Anthony Fenn sat dejectedly across from Siles.
His companions cast worried glances at him, but Anthony waved at them, so the group of children relaxed and turned back to their own amusement.
Anthony remained silent.
Siles said, “Mrs. Fenn said you’ve been mixing with underground gang members.”
Anthony’s ears turned red. After a moment, he said, “They’re not. I… know someone who can introduce us, but we haven’t been able to join yet.”
Siles nodded, understanding.
This group of naive children probably thought gang members were cool and wanted to join. But kids this age were most prone to mischief, so they hadn’t yet proven their abilities or realized their ambitions.
“Your mother is very worried about you.”
Anthony fell silent. After a moment, his expression twisted as he said, “They don’t know what I want at all!”
“What do you want?” Siles asked in return.
Anthony immediately choked up.
Siles continued, “You want to participate in your father’s business?”
Anthony thought for a moment and nodded.
Siles then said, “Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division within one hundred—can you do it?”
Anthony’s mouth slowly dropped open.
Siles sighed slightly. “Go to school, Anthony. Learn some skills, gain some knowledge, and then your parents will feel comfortable letting you venture out.”
Anthony looked at Siles’s expression as if something—some belief—was being shaken. After a moment, he asked, “Does doing business require learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division within one hundred?”
“Perhaps within ten thousand,” Siles said somewhat conservatively. “After all, I don’t yet know how big your father’s business is.”
And this world didn’t have calculators.
Anthony’s expression looked like the sky was falling.
He suddenly said indignantly, “Then I might as well…”
“Can you fight?” Siles asked. Looking at Anthony’s expression, he slowly asked again, “Do you dare to kill?”
Anthony trembled almost instantly.
Siles shook his head. “Actually, you’re very clear about this. You just don’t want to bow to your parents. But if you just wander outside with your friends like this, you won’t even be able to afford tomorrow’s meal.”
Presumably, when Anthony Fenn first ran away from home, he had quite a bit of pocket money. But the young man, lacking restraint, hadn’t realized that money wasn’t enough for his extravagance.
So by today, they couldn’t even eat their fill.
A dull look gradually appeared in Anthony’s eyes. He said glumly, “Then I can go find work.”
“Right, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division within one hundred.”
Anthony: “…”
He angrily slapped the table, then suddenly stood up, walked to his companions, said a few words, and then returned to Siles.
He said stiffly, “I’ll go back with you.”
Siles, seeing his attitude had changed, was slightly puzzled—he hadn’t expected these two or three sentences to persuade Anthony to return. Mrs. Fenn’s attitude had made him think this was a spoiled brat.
However, Siles didn’t say more, only asking, “What about your friends?”
“They’ll return to their own homes.” Anthony didn’t want to explain further and didn’t mention topics like “wandering.” He didn’t seem to want Siles to know about his life outside.
Siles didn’t have that much curiosity. He said goodbye to Eric, then left Onestine with Anthony.
From beginning to end, he never saw the owner of Onestine, the rumored gang members, or anyone related to fencing goods from the Ashless Lands. Perhaps it was still too early, or perhaps the merchants hadn’t yet returned from the Ashless Lands.
Either way, Siles felt relieved.
He currently has no combat ability. If something went wrong, he could only leave it to fate—he couldn’t rely on [Flowing Wind], the only ritual he’d mastered, could he? He didn’t even have any potions on him.
As for the Keeper’s power, Siles still knew nothing about it and didn’t dare act rashly.
_
After leaving Onestine, Siles glanced at the sullen boy beside him and asked, “How did you know about Onestine?”
“I sneaked a look at my dad’s letter.” Anthony hesitated, but finally said honestly, “The letter said there would be a trade fair at Onestine in early August. I was curious.”
A trade fair? This was probably what Siles had heard about before—the fencing channel, right?
He silently noted this information, thinking he might be able to get more definite details from Eric Collens.
Anthony added, “I originally planned to stay outside until August before going back!”
Siles thought that by then, Mrs. Fenn would probably have gone crazy.
At this moment, he suddenly realized something and asked, “You don’t have much money left, right? How were you confident you could stay outside for so long?”
“I of course…” Anthony said without thinking, then suddenly stopped and shut his mouth tightly, saying nothing more.
Siles narrowed his eyes. “Related to the gang person you mentioned?” He looked at the boy. “Were you planning to do work for the gang? What kind of work could someone your age do?”
He paused and thought for a moment.
Then he said, “Gathering information?”
People usually wouldn’t be very guarded against a child of Anthony’s age.
Anthony’s eyes widened, stammering, not knowing what to say.
Siles immediately confirmed this. A thoughtful look passed through his eyes—what information? At this time, at the end of July…
No, wait. The question was, if Anthony had a way to survive outside, why was he willing to go back with Siles?
Siles suddenly understood and said with certainty, “Your father’s gains from the Ashless Lands… and perhaps information related to the Ashless Lands?”
This was information Anthony could only get after returning home.
After Siles appeared, he might still have been hesitating whether to return, whether to show submission to his parents. But after Siles appeared, Anthony decided to go with the flow.
No wonder. Siles had felt Anthony’s attitude had softened too quickly.
“…How can you guess so much!” Anthony looked about to collapse. He stared at the black-haired, black-eyed young man who looked very calm and harmless.
Just from a few of his words, some instinctive reactions, and his actions, he could guess so much?!
Young Anthony found it incredible.
Siles just smiled faintly.
From the conversation he’d overheard last night at the map shop, to the knowledge and concepts about the Ashless Lands in his mind, Siles could see that the Duchy of Constance’s foreign trade largely depended on merchants entering and leaving the Ashless Lands.
In this situation, open trade was one thing, but smuggling and fencing in the shadows naturally occurred constantly.
But the Duchy of Constance was clearly not satisfied with this. The Grand Duke of Constance hoped to use the nation’s power to develop the Withered Wastes and establish more stable economic ties with other countries—this was the origin of the Withered Wastes Development Plan.
At this juncture, underground gangs like those in the Old City that relied on smuggling trade naturally needed real-time information updates. For example, how far had the development plan progressed? For instance, what was the current situation in the Ashless Lands?
Mr. Fenn was a suitable source of information. The gangs might not be able to contact him directly, but his son had voluntarily delivered himself to their door.
This was all logical.
Of course, what business they specifically did, what they smuggled, what goods they fenced, what profits they wanted to gain, how the development of the Withered Wastes would actually proceed—Siles knew nothing about these questions.
He just drew a conclusion from Anthony’s reactions: the Old City now—no, the entire city of Lafami—seemed somewhat turbulent.
Although July’s rainy season was coming to an end, a real storm still seemed to be approaching.
Siles sighed imperceptibly.
_
Afterward, they returned to 13 Milford Street without further conversation. Siles had nothing to say, while Anthony was frightened by Siles’s perceptiveness and somewhat worried he couldn’t complete his task.
Just as Siles had guessed, the gang member he knew had assigned him a task to obtain some information about the Ashless Lands from his merchant father.
Based on the value of the information, he might get the opportunity to become a gang member, or perhaps receive some money.
So after Siles came to Onestine, Anthony appeared reluctant on the surface, but ultimately didn’t make Siles work hard at all and went back with him directly.
Because he wanted to complete that task.
Soon, they arrived at 13 Milford Street. Several horse-drawn carriages were parked at the entrance, and there was even one particularly advanced-looking mechanically structured automobile.
Siles looked for a while, then looked at Anthony thoughtfully.
Anthony felt uncomfortable under his gaze and couldn’t help asking, “Why are you looking at me like that?”
Siles said, “When you accepted the gang’s task and planned to obtain information from your father…” He said meaningfully, “Did you consider that the information you ultimately reveal might harm your father’s business?”
Anthony Fenn froze.
After a while, he said stiffly, “I would never do such a thing!”
He threw out this sentence, forcefully pushed past Siles, and walked toward the front door.
Before he could touch the doorknob, the door suddenly opened. A travel-worn middle-aged man walked out. Anthony immediately froze and said fearfully, “F-Father…”
However, his usually stern and demanding father said nothing, just looked at him, then looked at Siles. “Mr. Noel, first meeting. I’m Bertram Fenn. Thank you for the trouble regarding my son.”
Siles shook his head, just saying, “It’s nothing. Please just call me Siles.”
They returned inside the apartment. As soon as Mrs. Fenn saw Anthony, she let out a sob and quickly embraced her little Anthony, her tears washing away the gloom between her brows.
Anthony looked thoroughly uncomfortable, but let his mother hold him.
Siles followed Mr. Bertram Fenn to the first-floor reception room. Siles briefly told Mr. Fenn about his morning’s encounter, and the latter breathed a sigh of relief, thanking him repeatedly.
“I received my wife’s letter, so I specially hurried back. Fortunately, you were here; otherwise, I’d really worry my wife might do something crazy.” A fleeting bitter smile appeared on Mr. Fenn’s stern face.
Siles wisely maintained silence at this point, not commenting excessively on Mr. Fenn’s family affairs.
“As for the underground gang matter…” Bertram Fenn smiled bitterly. “Recently, matters related to the Ashless Lands are really…”
He shook his head.
Siles thought for a moment and couldn’t help asking, “What exactly has happened?”
