It was Green's first time in Black Forest Port, but with an old hand like Gomez leading the way, he had no need to worry about finding his bearings.
Gomez knew Green had no interest in the commercial district outside the docks, so he took him straight to Black Forest Port's intelligence exchange. It was the gathering place for intelligence brokers from across the Eastern Sea, and the best place to get the latest news. If you could pay the price, you could buy anything here—even the color of a certain kingdom's king's underwear, or which noblewoman he had taken to bed.
But when Green and Gomez asked to buy information on the Lorenzo Navy's three missing warships, they received an answer neither had expected: there was no intelligence on them at all.
That was far from normal. Three Lorenzo Kingdom warships had disappeared and still had not been found. Surely even minor leads would be worth putting up for sale. Yet there was not a trace of information in Black Forest Port's Intelligence Market. Someone was clearly suppressing it, and Green had a bad feeling.
"Get out. Leave Black Forest Port immediately and wait for my orders out at sea." Green sent Gomez the order to retreat through their Soul Link.
To avoid drawing attention, they had gone their separate ways after disembarking and had made no contact at the Intelligence Market. Gomez had handled every inquiry about the missing warships while Green stayed hidden. The moment he sensed something was wrong, Green ordered Gomez to withdraw, then quickly left the Intelligence Market himself. He followed at a distance to see whether anyone was tailing Gomez.
Sure enough, someone followed Gomez as soon as he left.
The man was experienced. Without watching for it, Green would have had a