During the luncheon, Anke hosted the three earls with the highest standard of hospitality that Border City could offer.
However, unlike the first time he received the three earls’ envoys, today’s banquet merely fulfilled the host’s duties.
Apart from that, he brought up no other unnecessary matters.
After the banquet ended, Anke arranged for the three earls to rest in the prepared guest rooms.
He himself went to join Mustafa and the others to refine the detailed steps for implementing the bandit elimination profit scheme, ensuring nothing important was forgotten.
And because he knew that Earl Oca and his elder brother Spaite were on the same side, Anke also assigned Vera a special task.
That task was for Vera to monitor what Earl Oca did and said after returning to his room, record any important intelligence, and then report it to him afterward.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Vera set to work immediately upon receiving the order.
She went to the window, looked around to confirm no one was watching her, then split off a portion of her body from her hand, morphing it into a small, common bird.
The Familiar, transformed into an ordinary bird, obediently perched on Vera’s hand, meeting her gaze with its black eyes.
Vera moved her hand toward the window, then gently lifted it to release the Familiar, using her mind to guide it precisely toward Earl Oca’s room.
And Vera was fortunate. The window to Earl Oca’s room was also open.
Her Familiar, taking advantage of the occupants’ lack of attention, slipped easily into the room.
It finally landed in a shadowy corner, where it lay in ambush, quietly observing and recording everything that happened inside.
Inside the guest room, Earl Oca was pacing back and forth, as if nervous about something.
Earl Oca’s two servants behaved even more strangely. Despite their master’s poor state, not a single one stepped forward to ask about it. Instead, they stood to the side, loafing or chatting idly.
Just then, the room’s door opened, and two fully armed Imperial Guard Knights walked in.
The pacing Earl Oca and the two loafing servants suddenly changed their demeanor.
They groveled obsequiously toward one of the knights, carefully helping him remove his armor.
When the knight took off his helmet, Vera’s Familiar saw it: beneath the helmet was a face nearly identical to Earl Oca’s!
“Fourth Prince invited all three earls. What did he talk about? Spill it.”
The knight, who bore a face similar to Earl Oca’s, sat down on a chair the servant had brought over, flexed his fingers, and questioned “Earl Oca.”
“Reporting to you, my lord earl. The Fourth Prince invited you and the other two earls because he wants to use your three reputations to earn money.”
“Earl Oca” recounted Anke’s entire plan to the knight—or rather, the real Earl Oca.
“Making money under the guise of eliminating bandits? The Fourth Prince’s idea is certainly strange, but upon closer thought, it does seem feasible.”
Earl Oca, after considering the plan his body double had relayed to him, couldn’t help but comment.
“There’s one more thing, my lord earl. It’s just that I… I saw this matter does have profit, and it’s beneficial to you as well, so I… I gave a verbal agreement along with the other two earls…”
The body double said nervously.
“Your meaning is, without asking my opinion, you agreed on my behalf?”
Earl Oca glared at the body double, anger in his eyes.
“Thud!”
The body double, intimidated by Earl Oca’s glare, went weak in the knees and fell to his knees before him.
“My lord earl, please hear me out, hear me out! The situation at the time was complicated. Earl Rohark and Earl Pauly were both swayed by the Fourth Prince. If the ‘you’ I was playing refused, it would have been very unnatural, so I had to agree as well.”
“Besides, besides, my lord earl, I believe this method of making money is feasible, very feasible. If it were you, you probably wouldn’t have refused either, which is why I agreed.”
The body double gestured wildly as he explained to Earl Oca.
“Alright, I understand. You are indeed clever. If it were me, I naturally wouldn’t refuse. But you are merely a body double. Regardless of the situation, you cannot make decisions on my behalf. We are still in Border City, so I’ll let you off for now. But remember this mistake. If you make it again, I’ll settle both offenses at once.”
Earl Oca temporarily spared the body double.
“Of course, of course! Thank you for your mercy, my lord earl! Thank you for your mercy!”
The body double expressed his gratitude repeatedly.
Earl Oca watched the body double, who wore a face similar to his own but displayed a fawning, cowering posture, and couldn’t help but shake his head.
He then ordered the servants to fetch their clothes from the carriage.
The servants acknowledged, then left the room. Not long after, they returned to the guest room carrying a box containing Earl Oca’s clothes, along with the body double’s clothes.
“Take off those clothes and put on your own. From now on in Border City, you don’t need to play the role of me anymore.”
Earl Oca shook his head and ordered the body double.
“Yes, my lord earl.”
The body double nodded, then, without a moment’s hesitation, carefully removed the expensive garments he wore, changing back into his old clothes.
He went from being a noble earl to an ordinary commoner.
Earl Oca, with the help of the servants, fully removed his armor and changed into a clean set of inner garments, transforming from an ordinary middle-aged knight back into the powerful earl who ruled over seventeen cities.
“Here, this is your reward.”
Earl Oca took two Gold Markors from his money pouch and tossed them to the body double.
“My… reward? But my lord earl, I made a mistake today?”
The body double caught them quickly, staring at the glittering gold coins in disbelief as he asked Earl Oca.
“Your performance today, though it broke the rules I set for you, was still decent overall. So I’m rewarding you with two gold coins. But remember, don’t make the same mistake again.”
Earl Oca reminded the body double.
“Yes, Earl Oca, I will remember, I will remember!”
The body double clenched the coins, speaking repeatedly.
“Then don’t make the mistake again. Alright, I want to rest for a while. Don’t disturb me anymore.”
Earl Oca stretched a few times and instructed the body double and the servants.
“Yes, my lord earl.”
The servants responded.
Meanwhile, the Mimic Minion lurking in the corner, after confirming that Earl Oca truly intended to rest and would provide no new intelligence for the time being, seized an opportunity to fly out through the open window. It circled half the castle before returning to Vera’s hand.
Vera absorbed the Familiar back into her body and retrieved its memories as well.
“A body double? That’s a useful tool.”
Having recovered the Familiar’s memories, Vera looked up toward the direction of Earl Oca’s room.
Then, she released another Familiar to continue monitoring Earl Oca, before turning and going upstairs to report to Anke about the discovery that Earl Oca was using a body double.
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