Constantine sat down, crossing his legs and reaching out for the cup of water. It turned out to be far and out of reach. Dissatisfied, he looked at the object, which of course was not at fault, and magically drew it towards himself.
"The king's representative, despite all his wishes, won't find convicts anywhere until they are brought to the city, and Gena (Gennady) wants to sell manure from the cowshed. So I see no reason to go to the city."
"Well, okay. I want to talk to the baron!"
"And where does this sudden desire to walk in the sun come from?"
Alexander sat down. He really didn't know how to explain.
"Well, we have a suspended state at the village..."
"Don't confuse soft with warm! It's your suspended state in your relations with the baron, but everything's fine with the village. It's a free settlement on his lands, no complaints!"
The knight gave up. The Triumvirate's decision to restrict trips under the sun was correct, and there was no reason to violate it due to vague premonitions.
"Alright. But on the very first cloudy day, I'm going to pay respects to the baron!"
Kostya (Konstantin) nodded in agreement and took another sip. He really liked the river water. He had never drunk such delicious water in his life. And now, just before dawn, he enjoyed it, as he had every day before. It had become a ritual. Watching Alexander, who had gone to sleep, he closed his eyes and simply rested. It was too early to get involved. He needed to oversee the prisoners.
Sergey spent the time before dawn with his scouts. He didn't abuse his power or micromanage every aspect of his subordinates' lives, but once or twice a week he gathered them all together. To share information and make plans for the future. His main goal was timely detection of goblins on the surface, but blocking all exits was unrealistic.
Igor, acting as the former monk, waited until the boss finished talking about the goblins and ways to detect them before switching the topic. There was too much money in the bandit's coffers. This situation was completely atypical. In the fall, the bandits had changed as if by magic.
They managed to organize several attacks on fat caravans, always attacking outside the borders of this barony, but returning the loot back to Savoyardi and selling it there, only to rob one of the merchants engaged in reselling. Before this fall, no one from the city's bottom had shown such activity. But thanks to this, the vampires had no financial problems.
"When you tore apart the bandits, did they remember who was guiding the caravans and who was planning their capture?"
The scouts involved in the capture exchanged glances.
"Some male figure unknown to the bandits. He kept his identity hidden. He provided information on the juiciest caravans and proposed a plan, receiving a share for it. We couldn't trace him," one of the scouts quickly reported, recalling the information obtained from the blood.
"And did this stranger not appear again?"
"One of Bald's henchmen said he thought he saw him in one tavern, but it's not precise information."
"And what about you, Igor?" Sergey looked attentively at the speaker.
"Well, boss, this whole situation bothers me. The bandits were pressed in the city. You can't frolic under the baron, the guards weren't loafing around for nothing. And these gentlemen of luck were engaging in various small-scale activities, sometimes cutting down random loners. And suddenly such a sharp change in activity, great loot, and an increase in their income."
"We're better off, we closed all the holes in the budget and didn't have to sell anything."
"Why did the thugs believe this mysterious stranger?" Igor wasn't going to give up and continued asking questions, hoping that with time it would become clearer to him.
"He delivered a message from Sapog, the leader of a major gang in the duchy's capital."
"And what was in the message?"
"Just that you can trust the taxpayer, he won't advise anything bad, you'll be in the black."
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