Porter Steps Up

Matthew stared at the body-tempering herbs Regg had sent over, his thoughts drifting back to his experiences over the past few days.

Ever since Aidan had delivered the old documents purchased from the stall owner, Matthew had sent him to pay off the final payment and retrieve the rest of the materials.

The materials had been brought back in an old cloth bag. The papers were even more disorganized than before, but the content generally followed the same thread, making it a worthwhile acquisition.

Over the next few days, Matthew stayed at the inn during the day, enjoying three hearty meals while reading through the trivial details in the intelligence. In the evenings, he would head out for a stroll.

His harvest was indeed substantial. Through those daytime sessions, he gradually pieced together a basic outline of the noble factions in Abilan County—

though not deep, it was enough for him to see just how deep the waters of the inner city ran, allowing him to understand which families controlled which channels and how intricately their relationships were intertwined.

As for his evening strolls, they helped him familiarize himself with much of the inner city's local customs and geography.

Naturally, his greatest harvest was finding the inner city's black market.

From it, he had purchased quite a few treasures, including the prime magical beast meat he had sorely lacked back in Stone Mill Village!

With his current financial resources, he could easily afford to eat prime magical beast meat for every single meal!

Meanwhile...

...

Over the past few days, Aidan seemed highly encouraged by his initial success.

He continued to go out daily to gather information and unexpectedly found a similar piece of intelligence in another shop.

Remembering Matthew's prior instructions, he bought it immediately and brought it back to Matthew's room.

Matthew flipped through it for a quick comparison and found that the content largely overlapped with what he already had. Though there were occasional discrepancies in the details, the primary family names, industry distributions, and even some personal relationships corroborated each other.

This actually put Matthew's mind at ease—at least it proved that the previous document wasn't fabricated out of thin air, but was somewhat reliable information circulating in the streets.

While it was still far from detailed or confidential, it was the absolute limit of what an ordinary person could access.

What truly troubled Matthew was another matter: Aidan had consistently failed to gather any useful clues regarding "No. 7 Courtyard on Shizhong Road."

But on second thought, he understood. The place wasn't a noble estate, nor did it involve any power struggles or significant interests. In an intelligence network woven entirely around the nobility, it naturally drew very little attention.

Yet, this also meant the matter would be quite difficult to handle.

Matthew was unfamiliar with the place, and whether he tried to investigate using money or other means, he would likely harvest very little.

Thus, he thought of Porter.

The day before yesterday, Matthew had made a special trip to the Horn Chamber of Commerce to find Porter.

The process went far more smoothly than Matthew had anticipated.

First of all, following the map's guidance, he arrived at the street where the Horn Chamber of Commerce was located. This area was starkly different from the heavy, solemn style of the street where the Class Holders Guild stood.

The buildings on both sides of the street were far more magnificent and exquisite, their exterior walls often constructed of light-colored stone and decorated with carvings or metal inlays. The road was cleaner and wider, and the attire and demeanor of the passersby exuded the affluent atmosphere of the inner city.

The storefront of the Horn Chamber of Commerce was quite eye-catching, with a gilded horn-shaped emblem hanging above the dark wooden door.

Matthew pushed open the door and stepped inside. The lobby was softly and brightly lit, with intricate patterned carpets covering the floor, creating a quiet and elegant atmosphere.

Compared to the noisy, battle-hardened bustle of the guild lobby with over a hundred people moving about, the crowd here was much smaller, and the receptionists were all female.

They wore well-tailored uniforms, behaved elegantly, and spoke gently, their feminine touch making the service feel much more attentive and meticulous.

Matthew explained his purpose to one of the receptionists and gave his name.

Upon hearing his name, a polite smile appeared on her face, and she replied,

“Mr. Matthew, Vice President Porter has already left instructions. Please wait a moment, I will go inform him right away.”

A moment later, Matthew was led to Porter's office.

The room was tastefully furnished. Porter sat behind a wide desk, and upon seeing Matthew enter, an unvarnished, proud smile instantly spread across his face.

He stood up, his tone filled with joy.

“Matthew!”

“Have a seat.”

He gestured toward a seat on the side, then said with no small amount of showing off,

“I spent a fortune on this.”

After exchanging some pleasantries, Matthew didn't beat around the bush. He directly gave Porter the address of “No. 7 Courtyard on Shizhong Road” and frankly stated that he needed to know its background—including who lived there, what it was used for, and whether there was any special background.

As for the intelligence regarding the nobility, Matthew did not mention a single word.

For one, matters involving the nobility were highly sensitive and shouldn't be lightly discussed in the open.

Secondly, while those pieces of information weren't top-level secrets, they were still highly valuable. Laying them all out would be equivalent to owing Porter a significant favor.

Matthew was unwilling to do this—in his eyes, a debt of gratitude was often much harder to repay than gold coins.

Porter listened without asking many questions. He merely looked up at Matthew for a moment, then nodded and said,

“I'm not familiar with this place, but I can ask around for you. I'll get back to you within three days.”

Matthew thanked him and left the address of his inn.

When he offered to pay, Porter vehemently refused. Matthew didn't press the matter either and simply turned to leave.

Matthew snapped back to reality, drawing his gaze away from the herbs and looking out the window.

Calculating the time, there should be word from Porter soon—if not today, then tomorrow.

He only hoped to hear some concrete news, whether good or bad.

But he was in no hurry.

Even if Porter brought back solid news, Matthew planned to wait until he advanced to the Silver Rank before making any further plans.

As for that courtyard, with Aidan around, he could have him keep a continuous watch on it, so he wasn't worried about anyone beating him to the punch.

Turning his thoughts back to the case of herbs in front of him, he reached out and gently stroked the smooth wax paper packaging.

As for when to start the medicinal bath—Matthew felt the time was not yet ripe.

For one thing, he hadn't been at the Brass Rank for very long. Although the life energy in his body was abundant, it was far from reaching the upper limit of his current rank, leaving plenty of room for accumulation and growth.

For another, there were no urgent matters or significant targets during this period that warranted risking a failed breakthrough or potential damage to his foundation.

There was no need to rush the medicinal bath.

With this thought, a gentle knock sounded at the door. A moment later, an exquisite wooden tub was placed in the corner of the room.

Seeing that these minor matters had been handled, Matthew turned and pushed open the door, heading out toward the outer city.

...

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