Chapter 11: Information Agency

'Yes, this is it!'

Ezra shouted inwardly, his hands on a particular page, on which there were three boldly written words.

The Silencers Guild.

Judging from the name alone, they didn't seem to be anything special, in fact, they were rated among the lowest in the middle ranking guilds because their fighting power wasn't anything special.

No, what was special about them was the real nature of the guild that only someone like him, a man from the future, would know.

It wasn't known to the public until the great calamity struck, thirty-three years from now.

The leading powers at that time were able to absorb the guild, which was how Ezra met the Silencers Guild master and learned about it.

He could say that it was the day that his already widened horizon widened beyond belief, and it was all thanks to meeting the guild master, Sebastian Steel, because, for all intents and purposes, the man was crazy.

Crazy about information like no other.

At first, he started listening to secret conversations due to curiosity. He would act like he was sleeping or dress as a beggar to find secrets, but as he grew older, he found that he loved to discover, to tread the unknown, to connect multiple dots before arriving at an answer.

He became curious after turning his entire city upside down, discovering different things and the power of information.

No thief or assassin guild could hold a candle to them in terms of information, well, according to him.

He wanted to know what was outside his city, what was above the sky, and with such a mindset, he started an information organization that used the Silencers Guild as a front, recruiting members in secret, mostly commoners, and used them as agents across all three continents.

What goods are sold in each region? How many nobles were in each town? How does this particular noble behave? When did it rain in certain places? How many roads could one use to get to a particular city? How big was each continent? Which one had stronger forces? And so many more questions.

He made a map of all three continents that was so detailed that the total number of clans, guilds, towns, cities, kingdoms, and empires were on it, and much more. Or so he said, because the apocalypse had destroyed all his maps at the time.

Questions that few knew the answer to, commoners being too busy working to care while nobles were just full of ignorance and arrogance on any matters that didn't concern them.

Ezra now had his answer, he would do the same, but not for the same purpose.

He would make an Information organization that would spread its influence across the three continents. This would help him keep track of future events, while also allowing him to act by recruiting loyal members.

Sebastian had told him excitedly how he structured his organization when Ezra asked in the past, because, at the time, the apocalypse had broken up the large network he built for over thirty years, with much of the information forever lost.

Yet, the little they found caused even the army general a great deal of fear as the level of information was just that detailed, but equally terrifying.

Some wanted to propose that he be killed at the time, if not for the desperate situation back then, they might have. No, they would have definitely done so.

But it was because he knew they couldn't that the guild master could dare to present it to the generals.

'Thinking about our conversation that day, he said he was born in a city on the west side of Quarzet kingdom'

'He said he was the son of a merchant, and that he left home at the prime age of twenty, and traveled to the Hellison continent, where he was unknown, before registering the Silencers Guild in the first Mssionary he came across'

'I don't know how old he was at the time when I met him, but I don't think he had clocked fifty'

Well, he told Ezra a great deal of things, but he never told him his age at the time, and Ezra didn't bother asking because such a question was irrelevant.

Especially considering that one could quite literally die at any moment.

'Hmm, I can only hope that he hasn't left Quarzet yet. At least I'll have a chance to recruit him if that is the case, but if he already left for Hellison...then I'll just start a new organization from scratch'

Ezra thought as he organized his plans.

He would send someone to bring him to Niton, though it might cost a bit of money, but he was a prince now, he could afford to splurge once in a while.

Such thought also reminded him of another one of his objectives as to making the best use of his knowledge.

'I have to buy goldmines before their value is discovered and recruit hidden gems into Niton'

Simply put, he would buy lands whose value had yet to be known to the world, from dungeon spawning areas to ruins with artifacts and mana stone mines, while also recruiting powerful people of the future while they were still weak and turn them into a force to be reckoned with as his small personal army.

But...

'I have to do it while making it seem completely unrelated, I can't arouse any sign of suspicion or people will look into my identity, and while they might not be able to do anything to me, it would make my work much harder and I won't be able to make the maximum profit'

*Deep breath*

Ezra took a deep breath as he thought of the massive amount of work in front of him, but grinned immediately after.

'The rewards will be very much worth it'

And to do that, he would have to register a merchant organization and use it as a proxy to fulfill his objectives, as well as a shield from prying eyes. And thankfully, he knew where to find a hidden gem which would most likely be within the city, city of Kingsmere or Miller castle as they say.

Now, he had found solutions for the most important matters.

The gift from the emperor?

He had already made up his mind, but he was going to wait for the third month to choose.

Well, firstly because he had a lot of things to do within two weeks starting tomorrow.

From sending someone to find both hidden gems for his future plans, to visiting the black market for an item a commoner found in his previous life, which made him as rich as a middle-class noble. Though, it was said he mysteriously died shortly after.

That item would help him when he goes to the treasury two months from now.

'Hmm, I think I'm done, now what?'

He now had plans to solve his most pending issues, so what should be done now?

Lo and behold as the answer quickly came to him immediately after he stopped cultivating.

He gripped his stomach and rolled on the ground while trying not to shout.

He was hungry! Really hungry! His stomach was protesting its treatment as the delayed pangs of hunger hit Ezra all at once.

He was crying, but fortunately managed to bear it.

But when one looked at the facts, it was impressive that his body held out this long.

You shouldn't forget that he's just five years old with an eight year old physique.

He hadn't eaten anything since breakfast with his father a day ago.

After breakfast, he wrote down his memories for approximately twenty hours, slept for another eight hours and then cultivated for three hours straight.

It was a wonder that he hadn't collapsed sooner, but that was precisely because he cultivated mana, which was raw energy.

But it only takes you so far, before you have to eat real food.

At higher levels, not eating for five years becomes possible.

Do note that it's not like you won't feel it or that you would remain healthy if you did do it.

It only meant that you would still be alive. Whether or not you would be able to move is unknown, but it is sure that your body would lose an unhealthy amount of body fat, which might irrevocably damage your physique and might leave you with a body half-a-step away from death.

Anyway, that's the gist. One can survive without food for longer the more powerful they become, but they still need to eat once in a while, after all, our body organs aren't meant for decoration.

A lesson that Ezra was learning the hard way, as he endured the hunger pangs and slowly stood up with one hand on his stomach.

He quickly opened the door and rushed into the private dining hall meant for him and his mom.

Screams of maids were heard when Ezra bolted past them in the form of a short blur, causing some to drop delicate items they held before vanishing immediately after.

Luckily, the dining hall wasn't far away, and Ezra ran into it, shocking the kitchen maids as they were varying levels of panicking from just screaming to outright fainting.

Yet, none of that was in Ezra's eyes as he randomly took a seat beside a table twice as small as the one in the main dining hall and ate any and all food in front of him.

*Munch* *Munch* *Munch*

The sound of chewing food echoed in the private dining hall for a good forty-five minutes before the sound slowed down considerably before finally stopping after another fifty-five minutes.

"Haaaah" Ezra rested his back to the chair and sighed in relief after he noticed the hunger was completely gone.

*Yawn*

He yawned as he saw his belly had bulged after eating so much food.

"I'll just take a little nap..."

Ezra was saying as he unknowingly fell asleep with a table full of leftovers and bones.

Only then did the maids come in. They had been peeking ever since Ezra ran past them, only to be slack jawed as they found their horizons expanding on how much a five year old boy could eat.

They entered the dining hall taking graceful steps, as they looked at Ezra with his silver hair and eyes closed in an expression full of bliss.

They couldn't help but find him rather cute while they felt a little envious and wanting their own.

But of course, it wasn't everybody. Some were watching as spies for the empresses and they took in every detail they could, while thinking at some corner of their heart that the empresses had been overreacting.

How could such a cute kid be a threat to them?

And so, without doing anything, Ezra was fooling his enemies into underestimating him.

A few minutes went by before Ezra's mom came to take him to bed, carrying him in her arms.

She had been reading when a maid came to tell her what her son had done because she had restricted all her maids from touching Ezra.

It was one of the desperate precautions she took when there was an assassination attempt on him almost every week.

She smiled as she looked at her son's blissful expression while he slept.

She quickly put him in bed and covered him with sheets before heading to her room to do the same.

The day had gone and tomorrow would come.