Su An froze where he was.
The Emperor set down his glass. There was a trace of sympathy in the way he looked at him—but far more schadenfreude.
"She's afraid."
Afraid?
Lappland—the one who had been thrown into the arena, wounded, and never made a sound. The Lappland who in the future would kill without blinking, who even now could kill without blinking, who acted crazed and unhinged in front of outsiders.
She could be afraid?
Su An didn't believe it for a second.
Lappland had stayed in a room with an adult ripper-beast without showing the slightest fear. If she could be afraid, pigs could climb trees.
"You're overthinking it." Su An waved a hand dismissively. "She's just tired today. Her old friend came, after all. Big emotional swings are normal."
The Emperor shot him a sidelong look. "Go on then. Keep messing around."
"What exactly am I messing around with?"
"Sure, sure. You're not messing around at all."
Seeing Su An still wearing that heartless, oblivious expression, the Emperor couldn't be bothered to argue anymore. Besides, he was actually curious what would happen if this idiot kept pushing things to the limit—what kind of wish the little wolf he cared about would eventually make.
"Back to business. Why did you ask me to gather intelligence on Brunello City and Columbia?"
"What else? Just in case. I can't exactly leave right now."
"Siracusa's going to descend into chaos first. The three families are already locked in open and covert struggles, and the situation's going to change drastically sooner or later. Terra too."
Su An spread his hands.
The Emperor frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I drift around every day. I see more than you do."
Su An floated up into the air and crossed one leg over the other. "That big rebellion in Ursus just ended, and they're already starting new nonsense."
"Columbia's developing fast too, running all sorts of shady experiments. And then there's the Victorian royal family—you should know about that one..."
"No need for me to explain the principle that what is long united must divide, and what is long divided must unite. Some nations are growing stronger, others are weakening. Terra has never been a peaceful place."
"So?"
"So in a few decades, Terra might really erupt into chaos."
"Not little skirmishes, either. The kind of chaos that could change the entire balance of Terra."
The Emperor fell silent.
He had lived a long time and seen more wars than Su An had eaten bowls of rice—though, admittedly, Su An might never have eaten rice at all.
But he knew Su An wasn't wrong. This land had never truly been at peace, and before every great upheaval, there were always signs like these.
"So you're getting ready to take on another big job?"
"Listen to you. You make it sound like I'm some kind of arms dealer." Su An snorted. "I'm just going with the flow. Taking advantage of the muddy waters to pick up a little trash."
Even if he hadn't been a transmigrator and didn't know the plot, Su An felt that merely drifting through the world as an observer would've been enough to notice what was coming.
Of course, he did know the plot. But to avoid any butterfly effect, he generally preferred gathering information himself, then acting in accordance with the situation—picking up wish-power from people in mortal danger and the like.
Besides, in a place like Terra, with one extinction-level threat after another, he was genuinely afraid all these little animals might accidentally wipe themselves out. If all living beings died, where exactly was he supposed to keep earning wish-power from?
The Emperor was quiet for a while, then tipped his head back and drained his drink.
"Fine. So what's your plan? Keep following that little wolf brat?"
"What else would I do?" Su An spread his hands. "I can't leave right now. Her wish-power may be small, but it's steady. I earn a little every day just by keeping her company. Where am I supposed to find another premium client like that?"
"Premium client?" The Emperor gave him a long look. "What the hell, do you think she's some kind of cash machine?"
"More or less. But this particular cash machine happens to be good-looking, and I like looking at her. What's wrong with sticking around for a few more years?"
The Emperor couldn't be bothered to pursue that line of conversation and instead asked, "A long time ago, you told me that the more intelligence you have, the less wish-power you have to spend. What did you mean by that?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. If I've got enough information, it's easier to make precise adjustments. Sometimes I don't need to brute-force things with raw wish-power. Isn't that great?"
He grinned.
"Got it? Intelligence is basically a discount coupon."
The Emperor nodded. That logic, he understood.
"So you've been collecting information all over the place just to save a little when you take jobs later?"
"Exactly." Su An reached out and patted the Emperor's shoulder in satisfaction—though, naturally, his hand passed through empty air.
"I've never seen anyone as stingy as you."
"What?!"
Su An exploded immediately. "Do you have any idea how hard wish-power is to save up? I stayed with that little brat for six years—talking to her, laughing with her, spacing out with her every single day. Do you know how much I've saved over those six years? I could tell you, and you'd die laughing—enough to make it so not a single feather could grow on your body!"
The Emperor lowered his head and looked at himself.
"...Who the hell are you taking a shot at?"
"I'm just telling the truth." Su An lounged there with one leg crossed, swaying smugly.
The Emperor finished his last drink and thumped the cup down on the table.
"Fine. Enough nonsense. Let's talk about something real. Those things you wanted investigated? My people have more or less figured them out."
"That fast?"
"The hell do you think I am?"
"In Brunello City, the Moretti family's people have been unusually active lately. And not just them—several smaller families have been making secret contact too."
Su An arched a brow. "They're making a move against the Saluzzo family?"
"They're making a move for the Originium trade," the Emperor corrected him. "More than one family has their eye on the Texas family's route. The Saluzzo family wants to eat the whole thing alone—why would anyone else be happy about that?"
"Does that old fox Alberto know?"
"He probably does. But what good does knowing do? Knowing and solving the problem are two different things. Unless..."
Su An was silent for a moment, then nodded. "Got it."
The Emperor looked at him. "You planning to get involved?"
"Not involved." Su An spread his hands. "I'm just a ghost. What am I supposed to get involved in? But when my clients get involved, I do need to keep an eye on things from the sidelines."
"The hell do you mean that's not getting involved?"
"That's called after-sales service. Learn the difference."
The Emperor couldn't be bothered to argue anymore. Besides, he could already tell that Su An's relationship with that little wolf brat wasn't entirely a client relationship—but he had no interest in saying it out loud.
The Emperor stood up and brushed at nonexistent dust on his body.
"Alright. I've told you the intel. I'm leaving. Be careful. Don't play yourself into a trap."
"Relax. They can't even see me."
The Emperor walked out without looking back, but when he reached the door, he suddenly stopped and glanced over his shoulder.
"Oh, right. If that little wolf brat asks where you went, what are you going to tell her?"
Su An froze.
But the Emperor didn't wait for an answer. He pushed the door open and left.
What could he say?
Tell the truth? Say that he'd gone out to drink and chat with a penguin, and incidentally pick up some intelligence?
If he did that, Lappland would definitely ask: How do you know a penguin? What's your relationship? Did you used to accompany other people like this too?
And if she started asking, it would never end.
If he didn't tell the truth?
If he just kept being vague?
Then those words the Emperor had spoken earlier—
She's afraid.
"Damn it."
For once, he swore under his breath.
Then he decided to put it aside for now and deal with it later.
Su An drifted out of the tavern.
He had no intention of returning to the Saluzzo estate yet, because he still had other clients to keep company.
Besides that, after accompanying them, he still needed to gather more intelligence. The Emperor was good at collecting information, sure—but no matter what, it would never be as detailed as actually being there in person to watch and listen for himself.
"Busy... I'm dying from being busy..."
-------
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