The Syndicate

Occasionally, Haalfrin would grow bored being cooped up all the time, so he'd take small trips around the territory, looking for problems to solve and beat up a mugger or two - perfectly normal stress relief, that is!

Of course, there are plenty of problems to solve around these parts, since the baron spares no men or resources whatsoever for public security.

Naturally, Haalfrin hears rumors about how villagers go missing, and that some of the more active bandit gangs sometimes kidnap people from their homes and carry them away.

Finding the local bandit gangs is easy since the bandits had spent so many years not being punished by the law that they didn't even bother hiding where they were; all the commoners were too weak or scared to do anything about them either.

…Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately), Haalfrin is a bit too strong, and within his first 2 stress relief trips, all the bandit gangs in the territory either run for their lives or are unceremoniously slaughtered.

Of course, their fragile Wills added to Haalfrin's soul, though their Wills aren't particularly remarkable. So, he ignores them...

(...Many years later, once his powers evolve further, he'll naturally come to regret killing so many bandits and stockpiling their Wills..., but that's a story for another day.)

Naturally, Haalfrin justifies his clear act of defiance to his master by thinking, "Well. I WAS told to keep the peace in these parts. I'm just doing my job!"

It doesn't take very long for the villagers all around the province to fall in love with Haalfrin. Just walking down the streets nowadays is troublesome because all the children want him to play with them and show them magic, all the men want to shake his hand and praise him, and all the aunties want to pull him aside and find things out about him to gossip about with their friends.

All in all, this place is starting to feel a little bit like home to Haalfrin, and his chronic boredom gets a little better now that he has people to talk to.

Besides, doesn't it feel nice to be adored?

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Deep in a dark ally of one of the larger towns in the barony, there's a circle of men sitting around a table with a dimly lit candle – giving the men inside a feeling of menace.

Although the dimly lit candle coincidentally hints at these people's sinister hearts, in reality, they just don't want any light to shine through the window and give away that somebody's holding a meeting here at all.

A large, middle-aged man leans back in his chair and says, "There's a man who's been terrorizing our bandit camps. I've told you over and over again that we need to get rid of him. He's messing up our business."

A younger, blonde man shakes his head. "No. I've got a bad feeling about that man. We can always hire more thugs and relocate our slave trading business to another hidden cave or something… but I have a feeling that direct confrontations with that man won't end well."

An old woman takes the pipe she's smoking out of her mouth. "I've already contacted the baron, and he's told me all about our little guest." She turns to the younger man. "Boss, you were right. This man's name is Haalfrin, and he's Archmage Kalastros's apprentice."

The young crime lord nods his head. "Hmm… Our business got slowed down a little. That's all. Our clients on the other side of the border are a little annoyed because we're behind on our delivery… but we can always just make up for the loss with more bodies."

As they're talking about plans on how to appease their customers and meet their quotas, one of the more seedy-looking young men in a corner raises his hand and suggests, "We've got 5 2nd Gate mages in our organization. Couldn't we just assassinate the brat?"

The old woman shoots a sharp glare over to that corner, and she croaks out, "No. Haalfrin fought his way through an entire army and killed a 2nd gate mage, all while being a 1st gate mage and having no magical training. He then killed an experienced 3rd gate mage in the man's own territory, while fighting through his own traps… all the while slaughtering his way through dozens of mages. If you want to go fight that man, you're doing it without me."

"She's got a point," one of the other men says.

Indeed. If killing a beast is too costly, then avoid the beast.

In the end, they all reach a consensus. They're going to hire more thugs, rebrand the brigands as a different bandit clan, then make it their top priority to keep their people hidden and out of Haalfrin's sight.

…No matter how scary Haalfrin is in a fight, he can't be that scary when his enemy is nowhere to be found…

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Over the next several weeks, Haalfrin notices that the bandits are seemingly "going away", yet drugs are still circulating everywhere, people still go missing, and merchants are still being attacked.

Evidently, the bandits are able to follow where he's going, and they seem to be very organized in avoiding him. 'Hmm…,' Haalfrin thinks, 'There's something bigger going on here…'

And so, Haalfrin contacts his master and asks about it… only to be sternly rejected. "Focus on your studies!" Kalastros would say with some variation every time Haalfrin bugged him about it. "…And stop trying to find trouble!"

In the end, Haalfrin pulls out another far speak medallion – one he's never considered using until now.

…And this medallion is linked to Prince Tallus himself. The man makes Haalfrin feel sour in his heart… but nowadays, Tallus certainly has a lot of connections in court. So if his master refuses to be helpful, then Tallus might do as a spare wheel.

Looking at the medallion, Haalfrin can't help but smile. 'Heh. I only joined Tallus because I was hoping to get killed. I mean, it's not working. Plus, I don't really care that much about dying anymore, so I suppose I'm not working for the brat anymore.'

'...Well, I guess I never told anyone that, so everyone still thinks I'm with Tallus. Oh well.'

Once Tallus gets a call from Haalfrin, and hearing that the mage actually needs his help for something, Tallus goes giddy with excitement - thinking that the man is finally coming around to working together with him sincerely.

Being desperate to keep relations with Haalfrin, Tallus immediately volunteers to do whatever he can to help, and that he'll have people working on the border crime problem momentarily.

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Shortly after Prince Tallus finishes his talk with Haalfrin, he's already called a few people into his office and had his people dig up more information about the organized bandits in Borin Province.

Well… it's more accurate to say that Tallus's assistant, Madam Hanalee, has been digging up the information and calling the relevant people. Hanalee is the daughter of one of Tallus's minor supporters. Still, her analytical and accounting skills have earned her a spot in Tallus's office.

And so, Tallus sits back in his chair while Hanalee quietly sits in a corner, sifting through records and ledgers.

She records Baron Borin's yearly expenditure. She calculates his property expenditures and his regular donations to Prince Kanus, and she compares it to his tax payments and farm revenue.

After running the numbers, it becomes abundantly clear that Borin spends FAR more than he takes in… which means he's likely connected to some illegal business – most likely having to do with smuggling or trading illegal things.

Of course, Tallus feels delighted hearing Hanalee's conclusions. "So that means elder brother is backing a criminal and a slave trader?" If the public learns that the Crown Prince is kidnapping the kingdom's citizens and selling them across the border, Kanus is bound to lose support.

Instead, Hanalee shakes her head. "No. There's no proof that Kanus is behind Borin. All we know is that Borin pays Kanus a hefty sum to put in a good word for him in court. With how heavily your father favors Kanus, there's no way such flimsy evidence can do anything."

Tallus furrows his eyebrows and mutters aloud, "I can't let go of this opportunity though. Hmm…"

After thinking for a second, Tallus stands up and commands, "Hanalee! I need you to go down to Borin and help Haalfrin with his investigation."

"But…"

"Madam. I trust your skills. You should also know of Haalfrin by now. He's a worthy ally."

Hanalee looks down in frustration and asks, "Who am I taking with me?" Hanalee herself is far too poor and has a low enough standing in her own family that she has no personnel of her own to depend on – only her employer's men.

"It's fine!" Tallus consoles her, "Haalfrin will be helping you. His brute force is more than enough to bring success."

After being thoughtlessly denied any more aid, Hanalee looks down at the floor with a blank face… and she's seriously questioning her decision to follow this fool.

What about logistics? Who's going to escort her down? These are just two of many problems with going alone.

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Many days later, Hanalee arrives at the location Haalfrin left for Tallus.

She arrives at Randel's house and finds Haalfrin training his magic control by chipping away at a tree with compressed water blades - cutting it down for firewood in the process in clean strokes.

"Ehem!" she coughs, trying to get Haalfrin's attention. However, he's too absorbed in what he was doing - only noticing after a few calls by the then frustrated woman.

Once Haalfrin finally turns to her, he politely nods his head and greets her. "Tallus told me you'd be coming. You're even earlier than I expected."

Madam Hanalee nods back. "Yes. I've been told you're going to help me dig up some dirt on the baron and shut down the criminal activity in this province.

Haalfrin bends down and starts cleaning up the scattered woodchips from his failed practice earlier. As he reaches for the first block, he bluntly says, "I didn't expect Tallus to actually send anyone. For someone so useless, he was pretty quick to act."

The madam flinches at this – perturbed at how rude this mage can be to a prince. 'Well,' she thinks, 'at least this says a few things about this man. He either doesn't respect authority, or he's a very brave man… or both. Then again, Haalfrin was originally a military man, and Tallus's poor leadership must have left a bad impression on him.'

'...which begs the question. Why would Haalfrin follow a prince he hates?'

Randel and his family have already been notified of their visitor, so they all politely find a reason to go on a short outing to avoid being around while the 2 adults talk about some confidential business.