I’m a Rebel in Another World

Chapter 22: Gathering Intelligence

Henwil had recently been feeling like someone was secretly watching him. Combined with his suspicions about the person behind Fabio, he didn't believe this was just his imagination.

Whatever conspiracy might be enveloping him, Henwil felt he should handle it with caution.

As for what to do about it?

Henwil decided to leverage his only advantage—his young age!

This was a feudal society. Expecting military camps to have strict discipline like in his previous life would be a joke.

The military camp had a very ancient profession—prostitutes!

There was a saying that went well: men, to showcase their so-called masculine charm, always show off in front of women.

It was like peacocks in heat, competing to display their plumage before the females to showcase their appeal.

And in this display of showing off, much information always emerged, some of it being crucial intelligence.

In the eyes of officers and nobles, what did it matter if this intelligence was spoken aloud?They were just a group of prostitutes after money—whether they could even understand what was being said was questionable, let alone sell the intelligence.

At the same time, the women also competed among themselves. In ordinary life, they boasted about what their men had bought for them.

Here, the women boasted about whose patron was more noble, whose patron favored them more.

The standards, naturally, were how much gold and silver their patrons gave them, as well as how many secrets they shared.

However, these women weren't foolish; they knew what was important. If someone came asking, they absolutely wouldn't say anything.

But when facing a ten-year-old child, women didn't have much guard up.

Especially since this child was quite popular in the military camp, often bringing them rare supplies, luxurious clothes, and precious cosmetics.

And in this display of showing off, much information always emerged, some of it being crucial intelligence.

Thus, Henwil often heard exceptionally valuable intelligence from these women's mouths.

When the women chatted, they never guarded against Henwil.

Just as the men viewed these prostitutes, the women also didn't believe this child could understand what they were saying.

Unfortunately, within this body of a child not yet ten years old resided a soul in its thirties.

Now, Henwil wanted to extract information about Fabio and Obiken from these women's mouths.

In this place called the Flower Tent, it took only a day for Henwil to gather sufficient intelligence.

Fabio was one of Obiken's younger sons, but without inheritance rights to the title. After his coming-of-age ceremony, he wasn't sent away to establish his own household, nor was he given any property.

Here, the women boast about whose patron was more noble, whose patron favored them more.

It was barely better than the lowest rank of baronet, essentially the entry level of nobility, the stepping stone for aristocrats.

Fabio had always been very dissatisfied with his family's decisions, maintaining a somewhat strained relationship with them.

Count Obiken's heir was Fabio's eldest brother, also a high-ranking officer in the Worui Duchy's Fourth Legion—exceptionally capable with outstanding military achievements.

As the heir, not only was Count Obiken satisfied, but even Fabio respected his eldest brother greatly.

Originally, Count Obiken's intention was to take advantage of this opportunity to place his youngest son Fabio under his command in the Silent Battleaxe Legion for proper training.

Then, after the war ended, Obiken would have reason to promote this youngest son.

At the very least, he could secure a hereditary barony.

But during the Fire Eye Town campaign, the Silent Battleaxe Legion was completely annihilated, and Obiken was forcibly evacuated by his subordinates.

Just as he had said, while waiting back at Plains City, he experienced for the first time the fear of possibly losing a son.

When he learned that Fabio had survived and returned, Obiken finally breathed a sigh of relief.

At the same time, to ensure Fabio wouldn't face danger again, he assigned him to the noble private army, where combat intensity was extremely low.

When noble private soldiers from both sides clashed, they rarely killed opposing nobles—capture and exchange held the greatest value.

What Henwil didn't know was that Obiken's transfer of Fabio to the noble private army had another important reason: Kavizé's departure.

As a highly skilled professional, Kavizé hadn't come solely to assist the Allied Forces in intelligence gathering.

He had another crucial mission, which was the main reason Obiken had invited him: to protect Fabio's safety.

Therefore, after Kavizé faked his death and left, Obiken could no longer place his youngest son in the perilous regular legion.

However, war was war. No matter how Obiken arranged things, unexpected events always occurred.

When Plains City was breached, massive chaos erupted in the camp outside the city.

Fabio actually organized thirty thousand routed soldiers and returned to the main camp, which delighted Obiken—giving him the joyful sense that his foolish son had finally come to his senses.

He immediately found a way to make Fabio one of the commanders of the noble private army.

It was at this time that Obiken noticed Henwil's presence.

Or rather, noticed him again. Kavizé was important, so Henwil, who was around him, had already been investigated by Obiken.

Obiken himself knew Henwil's true identity.

It was just that Henwil didn't realize Obiken already knew.

The intelligence Henwil had pieced together still had some deviations in details. The most critical missing piece was that Kavizé was far from being as simple as he imagined—something he would only understand much later.

Henwil was shocked by a piece of intelligence he had just learned.

Half a month ago, during urban combat in the city, Count Obiken's heir—the high-ranking officer of the Duchy's Fourth Legion and Fabio's eldest brother—had fallen in battle.

How he died wasn't important!

On the battlefield, any manner of death was possible!

What mattered was that with Obiken's heir now dead, Fabio became the best successor.

Fabio's second brother hadn't come to participate in the war, but while his second brother had good talent in commerce, his combat and command abilities were even worse than Fabio's!

Moreover, Fabio's second brother had a rather poor reputation, which wasn't good for a ducal count's heir.

Especially now that Fabio was essentially the overall commander of the noble private army—even excluding the old, weak, sick, and disabled, he commanded nearly twenty thousand troops.

That made him a genuine general within the entire Allied Forces—a position typically held by high-ranking nobles.

Fabio was performing quite well, mainly because Obiken had sent many people to assist him.

Even if Fabio's eldest brother hadn't died, with Fabio's achievements, it wouldn't have been impossible for him to secure a hereditary viscountcy after the war.

But now that he had become the best heir to the earldom, Obiken naturally needed to elevate his attention toward this youngest son to a new level.

And this involved the current Henwil!