Chapter 49 – Chubby tourist

Aile looked at the other guard remaining here and said with a smile.

"I am planning to look around the town, you can stay and keep an eye on the rooms, so nothing gets lost. I only need one person."

The guard found what he said logically and was appreciative of his considerate thinking. He happily nodded.

Aile then said to the guard that came out with him yesterday, "Let's go!"

He nodded in resignation. They soon left the dining area.

Aile smiled at him and asked, "What is your name?"

Aile had not paid attention to his name throughout the trip. He had a lot on his mind and really did not know if he will meet the guards again. However, now he will be in contact with him more, so he felt necessary to know it.

They guard had an I cannot believe you still do not know my name expression, then said, "It is Jake."

"Hehe, Jake I like how you act, how about you help me with a little project..."

"What is it?"

"First tell me, are you willing to lie a little for me?"

"I will not betray Magistrate Hazel's trust."

"What if I gave you 1 gold coin for it?" Aile then took out a gold coin and showed it to the guard. He saw that he had a desire for it, but he firmly shook his head in disagreement.

Aile then nodded in appreciation. He also tempted him a little more, but he did not budge. He then tossed the coin to the guard.

Jake had a confused expression and caught the coin and gave it back to him, "I said I will not lie!"

Aile smiled back and said, "Just keep it, I am giving it to you for keeping me company yesterday and today. I might even need your protection tomorrow."

Jake shook his head, "That is my job, there is no need for payment."

Aile smiled and just waved his hand, "I can tell you people are after me, your life might be in danger, so do not feel like you have not earned it. Stay vigilant."

Aile was testing him because he felt that it was unusual for the Young master to know how many people were in his party that came to Cape Tie. The only people who knew of this composition was Hazel and her top guards. No one saw them on their journey to Cape Tie to tell him the news.

He did not think that he had men at every entrance to the town as they would also have followed them to the inn, and there would be no need to search for him. Thus, Aile believed that most likely one of the head guards is an informant. Therefore, he checked Jake's loyalty first, as he did not want too much of his information to be given to the young master. As his plan would become useless otherwise.

Jake was a bit surprised and he no longer felt that he was forced doing something he did not want. Jake had a grin and started to move with more energy and vigilance. Aile chuckled with himself seeing, how he behaved for a single gold coin. He felt that he had been too extravagant observing his behaviour.

They moved out of the house and started to walk towards the location where Aile met the assassin in disguise yesterday. Soon he reached the alley and at its end was the assassin waiting for him.

Aile waved his hand, "You actually came, I thought you would have bailed."

The assassin did not bother responding to Aile's provocation, he said in his flat tone, "Here read this."

He tossed a book with black and blue design. Aile caught it.

Aile looked through it and was surprised they had actually given him half of the rune book to look at. Of course, they did not think that he would be able to memorize it from a single look. Aile tried his luck and asked.

"This is good, but how would I know if you have the other half?"

The assassin took out another half of the book in his hand and waved it a little. "You can see the other half tonight before sunset in the northern garden. Make sure you are on time."

Aile had tossed back the book after memorizing it. The assassin then turned around, wanting to leave.

Aile wanted to make it more believable, so he said, "Wait!"

"What?"

"How much do you plan on selling it for? Is it going to be a direct sale or an auction?"

"It is going to be a direct sale. No more than two gold coins." said the assassin after a few seconds of thinking.

"Then just sell it to me here, what is the point of dragging it so long."

The assassin was stumped, he did not know what to do. Aile was snickering inside.

The assassin after some time, finally said, "There will be other buyers!"

Aile then said, "So you were lying then? You should really show me the other half now who knows if you were lying about that too." Aile wanted to see if he can read the other book and memorize it to avoid taking the risk of going to the meeting.

The assassin's face smiled and got brighter, Aile knew from that expression that he had gotten a good excuse, "No, what I meant is we have buyers for other things we offer. We need to collect all the money at the same time to avoid being targeted after a deal and be able to protect it."

The assassin was not planning to budge as his plan was to never sell the book in the first place.

Aile sighed, "Ok, I will be there!"

The assassin turned around and disappeared. Aile then went with Jake to a miscellaneous item shop. He began the first step of his plan.

This was a plan that Aile came up with in case he has to go for the trade today.

At the shop, he bought a piece of paper and wrote something.

Then Aile bought an expensive-looking envelope. He placed the piece of paper in it and told Jake to take it to the alchemist union.

Jake nodded. Aile made sure to buy and expensive-looking envelope as it would show that it comes from an influential and wealthy person so that it could be given to their higher-ups. All he wrote in the letter was that he knew two plots against the union.

He wrote that the first plot is that the union's secret manual of the ingredient-concealing will be sold tonight at the northern garden after sunset. He gave the time of the deal a bit later to give himself enough time to look at the manual.

He then wrote that he will only tell of the second plot after they confirmed the first plots legitimacy by catching them. Then, they should place a 3rd level pill on the western corner of the northern garden on the tree with red flowers with a red band around it, and he will send the second plot to them.

The second plot was a useless ruse. It was designed for two reasons. The first was to increase the legitimacy of the claim.

People will not believe someone's helped without a purpose. Thus asking for a third level pill would increase the legitimacy, and it could only be asked if there is a second plot.

The second reason was to confuse the person in charge of the alchemist union, even if he was in cahoots with the young master. He would know of the first plot as he would be responsible for orchestrating it. However, he would not know about the second, so it forces him to act on the first plot to know about the second. It was using curiosity against people. If he did not know of the first plot and was not part of it. He could simply investigate and will know if the book has gone missing.

Of course, this was not reliable and would not ensure his safety. Thus he had prepared other means and safety measures.

Then Aile continued on to go to the street to find an accomplice for the second stage of his plan. He walked for a bit and found a decently dressed person who surprisingly looked around the town.

Aile figured out that the person would be a tourist and new to the town. He had a chubby oval body, but not fat, he had black short hair with black eyes. He looked around 14 years old and was the perfect target for Aile's next part of the plan.

He went and gently patted his shoulder.

"Hey, are you new here?"

The chubby person had a surprised expression, then nodded.

"Good, I can show you around the town, and we can have lunch together. You just need to help a little. What do you say?"

The person looked curiously at Aile then asked, "How can I help?"

"Nothing much, we just need to talk loudly about a topic when we go to every establishment."

The chubby person nodded, and Aile smiled.

Like this, they first went to one of the more famous taverns in town with lots of people in there.