Preparing to make a move

The Bohemian Empire's Peace Dove.

It was an intelligence agency, but Chris knew nothing about what exactly they did beyond what he had heard.

So when Isaac warned Chris that Peace Dove had its eye on him, Chris could only scratch his head in bewilderment.

Why would Bohemia's intelligence agency be watching me?

Chris thought it over and ultimately decided it had to be connected to the restoration of Bagnia.

But that makes no sense, and there's no need!

If they want to go after me, why target Isaac?

Why not just send someone to arrest me?

Or has Bohemia's Peace Dove split into factions and started fighting among themselves?

There was too little information. Chris racked his brains but could not work out the reason.

Since he could not figure it out, he would leave it alone for now.

"Do you have any subordinates you can trust?"

Chris addressed Isaac.

"Yes."

"Have someone take care of the goods right away. Keep a low profile for a while, at least until that dear older brother of mine leaves."

Chris sighed.

"This was my oversight. I forgot that the arrival of Bagnia's Bagnian Crown Prince was bound to send a few splashes and ripples across the lake that is Bohemia.

"To the big fish, that little disturbance is nothing. But for small fry like us, it's a catastrophe."

As Chris said this, he also realized that neither Inyama nor even the Bohemian Empire as a whole was somewhere he could settle down and live in peace.

He ought to leave and live somewhere nobody knew his past.

Anywhere within the Bohemian Empire was out of the question. His identity as a prince of Bagnia was an invisible shackle hanging on Chris, impossible to break free of.

"Aha! I got it out of them!"

Little Ghost excitedly ran down the stairs of the Nameless Tavern, eager to claim credit from Lin Ruoyu, who was sitting in a corner on the ground floor.

"I got them to reveal the secret passage into Noble City... That bastard was tough, too. Even slicing up the soles of his feet wouldn't make him talk. I had to risk waterboarding him before he finally spilled."

"You didn't leave him brain-damaged, did you?"

"No... Uh, probably not."

"It doesn't matter if you did. Once we confirm the tunnel exists, kill them. Human traffickers deserve a miserable death."

As he spoke, Lin Ruoyu turned toward Connie beside him.

"Do you know what it's like inside Noble City?"

"Yes. A cleaner who collects and hauls away the garbage there lives in District 21. I'll send someone to find him in a bit. A little money will get us a rough map."

"Do you know where the Bagnian Crown Prince is staying?"

"That, I don't know."

All right, then. The players still have to improvise.

Lin Ruoyu was not angry. Quests in plenty of RPGs worked this way. There was no point getting upset; he might as well find a way to overcome the obstacles and finish the quest.

"Never mind. Have someone take my people to check the tunnel. Confirm that it exists and isn't a trap. I'll work on getting things ready for tonight's operation."

"Tonight?"

Connie was startled.

"Isn't that a little rushed? There are still a lot of things I haven't prepared..."

"By the time you're ready, it'll all be over. The Bagnian Crown Prince isn't going to wait for you to show up at his door. He's going back to his own country."

Lin Ruoyu complained. NPCs had patience, but players did not. He had already turned his experiences into a post on the forum, and plenty of his esteemed readers were eager to find out how the quest would turn out.

The two players who had respawned at noon that day, along with two who had newly logged in, had all come to join Lin Ruoyu because of this quest-a total of four.

Whether for his own sake or everyone else's, could he afford to take this quest slowly?

Of course not!

Who had the patience to take things slowly with you? Everyone was itching to go on a killing spree right now!

Still, impatient as he was, Lin Ruoyu had to do everything he could to prepare if they were going to act that night. He went upstairs to torture the three human traffickers himself, intending to squeeze more information out of them.

The traffickers were not honest. They knew perfectly well how heinous their deeds were. Once someone seeking revenge caught them, they would suffer a fate worse than death.

So when the interrogation first began the previous night, the traffickers had deliberately spouted nonsense. They had even coordinated their stories beforehand, hoping to reduce the torture, stall for time, and hold out until their companions rescued them.

Unfortunately, none of this had escaped the experienced Lin Ruoyu. When he arrived that morning, he only had to listen to the three nearly identical statements to know something was wrong.

Then he had the players take over the interrogation and get ruthless with the three men.

The players had no practical experience, but their theoretical knowledge of interrogation was staggering.

As the saying went, they might never have eaten pork, but they had certainly seen pigs run.

There was ancient death by a thousand cuts and needles driven into fingers, modern Hong Kong police techniques like short-hair tea and padding the chest with a book, and waterboarding used by American agents...

Any one of those methods would have stunned everyone present. If they were all used on one person, that person would surely break.

Modern agents trained to withstand torture might endure it, but the human traffickers of Inyama in this world had no such ability. They could be utterly vicious toward defenseless elderly people, women, and children, but could not bring themselves to endure that same brutality.

So Home Alone only had to use one or two of those methods before all three were sobbing and shouting out everything they knew.

The trafficking gang had ten members. Aside from the three captives, the other seven were operating elsewhere in Inyama, searching for targets.

Capturing laborers to send to the mines outside the city as slaves was only a little sideline they handled when convenient. Their main business was helping nobles kidnap beautiful, respectable women and young boys.

Nobles were like rich Americans in the modern world. Once they grew bored with ordinary beauties, they wanted something perverse.

Where there was demand, supply naturally followed.

If nobles wanted their fun, there were lackeys willing to serve them, win their favor, and make money.

This ten-man trafficking gang was one such group. They captured the prey the nobles wanted in exchange for money and protection. Even if the Inyama police arrested them, nothing would happen to them.

The tunnel into Noble City was an underground passage that the noble's ancestors had left for their descendants to escape through in a political crisis. Yet he had secretly revealed it to satisfy his own desires.

In other words, the passage ended in a secret chamber beneath that perverted noble's home.

Oh, that's good news. Besides assassinating the Bagnian Crown Prince, we can deal with an utter pervert while we're at it.

"If the information is accurate, we won't be short of clothes for disguises, either."

That was what Lin Ruoyu said.

"We have to act tonight. Otherwise, once today is over, the trafficking gang might notice something's wrong tomorrow."

"What about weapons?"

"We'll use what we already have... Hmm, who did well in chemistry at school? I think we'd better make some black powder."

"Why not ask Chris later?"

"Forget it. I think asking him could scuttle the whole thing. Better to do it ourselves. It's only black powder; it isn't that hard to make. I'll handle it. You go get some raw materials."