The spy was convinced the guard was actually Foxii. She was very tall for a woman, and her voice was on the lower side, which was sexy in a raspy sort of way, but was also androgynous enough to pass for a man’s with a single octave change.
Her lover, Thor, had been part of the Voumi Spy team, and it was through him and Atlas that they found more about Gingo, his own suspicious movements, and how they could use him.
Gingo himself seemed to have his own agenda, trying to get his own goods to sell, independent of the Lord.
Even if he swore an oath of honesty that he was not a spy from Voumi, his suspicious movements would make them think he had just managed to pass a loophole or something. At the very least, it was a call for a deeper investigation, which was not a good thing for Gingo either way.
Atlas watched as Gingo was taken away for further investigation. He even yelled, "They’re trying to destroy our forces’ solidarity!", so Mafo and the rest didn’t even think that someone was trying to put a strain between Valov and Voumi, just a strain among Voumi forces.
Anyway, he was sent to the dungeons for interrogation (and torture), and Sandra did not even know her lover was taken elsewhere. Whether he’d come out alive and with his freedom would be up to him, but Atlas was satisfied that Gingo would be tortured for now.
All this chaos made Mafo more desperate to convince someone to attack Valov, and this ended up being Baccal Town.
Baccal Town was a level 2 Town that Alterra connected Mafo with (through their spies), and it actually seemed to consider Voumi’s offer.
They only had very few spies in this new Town, especially since it wasn’t really that important to their plans, so their information on the exchange was mostly through Eian, who had stabilized himself next to Mafo.
The advantage Baccal Town could actually get from attacking Valov was metal distribution. They found out that Baccal had more connections with the distant Holt City rather than the nearer Hassen City, which was still relatively far away.
In terms of distance, they were in the middle of the cities, even if they were thousands of kilometers away from each one.
They were not exactly afraid of Hassen but were definitely mindful. However, it did not stop them from complaining about the monopoly, so Baccal Town was actually a pretty decent force to put into the fray.
It so happened that Baccal Town had allegedly indeed found a mine near them. In this region, black metal mines were not too uncommon. However, Valov had indeed been gathering way too much black iron that the logistic costs must’ve been astronomical for it not to get attention.
Well, however that side developed, that was not Alterra’s tier, and hopefully their interventions would be enough to remind them of it. They had more pressing matters at hand.
...
Flaret Town
Gian, using one of the others’ names (he vaguely mentioned it in his letter), received a letter from Alterra.
At this time, Flaret probably hadn’t even heard of Alterra, so it was not flagged and no one bothered to read its contents. Even if they did, it was all in code, so people wouldn’t think much of it.
He had requested assistance on how to handle so many ’slaves’, and this was their response to this. The others looked at him very carefully, afraid.
What was the most likely response to this? Wasn’t it just ignoring their pleas? The fact that they bothered to reply meant...there was hope, right?
It wasn’t anything like sending a post saying ’sorry you’re on your own’, right?
Right?
"A team would meet us outside," Gian said, pulling everyone out of their reverie. He looked at the sky as if calculating the time. "...about now."
"N-Now?"
"Yes."
Because Gian was so cold, some of them, especially many new ones who didn’t even know what the letter was about, just thought he would be getting rid of them.

It can’t be that, right?


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