There was another reason as well. He had recently gained some insights from studying the Agmilas Labyrinth and needed somewhere to test them. Machu Picchu was an excellent testing ground.
To control this mixed group of adventurers as much as possible, Charlotte adjusted the team structure along the way, explaining, "We may encounter danger on the road. We need a combat formation." He gathered the leaders of the dozen or so small adventurer groups, then divided everyone else into two teams by gender. The male adventurers were responsible for supplies, while the female adventurers were responsible for food and water.
Charlotte's personnel adjustments were not drastic, and he made it clear that they were temporary, so they met with little opposition.
In small adventurer groups, the leader was generally the strongest fighter and the core of the team. The members were quite dependent on their leader.
By temporarily separating the leaders from their members, Charlotte naturally weakened the leaders' influence and slightly enhanced his own "authority," giving him a little more control over the team.
An adventurer group of more than a hundred people already counted as a medium-to-large group. There were concerns in every aspect, and Charlotte constantly took advantage of every opportunity along the way to strengthen his position.
After traveling for a day, this hastily assembled adventurer group chose to rest temporarily at a place called Maple Leaf Village. Maple Leaf Village was not large and simply did not have enough vacant houses. Worried that they might be robbed, the villagers refused to let so many people enter.
Charlotte once again displayed his polished social skills. After discussing matters with the villagers, he arranged for all the female adventurers to rest inside the village, while he and the male members camped outside.
Just as Charlotte finished arranging everything, a group dressed in black trench coats appeared from the direction they had come.
"People from the Fiery Steed Detective Agency!?"
The signature black coats worn by these Wild Horse Society detectives were highly conspicuous.
They had run into each other in the village where Charlotte encountered the Great Axe Adventurer Group, after which they had gone their separate ways. Charlotte had thought he had escaped disaster, but these detectives had still caught up with him.
Charlotte calculated inwardly, These adventurers aren't reliable. If a conflict breaks out, they may not side with me. I have to strike first and give them sufficient reason to fight.
He beckoned, gathering the leaders of those small adventurer groups, and said in a low voice, "These people are detectives hired by my cousin. They are also going to Machu Picchu. If they find the treasure before us, we'll return empty-handed and can only watch them grow rich."
"I cannot allow that to happen. That wealth belongs to us."
"There are more of us. Capture these detectives alive and imprison them within our group. Once we find the wealth, we'll let them go."
Ordinary adventurers were generally unwilling to provoke powerful major organizations. The Fiery Steed Detective Agency employed more than a hundred detectives, another two or three hundred detective assistants, and a considerable number of Apprentice Detectives. It even had more than ten Transcendents. Small adventurer groups simply did not dare clash with them.
Moreover, Aubrey Teuton Atwood, the head of the Fiery Steed Detective Agency, was not only a High-Order Transcendent but also extremely capable. He was famous throughout the Empire of Fars.
If asked to kill people from the Fiery Steed Detective Agency, these small adventurer group leaders would never dare. But when Charlotte urged them to capture the detectives alive and imprison them temporarily, some of them began to stir. After all, there really were more people on their side.
An adventurer group leader named Yas said, "There are only seven of them, but at least two are Transcendents! Especially their leader, Winterburn. I know him. He's a fourth-rank Transcendent, a genuine Flame Dragon Knight."
Charlotte smiled faintly and said, "I'll handle him. You send five people to assist me."
Since Charlotte was willing to take on the hardest fight, the leaders of the small adventurer groups were immediately tempted. Under the direction of this "temporary leader," they summoned the best fighters from their respective groups and quickly divided up their combat targets.
Winterburn's expression was cold. He was actually extremely irritated. The agency's wizards were far inferior to the diviner Wells when it came to finding people. He was certain that this mission had failed; they had already lost their target.
Not only had they failed to capture Charlotte, but they had also lost an important Transcendent detective. This job had been a loss for the Fiery Steed Detective Agency. Wells's position within the agency was irreplaceable. Many cases depended on his profession as a diviner, and they could not replenish Transcendents in that area anytime soon.
He also noticed a medium-to-large adventurer group in the distance, but as a veteran detective of the Fiery Steed Detective Agency, he did not fear such a rabble. Besides, there was no "conflict" between the two sides.
Just as Winterburn was about to go around the adventurers, he heard someone call out, "Is that Mr. Winterburn?"
Although Winterburn's battle qi was powerful, he lacked the ability to see in the dark. He was also unfamiliar with the speaker and did not recognize him. He paused slightly before answering, "That's me!"
He was an experienced veteran detective, after all, and did not relax his guard in the slightest.
But then he heard the other party say, "So you're the one who seduced my wife?"
More than a dozen men charged out in a swarm. Winterburn was shocked, thinking, When did I ever seduce the wives of so many men?
Although Charlotte had pounded his chest and declared that he would take on Winterburn as the main force, after those dozen or so men surrounded the seven detectives, he drew Blood Rose and thrust his sword at Addison.
Even the Fiery Steed Detective Agency could not have Transcendents everywhere. Of the seven detectives sent to hunt him down this time, only Winterburn and Addison were Transcendents.
Charlotte was Chinese, after all. He had read illustrated books about things like the Thirty-Six Stratagems since childhood. Before making his move, he had already decided to eliminate Addison first. Without this Transcendent Knight, Winterburn would be left alone and would cause far less trouble.
Addison had not expected someone to attack him. As a third-rank Knight, he reacted with incredible speed, drawing his sword and blocking Charlotte's strike. But he had not expected Charlotte to fight so shamelessly. Charlotte drew the Magnum Hand Shuttle and fired twelve shots in rapid succession, forcing Addison to let out a furious roar as Flame Battle Qi erupted around him, forming a Flame Tornado that blocked the incoming bullets at the critical moment.
Before making his move, Charlotte had already calculated this. A Knight's battle qi could protect the body, but when facing an enemy, its distribution would inevitably vary in strength. Addison was concentrating all his power on blocking the bullets from the front, so the defenses behind him were likely insufficient.
As he fired, Charlotte plunged Blood Rose into the ground, activated his Insight ability, and threw the Vampire Hand Axe at the weakest point in Addison's protective battle qi.
Under the control of Blood Flame Qi, the Vampire Hand Axe traced a bizarre arc and pierced through Addison's protective Flame Battle Qi.
Only a few days had passed, yet Charlotte had advanced by one rank. The power of his Blood Flame Qi had also increased by severalfold. This strike was far stronger than the last, hacking heavily into the back of the Transcendent detective's head and burying the axe blade three-tenths of the way into his skull.
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