Late January.
"Has every piece of information been verified? Are you sure there are no mistakes?"
"Yes, boss. We've sent people to investigate everything thoroughly. This information is absolutely reliable."
"Good. Sort out all the useful information. A merchant ship is heading home tomorrow. Take it back and report everything to Her Majesty the Queen."
"Yes, boss."
From the outside, the shop looked utterly ordinary. It stood on an unremarkable street in the Royal Capital.
The people living nearby came from every walk of life: ordinary citizens, merchants who traveled far and wide, and lesser nobles. It was a place where all sorts mingled.
Opening a shop in a place like this required not only money, but connections as well.
Any merchant who managed to establish a foothold here was not to be underestimated.
This shop occupied neither the best nor the worst location. It stood at the edge of the busiest district, receiving neither many customers nor particularly few. However one looked at it, it was an utterly ordinary shop with nothing distinctive about it.
The shop primarily sold clothing and had three floors. The first sold clothes for commoners, the second catered to nobles, and the third served as the shopkeeper's living quarters.
At that moment, several people were speaking quietly in a concealed room on the third floor.
Seated before them was a middle-aged man wearing the sort of clothing favored by moderately prosperous merchants. He looked comfortably well-off, with a slightly plump build and a round face. When he smiled, his small eyes narrowed into two thin slits. By all appearances, he was an amiable, harmless fellow.
No one would have guessed that he was actually the chief spy sent to the Aisk Kingdom by the queen of the Shavigo Kingdom.
His name was Put, and