“Could he have discovered something?” The young sorceress in the carriage asked, “Otherwise, why would he suddenly come and check on our carriage?”
“That’s possible.” The middle-aged woman had already lowered the curtain. “Based on your description of him, that man should be extremely good in combat. You guys should understand what I’m getting at, right?” A person’s combat skills could not be nurtured through training alone. The keen intuition, attention to detail, calm judgment, and so on had to be honed through real combat. “He’s killed before, and it’s not just one or two people either. I would guess he has at least ten kills.” A young man in the carriage said, “Of course, ten might be a little much.”
The young sorceress said, “I don’t think it’s realistic that he’s killed ten people before, but I agree with Aunt’s judgment. It’s still very possible that he has four or five kills.”
The three of them started discussing how many people Ren Xiaosu had killed before while staying hidden in the carriage. In fact, if Ren Xiaosu told them the true number, they would definitely think he was bullshitting! But actually, for the Great Hoodwinker and the others who were aware their future commander had already begun the Prosperous Northwest 3.0 plan, they were wondering if they were being too ruthless to the Magi by sending him to deal with them.
Ren Xiaosu’s status in the Central Plains was completely different from his status in the Kingdom of Sorcerers. The Kingdom of Sorcerers was so self-sufficient and extremely arrogant that they did not even bother sending spies to the Central Plains to gather intel.
In the eyes of the Magi, Fortress 178, which they had devastated over the years, and the territory behind it did not have the ability to conquer their lands at all. It was good enough they could survive under the intimidation of their sorcerers.
Therefore, due to the policies of the Kingdom of Sorcerers, it was not a big deal even if Ren Xiaosu openly used his real name here. Instead, it made it even more convenient for the Northwest’s intelligence agents to meet up with him.
Based on what the Great Hoodwinker had said, the Northwest had already sent at least a 100 spies here over the years. Furthermore, not only did the Kingdom of Sorcerers not send any spies to the enemy’s territory, but they were also extremely unfamiliar with how to clear them out from their own territory.
In some of the residences of the spies, they did not even need to deliberately hide their radio sets. It was very safe to just shove them under their beds.
Many of the Northwest’s intelligence agents were already aware the future commander was in the Kingdom of Sorcerers, but they did not know his exact whereabouts.
At this moment, the middle-aged woman took out her red Eye of True Sight and started casting another spell. The inside of the carriage quickly cooled. She said to the young man in the carriage, “Little Cheng, it’s no longer suitable for An’an and me to go outside. That person is extremely alert. Although Little An’s face was obscured last night, we can’t be sure he won’t recognize her figure. So you should go outside often after we set up camp tonight and keep a close eye on that young man.”
The young man whom she called Little Cheng nodded and said, “Alright, Aunt, you and Sis can stay in the carriage while I check on the situation tonight.”
“By the way, Aunt.” The young sorceress, An’an, said, “He suddenly mentioned some strange words last night.”
“What words?” the middle-aged woman asked curiously.
“Riders? Ren He?” An’an recalled. “I think it was just those three words. I thought he might’ve been referring to the knights, but those can be found all over the street, so I feel like he meant it as an organization?”
The middle-aged woman was stunned. “Wait, I think I heard your father mention Ren He before, but my memory’s vague. I can’t confirm whether what that kid said were the same words as what I’ve heard. As for the term ‘riders’… I have no idea about that.”
“Alright.” An’an nodded. “He might’ve gotten the wrong person then. By the way, where did Father go?”
“Your father is handling something more important. He should be leaving Alpine County right now and will rendezvous with us in Ghent City.” The middle-aged woman said, “The others will also be heading to Ghent City together.”
An’an’s eyes lit up. “Are those elders planning something big?” “Why do you ask?” the middle-aged woman said with a broad smile.
“Because so many people come together when only something big is about to happen.” An’an said excitedly, “I’ve heard about what you guys did in the past. It sounded so exciting!”
“It’s all very dangerous. You two still cannot participate in the operation.” The middle-aged woman shook her head and said with a smile, “Your training isn’t complete, so stop thinking about such things. When you turn 21, I’ll of course lead you two in an assassination of a real sorcerer and complete your coming-of-age ceremony.” “21…” An’an muttered unwillingly,” But that’s still another three years away.”
Little Cheng asked, “Aunt, why do you say that we have to assassinate a real sorcerer? Won’t Melgor do? I think he’s quite easy to kill.”
“Melgor’s just a poor ol’ sorcerer within the magus order. He was fortunate enough to obtain the Eye of True Sight, but that’s only a tool used by the magus order to amass wealth.” The middle-aged woman explained, “In fact, the legacy training Melgor received isn’t even close to the core of sorcery. They don’t teach him the more sophisticated incantations, nor do they bestow unto him any meditative visualization diagrams for the high-level spells. The reason why the magus order sends such sorcerers to the borders to live in luxury is just so that they can tell more people, ‘Hurry up and buy some stones. You might just get an Eye of True Sight. This is a shortcut for you guys to jump ranks.””
“I see,” An’an said.
“With this method to get out of their miserable lives, the people at the bottom won’t constantly think about toppling this dynasty.” The middle-aged woman sighed and said, “But when someone climbs the social ladder, they soon realize this is actually just a system designed by the magus order.” “Aunt, why are you guys going to Ghent City this time?” An’an asked.
“We’re going to the House of Tudor to obtain the meditative visualization diagram for the Meteor Shower spell,” the woman answered.
“Meteor Shower?” An’an wondered.
“That’s right.” The woman said, “Your father said it’s what the House of Tudor owes us.”
Ren Xiaosu circled around the trade caravan twice and did discover some suspicious people in the group. However, he could not be sure if they were related to the bounty hunters from before.
Or rather, the suspicious people looked more like standard outlaws, thieves, and fugitives. They did not have great combat awareness or counter reconnaissance awareness.
They were different from the sorceress from last night. It was obvious she had undergone many years of training, with her every move planned out.
It was precisely because of this that Ren Xiaosu was sure there was a hidden organization backing her. Without one, she could not have received such systematic training.