Hmm?
Tiberius felt a tiny ping from his system and quickly pulled it up.
Title: "Lightning" (Fame: 2%)
The number had jumped from 1% to 2% overnight.
[What the hell does fame even do?] Tiberius wondered. [And why did it just go up?]
He didn't have time to puzzle over it, because the rumble of carriage wheels echoed down the road.
Lysandro Rogare and his retinue had arrived at the White Company's villa.
Lysandro wasn't making a big show of it—he'd chosen a relatively "modest" escort: ten swordmasters in silk robes and gleaming gilded scale armor, ten stunning handmaidens, and ten huge, dark-skinned axemen with golden collars and their lower lips cut away, clearing the path with those massive axes.
Lysandro himself rode in a luxurious litter carried by four strapping young slaves.
The second Tiberius saw the banker's entourage, his resolve hardened.
[Find his daughter, then I casually ask to study law, or bookkeeping, or just become a servant under my rich-kid buddy Lysaro. Anything to stay off the front lines!]
[If it all works out, I can chill in the rear, learn the books, learn the law, keep helping Lysaro look like the star of every hunting party… and the Dance of the Dragons and this stupid Three Daughters war can go fuck themselves. I'll be nowhere near it.]
Jules stepped forward, offering his hand to help Lysandro down from the litter.
"Welcome, my lord. Thank you for honoring us with your presence." Jules bowed respectfully. "Your arrival tonight will be written into the company records."
Yes, the White Company had an official record-keeper.
It was Vito Coppola.
Right now Vito stood off to the side, quill in one hand, parchment in the other, looking ridiculously proud as he chronicled what would surely become a legendary page in White Company history.
---
Lysandro greeted every sellsword he passed, shaking hands warmly. The new recruits ate it up. The veterans? Their eyes lit up the moment Lysandro slipped gold dragons into their palms.
[No wonder the man's the richest banker in Lys,] Tiberius thought, watching the performance. [That emotional intelligence alone would make anyone rich.]
Once Lysandro was seated at the center of the feast, the White Company cut loose.
Everything unfolded exactly as Tiberius had scripted.
Jules pretended to get drunk, swaying on his feet as he told the story of his "first vow"—the beautiful girl he'd sworn to protect, who vanished on the Kingsroad. The one and only time "the Honorable" Jules had ever failed to keep his word.
"That is why I refused Lord Lysandro's request this afternoon!" Jules raised his horn cup, face flushed. "It is my old wound. I became 'the Honorable' because I once failed. But today—two highborn ladies have disappeared!"
The sellswords listened in silence. Some of the younger ones actually teared up. Even the veterans wore looks of sudden understanding.
[So that's why the captain became "the Honorable." Because of love.]
[Who knew the old block of wood had a story like that…]
Jules's acting was… not great. While telling this "heart-wrenching" tale, his face stayed almost completely blank.
Vito kept his head down, scribbling notes, but his elbow kept slamming into Tiberius's ribs.
"Look what you did!" he hissed, barely holding in laughter. "Trust me, in a month the whole city will know Captain Jules Mord is a hopeless romantic who became 'the Honorable' for a woman. Seven Hells—you should see old Tom right now!"
He jerked his chin toward the spear captain at the next table. The big brute was openly wiping his nose with the linen tablecloth.
"He almost cried because of your story!"
Tiberius shot Vito a flat look.
"I could have refused the contract," Jules went on, voice rising dramatically (though his mouth kept twitching like he was fighting a grin). "The whole city watch searched Bloodwave Cape Road and came back empty-handed!"
"But tonight, I stake my name—'the Honorable' Jules Mord—on this. Lord Lysandro, I swear I will find your missing daughter!"
When Jules finished, tears were streaming down Lysandro's face, soaking the front of his fine robe. For the first time in public, the richest man in Lys had completely lost his composure.
"Thank you, Captain Jules… thank you…"
---
"Files are here, Tiberius."
The next morning Vito shook him awake. A small mountain of parchment scrolls sat on the table.
"Oh, and you'd better actually find Lysandro's daughter Seraphys," Vito added, expression a little strange. "The captain just bet his entire reputation on you. If you fail, it's over for him."
"And…" Vito's face grew even more awkward. "You're not planning to use… swamp witchcraft to find those girls, are you? Like the ugly charm your uncle gave me that actually keeps the mosquitoes away."
"Swamp witchcraft?" Tiberius blinked, playing dumb. "What's that?"
He'd seen [Swamp Witchcraft: Beginner] on his skill list but had zero clue what it did.
Now that Vito mentioned it, this was the perfect chance to learn more.
From the way Vito talked… did Uncle Jules actually practice witchcraft? Made charms?
Hard to picture the straight-laced, incorruptible-looking captain in robes, chanting spells…
Way too funny.
"Never mind," Vito muttered. "I just thought maybe…"
Tiberius wanted to dig deeper into the magic angle, but right now the priority was solving the case.
"By the way, Tiberius—you can read, right?" Vito asked, eyeing the mountain of scrolls. "You asked for this many files…"
It was a brutal question that hit Tiberius right in his weak spot.
The original Tiberius was basically semi-literate. All he'd cared about was training, spears, and eating two pounds of beef a day.
Pure mountain-bandit material. All he was missing was three bowls of wine and a tiger to fight.
"Ahem… Vito, it'd be faster if you read them to me," Tiberius said, embarrassed.
[Damn it, transmigrating into a half-illiterate body and still having to learn to read from scratch… Though if I actually solve this case, it'll make one hell of a story, right? "Tiberius cracks the big case by listening to the files."]
Vito started reading.
Three hours later…
"Vito, write this down," Tiberius said. "Most of the missing women had either silver-gold hair or red hair. And look—"
He pointed at the scroll Lysandro had provided.
"Seraphys Rogare—silver-gold hair, classic Rogare look."
"Lia Haen—her companion—red hair."
"And the pattern: victims almost always traveled in groups of two or three, usually women or with small children. Larger groups—five or more—were never touched."
"So… how does that help us find them?" Vito took a long drink of water, totally lost.
"Remember what I said about fishing, Vito?" Tiberius gave him a mysterious little smile.