CHAPTER 144: CHAPTER 144: DISCOVERY_1

"Hmph!" Lance tossed her aside with one hand. Looking down at the Barbarian Woman sprawled on the ground like a dead dog, he scoffed, "You’ll always be nothing but trash, not even worthy of dying at my hands."

The Barbarian Woman gasped for air, trying to rise and fight again. But when she looked up into his indifferent eyes, her anger was extinguished in an instant, revealing the fear hidden within. She felt as if she had returned to that night enveloped by piercing cold, a night when endless fear had almost claimed her soul.

"@!#%...*"

Overwhelmed by immense pressure, the Barbarian Woman’s sanity collapsed into despair. She hugged her head, uttering incomprehensible tribal language, all traces of her previous fury gone.

Tiffany hadn’t expected Lance to change his demeanor so drastically. One second he was talking and laughing, the next he became so... ruthless, or rather, his authority was such that no one dared to offend him. Looking back, if York and the others had resisted then, he probably would have actually killed them. At this moment, Tiffany realized she too found it difficult to oppose his decisions; life and death rested on his whim. She couldn’t help but feel a sense of solidarity with the Barbarian Woman. She got up to help her leave.

Once the hall was empty, Lance’s expression quickly returned to calm. The minor incident hadn’t affected him much; he was merely putting the Barbarian Woman in her place.

The urgent task at hand was to sort out the issues with the trade group. He was determined to find out just how substantial Walter’s assets truly were.

Two large and two medium-sized merchant ships, and enough basic wagons to form three hundred-person caravans. He had several properties in Ovando City. Even in Totnes, though it was at the edge of the costly Central City District, he owned a shopfront and a warehouse, indicating some level of strength.

Similarly, operating such a trade group required over three hundred personnel. Most of them were sailors, Guards, and laborers. The management layer constituted only about twenty percent, essentially those who had come to stage the coup that day.

Some of the Guards had been wiped out in the skirmish between Walter and the bandits, leaving only about twenty here, with most having turned coat.

The sailors, on the other hand, were largely intact. Among those who had come to force the coup that day were just a few captains, and one was from the faction loyal to Walter.

These were tangible assets, not to mention the funds on the books. The accounts were originally at a loss, but he had turned things around in just one day. Of course, the source of this turnaround was the confiscation of assets.

After tallying the accounts, Lance finally smiled. The assets totaled over a million Gold Coins, with over twenty thousand in cash. No wonder Walter had kept this from him. Perhaps Walter planned to give up his land caravans for his freedom, thereby retaining most of his strength, with options whether to advance or retreat.

But unfortunately for Walter, Lance had already plundered his home base.

Indeed, Walter hadn’t mentioned anything about his trade group before their meeting, and Lance had only told him he was coming to Ovando to take a ship to Totnes, planning to make some money along the merchant roads and perhaps rescue some refugees.

Unfortunately, Lance wasn’t one for chivalry.

But Walter probably hadn’t expected that after he ran into trouble, his daughter would almost ruin the entire trade group within a month. It could be said that if Lance hadn’t appeared, Walter would have returned only to overwhelming debts.

"My lord!"

William rushed in hurriedly. The dog beside him was panting heavily, clearly exhausted. His urgent demeanor gave Lance a bad premonition. And indeed, as soon as William spoke, he reported a problem.

"Fergus and I have discovered traces of an evil cult in the city."

There was nothing surprising about it; Lance had long suspected it. Or rather, it was unlikely the evil cult would ignore the only large city in the area. But he still sighed, because the emergence of an evil cult was inevitably accompanied by death.

"What’s the situation exactly?"

"Early this morning, Gefis and I..."

He had not ignored Lance’s advice from yesterday and had begun to execute the plan with great seriousness, drawing on previous experience.

Cleverly, he used the Mesmerizing Fragrance as a clue, taking advantage of Gefis’s olfactory abilities to search.

Following the scent, he searched bustling ports, ordinary residential areas, and even dark corners where Gangs were active, all without success. However, he struck gold in the city’s affluent district.

Lance could understand why the Ascension Sect, an evil cult, would appear in the wealthy district. Those people pursued transcendence through Ascension, so naturally, their primary audience was the well-fed, bored elite. Ordinary people, struggling for survival, had no time to concern themselves with Ascension.

In contrast, cults like the Sons of Harvest targeted the common folk, especially farmers praying for a bountiful harvest, and primarily expanded among the lower classes.

"In the end, I only managed to follow them to a detached house in the affluent district. But there were too many people around, so I didn’t dare to investigate further."

"You’ve done well. Startling our quarry now would only drive them into hiding. Only with caution can we capture them all in one swoop."

Lance said this and then fell into thought.

Just as the town’s corruption had begun with its chief of police before spreading, this was a top-down affair. It was the same here; he just didn’t know which high-ranking official had fallen. Once he acted, it would be like pulling a single thread that could unravel everything... and his own forces were too weak to confront them within the city. Yet, he couldn’t just let things be, because he was the Ascension Sect’s primary enemy. Allowing the enemy to grow stronger was undoubtedly suicidal.

"Don’t alarm those individuals just yet. Continue to investigate thoroughly, pinpoint their locations, and find where they are conducting their rituals."

Lance already had a plan in mind but hadn’t given up on preparations; he would see how the situation evolved.

"By the way, have Gefis track this scent. If the Heretics discover you and you have no other choice, show them this and say you’re one of them."

Lance produced a Blood Candle, which was more essential to the rituals than the Mesmerizing Fragrance.

William didn’t know how it was made, but he could feel the strong scent of blood mingled with a strange odor.

He let Gefis sniff it, and the dog shook its head and sneezed.

Lance paused to think, then handed over a bag of coins. "This is for expenses. If it’s not enough, come back to me for more."

"My lord, this..." He had been a sheriff for many years and had never once received reimbursement for expenses, let alone overtime pay; even his salary was often delayed.

"You’ll get used to my rules," Lance said with a smile, patting William’s shoulder. "Take it. Even if you don’t need it, Gefis still needs his meat."

"Woof!" Gefis seemed to understand their conversation, barked, and rubbed against Lance’s legs, his tail wagging like a propeller.

Lance reached down to pet the dog’s head. No wonder everyone liked him.

"Ha-ha-ha! Look, even Gefis wants to improve his diet a bit."