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On May 7, 1346, Wednesday morning in Backlund, Aaron was awakened by his valet, took care of his personal hygiene in the washroom, and changed into a splendid silk suit with the help of his valet.
After the party that night, after several days of fermentation, the struggle between the New Party and the Conservative Party intensified, and worker parades broke out daily on the streets of the East Borough and Docklands.
Even in the well-policed West Borough and Empress Borough, with the instigation of certain individuals, even if there were no parades, slogans calling for the abolition of the grain act were everywhere.
Aaron, sitting in his carriage, glanced at the banners on the street before retracting his gaze; the fate of the grain act was already sealed, and he did not care.
Today, he was heading to the research and development studio in Backlund's St. George Borough; after two days of preparation, Harland had put the bicycle development work on track.
To facilitate his acting and digestion in the East Borough and Docklands, he decided to use the death mask to change his appearance and avoid being recognized.
To have more time to act, apart from going to church for prayer and necessary social engagements, he would come to the studio to cover his tracks.
In St. George Borough, after getting out of the carriage and entering the studio, Aaron made an appearance for inspection, then walked towards a specially reserved cubicle deep inside.
Entering the cubicle, he put on the death mask, and his face contorted, transforming into the tall and robust stranger, Lucian Joseph.
He changed into the bounty Hunter outfit hanging on the cubicle's clothes rack, took out 100 pounds in cash, and Darren's forged identification, putting them in his pocket.
After checking everything and confirming it was correct, Aaron's spirituality diffused, pouring into the mask, and abstract oil paintings, similar to colorful ones, appeared before his eyes, with rich colors all around.
As if only a few seconds passed, all of this abruptly disappeared, the colors faded, and Aaron found himself in a slightly dim corner; a platform nearby was marked with the platform name—"Backlund Bridge area, Iron Gate Street."
Aaron walked out of the corner and came to the Brave Bar deep in Iron Gate Street; during the day, the Brave Bar was sparsely populated, as those drunkards apparently only came here to relax after work in the evening.
The bartender, who had been squinting and looking listless behind the counter, quickly stood up when he saw a customer, smiling and saying:
"Sir, what can I get you? I have authentic Southville beer here, sourced from..."
Before the gentleman could finish, Aaron interrupted him, replying coldly: "A glass of sonia blood wine."
The bartender did not get angry; instead, he became even more enthusiastic.
After the bartender served the wine, Aaron motioned for him to lean closer, whispering:
"Are there any high-paying bounties recently?"
The bartender looked at Aaron's attire, guessing that this gentleman must have just arrived in Backlund, so he replied with a smile:
"Of course, we Brave Bar are always the best-informed place." He didn't forget to advertise himself as he spoke.
"My name is Kaspars Kalinin, how should I address you, sir?"
Aaron maintained a cold expression, replying briefly: "Lucian Joseph."
Kaspars did not mind Aaron's cold attitude; many bounty Hunters had their own personalities. As long as the task could be completed and the bounty collected, none of this was an issue.
He chuckled: "Mr. Lucivide, there is indeed a commission here, and the reward is substantial; many bounty Hunters have received this task, but none have completed it to this day."
Aaron's eyes flickered, and he drank all the sonia blood wine in one gulp, accepting the task.
Walking out of the Brave Bar, Aaron looked at the note he had received from Kaspars, reading the commission information.
The client was a merchant from the Southern Continent; he had brought back a batch of precious collected paintings from the Southern Continent, which were stolen by a group of thieves when his ship docked at the pier.
The client was very anxious about this and was willing to offer 500 pounds in cash as a reward, only requiring the location information of the group of thieves to claim the bounty, without needing to risk entering or engaging with the thieves.
Aaron's brows furrowed as he read; there were many suspicious points in this commission.
What kind of paintings were so precious that they were worth a 500-pound cash reward? Since they were so precious, why not report it to the police and let them handle it, instead of going to the trouble of offering a reward?
Just knowing the exact location information would earn the reward, and it even noted not to enter privately and alert the thieves; was he planning to deal with that group of thieves himself?
It seems this merchant from the Southern Continent is not simple.
Suppressing his doubts, Aaron went to the Docklands based on the information provided by the client, observing and searching the ship where the theft occurred that day.
Interestingly, Aaron found that several people dressed similarly to him were also searching here, and a sense of urgency naturally arose.
As his first commission in Backlund, Aaron still wanted to achieve it perfectly; a good start always brings unexpected gains.
"The competition is too fierce; I still need to be clever to overtake them," Aaron thought to himself.
Aaron looked around and finally found a dark-skinned man with obvious Southern Continent features in a corner; he was anxiously saying something to a man dressed as a captain.
Aaron walked over, vaguely hearing words like thieves and calling the police.
The man dressed as a captain stopped arguing and turned to leave; the dark-skinned man's face was gloomy, and he looked up at Aaron approaching, saying impatiently:
"Is there something you need?"
Aaron's steps forward paused, but he still walked up to him.
Just now, the moment this man looked up, perhaps due to emotional fluctuations, Aaron's spiritual intuition, which far surpassed Beyonders of the same Sequence, was slightly touched, and Aaron clearly felt an inexplicable malice.
"He is a Beyonder? Low Sequence and with obvious malice, from the Southern Continent, he should be a Beyonder from an Mutant Pathway. He should be from the Rose School of Thought of Thought of Thought of Thought, right?"
"I just don't know if he's from the Temperance Faction or the Hedonist Faction; if he's from the Temperance Faction, that's fine, but if he's from the Hedonist Faction, I need to be careful."
"His emotional fluctuation just now led to his spirituality leaking, and it didn't give me a spiritual warning, so his strength shouldn't be strong. A Sequence 9 Prisoner, or a Sequence 8 Lunatic?"
Aaron appeared calm on the surface, but his heart twitched slightly; encountering someone from the Rose School of Thought of Thought of Thought of Thought on his first bounty mission was truly not a good sign.
Aaron suppressed his emotions and spoke calmly: "Sir, I am a bounty Hunter who received a bounty mission. Are you the client who posted the bounty mission?"
The dark-skinned man opposite him showed a smile on his face, asking somewhat eagerly: "Have you found any clues about that damned group of thieves?"
Aaron slowly shook his head, looking at the man's gradually unfriendly expression, and Aaron added:
"Although I don't have any clues about that group of thieves right now, if you are willing to lend me an item closely related to that batch of stolen paintings."
"Give me two days, and I can give you a result."
Since this matter was related to the Rose School of Thought of Thought of Thought of Thought, Aaron no longer planned to investigate slowly; he intended to use Darren's divination to pinpoint that group of thieves.
He wanted to see what item was worth all their trouble? He now needed to convince this guy to provide a divinable medium.
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