Chapter 165: Late-Night Plotting

Late at night, in a small tavern near the university town, a solitary lamp flickered like a bean.

Lin Qi and Julian sat in a corner of the tavern, whispering with secretive expressions. The tavern owner, a deaf and blind old man with eyes as milky and lifeless as a dead fish’s, sat behind the counter, emitting strange, low hums from his nose from time to time, leaving it entirely unclear whether he was awake or asleep.

This tavern, entirely in keeping with Lin Qi's consumption philosophy, was cheap—very cheap. Beer as watery as rainwater, black bread frozen as hard as a stone, and a few slices of sausage cut so thin they were practically transparent—this was the midnight snack of Lin Qi and Julian.

Those slices of sausage were indeed sliced so thin that Julian had the illusion he could blow them away with a single breath. On a plate a foot and a half wide, there were only seven pieces of such heartrending thinness! While marveling at the deaf-mute owner's exquisite knife skills, Julian could only suppress his appetite and force himself not to look at them again, silently gnawing on his bread and drinking his beer.

The richer Lin Qi became, the more tightfisted he grew. Julian had already developed a profound understanding of this trait.

"Hmm, that Alham is plotting something. Torin, that pretty boy, hah! A family mage? Do you believe it?" Lin Qi muttered incessantly. "They definitely have countermeasures against plotting, I'm certain of it. They have ties to the Church, there's no doubt about that. But they've caused such a huge mess yet haven't sought help from the Cathedral of the Holy Radiance—that gives one food for thought, Julian!"

Julian nodded repeatedly in deep agreement. Everything Alham and his companions did radiated an air of bizarreness. Although Lin Qi and the others were scheming behind the scenes, Alham's party shouldn't have been reduced to such a miserable state. Ya and Ling were clearly divine spellcasters proficient in fire-type divine arts; they must have held extremely high positions within the Church. According to reason, having lost all their money and possessions, given their background in the Church, they should have directly appealed to the Cathedral of the Holy Radiance for rescue.

The Cathedral of the Holy Radiance possessed immense strength—truly formidable strength. Merely its three major violent organs under its direct jurisdiction—the Tribunal, the Penal Office, and the Order of Knights—boasted over ten thousand powerful divine service personnel. Given the identities of Ya and Ling, they only needed to notify the Cathedral of the Holy Radiance to have at least dozens of status knights protect them.

With dozens of status knights, even if Lin Qi and his crew wanted to strip the topsoil off Number One Holy Radiance Avenue, it wouldn't be such an easy task.

"They're definitely plotting something!" Lin Qi looked solemnly at Julian. "Keep a close eye on that Torin. Tishio actually agreed to let him become a secretary in the Ministry of Interior. Damn it, everyone knows what kind of power a secretary in the Ministry of Interior holds. Even though those two women are quite attractive, Tishio shouldn't be taking this kind of risk."

Julian shrugged. "But boss, Lord Tishio isn't taking any risks."

Lin Qi sighed. "That's right, the one taking the risk is me! If Torin really becomes a secretary in the Ministry of Interior, and if Tishio, because of his relationship with Ya and Ling, arranges for the others around Alham to infiltrate the imperial court as well, then I'm going to have a really fun time!"

Shaking his head with a trace of fatigue, Lin Qi narrowed his eyes and took a massive gulp of beer. "Yet before squeezing out the remaining value from them... I really can't bear to finish them off. At the very least, if we send those two women to Tishio's bed, we can still make two million oojias! Two million oojias, Julian, that's a huge sum of money, and we absolutely cannot waste a single copper coin!"

Gazing deeply at Julian, Lin Qi wore a very serious expression. "Mountains of gold and silver are piled up coin by coin; we cannot ignore any bit of profit! Even if we take a little risk, we must squeeze every last copper coin out of them!"

Julian nodded hastily, breaking into a smile as well. "Besides, the five official positions for my family haven't been settled yet. We'd better get those women into bed as soon as possible!"

Lin Qi also nodded earnestly. Julian was his own brother; if the five elders of his family could secure the five positions promised by Tishio, it would be extremely beneficial for the future development of the Iron Fist Brotherhood. Therefore, they couldn't eliminate Alham's group just yet, even though they were suspected of colluding with Arthur.

Squeezing out every last drop of grease from them and then cleanly eliminating them—only this approach suited Lin Qi's personality.

The door of the small tavern was suddenly pushed open, and Enzo, covered entirely in snow, walked in grumbling. "Damn it, those instructors roped me into corvée labor. Good grief, a deserted campus in the middle of winter, and they made us dig snow-holes for cover and keep watch according to field scout standards."

Rushing over to the table, Enzo grabbed Lin Qi's mug and took a huge gulp of the liquor. Letting out a long sigh of relief, he winked and smiled broadly at Lin Qi.

Lin Qi raised an eyebrow. "Good news?"

Enzo smiled with an exceptionally suggestive expression, pulling a brand-new set of reserve shoulder insignia from his pocket and attaching them to his shoulders. "Reserve major, boss. I've been promoted. The battle merits we established were confirmed by the Ministry of War, and during the day, the official dispatch from the ministry arrived at the school. That's why the instructors dragged me off to stand guard for the whole day!"

With a long sigh, Enzo triumphantly tossed a few silver coins backward, and they landed precisely on the counter. "Drinks, meat, old Luke!"

The deaf-mute tavern owner beamed from ear to ear as he stood up. He grabbed the silver coins and promptly served Lin Qi and the others a cup of potent liquor each, slicing up a huge platter of smoked goose and beef for them.

Lin Qi exclaimed in admiration, "Truly wonderful! The efficiency of the Ministry of War is impressive indeed. Any medals?"

Enzo laughed heartily. "Hah, the Empire's Second-Class Medal of Valor! With this medal, when I graduate, I can join the regular army with my reserve rank! Boss, let's have a drink! When school starts in the spring, the principal will present me with the medal and ribbon at the opening ceremony. You must come and see the spectacle—you absolutely must!"

Lin Qi readily agreed to Enzo's request, raising his glass and clinking it fiercely against Enzo's.

Julian's eyes were bloodshot with envy. Although he already knew what Lin Qi and Enzo had done in Dunkirk, seeing Enzo promoted to reserve major still made Julian wish he could strip every last copper coin off Enzo's body out of pure jealousy.

Lin Qi rubbed his hands together excitedly. "Well then, now we need to discuss things properly. Julian, send someone tomorrow to call Vic back; we have a lot of things to start doing. First, the issue of expanding and developing our Iron Fist Brotherhood. Second, the issue of our graduation a year from now. Lastly, the issue of the things we should be doing and watching out for lately."

Taking a deep breath, Lin Qi threw his head back and laughed loudly. "Wonderful days await us, more golden oojias await us. We must stay focused, we must be cautious. Tomorrow's gathering at Tishio's place—we will all attend together!"

Under the dim light, the three men huddled together and began to murmur in low voices.