When the residents of the town's slum heard about the gold buried underground at the banquet, they went wild.
"Aroveya, is it true? Maybe that young man was just talking nonsense," the slum residents gathered together, looking shocked at the only representative from their community who had attended the banquet.
Aroveya was unsure. "I'm sure I heard what that young man said. Count Kafo denied it, but I don't think the young man would say something like that without reason."
The slum dwellers were silent, faces filled with excitement and doubt. Gold was far more precious than spacious, bright houses.
A spacious house might be worth thousands of Caesar coins, but a gold mine would be far more valuable. Even though Count Kafo had a reputation for generosity and had done many good deeds, this sliver of hope made them question his motives.
When faced with **, people's trust crumbles.
"Alright, we need to get more accurate information before we do anything," the crowd agreed. They didn't want to lose the chance of getting a big house, but they also didn't want to miss out on the possibility of finding gold.
Aroveya felt troubled. "But where can we find more reliable information?"
Soon, this problem solved itself. In the following days, rumors spread wildly across town about a massive gold mine hidden beneath the slum.
The instigator of these rumors was Foster, who had lost everything. As a former government employee, his words carried some weight. This was part of Donning's plan.
In the tavern, a drunken Foster boasted to the idlers around him, "Yes, when I worked for the government, I saw some classified information. I'm sure there's a huge gold mine under the slum, and I even overheard the mayor discussing it with some others."
The tavern-goers, with nothing better to do, loved gossip, and soon, this rumor spread beyond the tavern—to a brothel, for example.
The workers there heard the news from the tavern patrons and passed it on to their customers. Word spread fast, and soon, everyone in town was talking about it.
"Did you hear? There's a gold mine under the slum! That's a fortune."
"Come on, that's just people jealous of the generous Count Kafo, spreading lies. He's surely being attacked by some enemy."
"This rumor came from someone inside the government. A generous man? Please. Who would be dumb enough to give away their gold to those slum rats for free? This has to be true. Count Kafo probably heard about it from the government."
Clearly, the story had changed in the retelling, but that didn't stop Count Kafo's reputation from being tarnished.
Sitting at home, Count Kafo's face was grim. "Damn it. This must be the young man's doing. If this keeps up, my good name will be ruined by these rumors."
Sheriff Tambor had a different take. "Count Kafo, my people tell me the young man has been staying at the inn and hardly leaves. He really is a member of that family. We checked his family crest; there's no doubt."
Count Kafo, already driven mad by the rumors, couldn't stay calm. "You need to end this now, or I'll be completely destroyed!"
Tambor made a throat-cutting gesture, waiting for the Count's approval.
"You idiot, haven't you made enough of a mess? Killing him will only make things worse. You said he's from a powerful family. Killing him will bring bigger problems than we can handle."
Count Kafo shouted, and Tambor looked troubled.
"What do you want me to do? I'll follow your orders."
Count Kafo fell silent for a moment, clearly reluctant. "Bring that young man to my residence. I need to have a talk with him."
Tambor bowed respectfully. "I'll bring him to you. Don't worry."
Count Kafo couldn't afford to make any mistakes now. He had to be extremely careful, or the rumors would escalate, and that would only hurt him more.
"No. I'll send him an invitation to my house myself. What I need you to do is find his accomplices. He hasn't left the inn, so there must be someone else spreading the rumors for him."
After Tambor left, Count Kafo fell deep into thought. What did this young man really want? Did he know about the situation in the slum and plan to take advantage of it? If that were the case, Count Kafo was prepared to give up part of his gains to keep the young man quiet. After all, making a compromise was better than losing everything he'd worked for over the years.
In the small room at the inn, Donning lay on the **.
"I've done what you said. I think it won't be long before the sheriff arrests me for spreading rumors, and then I'll be locked up in jail."
Foster was terrified of what he'd done over the past few days, but he had no other choice. He stood in the room, his face filled with fear. "Someone's already watching me. I can feel it. This isn't paranoia."
Donning got up from the **, walked over to Foster, and patted him on the shoulder. "Foster, don't be afraid. If they really wanted to arrest you, you'd already be in jail by now. They're not stupid enough to do that."
Foster looked at Donning, confused.
Clearly, this former small-time government worker couldn't grasp the full picture. Donning explained, "As the one who spread the rumor, they won't harm you. They need you alive because if you disappear, people will believe the rumor is true. They'll think you were silenced to cover it up."
Foster finally understood. "So I'm not in danger?"
"I'm sure you've never been safer. You can relax," Donning reassured the terrified man. "In fact, the more you're seen in public, the safer you'll be."
Foster nodded, finally calming down.
"By the way, what are the people in the slum doing?" Donning asked.
Foster spoke much more calmly now. "They came to me and paid ten Caesars for more accurate information. Now they've started digging." He hesitated for a moment before cautiously asking, "Is there really a gold mine under the slum?"
Count Kafo had once been his idol, a generous man. Even though he was now acting out of desperation, Foster found it hard to believe his idol was a greedy, selfish man using charity as a cover to steal the gold meant for the poor.
Donning shook his head and sneered. "Foster, whether or not there's a gold mine under that land doesn't matter. What matters is that there's something valuable enough for Count Kafo to offer hundreds of houses for it. Just watch—soon enough, he'll slip up."