To be honest, when Gawain first thought of forming an intelligence network based on middle- and lower-class people, the first thing that came to mind was not the thugs, thieves, and gangsters hanging out in the slums and back alleys, but the Byron Knights. Those mercenary friends I met.
Knight Byron became a monk halfway. In his early years, he was a well-known mercenary leader active in the southern region. He had a small team and a wide network. Gawain was Yes, and he also knew that the opportunity for Knight Byron to swear allegiance to the Cecil family was a major setback in his mercenary career. It is said that he lost all his men in that setback and almost died himself, if not The former Viscount Cecil came to help, but his life was already in danger - now he is no longer a mercenary, but has obtained noble status and become a knight by virtue of his personal strength and years of loyal service, but his performance back then Those paths have not disappeared.
Rather, it is precisely because a mercenary entered the circle of nobles by chance that Knight Byron became more popular in the mercenary world. No one would refuse to be able to hook up with the nobles. Opportunities for connections, even with declining aristocratic families, are a great source of money for mercenaries who are in desperate need of business.
Gawain borrowed the mercenary connections of Knight Byron for several operations in the South, including spreading news, recruiting refugees, and attracting merchants. The shadows of those mercenaries were indispensable, but in the process of constructing During the intelligence network, Gawain finally chose to let Amber contact her "husbands and friends" back then.
He considered it from many aspects: First of all, in terms of loyalty, mercenaries and slum gangsters can be said to be evenly matched. Their loyalty is based on money. In comparison, the gangsters The "loyalty" of mercenaries is even cheaper; secondly, in terms of well-informedness, mercenaries are not as good as those "gutter rats" who hang out at the bottom of society. They need to be smarter and wiser to survive, and they themselves are many mercenaries. Finally, there is a very unreliable thing about mercenaries, that is, the best among them are almost always inextricably linked to the nobles, and some mercenaries who are senior enough have even secretly become some The shadows and informants of the nobles - in fact, the eagle dogs that can become the secret support of the nobles themselves are the targets of many mercenaries. On the other hand, the slum gangsters... they cannot catch the eye of the nobles. "Independent body".
For Gawain who needs to build a "clean" team, those gutter rats who will not belong to any force are obviously more in line with his requirements.
As for those people’s ability, discipline, obedience, loyalty and other issues, they can all be cultivated slowly. Knight Byron is an obvious example - he was once a lawless person wandering in the gray area. The mercenary leader, but now he is also an upright...oh no, honest...oh no, fair...hasn't he also become a skilled businessman?
Gawain doesn’t know what Amber’s past is. He is not aFor those who like to inquire about other people's private affairs, he only knows that although this half-elf thief is not very powerful in combat, she is a complete shadow master. She once wandered in the sewers and alleys of the old Cecil Territory, but in addition to finally getting into the Cecil family's ancestral graves He had never made any big noise except being caught red-handed, but after chatting with Pittman three days ago, he learned that Amber, who seemed to be just a funny guy, had also caused trouble. Disturbing the rain's life.
In other words, she had been living a life of wandering and committing crimes before Cecil led him to commit crimes...
After learning this, he did not hesitate to put this The half-elf who was wandering around the territory every day, causing trouble everywhere and having a huge appetite was thrown out and asked to do some work as a guard of the lord.
In Leslie Territory, another town north of Tanzania Town, the "Black Whistle" pub is brightly lit, and the gangsters, thugs, thieves and swindlers who are mixed in there are starting a new round of all-night gangs. Drinking - They drank heavily day after day until all the silver coins and copper coins in their pockets were gone.
The tavern owner "Scarface Anton" with an ugly scar on his face sat behind the bumpy bar, nonchalantly wiping the cup in his hand with a dirty rag, but his eyes were unrelaxed. Sweeping between the thugs and scoundrels who were drinking and shouting, he didn't mind if someone drank and caused trouble in his tavern, or even smashed things here when they were fighting, but if someone drank and smashed If you get something but don't pay the bill, then he will be very concerned about it.
The tavern was filled with an unpleasant smell, low-quality and cheap drinks, moldy wood and corners, and the smell of sweat from not taking a bath for a long time mixed together, making the environment here extremely bad, but there was no one there. Be willing to leave this place - at least it's warm here, which is better than the ice and snow outside.
Two drunken men started to make a fuss, tearing each other into a ball. Anton signaled with his eyes, and two strong men immediately stepped forward and pulled the two troublemakers away. The drunkards kicked each other down, then dragged them to the corner and left them to make trouble on their own.
This is the daily life of these gutter rats.
They are the "rich households" in the slums, the scum and reptiles in the eyes of the nobles, the intelligence dealers in the eyes of mercenaries, and the "villains" in the eyes of honest and honest civilians. Most of them are There are some skills that are the best in the world, such as the sneaking skills with half a bucket of water, the knack of one or two magic tricks, the natural brute force, or just the brain is flexible enough and the words can fool people to death. With this, the skills that are the best are the best. If they have the ability, they can make some connections with passing mercenaries or traders, and survive by deceiving or selling information.
But these people never accumulate money. Although each of their "businesses" can earn more coins than the poor earn in half a year, they always spend the money quickly. They were all naked, because they often dealt with mercenaries and were not welcomed by the lords. They knew one thing very well: life is impermanent, and you can enjoy yourself in the moment, and you never know when.If the mercenary who bought your information suffered a loss outside and was deceived, he will chop you with a knife to vent his anger when he comes back - even if your information is true.
The lord will not protect them in this situation.
So they carpe diem and have fun in this cheap, dirty tavern that no one except the gutter rats wants to visit. They make trouble until dawn every time, and if one day they find the tavern When there is one less person drinking in the town and that person does not appear in the town, they will laugh loudly and shout: "Hush - another poor guy!"
Scarface Anton threw the cup in his hand under the bar. He counted the people in the tavern and turned to ask the waiter next to him: "Why didn't the old cripple come?"
The waiter shook his head: "No. I know, I haven’t been here for two days, and I heard that he was hacked to death.”
Scar-faced Anton frowned, and his ugly facial features trembled even more ugly, but he didn’t speak yet. A short figure in a cloak suddenly approached the bar. Several copper plates jingled down in front of him. A low female voice came from under the cloak: "Rye wine."
When did this person Appeared? !
Scarfaced Anton trembled in his heart. He clearly knew everyone who would come to this tavern, and he was also a half-hearted "stalker" who knew some shadow skills, but this stranger in front of him But he appeared quietly in front of the bar. He and his waiter had no memory of how this person appeared!
But astonished, he calmly filled a glass of low-quality rye. When he handed the glass over, he secretly looked under the hood, only to find that it was only covered with A shadow that cannot be dissolved.
Pretend to be a ghost.
Anton became more vigilant and calmly motioned to the waiter to confirm what was going on outside the gate, but as soon as the waiter took a step forward, the man in the cloak spit out all the ale he had drank. The movement was really loud, as if she was afraid that no one would notice it. After spitting out the wine, she slammed the glass on the bar: "You used to mix wine with water, but now you have mixed it with water." Is it mixed with alcohol?! Believe it or not, I smashed your place!"
The people in the pub seemed to be drinking and fooling around, but everyone was smart. For a moment, almost everyone was drunk. Everyone noticed the movement next to the bar, and they, who were familiar with the "rules", immediately realized that someone was here to cause trouble.
The next thing happened in an instant: all the people close to the bar almost teleported away and hid in the distance. Everyone picked up their own cups and food and found the best seat to watch the show. , the scammers began to open gambling odds at nearby tables, while the thieves wasted no time looking for someone to prey on.
Anton slowly threw aside the rag and cup in his hand, moved his strong shoulders slightly, but felt relieved in his heart: He was just here to cause trouble, so that would be much easier to handle. .
Fist will teach this reckless guy how to behave.
The short figure wearing a cloak in front of him raised his hand and pulled down the hood that originally covered his face, revealing a half-elf face.
Anton looked at this face, raised his arms to swell the muscles in his chest, and showed an ugly smile on his scarred face: "Sister, let me show you a chest-breaking rock." Don’t look..."
The people in the tavern who were about to watch the excitement said: "..."
Amber glared at the ugly bald man: "...Why the hell are you better than before? Are you still shameless?”
“How can we show off after showing off our muscles and show off that the opponent can’t beat us? You specifically told us about this back then,” Anton The smile on his face became brighter - or harder to look at, "Sister! It's really you! Where have you been all these years?!"
The people in the tavern seemed to be Only then did he finally come to his senses. Whispers began to sound from all directions. Some of them clearly recognized the person standing in front of the bar. Some of them were shocked, some were surprised, and some were surprised. With awe, but without exception, they all quickly became excited, while the remaining people were obviously confused. They began to ask the people next to them in low voices, asking who the half-elf who suddenly appeared was. What's going on - most of these people are newcomers who have only been active here in the past two years.
Hu Huo's pointed ears twitched, and she turned her head and glanced with a half-smile: "There are a lot of newcomers, and almost half of them don't know me."
Anton He whispered to the side: "You have been away from here for several years..."
"Okay, let's let the new people get to know each other." Amber yawned, raised his hand and snapped his fingers, "Sober up." Yes! Little bastards!"