Why don't they talk about the topic I want! 

 

And what the hell are these town guards doing? 

Usually they, the authorities, whether they work with mandates let alone corrupt ones, normally they will immediately "grab" the topic like this and will immediately scapegoat anyone who had crossed their mind before they were blamed by people because they incapable of keeping a town safety. 

But why are they very soundless now and just listening? 

Did someone restrain them here? 

I then glanced at the people here one by one carefully, finding out if there were people who looked out of place, while acting like drunk people, glancing here and there, even though my tankard only contains plain water and cow's milk. 

Not to forget, I also pay close attention to the expression of their faces. 

"..." 

Huh? 

Nothing seems strange according to my observations. 

And now I also just realized another trivial problem. 

I was amazed at all of them who were here, even though they were already drunk, none of them were babbling too much when talking. 

I think their mouths automatically turn into chatterboxes and can talk carelessly and don't fret anymore about what to talk about and what not to talk about, because their brains can't work properly due to the influence of alcohol. 

They can still grip such sensitive information out of their mouths, which is a very great feat. 

And that means they're not completely drunk yet! 

I have to pour the oil more to the fire!! 

"Hey, why don't you order ale again?" I said with a smile. "This time, order the high one." (Unknown) 

“ *Burp~… enough, kid. I'll run out of money later if I order it again." 

Ugh ... 

It crossed my mind earlier that my efforts might be successful if I was a beautiful girl. 

They were still continuing the topic of conversation that I had thrown earlier, but their conversation seemed to be circling in the same place.
 
 They blame thugs or some random hooligan or townspeople who is desperate for money and chooses to rob people, etc.
 
 Do I need to cast another bait?
 
 But if I continue to take the initiative, I could raise suspicions among the sleeper agent who might be watching the development of this conversation and I also don't want to waste my efforts which are already halfway through.
 
 Try to understand the situation a little, oh dear of Me. Why do they still feel uncomfortable sharing information and talking freely when the topic is related to this matter. The magnitude is different from the topic of brothel and sex which can directly unite the entire people, right?
 
 “Maybe it was one of the clans? They often fight over turf here even though it clearly belongs to Lord Rijeka." (Town Guards Chief)
 
 Oh, finally!
 
 Finally, someone gave me the keywords I wanted! Woohoo!
  
  Why did you guys just mention this? What made you delayed to do this?
  
  “… Sigh. Yeah, looks like that has a point."
  
  "Some of my friends and acquaintances also got some sh*t from their brawl."
  
  Alright, the talk is starting to flow! I opened the valve a little more, okay?
  
  "Is it true?" I said with a look as horrified as possible.
  
  “Yeah, he was hit by a blunt force in the head when one of that clan members suddenly attacked their foe in Sir Rogles' tavern. His head was swollen as big as a child's fist as a result of the sudden attack. Luckily, his head didn't leak because of that."
  
  "Oh, that incident?" The Town Guard Chief seemed to have remembered something.
  
  "Yessir, you know ... blablabla ..."
  
  Huh? 

Huh??? 

I thought they would doing flashback or something earlier, telling stories of their misfortune, their tragedy, and other bad events that befell them due to the actions of the clans who doing turf war, and other serious impacts on their lives because of that acrimonious dispute between rival groups.
  
  But the more I heard stories about the track record of some of the clans and their members, the more I felt surprised by the ridiculousness that the members of these clans did in this person's story.
  
  Even though I've been putting on an expression on my face like the meme "Sarcastically Surprised Kirk" as my reaction to every time I heard their tragic story. But the expression on my face now may not be that different from the expression in the meme “Mike Wazowski-Sulley Face Swap”.

Is that really happening? Why their behavior sounded very childish. I think the thugs and bandits are cooler and more sadistic than them.
  
  And the story of the lump on the forehead reminded me of one of the political figures of my country. He also seriously injured and sustained a lump the size of a bakpao (steamed bun) to his head because of a car crash.
  
  "..."
  
  "From all of your expressions. You seem like a lot of you don't know or miss this news, let alone the first part. It just happened, you know? All the Adventures in the tavern know about these things. Why is that?"
  
  "Sorry, I just came to Rijeka this afternoon." (Unknown)
  
  "I was two days ago."
  
  "I'm not a regular customer of the tavern."
  
  "Oh, that's right." He then facepalmed himself. "Sorry."
  
  "Anyway, they are dangerous. If they had a turf war. They also sometimes engaged in destroying property belonging to innocent people because it was only close to their opponent's base or property. How barbaric they are? Do they think Rijeka Town belongs only to them? " He continued.
  
  “…” I nodded and then turned my gaze to the Town Guards Chief.
  
  "Could I know a little about the clan in Rijeka? I'm really worried about this clan. They are now doing it on town's streets. " I asked.
  
  " *Sigh … Sure." Answer the Town Guard Chief in a languid tone. 
  
  Sorry to have tarnished your reputation, sir. But I need to do this.
  
  "As far as you know, how many clans are there, sir?" I asked.

"Clan? There are many.”(Town Guard Chief)
 
 "Can you give me the approx number, sir?" (Unknown)
 
 "How many?" The Town Guar Chief then looked back, asking his men who were behind him.
 
 "Currently there are seven, sir. However, there are still dozens of self-proclaimed clans, some of which were founded for criminal purposes, and it is also unclear whether they are different clan or the same clan."
 
 “You heard that, kid?” (Town Guard Chief)
 
 "Yes."
 
 Looks like I have to find out more about the background of the people who attacked Fem and Princess, of course, I have to prioritize that guys who staying here at Ami.
 
 Or ... was He the Sleeper Agent?
 
 I need to go to his room later.
 
 "And from the seven clans, does anyone know which clan has the least members?" (Unknown)
 
 "I think Nightmare Eagle has only 30 members." (Town Guard Chief)
 
 "Yes, the Nightmare Eagle has the least number of members." Said the other people while nodding their heads.
 
 Oh, this time it was answered by the adventures and the other guests.
 I assume they just didn't have the courage to start it.
 
 “But the number of members doesn't determine if they are the weakest clan. Nightmare Eagle is entrenched at the top as the most influential clan in Rijeka." (Town Guard Chief)
 
 Oh really?
 
 “Apart from the clan, you also have to pay attention to adventure party. One would be able to create a clan if their party members were too big to be called an adventure party." Explained Stranger No. 1 and the others also seemed to nod their heads at the explanation, they agreed with it.
 
 "For example here, if the party members already exceed eight people. You can create a clan. However, these rules are not absolute. You can create a clan, have a base, with less than eight members, however, other people will think of your group as still an adventure party, not a clan.” Continued him.
 
 “Back to the clan issue. The clan does sound dangerous and they always have backer, but you also have to be careful with adventure party. Even though there are still many of them here who are E-Rank or even F-Rank, their weapons can still kill you if you annoy them.” (Stranger No.1)

"..."
 
 "Umm ... May I know which clan attacked your comrade in Sir Rogles tavern?" (Unknown)
 
 "They claim they are members of Calabrese."
 
 “Bah, bullsh*t! How could they be Calabrese? Their destructive power might be strong, but Calabrese was already on a different level. They also don't just attack people, they care about their reputation. "
 
 “So they have just impersonated someone? Did they mention their names other than giving them the clan name?” (Unknown)
 
 "No, they just claim they are Calabrese."
 
 “Yeah, there are many cases of people claiming to be members of this clan, that clan, They caused confusion within the people they impersonate. Make everyone's very troubled."
 
 "Oh my god ..." Some other guest seemed to notice something.
 
 "Why?"
 
 "Are they sparking a turf war? From your story earlier, they sound like they are scapegoating Calabrese for their attempt to claim to be Calabrese. "
 
 "Oh, come to think of it that has a point too."
 
 "This is bad!"
 
 "Or maybe they really are Calabrese!"
 
 "Hey, what is the other one?"
 
 "The other one who was attacked?" This person then turned his gaze to the comrade beside him. "Who are they, bro?"
 
 "They claim they are Morano Boy."
 
 "Morano Boy?"
 
 "Who else are they??"
 
 “I don't know, they don't seem like from this Rijeka Town. They also don't seem like from Rijeka's clan."
 
 "So it can be concluded the Calabrese's man was kicking out those Morano Boy people."
 
 "What did Morano Boy do so Calabrese's Man attacked them?"
 
 "You idiot, The Morano Boy wants to expand their turf!"
 
 "Where do they want to expand? In the middle of the town, it was already owned by noble and wealthy merchants, the surrounding area was already occupied by the townspeople and other clans. Where do they want to expand? To the slum area? "
 
 "No. To the Calabrese turf! "
 
 “That's called conquest. Not expansion."
 
 “Like the King who wants to become emperor. So easy to say conquest-conquest."
 
 "Oh, how about them? Are they clan members too? " (Unknown)
 
 "Who?" (Town Guards Chief)
 
 "That slum area." (Unknown)
 
 "Not. The seven clans would not take those lowly people. But for those who are self-proclaimed, there are their nests. " (Town Guards Chief)
 
 "What is clear is that there is a possibility that Rijeka will become their battlefield. It cannot be tolerated. Our Lords want to have a banquet, and that is not to be disturbed. *Sigh ... Even though we were already overwhelmed with the thugs from the slum area, but a new problem arose." (Town Guards Chief)
 
 The people here then looked at the town guards chief and his subordinates, seeing his subordinates feel uncomfortable, the town guards leader here then felt the need to save their face.
 
 “I, as the heads of the town guards in Rijeka Town, I wanted to apologize for this inconvenience, but I also need your cooperation. If you encounter a disturbance because of them, immediately report that incident to us. We will immediately deploy security personnel to secure the situation. However, we hope that those of you who feel confident in your capabilities must work together to intervene with them first because you are closer to the scene of the incident so that the losses the townspeople experience will not be too great."
 
 "But what if we die because of that? Isn't that a contradiction? "
 
 "Yeah. Their members who are at the bottom of the hierarchy, maybe their skills are all jokes, but other than them. The people above them, they are very strong. We can't do that carelessly, just pointing swords at their members, they will immediately put us on their threat list!”
 
 "Yeah! How is it, sir? "
 
 " *Sigh ... I told you just for those who are confident in their own abilities. What else can we do? We've also outnumbered. Some of our members may be also secretly in cahoots with them. Town guards are humans too, you idiot! What do you expect?"
 
 "Ugh ... I know that."
 
 Everyone then feels dejected at what the town guard chief said.

To Be Continued