Pax had always understood that Greyvale City wasn't governed by those who shouted the loudest.

But it was only when he began piecing together information,quietly, patiently, and without bias, that he truly grasped who held the city in a stranglehold.

In Greyvale, power didn't rest on thrones or don fine silks adorned with family crests. It moved on wheels and hooves, flowed through cups of cheap ale, said quietly in dim taverns, and exchanged hands beneath tables where coins changed ownership without witnesses. Its subtlety was what made it so perilous.

Late one night, Pax stood alone in a small courtyard with chalk in hand, gazing at a rough map etched onto a slate board. This wasn't a typical map of streets or buildings; it was a map of influence.

Lines connected names. Symbols marked intersections. Circles indicated convergence points where information pooled before radiating outward.

This was the true essence of Greyvale.He hadn't drawn this map from books or official records; it had been crafted from overheard conversations, recurring patterns, and inconsistencies that emerged after listening to countless small but significant details.

His beggars,his network,had performed admirably. They hadn't exaggerated or speculated; they simply delivered fragments that Pax meticulously assembled into a whole.

The first truth he confirmed was straightforward: merchants ruled coin.

Not all merchants, of course; most were small fry — stall owners, shopkeepers, traders barely scraping by under tariffs and guild fees.

But above them layered merchant alliances,informal coalitions sharing warehouses, caravans, guards,and crucially,credit.

Three names kept surfacing:House Velrun Trading Consortium, Amber Road Caravans

and Northhook Exchange Circle.

None were noble houses or held official titles yet Pax quickly realized that if even one of them suspended operations for just a week, half the city would feel the impact.

Amber Road controlled grain imports from the southern plains; their caravans fed not only Greyvale but also surrounding towns.

Northhook handled salt and dried fish, essentials for armies and travelers alike. Velrun specialized in luxury goods and rare imports,the very embodiment of aspiration itself.

Coin flowed through these entities like blood through arteries.

And Pax noted how coin could bend even the proudest backs.The second truth was more nuanced: caravan routes were power corridors.

While most people viewed caravans as mere moving warehouses, Pax recognized them as vital highways for information flow. Caravan guards heard rumors in three cities before nobles caught wind of them in their own halls.

Caravan leaders knew which roads were unsafe long before patrols were assigned. Merchants learned about market crashes days ahead of official announcements,even bandit activity followed predictable cycles tied to caravan movements.

One of Pax's recruits,Lennie,noted something curious: whenever Amber Road adjusted its departure schedule, three taverns in Gryphon District filled unusually fast that evening.

At first, Pax thought it was just coincidence.

Then it happened again. And again.

Caravans were more than just transporters of goods; they carried anticipation. Merchants raised their glasses to celebrate successes or drown their losses, while guards spent their coins before embarking on long journeys. Runners whispered deals in taverns long before contracts were signed.

Caravans dictated where attention converged. And wherever attention gathered, influence followed.

The third truth surprised even Pax: some taverns held more sway than city offices.

Greyvale boasted hundreds of drinking establishments, but only a select few truly shaped public opinion.

The Fourfold Haven was one of them.

The Bent Tankard was another. And the Rusted Crown,despite its shabby appearance, was perhaps the most dangerous of all.

These weren't the haunts of nobles; they were the gathering spots for those who spoke on behalf of others.

Caravan masters. Mercenary lieutenants. Guild foremen. Independent contractors. Middlemen who connected disparate worlds without belonging to any single one.

Pax came to understand that news didn't spread evenly throughout the city; it spread selectively. A rumor whispered in the wrong tavern would fade into silence, while spoken in the right one, it could become accepted truth by dawn.

Take the Bent Tankard, for instance. Located near the eastern docks, it attracted not just sailors but also ship accountants and customs scribes.

Conversations there shaped expectations about tariffs, inspections, and port delays,a single overheard sentence could decide whether a merchant delayed a shipment or rushed it out.

Meanwhile, the Rusted Crown drew mercenaries,not the loud and reckless kind but seasoned veterans who knew how to listen and assess risk. When discussions shifted there, sword-for-hire prices often followed suit.

Pax traced these taverns on his map,not with crowns,but with keen observation.

The fourth truth emerged from the shadows: black markets served as stabilizers rather than sources of chaos.

This realization took time to accept. Pax had expected the black market to be erratic and unpredictable; instead, he found it methodical.

Smugglers operated on schedules. Fence prices mirrored trends. Illegal goods moved along routes as structured as legal trade channels.

In fact, Pax noted with a grim smile that sometimes the black market proved more reliable than official systems,because reputation there equated to survival.

One bad deal could spell disaster for a smuggler.One broken promise meant no one would work with you again.

The black market existed beneath Greyvale like an unseen skeleton, propping up the city when official systems faltered.

When taxes rose too quickly, illegal grain flowed freely; when permits stalled, forged documents appeared; when demand surged unexpectedly, contraband filled gaps before legal suppliers could react.

Pax marked these channels carefully, not to control them but to avoid collision with them. Only fools tried to dominate every layer of a city at once.

As Pax stepped back from the map, clarity washed over him.Greyvale wasn't a hierarchy; it was a web.

Coins pulled in information. Information drew on labor. Labor relied on goods. Goods influenced opinions. And opinions circled back to coins.

In this intricate web, Pax realized he didn't need nobles to make sense of it all. That insight brought with it an unexpected calm.

Sage didn't require power at this moment.

Power would come in time.

What Sage truly needed was foresight,the ability to anticipate pressure before it escalated, to detect shifts before they turned into crises, and to understand which merchant alliances would rise or fall, which caravan routes might become bottlenecks, and which taverns would spark public sentiment.

Pax leaned against the courtyard wall, arms crossed and eyes half-closed.

Sage believed he had hired Pax to establish an intelligence network.

But what Pax was really creating was a warning system,a means to hear the city's pulse, a way to sense the tremors before disaster struck.

For the first time since losing his status as a noble retainer,since being cast aside like a broken tool, Pax felt something new settle deep within him.

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