Tyler took the lead, with Charles following behind, and the pair thus arrived at the bustling market trading in fruits, vegetables, and meat.
The market was a hive of activity, with vendors and customers constantly coming and going, and the hum of voices was overwhelming.
This was precisely the effect that Tyler sought – to hide in plain sight.
Had he taken Charles to a place rarely frequented by people, they would have been conspicuous.
“Charles,” Tyler began, “Use the same volume of voice as me, and tell me what you were doing outside The Quest Guild, and why you were doing it.”
To accurately employ the “Deceiver’s” charm effect, Tyler had to specify a speaking target before he spoke. Otherwise, if there were others within a five-meter radius who met the conditions, they too would be affected.
Under the control of the charm effect, Charles detailed the mission Mayor Gideon had assigned him.
After hearing this, Tyler was able to make a rough judgment of the mayor’s next move.
Originally, Tyler had thought that Mayor Gideon would rush to take his revenge on The Quest Guild without consideration, but judging from the fact that he currently only assigned someone to follow and investigate Emilia, it seemed that the mayor was capable of keeping his cool and was somewhat strategic.
The more an opponent could suppress their emotions, the more explosive their energy often was when it erupted.
(Should I deal with him before the mayor completes his preparations…?)
Tyler was not unwilling to do this, but the risk was too great due to his current limited abilities.
At this stage, since the mayor had no intention of kidnapping Emilia, it would be better for Tyler to stall for more time.
At least he had to stall until he passed the advancement trial and acquired the skills of the second-tier profession before considering a direct confrontation with the mayor’s forces.
(I will have access to new equipment in two days.)
(I will leave a day for training and adapting to the new equipment.)
(I will need one more day for final preparations before the battle.)
(Well…I must challenge the trial at the latest by June 27th.)
For the sake of Emilia’s safety, Tyler compressed the schedule for challenging the trial to the extreme.
From now on, he only had a four-day countdown left.
·
After questioning Charles, Tyler did not do anything to him. He just used the “Deceiver’s” charm effect to return him to the place where he first stood, and then deactivated the skill.
Tyler had conducted experiments beforehand and found that people controlled by the “Deceiver’s” charm effect had no memory of the control period. Therefore, Charles would only find it strange, wondering why it seemed like a segment of his time had suddenly been skipped.
The rules of the charm effect had both advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage was that Tyler didn’t have to worry about personal information being leaked during the control period. No one would remember what they did during the period of control after the skill was deactivated.
The disadvantage was that the command given during the control period could not continue to be executed after the skill was deactivated.
For example, if Tyler commanded Charles to go back and kill Mayor Gideon with a knife, Charles would forget about this after he walked out of the five-meter effective range, and then he would be baffled, not knowing why he suddenly had a knife in his hand.
Limited by this, Tyler couldn’t make Charles a double agent for him.
As for why he didn’t kill him, it was because there was no need to stir up unnecessary trouble.
The enemy was in the light, while he was in the shadows. This was the ideal enemy-self relationship for Tyler’s style of operation.
.
During lunch, Tyler happened upon Granny Kasi at the Cat Girl’s Restaurant, though regrettably his “reliable companion” Emilia was not present this time.
Throughout their shared meal, Tyler noticed that Granny Kasi’s gaze would occasionally drift towards the young boy and girl at the neighboring table.
After a slight observation of Granny Kasi’s inner thoughts, Tyler seized the opportunity to initiate a conversation.
“Granny Kasi, you seem to have a great fondness for children,” he commented.
“Indeed…” Granny Kasi sighed faintly.
“My grandchildren, if they were still alive, should be about their age now.”
“I remember you mentioned last time that you lost contact with your family during the Big Migration, didn’t you?”
“Yes… It’s been so many years.”
Granny Kasi is still searching for her lost family. However, the search for relatives often becomes increasingly difficult as time goes on.
The world of Prison Star is different from Earth, with most of the land being wilderness and the proportion of towns being quite small.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, there are medium to large-sized wild beasts in the wilderness, and if you’re unlucky, you might even encounter demons.
In such a survival environment, ordinary people who are displaced and cannot quickly find a town to settle in will eventually die in the wilderness.
All Granny Kasi can hope for now is that her grandchildren are staying safely with their parents, and their family of four hasn’t been separated.
“So… Granny Kasi, are you planning to leave the Traveling Merchant Caravan soon?” Tyler inquired.
“Heh, you sure have a knack for reading people, young man,” Granny Kasi chuckled.
She did indeed have such plans, having pretty much searched the areas around Sunny Town and Gudetown. Her next destination was to look around Emerald City.
Should the caravan leader, Marik, and the others such as Lawrence not wish to go, Granny Kasi would have to move on her own.
— (The Earthly Ghost gave me a deadline of ten days… now there are only seven left.)
— (Regardless of whether the Earthly Ghost can give me useful information, I have to leave Sunny Town.)
— (I will quit the surveillance job at that time… and it will be a good opportunity to move away from this “dangerous person” Banning.)
Granny Kasi covertly observed the young man in front of her, who always seemed harmless.
The young man smiled and said to Granny Kasi, “That’s easy to guess because for you, family is definitely more important.”
“Yes, but let’s wait until Marik and the others return from GudeTown. I will miss them too.” 𝔬𝗏𝓵𝒩𝐞xt.𝔠𝓞𝑀
.
After lunch, Tyler bid Granny Kasi goodbye and returned to the inn for his “nap cultivation”.
However, due to obtaining a large amount of information from Granny Kasi at noon using his mind-reading technique, Tyler was a bit restless.
Ever since he learned that Granny Kasi was watching him, Tyler would occasionally think about whether or not to take action against her.
Don’t misunderstand, it’s not about conquering Granny Kasi, but considering whether to eliminate her.
The reason for Tyler’s hesitation is that even if he eliminates Granny Kasi, it would only be a temporary solution. The Earthly Ghost would surely find someone else to replace her and continue watching Tyler.
In this case, Tyler would have to spend more time finding the new observer.
And this is not the most serious problem.
The most serious problem is that if Granny Kasi is eliminated, it might arouse suspicion from the Earthly Ghost.
In a short period of time, two people assigned to monitor Sunny Town (Splurt and Kasi) are successively eliminated. If Tyler were in the Earthly Ghost’s position, he would definitely think that the observer has been exposed and it is likely that they have been killed by the surveillance target.
If the Earthly Ghost thinks so, what will he (it?) do next?
In the best situation, the Earthly Ghost will send two more people to monitor;
In the worst case, Tyler will have to face a formidable enemy appearing in front of him prematurely.
So, before figuring out the details of the Earthly Ghost, Tyler can’t move against Granny Kasi for the time being. Maintaining the status quo is the best option.
(However… searching for lost relatives, huh…)
(If there is a way to help her find them, it might be a potential point of entry.)