“Eradicating bribery is harder than eradicating any other sort of ailment a nation might possibly face. It is probably easier to eradicate all the mosquitoes in the world than to truly eradicate bribery as a practice.” - Shah Fareeza Levi of Caracan, circa 101 VA.

“As you can see, miladies, the local law enforcement forces are very susceptible to bribery,” stated Farouq as he led them back to the waiting room. “It helps that us merchants would be the greatest contributor to their salaries, in many ways. We likely pay them more in bribes than the Sultan ever did, so it’s not hard to make the constables see things our way.”

“Huh. I had thought the old fart I beat up would be the important sort with how self-important he was behaving back there,” noted Eilonwy. “Was he just some nouveau riche out on a stroll or something then?”

“Oh, not at all, milady,” replied Farouq with a grin. “A Bey is the local equivalent of a noble in the empire, a land-owning higher caste, so to speak, with great authority and all that… or at least they used to be that way,” he noted with clear amusement. “That was the case during the heyday of the Shahdom that predated the Sultanate, from a time before the dwarves even arrived to the north.”

“So they’re nowhere near that powerful these days, I assume?” questioned Kino.

“Indeed so. Where in the past a Bey would be in charge of an area around the size of half this Sultanate or more, with a city and typically many villages under their rule, the present Beys would be lucky if they even have a single village to rule over,” replied the half-dwarven merchant. “Mansour bin Masudrah don’t even have a village to call his, which is why he usually just struts around town trying to look all important to the people.”

“Ah, so he’s just a toothless one, all bark and no bite, huh?” commented Eilonwy.

“And a major cheapskate to boot!” added Farouq with a hearty guffaw. “Shouldn’t be a surprise that the constables were so willing to look the other way now, isn’t it? This trading house probably pays them the most in bribes out of the ones operating in Oajib since we’re one of the largest foreign traders operating here, so the good constable wasn’t stupid enough to offend the one paying for his livelihood for some upstart senile noble-in-name-only.”

“I guess that settles that problem, then,” said Kino with a relieved sigh. “Can we go on with what we came here for, Master Farouq?”

“Certainly, milady. If you would please wait here for a moment, I will prepare the information that might be of relevance briefly,” replied the merchant with a smile before he left them in the waiting room once more. Kino, Aideen, and Eilonwy just made themselves comfortable while they waited, enjoying the good tea and spice-laden local snacks while they waited.

“Here are all the information we gathered and considered potentially to be of import since the last visit, miladies,” said Farouq when he returned around ten minutes later with a collection of scrolls in hand. As deep sleeper agents of the Death’s Hand, people like him were generally told to watch out for anything that might become a threat to the lichdom, as well as the local trends.

Things like a ruler trying to put the Lichdom in a bad light was one such thing, which was easy enough to notice right away. What most agents rarely paid attention to, however, was how the populace felt about such propaganda. The Death’s Hand on the other hand paid more attention to the populace over other things.

Propaganda that was mostly ignored as a passing fancy of the lord would most likely go away with said lord, after all, whereas one that became accepted by the populace at large would live on for much longer. The latter case was considered a far greater potential threat than the former. The Lichdom tended to have a far longer view on matters, after all.

In fact, the deep sleeper agents were arguably something that went far beyond the imaginations of the disciples who first suggested forming an intelligence network to the Bone Lord so long ago. The Bone Lord himself took to the idea, and considered them a necessity for the eventuality that someday, their presence would prove to be of great importance for himself and the Lichdom in general.

Aideen watched passively as Kino and Eilonwy both went through the scrolls together. Kino did the reading since she was the one trained as a field agent, while Eilonwy mostly copied the information they considered relevant in shorthand to bring back. Naturally, not every bit of information would be brought home, only the ones that were considered relevant and potentially useful for the Lichdom.

“Beg your pardon, Milady,” said Farouq to Aideen while she watched the two at work. The half-dwarven man had adopted a humbler tone of voice, oddly enough, and bowed a little deeper than when they first met. “Pardon the inquiry, but may I ask if you would be the Lady deVreys, the Maiden in Silver from the bard’s tales?”

“Huh. Is it that noticeable?” Aideen asked back with some curiosity. For this trip she had forwent her typical off-white outfits and wore something that would be more common for someone from Elmaiya where they were pretending to be. She had even used an alchemical concoction to give her pale skin a healthy tan, though her silver hair did remain a standout.

“Only to those in the know, Milady,” replied Farouq with a deferential bow. “My late father had the fortune of having the chance to host you the last time you walked these lands a couple centuries ago. I thank my ancestors for having granted me the opportunity to offer you and yours our family’s hospitality once more, even after so long had passed,” he said. “Please allow me to arrange for your residence and refreshments while you remain in town. It would be the least we could do for such an honored guest.”