Zhang Heng contacted the lady in the perfume shop according to how the priestess instructed him. As a result, he gained nothing other than the lady telling him that the Balance Blade was confident that they could deal with their enemies this time. It left Zhang Heng with a bad feeling.
The woman wearing the veil was right. It was a fact that Zhang Heng did not know the true strength of the Balance Blade. However, he had just come into contact with Altrus not too long ago, and he knew that people like Altrus were not easy to deal with. What more, Altrus had now made it clear that he was teaming up with the Hounds, preparing to take down the Balance Blade together.
In Zhang Heng’s initial prediction, the battle between the Balance Blade and the Hounds lasted for more than two hundred years. In other words, telling who would win this time would be pretty challenging. Through this, the candidates of the Balance Blade would get to observe their opponents before the battle of the century began.
Zhang Heng felt like he might have overestimated the Balance Blade’s leader’s abilities. At the same time, he also underestimated the comeback of the Hounds. If Cornu was indeed from the Hounds, that could mean that Beehive was probably the Hounds’ peripheral organization.
And this also meant that the Hounds had probably been operating in Rome for quite some time. The previous assassination in Britannia was probably just the Hounds’ way of diverting attention. The Balance Blade knew nothing about the powerful opponents that grew under their noses. And as we know, this made it hard for Zhang Heng to believe that the Balance Blade had the upper hand in this battle.
And once the Balance Blade was defeated, it would be hard for Zhang Heng to survive alone. Zhang Heng knew that some preparations had to be made to prevent the situation from deteriorating further. According to Dadatis, only four people in the Balance Blade, himself included, knew Zhang Heng’s identity. But from that moment on, Zhang Heng also needed to prepare a backup plan if his identity was leaked.
However, he did not intend to give up his plan of assassinating Altrus. In addition to his need to enter the secret library of the Balanced Blade, eliminating Altrus would allow him to lessen the Balanced Blade’s burden.
With Altrus’s cautious character, there were few opportunities for him to reveal his flaws. This time, he did not expect that Zhang Heng hadn’t actually finished the glass of wine and that he could still stay awake to answer his questions. He was obviously not expecting Zhang Heng to extract so much information by simply listening to his tone, diction, and pace. If he knew Zhang Heng was capable of something like that, he would have never come to meet him in person.
Next, Zhang Heng might have to race against time.
…
“What? You’ve gotten your fief? And it’s in the province of Mesopotamia! Where is that place?” The slave girl was taken aback. She had been a slave in Rome since birth and had never left the place. She had heard of the nearby provinces, but not the places further than that.
“Well, the province of Mesopotamia is located southeast of Rome. It is thousands of miles away from us. You have to travel by carriage, then a boat, and go on another carriage to get to the final destination. It is probably going to take a few months to get there,” Zhang Heng said.
“That’s far. But I thought you couldn’t leave Rome?” The slave girl was puzzled. “Then how are you going to manage your fief?”
After she finished speaking, she noticed Zhang Heng looking at her. The slave girl was bewildered for a moment. After that, she understood why he was staring at her. Her face turned pale immediately, “Are you… Are you trying to ask me to go there to take care of your fief?!”
“Yes. I might need your help.”
“But… But, didn’t you say that it is thousands of miles away?” The slave girl was completely terrified.
“Nothing to worry too much about. I’m in no rush anyway. Take your time and enjoy the scenery along the way and have a taste of the delicacies from abroad. I will give you enough money for your expenses. You haven’t left Rome before, right? This is your best opportunity to check out some other place.”
“But I don’t want to leave… Rome.” The slave girl almost blurted out that she did not want to leave Zhang Heng. Fortunately, she quickly replaced the word “you” with “Rome” at the last moment.
“I know. Just consider it as doing me a favor. I don’t have anyone else I can trust now.”
“But I’ve been a slave since I was a child. I don’t know how to manage a fief!” The slave girl finally came up with another valid reason to not travel to the fief. She then quickly added, “I’ll stay by your side. I’ll wash and cook for you, take care of your daily life. I’m the best at this.”
But she did not expect Zhang Heng to react colder than she thought. After that, Zhang Heng heard what she said. He replied, “It’s okay. If you lose money in the business, just write me and ask for more money. If you make money, you can spend it on yourself.”
“That’s okay?” The slave girl was completely stunned by Zhang Heng’s open-mindedness. Later, she wanted to tell Zhang Heng that that was not the point. However, before she could say anything, she heard Zhang Heng saying in an incontrovertible tone, “You should go and clean up, leave the day after tomorrow, and get on the road early. Otherwise, it will be winter when you arrive in Mesopotamia.”
The slave girl fell to the bottom of her heart when she heard Zhang Heng’s reply. There was nothing else she could say after hearing that Zhang Heng wanted her gone as soon as possible. She then walked away with her head bowed low.
Zhang Heng knew that the slave girl would return to her room and cry.
But this wouldn’t change any of his decisions. Commodus had initially wanted to choose a fief near Rome, but Zhang Heng requested his fief to be located somewhere remote. He mentioned that he wanted more land. However, that was just an excuse he used to send the slave girl on a long trip.
There was no mobile internet or telegrams in this era. When someone traveled to a faraway place, they would be unable to contact those back at home. No matter what happened in Rome, the slave girl would not be affected. In other words, Zhang Heng had just sent the person closest to him out of the whirlpool.
As for the farewell, it would happen sooner or later. Even if nothing happened, Zhang Heng would leave this dungeon after one year. Instead of separating after one year, it was better for them to part ways now before they spent more time together. Zhang Heng also gave all the money he made during this period to the slave girl. After sending the latter away, he was finally able to do as he wished.
That night, with the help of Kreis’ Heart, Zhang Heng sneaked into the temple where the citizens’ archives were stored and found the list of nobles born twenty years ago. He was a little surprised, though, by the results. After taking about a week to go through the list, he realized that Altrus was not among them.
This was a little strange. Either Altrus had taken away his files, or Zhang Heng was looking in the wrong direction. As the rumor said, Altrus was not a nobleman. However, this couldn’t explain the habits that he got from the noble family. Secondly, there were more nobles compared to civilians. It was not possible for Zhang Heng to collect each and every file of civilians that were born twenty years ago.
Zhang Heng felt that he might be missing out on something.
