A simple and dark cabin with a lantern on the table.
The dim light could only cover a one-foot-square area, and Powell had to get very close to see clearly the writing written on the tip of the pen.
Outside the light, there are damp and moldy wooden walls, a urine bucket in the corner, and a wooden bed in the middle with thin and tattered sheets.
This is a cheap hotel, a haven for lice and fleas.
There are many people living here, including laborers, coolies, drunkards and bankrupts, and travelers have to take care of themselves.
The rich and wealthy shopkeepers only provide a room and don't care about the rest. It's up to the customers to eat, drink, steal or rob, and just don't set the house on fire.
If something goes wrong, the shopkeeper can only collect the body afterwards.
Living in a place like this was not what Powell wanted. But as a spy, life has to face twists and turns from time to time.
He is used to living a disorderly life in darkness and chaos, serving one superior person after another, collecting huge bounties, and spending them casually in a certain gold-selling cave.
People who work in this business basically don’t live long anyway.
Why not serve Victor Hugo? The other party is richer.
Powell thought about this problem, and he even talked with other fellow spies. But assassins, thieves, bards, and adventurers wandering around the town have probably all thought about similar problems.
But the answer is obvious, there is no way to cooperate.
Victor Hugo has a strong aura of order. No matter where he goes, he tries to calm the situation, make rules, and make everyone obey him.
Powell had a deep impression of this the first time he went to Harmony Village. He worked as a blacksmith in the village's forge. Not only was he exhausted, but the foreman even had to control what time he got up and what time he went to bed every day.
Most adventurers hate this feeling of being constrained, and they like to be free. Whether they are killing people, setting fires, or doing chivalry, they all act according to their own will.
Therefore, Powell would rather work for the long-legged family, would rather live in a moldy and smelly cheap hotel, would rather hide and have no peace, than join the "rich and powerful leader".
Under the lantern, there were two or three scrolls of paper placed on the wooden table. An owl squatted beside the table, its big eyes staring at the tip of Powell's pen that kept scratching.
The poor papyrus is too hard and brittle, and the quill will scratch the paper accidentally. Writing quickly and well is a skill, so copying is a very professional job.
Accidentally, the pen tip cracked. A ball of ink dripped down, smearing the entire paper. The gray-yellow papyrus absorbed the ink and was immediately scrapped.
Alas..., I have to rewrite it again.
Powell threw away the quill and sighed in distress. He turned to look at the owl at the table and was in a daze for several minutes.
The owl is the familiar of a wizard with long legs. An hour ago, it flew from the window with a scroll of messages tied to its legs.
This is a faster way to transmit information from another world, but a fixed receiving point must be selected. On the scroll, the wizard hiding in another place reported several situations.
"Adrian's 'evil dogs' attacked a manor of the Minos family outside the city, killed two people and forcibly kidnapped one person. Victor Hugo may know something and is tracking us everywhere.
The family instigated multiple gangs to ambush outside the city and continuously attacked the transport convoys of the 'Harmony Chamber of Commerce'. However, the small gangs were too weak to accomplish anything.
A few days ago, Lord Exxon of the family personally led a team to organize multiple groups of gangsters to coordinate an ambush and successfully snatched a complete heavy-duty carriage.
Most of the gangsters who successfully robbed took their rewards and fled, but the revenge of the 'Harmony Chamber of Commerce' followed closely.
Many gangsters did not escape far enough and were caught by the "evil dogs" inadvertently. According to survivors' descriptions, the "evil dogs" moved quickly, had good information, and were very well equipped.
No one knows why the ‘Harmonious Chamber of Commerce’ responded so quickly? But Victor Hugo is obviously willing to do whatever it takes to maintain his dignity and credibility.”
Powell was not at all distressed by the loss of the gang. They were all rabble, and they swarmed like goblins during the battle.
However, the description of the tactics and equipment of the ‘Evil Dog’ on the scroll caught people’s attention.
People who had the chance to escape mentioned that the 'evil dogs' generally used a light crossbow that could be fired quickly. The crossbow bolts it fired were very small but extremely accurate, and could easily penetrate leather armor within twenty or thirty meters.
This is not good.
For spies who need to be flexible and mobile, leather armor is the heaviest protection they can afford. If there are light and fast long-range weapons that can penetrate leather armor, this is a great advantage in terms of equipment.
Thinking about the wind-driven forging machine in Harmony Village, Powell felt that he had to pay attention to this news. It was really possible for the "rich and powerful leader" to come up with such a powerful thing.
At the end of the scroll, the family wizard also mentioned the new order issued by Phils Longlegs.
The new patriarch is organizing a restoration army. He asked the spies lurking in Cold Wind City to take action and capture a rebel leader or important figure, so as to demonstrate their abilities to the allies and demonstrate to the rebel gangs.
"Catch an enemy leader or important person?" Powell's head hurt. He filtered through the candidates for rebellion in his mind and found that none of them were easy to catch.
The evil insect believers had previously thought of using a similar method to obtain the secrets of forging machines. However, before they could take action, they were slaughtered by Victor Hugo himself.
"This shows that they don't regard us spies as human beings. If we really want to kidnap an important person, then the 'evil dogs' will not be out. Victor Hugo will come to hunt us down personally."
Spying on secrets is dangerous enough, but kidnapping someone is even more dangerous.
Powell ignored this. But he had a feeling that another team led by the family wizard would really consider this task, because the price offered by Phils Long Legs was quite high.
"Damn it, do these guys think they can do whatever they want like in the past?" Powell knew that being a spy should be low-key and tolerant. "I have to be implicated by them."
Time passed slowly in frustration, but the reply was not yet completed.
Powell originally wrote a long paragraph, trying to persuade his colleagues not to do stupid things. But in a irritable mood, the tip of the pen broke and the page was stained. He really didn't want to write it again.
I found a new quill, dipped it in ink, and spread out a new piece of papyrus.
The second time he wrote, Powell simply described his current situation and tried his best to choose the best news to reply. He could not contact Phils Longlegs directly, and all information had to rely on the wizard's magic pet.
Powell worried that he would be seen as too incompetent and annoying if he wrote only bad news like a funeral. Instead of reminding his colleagues, he gave them several choices of targets.
The written scroll was tied to the owl's anklet, and Powell had to take out a small bag, select a magic gem, and feed it to the demon pet.
Otherwise, this demon pet will not work and will even tear off the paper roll tied to the anklet halfway.
The small bag was opened, and the owl swayed its feet from side to side, and poked its head out to look into the mouth of the bag. Then it made a cooing sound, as if it was laughing.
There were only a few very fine and irregular gemstones and a small amount of gold and silver coins in the bag.
The gemstones should be large and multi-faceted, pure, translucent and radiant. With the ones in Powell's bag, even his demon pet dared to laugh at him.
Powell picked a diamond smaller than a grain of rice and placed it on the table.
The owl demon pet glanced at it, shook his head in disdain, and continued to coo.
Powell was so angry that he actually disliked this damn bird. He took out another broken diamond, but the owl demon still shook his head.
Powell could only open his purse and let the owl choose. As a result, the beast uttered human words and croaked, "Poor people should not imitate other people's destruction, how pitiful!"