It was said that Niles would take a walk around his territory to observe its development. He was known as a very generous person, so he would always converse with the citizens, regardless of their status, whenever he did that.
Such a thing wasn't learnt in the two months Layland had spent learning under Valeria. He had only learnt it after strolling around the Dukedom and listened to the talk of the citizens about their ruler.
Using that knowledge, he initially wanted to observe Niles from the crowd to gauge Niles' personality. Considering Niles' status as a veteran however, he decided that not playing with fire was the wisest decision.
Instead of sneakily observing Niles, he concluded that it was better to handicap Niles from the get go, which was why he came to the slum area to look for a sacrifice.
