T/N: I think "Qiao Xiya" and "Wen Sen" are actually first names, so I've changed (westernized) "Qiao Xiya" into "Zosia" and "Wen Sen" into "Vincent". "Zosia" is actually a real name so don't laugh at it, and the only other option was "Josiah" which is a male name.
v2 c8 - Tracking and Counter-Tracking
How many women did a man need to be satisfied? This sounded like a very despicable yet practical question.
Neither in the Titus Kingdom, nor in the entire Caesar Continent was there an empire that stipulated a man could take only one wife. Only the Church of Light's doctrines said a husband had to be loyal. Although they walked a fine line, it had successfully won them a large number of female believers.
The vague doctrines couldn't totally restrain the men's thoughts, just like how a married woman had famously said, "If a man meets with a sudden misfortune, he becomes immoral."
Evidently, the middle-aged baron, who Tang En was following, had been immoral yet not careful enough. He had probably been found out by his wife, which was why Tang En had a mission to track him.
The last few days of tracking had yielded no clues, and Tang En had not been in a hurry at that time. He believed that as long as this man had a mistress, it would all be exposed sooner or later.
A cat that has stolen fish won't be able to stay vegetarian for a long time…1T/N: This has probably been taken from the saying, "there are no cats who do not steal fish", which means that there are no men who are completely loyal.
But today, after learning from the old butler that the system's power after upgrading would be enough to match magic and battle qi, he was unable to stand it any longer.
He decided to give up on waiting idly and instead take the initiative.
Consequently, the slightly-balding middle-aged aristocrat was very sad to discover that his precious carriage had a problem. After traveling a certain distance, the entire carriage body unexpectedly fell apart. He himself got out of the carriage in a sorry state, and his wig fell to the side.
Then when the coachman was assisting him into the building, a tub of cold water was poured onto his head.
Unfortunately, it was late autumn. Although the sun was there, the cold wind was even worse.
He just stood shivering under the building and didn't regain his energy for a long time, looking like a drowned rat.
Men were still human beings and needed to be comforted when they felt sad or frustrated. This middle-aged aristocrat was undoubtedly extremely frustrated.
Then who would he turn to for comfort… A friend, priest, or mistress? Of course, it wouldn't be his own yellow-faced wife2T/N: Yellow-faced wife is a derogatory term used to refer to your wife who your love for is fading, and who you've been married to for a long time. anyways.
So Tang En was very satisfied to see the middle-aged aristocrat call a carriage, traveling in a direction he had not gone in the past few days.
Black Rock City had wide roads and favorable traffic. It stood to reason that the carriage should've moved very quickly, making it difficult to track. But Black Rock City had a huge flow of people, and both carriages and pedestrians mingled together on the road. Right now, what the middle-aged aristocrat was riding on was not his own carriage that bore the national emblem, so the ordinary carriages would not give way to it, leading to its speed slowing down.
Tang En unhurriedly fell behind. His tracking over the past few days had also made him familiar with the surrounding terrain. From time to time, he took a shortcut to the front of the carriage.
Hmm…
Tang En frowned, turned around, and entered a clothing store at the side of the road.
After walking around a few times, he exited and entered a weapons store next to the clothing store.
This repeated until Tang En came out from the back door of a jewelry store, his clothes having been changed and his head covered with a flat-brimmed hat.
When Tang En returned to the front of the jewelry store, he saw two people wearing blue coats watching the inside of the jewelry store.
Sure enough, he was being followed…
Tang En frowned. He hadn't been in Black Rock City for a long time. The only one he could have offended was the Axe Gang.
But the crucial point was that when he had killed Storm Bear, everything had been carried out masked. Even if they had caught the gambler, they shouldn't have been able to find him.
So only one person had that possibility.
No way, I was given such a big gift on only our first meeting…
Before Tang En could do anything, the carriage he had bypassed was already approaching.
"This mission is important, and the upgrade even more so. Count yourselves lucky this time."
Ignoring the two clumsy stalkers, Tang En caught up with the carriage again.
The carriage took several left and right turns and finally came to a stop in front of a rather dainty house, after arriving at Black Rock City's West District.
It had to be known that this aristocrat's home was in the aristocrats' residential area of the East District. To track this carriage, Tang En had to almost travel across the smaller half of Black Rock City.
"Damn it, you'd better have come for your mistress, or else I swear you'll be spending tonight in the dirtiest corner of Black Rock City," Tang En said hatefully, his pair of legs exhausted.
The middle-aged aristocrat got out of the carriage and looked around vigilantly before knocking on the door.
In fact, this kind of behavior was completely useless. Tang En had just passed him by, yet he had not paid any attention to Tang En.
Soon, the door opened slightly, and the middle-aged aristocrat squeezed in impatiently.
Tang En saw a fleeting glimpse of an enchanting woman with a good figure.
He was inwardly delighted, knowing that his trip today had, for the most part, not been in vain.
Having a woman, this explanation was certainly problematic, but this matter had to be seen with one's own eyes to believe it.
Tang En silently circled the house once and, as expected, eventually chose to go through the backyard. Coming in from the front door would make one a robber…
It was still broad daylight and the effect of concealment wasn't great. But he was dealing with ordinary people, so there was no need to be particular.
Coming to this other world, Tang En found that the residences here came with yards, for the most part. The difference was only in the decorations' luxuriousness. Like the villagers in Little Stone Village, most of them used dirt walls to enclose the land at the back of their homes.
After Tang En snuck in, he threw a rope out which connected with the second floor's balcony.
He stuck his head out and wiped his forehead. The curtains have to be drawn shut even in broad daylight...
Perhaps the middle-aged aristocrat had been panicking the past few days, so he'd been impatient about carrying out the great task of multiplying humankind.
After observing for a while, Tang En sighed that humankind had reached an astonishing consensus on this aspect.
Several familiar poses appeared one by one.
After smacking his lips and lamenting, Tang En jumped down from the balcony.
His next task would just be to send this address to the Thieves' Guild and the client would confirm it.
The mission set by the system would be complete after Tang En would receive the gold coins, so he couldn't accept the upgrade mission yet.
The Thieves' Guild just happened to be in Black Rock City's West District, so Tang En took the opportunity to confirm his task.
Although it wasn't nighttime yet, Tang En naturally wouldn't waste this time. He got ready to return to the hotel, where he was temporarily living, to enter the system space and continue training.
But when Tang En was approaching his hotel, he stopped, pulled the brim of his hat down, and turned onto a side path.
Due to the somewhat remote location of the hotel, not too many guests came and left. Behind the counter, the boss lay weakly on the tabletop and dozed off.
Everything was of the hotel's original appearance, but Tang En still smelled danger from it.
As expected, after careful examination, Tang En saw some men in blue coats outside the hotel in a corner.
Damn, there's no end to this…
These watchers were dressed exactly the same as the people Tang En had discovered outside the jewelry store.
Alright, I'll see who is so bold as to keep watch over an assassin.
Tang En's face was gloomy as he retreated into the darkness.
At this moment, the roles of hunter and hunted were reversed…
