Chapter 119: Out He Blows.

Chapter 119: Chapter 119: Out He Blows.

Chapter 119: Out He Blows.

The captive hesitated briefly before continuing, "One of our clients was hoping to find your address so they could talk to you regarding your recent exploits."

’So he’s here because of the Moonlight Grass?’

Osborne’s thoughts immediately turned toward the herbs he had collected earlier that day, and he couldn’t help feeling that the man’s explanation made a certain amount of sense.

Moonlight Grass wasn’t something an ordinary person could easily obtain, especially in the quantity and quality he had discovered in the forest.

Although he had taken precautions to avoid selling all the herbs in one place, he hadn’t considered the possibility that the shops might communicate with one another or that someone would be interested enough in his goods to investigate his identity.

He had assumed that selling a few handfuls at different shops would be enough to avoid attracting too much attention, but it seemed that his understanding of the world was still lacking in several areas.

’Since he used the word organisation, I’m guessing it’s not the Adventurer’s Guild...’

The Adventurer’s Guild was responsible for handling quests, registering adventurers, and providing a place where people could sell monster parts or obtain information about certain areas.

However, Osborne had never heard of it sending people to follow adventurers into the forest in the middle of the night simply because they had sold a rare herb.

Even if the Guild wanted to speak with him, there were more sensible ways to go about it, such as leaving a message or asking the shopkeepers to pass along an invitation.

This man’s methods suggested that his employer operated under a different set of rules, and Osborne had no intention of assuming that the organisation was harmless merely because its representative claimed to be a middleman.

’To think I’d make such a mistake while trying as much as possible to remain untraceable.’

Osborne couldn’t help feeling annoyed with himself, although he soon reconsidered the thought.

’No... It’s not a mistake on my part per se. I was simply ignorant. There are a lot of things I still don’t know about this world.’

He had the memories of someone who had lived in this world before him, as well as the knowledge he had gained from reading the original novel, but neither of those things meant that he understood every part of its society.

The world was far larger than the parts he had seen in the story, and there were bound to be organisations, customs, and hidden powers that had never been mentioned in the original plot.

His knowledge had long since begun to lose its usefulness as events changed, and relying on it too much would only lead him into trouble.

Besides, even if he had been more careful, there was no guarantee that someone wouldn’t have become interested in his activities sooner or later.

The important thing was to understand what had happened and make sure he didn’t repeat the same mistake.

For now, however, he needed to learn more about the organisation that had sent this man after him.

"What’s the name of your organisation?" Osborne asked, his voice remaining cold.

The dark-clothed man hesitated for a moment, apparently unsure whether he should answer immediately, but the sight of the sword in Osborne’s hand quickly convinced him to reconsider.

"I’m afraid I cannot disclose that yet, sir." He reluctantly said.

"But what I can tell you is that we provide information-gathering services for people who can afford our fees. We don’t usually get involved in our clients’ affairs, and we certainly don’t go around hurting people without a reason."

Osborne tilted his head slightly.

’He chooses to withhold their name even at the cost of his life...’ Osborne was intrigued, wondering to himself if they had placed restrictions on their employees.

He didn’t bother to pry into it. The name meant nothing to him, which wasn’t particularly surprising considering how little he knew about the smaller organisations operating outside the main events of the original novel.

Plus he doubted he could learn about them since they seemed so secretive.

"And what kind of information does your organisation gather?"

"Anything our clients are willing to pay for, sir, although the difficulty of the task naturally affects the price. Some people want to know the movements of merchants, others are interested in finding missing relatives, and there are even nobles who hire us to investigate their rivals without involving their own people."

The man paused briefly before adding, "Of course, we have rules about certain jobs, but our main business is information, so we try to avoid unnecessary trouble whenever possible."

Osborne listened without interrupting, carefully considering the man’s explanation.

An organisation that specialised in gathering information could certainly be useful, particularly for someone who wanted to learn more about the world without drawing attention to himself.

However, the fact that one of its members had followed him into the forest at night suggested that his so-called organisation wasn’t above using questionable methods when it believed the reward was worth the risk.

He had no reason to trust the man simply because he had finally decided to talk.

"Then why were you following me into the woods? Couldn’t you have just waited till morning before telling me?" Osborne asked as he placed the sword back against the man’s neck.

The dark-clothed man’s face immediately paled, and he hurriedly raised both hands in surrender.

"Wait, wait, wait, haste makes waste, sir!"

Osborne didn’t move the blade away.

The man swallowed nervously, his eyes darting toward the sword before he forced himself to continue speaking.

"Listen, the client offered a potential additional payment if we could bring you to them."

Osborne’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"Bring me to them?"

"Yes, sir, but I swear there was no intention to harm you! The client simply wanted to speak with you in person, and our organisation was asked to find you and arrange a meeting. I was only supposed to observe you, confirm where you were staying, and report back with the information."

A/N: You can now go ahead to the next Chapter, the issues been rectified.