The Kind of Evil-Chapter 343: Silent reports.

‎As the moon grew brighter, Rasmus decided to have a drink as well. His mind and body seemed to be in two different places. Aris and Rullein somehow chose to stay in the same room as him, watching him like an exotic animal.

‎"They’re here," Rullein said, staring out the window at nothing. "The Black Hands are here," she pointed out.

‎Rasmus paused before he could empty the whiskey in the glass. He made his hearing and vision more sensitive as he looked outside the window. He never thought that no matter how quiet someone moved, the sound of them breaking the wind, it would still make a sound.

‎"One... two... three..." Rasmus muttered under his breath as he listened to the sound of wind disturbances from all over town. "All of them are here," he nodded.

‎Rasmus went to the first floor of the inn and unlocked the door. When he opened the door, he didn’t see anyone and only darkness, but immediately one by one entered the inn without making a sound. They all hid their faces with the hood and the cloak they wore, blending into the night like ghosts that had just materialized when the light exposed them.

‎As soon as all of them entered the inn and Rasmus closed the door in front of him, he heard soft thuds. He turned around and saw all of them on their knees with their heads lowered.

‎"Rise, and have a seat..." Rasmus said, not needing such a grand greeting from his people. "Catch your breath first. The night is still long," he walked past them and sat at the counter.

‎All the Black Hands bowed down and went to the tables to sit. There weren’t enough chairs to sit on for some of them, so Rasmus told them to sit at the counter and the stairs while he stood in the middle of the room.

‎Rasmus ordered Ayla to bring glasses of water for everyone as he looked at the faces who stared at him with utmost respect. He used the time to get to know them by asking for their names and their skills. He turned the tension into a more comfortable and relaxing one.

‎"Pull out your reports," Rasmus said as he walked toward one of the tables.

‎"My Lord! Allow me to collect all the reports..." Erdinand said as he stood up.

‎"Sit..." Rasmus glanced at Erdinan with a cold gaze. "All of you have done enough task, almost an impossible one as well. I don’t need to be wrapped in cotton wool," he said as he took in the reports that the Black Hands handed him. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

‎Erdinand bowed his head and went back to his seat.

‎Everyone watched how Rasmus approached one table to another with his hands reaching out for the reports rather than waiting to be given to him. It was a simple thing, but seeing someone with such authority, he chose to treat them more than just underlings and a bit lower than subordinates.

‎Rasmus stood in the middle and read the reports one by one from each individual. The first thing he read was a noble family that would attend Amarylis’s coming-of-age ceremony. He found nothing suspicious of it and was quite surprised by how deep they dug in just three days.

‎Report after report, Rasmus read them and burned them into ashes. He then left a few reports in his hands, staring at them thoroughly for one more time. Those reports were the lead to what he wanted the Black Hands to investigate.

‎"Any of you met a Jester in the capital city?" Rasmus asked as he looked around with his arms crossed.

Slowly almost everyone raised their hands because they all had seen the Jester that Rasmus had met in the capital city. Those who didn’t raise their hands, they weren’t in the capital city and did their investigation somewhere else. Rasmus noticed how the Jester was so eccentric that it would be impossible for anyone to not pay attention to him. He then looked at Ayla who also raised her hand.

"Ayla, I want you to keep an eye on him. Protect him from death threats, other than that, you can just observe him in the distance," Rasmus said with a serious expression. "That Jester is my asset, don’t let him die," he continued.

"Understood, My Lord," Ayla bowed her head with understanding.

Rasmus nodded and then looked at the report again, leaving the room in silence for a moment. He read the report about Viscount Heward and how he reached where he was. He bought the Viscount title not long after the rebellion ended, where the Refenus Kingdom was in crisis. With such wealth and contribution, Heward became a noble and had a deep connection with the nobles that were a part of the Low-Table based on his father’s journal.

"There’s no evidence of him partaking himself in the Low-Table?" Rasmus looked at the Black Hands.

"We tried our best and we couldn’t find any sign of him of joining the Low-Table, My Lord," Deril answered with confidence. "However, we heard that he’s going to visit the capital city, and we can gather more information about him, My Lord," he continued.

Rasmus looked at Deril and his group at the table, surprised that they already knew about Heward’s plan of visiting the capital city. It hadn’t been a day and it was a private conversation that he had with Heward. He didn’t doubt the Black Hands’s capability to gather information, but he didn’t expect it to be this amazing.

"Even after all this years, there’s nothing suspicious about him?" Rasmus asked as he looked around.

"Every month for the past decade, we have been moving in the shadows all over the Refenus Kingdom and the neighboring nations. We didn’t find anything suspicious about Viscount Heward, My Lord. He’s purely opportunist, but not greedy enough like the nobles because he’s aware of his roots," Vena answered, there was no doubt in her voice. "Not all the nobles like him, My Lord. He’s a nouveau riche parvenu, and he knew that," she continued.

Rasmus hummed as he nodded with understanding, finding that Heward had the skill and the control to keep himself survive in the political world. He remembered how Heward pleaded that he wanted to survive, and it aligned with what Vena said. He then wondered if Heward knew something about what was looming underneath the beautiful kingdom he was living in.

Rasmus then looked at the other report, the guest list of people that were invited to the ceremony. He compared it with the one that Gorge gave him, and he saw they were identical. Once again, he was amazed by the skill of the Black Hands that could gather such information. He then looked at the names that were blacklisted by Gorge, the names that seemed suspicious in his eyes.

"These six names..." Rasmus showed the report that Gorge gave him. "Belvia Sottol, Jacques Coreu, Francesco Sorza, William Shecil, Mirelda Norbridge, and Meredith Seriche. Guild Master Gorge mentioned that these six people are unaffiliated with the nobles, which means they’re directly associated with the Royal family. I want all of you to investigate these names for me," he said with a serious expression.

"My Lord?" Daniel raised his hand.

"Yes?" Rasmus pointed his hand at Daniel, signaling him to speak.

"Belvia Sottol and Jacques Coreu used to be close aides of the Blackheart family during the late Count Erglade’s time. They aided him in dealing with the demonic cult back then, and unfortunately, they died during a mission," Daniel answered.

"Is that so?" Rasmus raised his brows as he looked at the names on the report. "Any background history about them?" He asked Daniel.

"We tried to gather any information about them, but we found nothing back then. Everything about them didn’t match from what they said. They seemed to appear and exist when they came to Blackheart’s estate, and the late Count didn’t trust them at all, but their skills were exceptional," Daniel answered.

Rasmus remembered what Gorge had said about these names, the names that he had never heard of before. He also remembered when Gorge said how confident he was when he knew someone that didn’t belong in the kingdom. However, Danile’s words contradicted Gorge’s, and somehow it made things more intriguing and yet disturbing.

"Let’s assume these names don’t belong to humans," Rasmus said with a serious look on his face. "Split into six teams, try and gather any information related to them. We have at least three weeks before Princess Amarylis’s coming-of-age ceremony. Go dark and into the unknown. Your safety is your number one priority, leave when you’re in danger, and that’s an order," he said with a stern look, staring at each one of them.

All the Black Hands bowed their heads without saying a word, only the sound of the rustling of their cloaks.

"Take a full-day rest, you earn it," Rasmus said, nodding his head as he walked toward the door and opened it for them. "Have a good night," he turned around to look at all the Black Hands standing, ready to leave.

One by one, all the Black Hands left the inn without making a noise, and as soon as they were bathed in the darkness, they disappeared without leaving a trace. Rasmus slowly closed the door, and his gaze was pointed at the door’s handle he was holding. His mind was somewhere else, finding the whole thing to be deeply rooted in something that he was unaware of.