Chapter 24 - 23 Honeytrap

After hearing the objective of the job, this suspicious man wants him to do Marcus is stunned. The man sees the shocked expression on Marcus' face and begins to elaborate more on the finer details of what the job entails.

"First, I will tell you that I am a royal investigator, and it is my job to root out corruption in the kingdom and I am only looking out for its best interests. While I have no hard proof linking Lieutenant Ivar Poulsen to illegal activities there is to much smoke for there to not be a fire. You may be wondering why I have chosen you to plant these documents and it is because this lieutenant has shown an interest in you. In fact, there are quite a few people that have shown an interest in you like those thugs that attacked you in the alley earlier. I am afraid that the guard who made your ID leaked your status to many people for money. From what I heard from my source Lieutenant Poulsen wishes to recruit you into the city guard to increase his prestige for getting a talented young person to join. However, he also heard that you were quite beautiful, and his main objective is to add you to his collection."

Marcus grimaces at the last sentence the investigator said and begins to think about his predicament.

'I guess my skills really were to eye catching, I did not think I would attract this much attention and from such unsavory people. What do I do, should I accept to plant these documents on this guy's word alone that this lieutenant is corrupt? For all I know this guy could be some kind of criminal trying to implicate this lieutenant because he is getting in his way. Oh, whatever if he can get me information on those slavers even if I am helping a criminal, I have to do it.'

"Okay I have decided if you can give me information on a group of slavers, I will help you plant that evidence on this lieutenant."

"Very good you have deal, however there are a number of slavers that operate in the kingdom so I will need a description so I can narrow it down."

Marcus then went into as much detail he could about the slavers who attacked the community that Irene was a part of especially the description of the leader that killed her.

After thinking for a few moments, the royal investigator scowled before giving his response to Marcus.

"Yes, I know who you are talking about, they are a group of slavers that like to go around attacking small, isolated communities and kidnapping anyone they deem valuable. I can tell you this right now that they are headed to Loursend, that is their base of operations. I have been trying to catch them for a couple of years now, but they always have the correct papers for slave trading and since they never make any sales here in River Landing, I have no grounds to investigate them further. I of course have more information on them and if you successfully complete this assignment, I would be more than happy to tell you everything I know."

'I really did not get any new information from him but if what he said is true, I have confirmation on where these guys are headed. He has not given me any information that seems blatantly false, and my danger sense and my own instincts are not throwing up warning signs. At the end of the day, I am ghost so I doubt there are many situations I cannot get out of if I have to.'

"Very well I understand what you want me to do, and I believe your information on the slavers, so how do you want me to plant this evidence on this corrupt lieutenant."

"Ah that should not be too difficult, I have already leaked information to him that you are staying here, and I know he plans to have someone contact you tomorrow. He is first going to take you around and try to convince you to join the guards, make sure you never agree to this, but act interested. He will almost certainly invite you back to his private residence for dinner and while you are there you should be able to find some time to place the evidence somewhere in his house where it would not be to easily found. The main reason that I choose you for this task is your item box, you will be able to carry the documents in even past a full body search."

'Wait a minute am I, a honeytrap, this guy could have tried this with any girl that caught that lieutenant's fancy, the only reason he is using me is because of my item box. There is no way I am sleeping with this random creep; I will hopefully be able to find another way out of this. Maybe I can just shock him into unconsciousness or tie him up for awhile with my iron threads.'

Almost as if he could read Marcus' thoughts the royal investigator coughed and told Marcus, "I would not recommend that you use violence in any situation, this lieutenant is level twenty-nine and the fifth son of a prominent viscount. You would have no means of beating him physically or politically even though you have powerful skills for your level. Just find a moment to excuse yourself and place the evidence in a discreet location."

Marcus started to think of many scenarios he could use to cause a commotion if necessary, such as playing dead, possessing a servant and causing a ruckus, maybe even making it so cold the guy could not get it up. The last thing he wanted to do was have to sleep with someone just to get information.

After giving Marcus some time to think, the royal investigator stood up and began speaking.

"Well, I believe that settles everything, I have left the documents on the chair here and you should have no trouble completing this little job. When you have finished it come back here and I will find you so you can tell me where you hid the documents, and I can begin a raid on Ivar Poulsen's manor."

Now that he had divulged the mission to Marcus the royal investigator quickly the room, while Marcus was racking his brains on how he was going to safely accomplish this assignment