«What was the pa.s.sword at our previous meeting?» - Sauron asked suddenly.

Kyon's heart skipped a beat. He was being checked! – «I guess it was "boiled kebab," wasn't it?»

«How long have we been working together?»

«Long enough to trust each other with our lives, big brother.» - Guiming said sentimentally, sniffing his nose. He looked up, his eyes full of blind faith and respect.

Sauron carefully looked into his eyes and made a decision. Guiming was not guilty of anything. It made no sense to suspect him.

«You are absolutely right, the sixth brother. Keep it up. I will recruit new people to replace your dead brothers. We'll talk about it at the next meeting.»

«Thank you, big brother.» - Kyon said respectfully. It was close..

Sauron jumped up and disappeared in the dark opening.

Kyon left the sewers, moving cautiously. In the changing room of a clothing store, he changed his appearance to avoid a possible tail. Meanwhile, his rats were watching the five brothers. At some point, the most dangerous and wild second brother heard the rat and finished it with a crossbow bolt at once.

Kyon winced painfully and continued to spy on the others. It would be a shame to miss two fattest fish. Apparently, getting rid of the syndicate wasn't going to be a snap.

Late in the afternoon, the robbers left Boston and went to their new meeting points to get in touch with subordinate gangs. Kyon could see the sc.u.m of the human race as clear as day. He could wipe off the face of the earth the whole life's work of Sauron in a day.

Kyon returned to the department and studied the files until late in the evening. These cases were different from the crimes he had been investigating on the second floor in their scale and importance.

For example, some serial maniac had been regularly kidnapping beautiful women for many years. The residents were worried and afraid of becoming yet another victim, but the ministry was helpless. There was no evidence, no information. Just nothing!

The day was relatively quiet and calm. Only Grek Brown tried to drill a hole in the back of Kyon's head, looking at him with cold contempt, the rest did not pay any attention to the rookie.

Late in the evening, Kyon memorized the last case by heart and got a rough idea of the most serious crimes in Boston. About 10% of cases were related to the robbers, another 10% to the guild of killers, and about 50% were committed by the guild of thieves, i.e., thefts of varying degrees of severity. The latter rarely left any traces behind, and even if they did, it was of no significance. There was no good evidence apart from a long black hair.

Kyon decided to accelerate the process of smell modernization to get even more advantages. He entered the Synergy saving mode, significantly reducing its consumption on the birds and the rats, and directed its excess to the conversion process.

The remaining 30% of cases were related to various types of criminal activity, such as drugs, smuggling, illegal slavery, corruption and tax evasion.

Kyon's eyes sparkled cunningly. Why did he start working as an investigator? To gain strength, power and influence, and above all, to reallocate resources! That's what he decided to do: stoop to blackmail. It's rare to find anyone with clean hands. The time had come to turn it to his advantage.

He immediately went to the file room with information covering the citizen's income to get a more detailed picture of the budget distribution within families and income tax returns. This activity would give a terrible headache to an average person, or it would take a tedious monthly data a.n.a.lysis. Kyon did everything automatically, through the prism of mathematical / economic methods. He looked through the numbers to get the gist. He could make out all possible gaps, flaws and a.s.sumptions in the official income doc.u.mentation.

After he a.n.a.lyzed all the data for the last ten years, he developed a holistic picture of the financial situation in the first ten families. Despite strict laws, every family name was more or less sullied. Oddly enough, the Stones took the first place while the rest of the families were significantly far below them. It was about hiding particularly large profits, and given the tax... If the Kyon wanted to, the Stones would go bankrupt in a month. He got a taste of intoxicating power! Kyon was just an investigator of the 3rd rank, and he could already take resources from the elite of the kingdom!

Kyon could understand the Stones. They barely made ends meet because of the enormous mining tax. Patriarch Bai had to find a way to avoid paying taxes to keep his family together. But was it a n.o.ble act.

By the early morning, Kyon had composed nine long letters, put them in the envelopes and sent them anonymously by top priority bird mail to the patriarchs of the first nine families. The seal of a high-ranking investigator, which was almost impossible to fake, obliged them to take the letter seriously.

He decided to leave the Stones be. He had just built good relations.h.i.+ps with them, and Bai was doing his best to tie Kyon to his family... Good for him. Besides, Bai protected his granddaughter, Kyon's slave. What a loveable character, so beneficial.

In the early morning, Charge and his subordinates entered the department. The investigators did not take their eyes off Kyon while they were heading towards him. Their faces were burning with emotions that were far from admiration: contempt, neglect, disgust, and anger.

Grek banged his fist on the rookie's table and said in a stern voice like a judge who was pa.s.sing sentence on a nasty criminal:

«Well, well, well. It turns out that you got into the investigator position through the back door, didn't you? We have been working for years to get each next rank, and then you come and, voila, you reach our level in one day. How's that? You think you're real smart, don't you?»

Kyon wearily ma.s.saged his temples, feeling a growing headache. Of course, it was only to be expected that the best investigators would initiate their own inquiry of his personality. However, he would not have changed anything.

Charge stopped some steps away from Kyon with his arms crossed. He looked directly into the depth of Lovr's gaze, his eyes flashed his distrust:

«I can't get the trick you used to catch eight dozen criminals in one day. Were they all fake? Or was it a clever little ruse? Did your family solve all the crimes and you got the cream? It sounds reasonable, heh!»

Grek balled up his fist and banged it on Kyon's table again.

«It doesn't matter what dirty methods miserable Stone sc.u.mbag has used. We have to get rid of the garbage like him in the coming days, as soon as possible.» - He fixed Kyon with a heavy look. - «Mr. Vladimir, who you dared to deceive, will no longer help you.»

All the investigators thought the rookie was a brazen stranger. He made them furious. If it wasn't for Vladimir, they would have already kicked him out. A pathetic Stone had somehow outwitted the head of the department! They would rather die than let this scoundrel work with them!

Grek was most furious of them all, of course. He hated the Stones more and more with each day. The news of the brazen robbery of two hundred thousand from his friend Stefan hit him hard! The dirty lie about the greenhorn who had defeated the promising Tsayan was still making him shake with anger. Why didn't the earth open up and swallow those deceitful villains! Grek would enjoy watching the Stones burn of shame at the upcoming tournament when everyone would point fingers at them and laugh to tears.

Kyon could foresee how events would unfold. He was going to lose his position among the investigators. They would crush and kicked him out. It couldn't go on like this. He had to take a risk and go for broke.

«Gentlemen.» - The neophyte said solemnly, rising from his place under the icy glances of the investigators. – «Let's make a bet!»