare to rebel.”

“So not everyone is on the captain’s side?”

Richt, who had been listening quietly, asked.

“Yes, about half of the members are watching for an opportunity… but since they are against are a powerful force, they cannot act recklessly.”

“The lord doesn’t know about this situation?”

“Yes… the chief of police is preventing the report to the lord. Half of the other officials are also in cahoots, and the rest are not fully aware of the situation.”

It was no different from a city on the verge of being completely taken over by them.

Arthur clicked his tongue and scratched his head.

“Then of course, the priests would have kept quiet about it, and if the priests hadn’t disappeared, the temple wouldn’t have come into existence.”

Moreover, the priest tried to cover up this incident, saying that he wanted to preserve dignity. If Arendt had not stirred up trouble, this place might have become a den of criminals.

The High Priest may not have known the details.

Arendt shrugged.

“Things have gotten a bit more difficult, but… there’s not much difference in what we have to do.”

“For now, I have already prepared lodging for you all, so let’s go there. I will guide you all there later in the evening.”

The knights nodded at Handel’s words.

After a while.

They settled into an inn on the outskirts, unpacked their luggage, and gathered in one of the rooms.

Richt was the first to speak, as if he could not afford to waste even a moment of time.

“I heard there is a private gambling den outside and that it has a separate base.”

“Yes, that’s right. It operates by gathering people at an outside gambling den, then inviting those who stand out from there to the base and having them get involved in a big game.”

“What is a person who stands out?”

“This includes people who become regulars, people who win a lot of money, and people who lose it all.”

Handel continued with a stiff expression on his face.

“They say that they lead people who have won money to lose it all in bigger gambling houses, and they lend money to people who are broke at huge interest rates. The borrowers then gamble with the money…”

“In the end, they couldn’t afford to pay their debts and lost all their assets.”

“Yes.”

He nodded when Glenn added a word.

“They are expanding their business by extorting money in this way and bribing nobles and officials. It seems that they recently purchased a building through an agent.”

“You seem to have a pretty detailed grasp of it. Did you keep track of it by yourself?”

“Yes, for now. I’m glad it was of some help in this way.”

Only then did Handel smile faintly at Richt’s words.

Richt nodded slightly toward the young man and crossed his arms.

“First, we need to decide on a detailed course of action. It might be more difficult than I thought. It seems like they’ve taken control of the city in a fairly meticulous and secretive manner. They’re not a bunch of idiots.”

“Yes. Security will be tight on that scale. It would be best to avoid armed conflict as much as possible until the matter is concluded.”

That was Arthur’s opinion.

After finding out the whereabouts of the missing people, they cause a commotion and escape. It didn’t seem like it would be as easy as it sounds.

Arendt, who had been listening for a while, opened his mouth.

“Can anyone enter that base?”

“It might be possible if you disguise yourself as a wealthy customer. I heard they even run a lounge exclusively for such people.”

“Hmm…”

The apprentice knight rolled his eyes, making an ambiguous sound. Then, the knights’ expressions suddenly became pale.

Arthur spoke on behalf of those who had the same thought at the same time.

“What are you up to again?”

“It’s fine to act like a guest, but I wonder if that alone will be enough to get the information we want.”

Surprisingly, the response came back obediently.

“I thought we could catch one of them and beat him up to get information, but looking at this situation, that seems like it would be difficult. In that case, what we can do is infiltrate without arousing suspicion.”

Arendt, who had just said that, slowly looked over his seniors.

“Do any of you know how to gamble?”

“…”

“Can you act like a drunkard?”

“…”

Everyone had no choice but to keep their mouths shut like clams.

Although they managed to act like mercenaries on the outside, that was on a completely different level. The sight of the group awkwardly looking around while mingling in a scene of pleasure and depravity was vivid.

The knightly demeanor and palace etiquette that they had learned could not be easily hidden.

Arendt let out a deep sigh.

“I didn’t expect much from the beginning… I guess Senior Arthur is the only one who’s useful. These people are useless in this area.”

“Hey, hey! Useless? Am I an object?”

“Does that mean we’re useless, you punk?”

Protests with different voices erupted here and there.

Arendt covered his ears and waited for a moment for the screaming to die down.

“Then why don’t you try mixing in with real gangsters who are good at being delinquents, smoking cigarettes or something like that with no one knowing what’s in them, drinking alcohol, and gambling?”

“…”

Silence flowed in an instant. Unaccustomed to the atmosphere, Handel from the Information Department just stared at the distance, sweating profusely.

Richt cleared the air.

“Are there any other good ideas?”

“I think it would be better to enter noisily rather than blending in.”

What the hell is that idea?

Everyone was shocked, even Handel, who had been trying to distance himself from them.

“Rather than just knocking on the door, wouldn’t it be more natural to kick the door and yell at the owner to come out right now?”

“…”

The problem was that the nonsense that kid spouted off sometimes sounded very plausible.

“It’s virtually impossible to sneak in among them without seeming suspicious. In a place that does business like that, they’re bound to be on guard any customer they meet for the first time.”

Arendt’s golden eyes sparkled.

“But what if we start by taking the initiative? We’ll leave a strong impression from the beginning, and then there is no doubt that they will be completely swept away.”

And the biggest problem was that this fucking apprentice knight had more than enough power to make that nonsense come true.

Arendt shrugged his shoulders as was his habit, as he realized that his seniors were beginning to listen to him.

“I’m not saying we should just rush in, I’m saying we should plan a more detailed operation. As long as the results are the same, it doesn’t matter what the means are.”

“No, I don’t think that’s the case.”

Richt quietly objected, but was of course ignored.