Alien world

Chapter 1889, Section 522: The Underestimated Annam
Every country has an intelligence agency subordinate to its monarch. Even in a barbaric country like an empire, where actions are taken at will, the military department is affiliated with an independent intelligence agency.

Regardless of whether or not they can gather information, or how they do it, even if imperial intelligence agents storm into the target's house, kill everyone who sees them, including their youngest daughter's dog, drown the target in the bathtub, and ransack the study to find the information they're looking for, they're still considered intelligence agents.

The Orr Empire is very good at intelligence gathering. After all, they are a "nation of nobles" and always need some less violent ways to maintain the dignity of the nobility.

The ratmen are the best at it all, infiltrating, disguising, stealing, and even getting the king's orders before the cabinet.

As for other races, as pure barbarians, orcs do not need intelligence personnel.

Dwarves are secretly passionate; they know everything, are curious about everything, yet pretend not to know or not to be curious. They might like to get close to you, but once they sober up, they'll act like they're some kind of dwarf master and won't talk to you.

This was vividly demonstrated in the process of Liberty City's contact with them—they were so craving the liquor brewed in Liberty City that waves of dwarves came, ostensibly to supervise the distillation process but actually to mix the liquor with their own. Among them were noble bloodlines such as "Warhammer," "Barrel," and "Blackbeard," and they bought up 95 percent of the distilled liquor produced.

Logically speaking, with the two sides having reached this level of communication, shouldn't more trade and agreements already be under negotiation?
There wasn't even a trace of it!
Even though the dwarves spend tens of thousands of gold dollars every month in Free City and secretly meet with dwarves like Bronzebeard at the blacksmith's shop, they've barely even met any officials from the Treasury. Even when Ingrid tries to see them, they seem indifferent.

If it weren't for the boxes and boxes of dwarven gold coins being delivered to Free City, dwarves would be passing out drunk on the main street outside the tavern every day, only to wake up in prison the next day and think they were living the Elven dream.

Speaking of elves... if something popular in human society reaches the elven royal court twenty years later, then they are considered well-informed.

If it weren't for Tedel's personal promotion of it in the royal city, and the fact that magical images were so appealing to these long-lived beings who pursued art, they might still be asking, "What are magical images?" ten years later.

Liberty City also has its own intelligence agency—the Voice of Liberty newspaper, which is scattered across Liberty Streets around the world, headed by Evelyn.

However, apart from Evelyn and a few others, most of the newspaper staff and bards were unaware that they were intelligence agents.

Fake intelligence agent: Join a prestigious intelligence organization and secretly infiltrate other factions to gather intelligence.

A true intelligence agent: Joins a perfectly normal company and honestly does their job.

The best intelligence agent is one who doesn't even know he is one!

With the help of these excellent "intelligence personnel" who could gather information everywhere, Olmedo obtained information about the insane girl.

The kingdom of the Feather King is located in the west-central part of Wilhelm, and has an unremarkable name: Elva.

But besides these, it has countless other names: the land of origin; the capital of divine revelation; the ancient pilgrimage site; the ancient sacrificial altar.

Because not only is the Feather King the oldest Supreme King, but Elvar is also the oldest human nation.

The Wizard's Temple is here, the ancient interdimensional portal is here, and the Sanctuary is here as well.

Even before the Divine Eye existed, the Divine Human Council was held here.

Even the golden families of the Tattun Empire and the Orl Empire originated from Elva, and the ancestors of the Reeves family can also be traced back there—it was there that humans learned blacksmithing from dwarves, crafts from elves, and combat from orcs, thus establishing themselves. It is no exaggeration to say that Elva is the birthplace of humankind.

In such a place, the chosen one appointed by the King of Elvar should be known to everyone, so the fact that there has been no news about him until now is quite strange.

Spies from various countries, especially those from the other twelve kings, tried every means to gather information.

Free City had few people in Wilhelm, so they went to Elva and, following the instructions to "find someone behaving strangely and acting erratically," finally—the Crystal King's spies got the information.

It seems to have nothing to do with the intelligence agents in Liberty City; it's probably the Crystal King's spies who are incredibly powerful.

But what if the intelligence was obtained by stealing it from the Crystal King's spies?
It's like Lera, who can't catch any fish, throws her hook into another fisherman's basket.

Fake intelligence agent: Risking their life to uncover secret information unknown to anyone, they report back to headquarters and are promoted to legendary investigator.

The real intelligence agents: steal secret information that other intelligence workers risk their lives to uncover, information that no one else knows.

However, it's hard to say whether the Crystal King intentionally leaked the information.

The battle for the Supreme King is contested by thirteen chosen kings. The greater the threat, the more likely the king will be targeted.

Because of Elva and the Feather King's status among humans, the mad girl received the most attention and importance, followed by Isabeg Römm, who inherited the Mud King, and the Tower Knight Leo Song Shield.

The rest are either unknown or have long been figured out and have no secrets left.

Annan was among them, and ranked near the bottom.

Undeniably, since Annam appeared, the many new and popular things it brought have made the Central Plains more lively and somewhat different.

But the competition is different; it takes a different form. How smart you are, how famous you are, how powerful you are... doesn't prove anything.

For example... ever since the fall of the Mud King, the other kings have been looking for candidates to compete for the throne.

The eleven people who have stepped forward today are not random choices, but elites who have been observed, cultivated, and taught for years or even decades, and even several generations have worked together to prepare for this moment—which is why the crazy girl is so noteworthy.

That being said, if the Empire weren't too lazy to go through all this fancy stuff, and had always just picked someone at random when the battle was about to begin, Annam would never have had the chance to do this.

Therefore, the other Supreme Kings who knew the Tatum Empire's style of doing things did not consider Annan a formidable enemy. Before investigating Annan thoroughly, they thought he was just an ordinary King of the North. The Reeves family was also a former branch of the Orr Empire's Isaac family. They assumed that this was just another random choice by the Empire and did not take him seriously.

Moreover, there is too much intelligence about Annam, good, bad, gossip... even many common people in the Central Plains can say a few words about it. If you were to collect all the intelligence about him and put it on the table, people would surely ask, "Why are you putting so many pornographic books on my table?"

(End of this chapter)