Chapter 13

Kaion’s victory sent a small but definite ripple through the capital’s social circles. For days, lower nobles kept coming to Aster Manor under the pretext of congratulations. They were eager to ingratiate themselves with Kaion, the rising star.

“Brother, you’re completely famous now.”

Sorting through the many invitations delivered to the manor, Rian said casually. Kaion cleared his throat, still awkward from the sudden attention.

“It’s all thanks to you, Rian. If not for you…”

“No, that’s your skill. I only kept your sword from rusting by sharpening the whetstone.”

Rian cut him off gently. He felt no excitement despite the festive atmosphere. Instead, his mind was working colder than ever.

‘When the light grows stronger, the shadows grow darker. The Reinhardt family won’t back down just like that.’

Kaion’s victory brought fame to the Aster family, but it also earned the enmity of a powerful foe. As in the estate lands, a small-scale information network alone could not stand against the vast power in the capital.

That night, Rian visited the ‘Well of Knowledge’ again. Old Fox no longer treated Rian as the ‘little young master’; with eyes full of reverence he called him ‘Agent’ and treated him with utmost care.

“What information have you come to buy today?”

“Not to buy — I’ve come to sell.”

Old Fox looked puzzled at Rian’s words. Rian pulled three pouches filled with gold coins from his clothing and placed them on the table. Old Fox’s eyes widened. It was a sum large enough to buy a respectable trading guild.

“With this money, I want to buy your ‘ears.’”

“My… ears?”

“Not just your personal ears. All the ears in this capital: the palace maids, the order’s stable hands, the dock loaders, even the street urchins in the back alleys. Buy the bread and drink to put in their mouths with this money. Then make them listen. Argos will assign value to everything they see and hear.”

Rian was proposing more than a simple information trade — he aimed to build an intelligence network spanning the entire capital. He intended to make Old Fox the capital branch leader and plant Argos’s roots there.

“I… if that happens, will this old fox become Agent Nari’s hands and feet?”

“No. Argos is not a master-servant relationship. It’s an equal partnership. You, sir, will be in the heart of the empire; I will be where I’m unseen. We will move toward the same goal in our own ways.”

Rian’s words began to bring color back to Old Fox’s gaunt face. He had spent his life as an information dealer in the back alleys. But now, the boy before him offered a larger stage and greater ambition.

“I understand. This old fox will become the agent’s partner!”

Meanwhile, a chilling thin-ice cold hung through the Reinhardt Marquis’s residence.

“A disgrace to the family!”

At the marquis’s enraged voice, his son Kael could not raise his head.

“To show such disgrace in front of everyone to an unheard-of country bumpkin! Investigate the Aster family thoroughly at once! Find out what backers those scoundrels rely on to rile the Reinhardt’s favor, and root out every last trace!”

The Reinhardt family’s information network began to move like a spiderweb.

A few days later, Rian received the first report from Old Fox. It compiled an encrypted report sent by Kael in the estate lands and the information gathered by the newly established network in the capital.

‘Reinhardt family: dispatching spies around the Aster estate lands. They are intensively investigating the estate’s financial condition and troop numbers.’

‘Agents under Old Fox obtained information through palace maids. There are rumors that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been suffering from an unexplained headache recently, and even the kingdom’s priests have been unable to find a remedy.’

Rian tapped his fingers on the desk. Reinhardt’s counterattack was expected. But the information about the Crown Prince’s illness was an unexpected harvest.

‘A crisis is an opportunity.’

Rian’s eyes glinted in the dark. The Reinhardt family’s pressure was certainly threatening. Yet at the same time, the Crown Prince’s problem could be the perfect chance for the Aster family to break into the center of power in the capital.

He stared at the vast imperial palace visible beyond the window. While his brother took the spotlight on the stage of light, the shadow had prepared to burrow deeper into more secret places. The real game of the capital was about to begin.