No matter how their business model had changed, it always remained a public-facing front and a means to fund their main activities. Their purpose hadn’t wavered from the start; everything was for the Goddess. So, naturally, the Eyes of the Goddess had an intelligence division directly under the top brass of the organization. I mean, there was nothing “natural” about that, but yeah...
Anyway, the Eyes of the Goddess possessed the exact skills I needed now. There was no way Emile would’ve sent me ordinary medicine peddlers.
“What I want is the original mission of the Eyes of the Goddess: gathering intel,” I explained. “I’ve got protection already...maybe even excessively so, so I’m good there. I need information on commoners—good people who are suffering from injuries or illness. And if you’ve got any spare capacity, I could use info on nobles or royals with injuries or illnesses too. I want details on whether they’re good or bad people, and whether they’d be useful.”
“Yes, ma’am!” two of them said at the same time.
Wait, only two? Oh...the Mouth.
“As for manipulating information and steering public opinion, we’ll save that for when info gets leaked or aristocrats start scheming and getting funny ideas.”
“Yes, ma’am!” the Mouth said.
We were all set. The three of them seemed to be getting emotional; I could see them trembling... Well, a devout believer being personally tasked with a mission from the Goddess they worshipped must’ve been pretty moving—especially when that mission was tied to the Eyes of the Goddess’s main purpose, so that was understandable.
“Hmm, so the Ange—I mean, free priestess—has hired bodyguards. A skilled young woman, at that. Good...improving her safety will always be a plus. This should prevent some idiot thug from picking a fight with her or any clueless lowlife merchants starting trouble. Yes, yes...”
The king let out a deep sigh of relief at the shadow’s report.
“And they’ve rented a house,” the shadow added.
“Excellent! There will be no more need to worry about guests at the inn harassing them or problems from ignorant nobles and merchants! Good, very good... Withdraw the temporary guard posts next to the inn and set up a new one near the house they’ve rented. This may be long-term, so be sure to pick a suitable building. Make sure the royal guards stationed there can live as comfortably as possible.”
“Understood, Your Majesty... Also, two groups that appear to be foreign agents have made contact with the free priestess.”
“Good, good... Wait, whaaat?!”
The king yelled at the shadow for saving the most critical part for last. It was understandable. The shadow likely figured starting with this piece of news first would cause such an uproar that the king wouldn’t have heard the rest of the report.
“Find out everything there is to know about those two groups! I’m increasing the budget and special allowances, so assign more shadows to it at once! The future of our kingdom—no, the continent—is at stake! I want the full, undivided efforts of the shadows put into this! Now go!”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Increased budgets and allowances would mean most expenses would likely be covered...even if they had to tail a target into an upscale restaurant or gather intel in a tavern. Of course, no one planned to commit fraud or falsify reports, but if one followed a target into such establishments, they would have to order some food and drinks. For the mission.
All right, might as well enjoy this a bit...strictly while doing what needs to be done for the mission, of course...
The intelligence agent was quite the character, it seemed... Though he had zero intention of slacking on the job.
“Here I am!”
“Here you are!”
Kyoko had arrived in the royal capital, having left her shop to a new manager and two employees, and only needed to go back weekly to restock its products. She’d also arranged with the Commerce and Hunter’s Guilds to help if there was any trouble at the shop. Apparently, she’d deposited a bond with the Hunter’s Guild branch, which would pay out the hunters if they had to act for whatever reason. If nothing happened, the payment would be refunded upon termination of the contract...minus the guild’s commission.
The orphanage had also agreed to help if needed. Two of their kids worked at the shop, and there was potential for more hires in the future. If those kids proved themselves, other shops might follow suit, so they had every reason to defend the shop with their lives. After all, the new manager was an orphan too. But there was one problem...
“Isn’t restocking a hassle? Can’t you just beam stuff down with your mothership?” I asked Kyoko.
“Ah...” she grimaced at my question. “I can’t just send goods by themselves, so I’d need to go along for the ride. But teleportation breaks matter down to the quantum level, sends it on a beam as energy waves, and reconstructs it at the destination, right?”
“Uh, probably...” I replied.
“Then wouldn’t you be dead the moment you got broken down?”
“What...?”
That was quite the bombshell.
“I mean, you’re being disassembled! Even if you’re put back together, that’s like saying, ‘We made a clone with your memories, so it’s fine to delete the original you, right?’ And even if your body and memories are replicated, can your soul and consciousness be copied? Those things can’t be scientifically explained yet, so assuming they’re not carried over, wouldn’t your rebuilt body just be a meat sack moving on your previous memories? Just a soulless, empty meat robot...”
“What...?” I muttered. This was getting scary.
“Come to think of it, Earth’s god did say something about collecting consciousnesses and souls or something,” Reiko added.
This was actually freaking me out.
“Oh, what about the ‘Anywhere Door’ method? That doesn’t break you down, but it warps space or uses another dimension to make a shortcut to the destination,” I asked.
“Remember what we talked about? The goddess said warping space-time and opening dimensional holes causes distortions, so that kind of magic is off-limits. Even if we used some sort of scientific method instead of magic, she’d probably say it was against the rules and shoot it down.”
Yeah, she had said something like that... Well, we had plenty of cheat powers already, so a bit of inconvenience wasn’t gonna kill us. We had all the time in the world, so there was no need to obsess over taking the shortest path. Dealing with some hassle and inconvenience can be kinda fun...NOT! It’s still a pain, no matter how you spin it!