[Randall's POV]
"We'll help you, as we had agreed earlier."
A liberating sigh left the titan's mouth, but not before Anne put forth another condition. "On the condition that you can provide us with a mask and two cloaks."
We'd still need to hide our identities when carrying out whatever tasks we have to deal with. And even if no one would expect to meet a highly wanted criminal out in the streets like this...
It's better to be a bit careful.
"Got it. Though, didn't you two have cloaks when we first met…?"
"Those are out of the question, as they're already tied to 'us'."
Frowning, he kept his silence. "I'll see what I can do… For now, we should distribute the workload."
He took out a map of sorts of the town and its surroundings.
A single circle– which represented one of the main dirt-made roads– surrounded the core area. Then, a second one created the middle layer, and whatever was between that and the town's walls belonged to the third and outermost layer, mostly protected by the thick, sand-looking defenses.
To take notes of the things I saw yesterday, the "Stonegrinder" was positioned in the north area of the outside layer. As for the farm? It was built near the river, where the lack of walls was exploited for agriculture… Thus, it belonged to the same layer.
Other locations, such as the alchemist's store and the local academy belonged to the middle.
As for the Town Hall? The core of the town.
The only set of structures that did not fit within the layers, instead opting to be between two different layers, were those from the Syndicate.
With their outposts scattered throughout the second and third layer, some of them ended up in the middle of the main roads.
One particular spot, with five houses surrounding the sixth caught my attention.
That's the Syndicate' villa, where many of the high-ranking Blue Shepherd members stay.
"Oliver gave me five targets, and a deadline of a week. We'll start with the clearer ones."
First, his finger pointed towards a farm near the river. "There's a rumor going around, saying that the Solpani family is housing a few bandits in their mills. It is important that they're kicked out, since they might be related to our enemy."
His finger struck the outer layer of the town. "Second. Somewhere around us, there's a stranger occupying an abandoned house. He has to be killed."
… My body shrugged.
"Third, the woods near the southwest. There's a rumor among the townsfolk, saying that the group of bandits we'll be fighting against has settled down there. It's just confirming whether the base does exist or not."
He mentioned the fourth one, which was a tad easier. Keeping an eye out around the town for the brown clad scouts of the opposing syndicate.
'Come to think of it, wasn't I sitting next to one of them a few days ago?'
Eh. Probably not.
Anyway, the last one was stealing some of their uniforms. Anything would do, as long as it was theirs.
"I can deal with anything on this list. It'd be nothing new," commented Jack. His expression turned slightly distant, but soon went back to normal.
"Same," replied Anne.
"However, even I am not sure if I can take on everything alone..." he whispered.
"I guess that leaves me…"
They nodded. "Whenever you two go out to the wilderness, what role do you take on the team?"
What team? We never fought together…??
"Jack, what would happen if we were to be caught by the guards of the farm?" asked Anne, wearing her signature serious expression.
"Uh… You'd be handed over to the Blue Shepherds, I suppose."
"What do you mean by 'suppose'?"
"I've never been caught before…" replied the titan, shyly scratching his cheek.
Ah yes, covert bragging.
The lavender skinned fiend let out a sigh after hearing his excuse. "... Still, it's the most reasonable task. Randall, do you think you can take on that?"
I'm not sure, but… I definitely won't get much experience if I keep fighting weak monsters and sparring with a fiend who often holds back.
'Though, I might be aiming too high…'
"... You know, the guards tend to focus on the fields at night. If you can sneak into the mill, which isn't that hard if you hide with the vegetation, then it should be alright," voiced Jack, with surprisingly good timing.
"... I can give it a shot."
"Good," replied both of them at the same time.
"Then, I'll take care of the bandits," voiced Anne.
"And I'll deal with the usurper. Though, I'm pretty sure we can all keep an eye on the bandit minions, and maybe snatch a uniform if we get lucky."
We nodded. He clapped.
"Alright. I have some extra stuff to deal with today, so you guys do… Well, whatever. I'd suggest sneaking to the farm and see what you're exactly getting into, Randall," spoke Jack, while fixing the dirty white shirt shielding his body.
"I'm off. See you two later."
He went through the entry hall, opened the door and departed the house. Leaving us two alone to plan whatever we had to do for the day.
'His suggestion of checking the farm now isn't too bad. Besides, I could also use this as an opportunity to see what the security in the fields is like at night… At least from the outside.'
It'd be truly beneficial to know whether there's a small number of demons or an army waiting. Unfortunately, I do need to exert caution… There is a curfew, after all.
"Yeah, I think I will."
"Check the farm?"
A head nod acted as my reply.
"Reasonable. Just make sure you're not spotted by the farm's staff or the Shepherd's guards. They don't know we're involved, after all… In fact, they can't know."
Indeed.
"... Anyway, I'll go do the laundry. Wanna tag along?"
Anne shrugged but still got up. So I took that as a yes.
"It's also a good opportunity to kickstart the lessons involving magic…" muttered the fiend.