Chapter 405: Beggar

For a moment Sage simply stood beside the carriage and watched the plainly dressed man across the street, almost amused by how easily Pax disappeared among everyone around him.

If Pax hadn’t spoken his name, Sage might genuinely have walked into the hotel without noticing him.

There was nothing impressive about his appearance.

His clothes were clean enough not to attract suspicion but worn enough that nobody would mistake him for a merchant or noble servant, his boots had the dust of someone who spent most of his day walking, and there wasn’t a visible weapon anywhere on him.

Even his posture seemed deliberately ordinary. People passed beside him without giving him a second glance, which was probably exactly how Pax preferred it.

Mina was the first to react after Sage, waving before remembering halfway through the gesture that attracting attention to the man whose entire job depended on not attracting attention probably wasn’t helpful.

She lowered her hand awkwardly and looked around. "I was wondering when you’d appear. Uncle Sage kept saying you’d already be here, but this place is so huge I thought we’d spend three days trying to find you."

Pax crossed the street when traffic cleared and gave her a faint smile. "I saw your carriage before you saw me. I’ve had people watching the western entrances since this morning."

Boren, who had been supervising the unloading of what Sage still considered an unreasonable amount of luggage, turned at that. "You knew we were arriving today?"

Pax shook his head. "No. But I knew the road you were most likely to use, so I had someone checking the gate. A carriage matching the description was reported after you entered."

That answer immediately reminded Sage why he had sent Pax ahead rather than simply waiting until he reached the Capital himself.

A month wasn’t long enough to understand a city this large, but Pax had apparently already built enough of a network to notice three travelers entering through one gate among thousands.

Sage glanced toward the hotel entrance before looking back at him. "We’ll talk upstairs. I assume you didn’t come all this way just to welcome us."

Pax nodded, and the four entered after Sage finished arranging the rooms. Nobody paid Pax any attention when he followed them through the lobby, and even the hotel clerk seemed to assume he was another servant traveling with Sage’s party.

Once they reached Sage’s room, Pax waited until the door was closed before walking to the windows.

He checked the street below, drew the curtains halfway and then examined the adjoining door leading toward Mina’s room.

Boren watched him for several seconds before asking whether he expected assassins to crawl out of the wardrobe.

"No," Pax replied while checking the room’s second entrance. "I expect hotel staff to have ears, servants to gossip, and wealthy guests to pay well for interesting information. That’s usually enough."

Boren immediately lowered his voice. Mina looked toward the wardrobe anyway.

Sage pulled a chair away from the writing desk and sat. "All right. Start from the beginning. How much have you managed to establish?"

Pax took a folded bundle from beneath his coat and placed it on the table before answering. He had arrived in the Royal Capital with the small group Sage sent ahead, but he hadn’t kept them together after the first two days.

A group of unfamiliar men repeatedly moving through the same districts would eventually be noticed, especially if they started asking questions.

Instead, Pax divided them across different areas and established a small base in one of the poorer neighborhoods near the southern outer districts, where rooms were cheap and people rarely cared who rented them as long as payment arrived on time.

From there, he had begun exactly as he had in Evergreen: with the people nobody important bothered looking at.

"Beggars were easiest," Pax explained, resting both hands on the back of an empty chair. "The Capital has thousands of them. Some stay around the same streets every day, which makes them useful for watching entrances and routines. Others move between markets, temples and taverns. I’ve recruited twenty-seven I trust enough to use regularly and another fifty or so who don’t know they’re part of anything. They get paid for specific information and nothing more. I don’t give them names, objectives or details they don’t need."

Sage nodded. That was already larger than he expected after only a month. Pax continued, explaining that he’d also established several runners who carried information between districts, mostly street children and young laborers accustomed to moving through crowds.

Two members of his original team now acted as handlers, receiving reports and filtering useless gossip before anything reached Pax.

Another had begun mapping the major roads, gates and shortcuts, while the remaining members rotated through taverns, markets and public gathering places.

The information itself came from everywhere. Tavern workers heard mercenaries boasting after drinking.

Servants complained about employers when they were away from noble estates.

Carriage drivers knew where important passengers traveled and how often. Stable workers recognized horses and household insignias.

Street vendors watched the same corners for twelve hours a day. Messengers knew which organizations communicated frequently. Prostitutes heard things from men who became considerably less careful after closing a bedroom door.

Porters saw which merchant houses received unusual shipments, while beggars outside administrative buildings noticed when officials began arriving at unusual hours.

Pax had even begun paying several cleaners who worked inside commercial offices, not for documents or anything dangerous, but simply to remember which visitors appeared regularly.

"Most of them don’t think what they know matters," Pax said. "That’s why they talk. A carriage driver doesn’t care that he took the same noble to the same merchant house three times this month. A tavern girl doesn’t care that officers from two different mercenary companies suddenly started drinking together. A stable boy doesn’t care that a Royal Knight arrived at a Mage Tower after midnight. Separately, most of it means nothing. Put enough pieces together and patterns start appearing."

Boren stared at him. "I’m beginning to understand why Sage likes you."

"I like competent people," Sage replied.

"Exactly. Terrifying."