<h4>Chapter 877: You Might Need To Travel Somewhere Far Away</h4>


    Zhang Heng contacted thedy in the perfume shop ording to how the priestess instructed him. As a result, he gained nothing other than thedy telling him that the Bnce de was confident that they could deal with their enemies this time. It left Zhang Heng with a bad feeling.


    The woman wearing the veil was right. It was a fact that Zhang Heng did not know the true strength of the Bnce de. However, he had juste into contact with Altrus not too long ago, and he knew that people like Altrus were not easy to deal with. What more, Altrus had now made it clear that he was teaming up with the Hounds, preparing to take down the Bnce de together.


    In Zhang Heng’s initial prediction, the battle between the Bnce de and the Houndssted for more than two hundred years. In other words, telling who would win this time would be pretty challenging. Through this, the candidates of the Bnce de would get to observe their opponents before the battle of the century began.


    Zhang Heng felt like he might have overestimated the Bnce de’s leader’s abilities. At the same time, he also underestimated theeback of the Hounds. If Cornu was indeed from the Hounds, that could mean that Beehive was probably the Hounds’ peripheral organization.


    And this also meant that the Hounds had probably been operating in Rome for quite some time. The previous assassination in Britannia was probably just the Hounds’ way of diverting attention. The Bnce de knew nothing about the powerful opponents that grew under their noses. And as we know, this made it hard for Zhang Heng to believe that the Bnce de had the upper hand in this battle.


    And once the Bnce de was defeated, it would be hard for Zhang Heng to survive alone. Zhang Heng knew that some preparations had to be made to prevent the situation from deteriorating further. ording to Dadatis, only four people in the Bnce de, himself included, knew Zhang Heng’s identity. But from that moment on, Zhang Heng also needed to prepare a backup n if his identity was leaked.


    However, he did not intend to give up his n of assassinating Altrus. In addition to his need to enter the secret library of the Bnced de, eliminating Altrus would allow him to lessen the Bnced de’s burden.


    With Altrus’s cautious character, there were few opportunities for him to reveal his ws. This time, he did not expect that Zhang Heng hadn’t actually finished the ss of wine and that he could still stay awake to answer his questions. He was obviously not expecting Zhang Heng to extract so much information by simply listening to his tone, diction, and pace. If he knew Zhang Heng was capable of something like that, he would have nevere to meet him in person.


    Next, Zhang Heng might have to race against time.


    ...


    “What? You’ve gotten your fief? And it’s in the province of Mesopotamia! Where is that ce?” The ve girl was taken aback. She had been a ve in Rome since birth and had never left the ce. She had heard of the nearby provinces, but not the ces further than that.


    “Well, the province of Mesopotamia is located southeast of Rome. It is thousands of miles away from us. You have to travel by carriage, then a boat, and go on another carriage to get to the final destination. It is probably going to take a few months to get there,” Zhang Heng said.


    “That’s far. But I thought you couldn’t leave Rome?” The ve girl was puzzled. “Then how are you going to manage your fief?”


    After she finished speaking, she noticed Zhang Heng looking at her. The ve girl was bewildered for a moment. After that, she understood why he was staring at her. Her face turned pale immediately, “Are you... Are you trying to ask me to go there to take care of your fief?!”


    “Yes. I might need your help.”


    “But... But, didn’t you say that it is thousands of miles away?” The ve girl waspletely terrified.


    “Nothing to worry too much about. I’m in no rush anyway. Take your time and enjoy the scenery along the way and have a taste of the delicacies from abroad. I will give you enough money for your expenses. You haven’t left Rome before, right? This is your best opportunity to check out some other ce.”


    “But I don’t want to leave... Rome.” The ve girl almost blurted out that she did not want to leave Zhang Heng. Fortunately, she quickly reced the word “you” with “Rome” at thest moment.


    “I know. Just consider it as doing me a favor. I don’t have anyone else I can trust now.”


    “But I’ve been a ve since I was a child. I don’t know how to manage a fief!” The ve girl finally came up with another valid reason to not travel to the fief. She then quickly added, “I’ll stay by your side. I’ll wash and cook for you, take care of your daily life. I’m the best at this.”


    But she did not expect Zhang Heng to react colder than she thought. After that, Zhang Heng heard what she said. He replied, “It’s okay. If you lose money in the business, just write me and ask for more money. If you make money, you can spend it on yourself.”


    “That’s okay?” The ve girl waspletely stunned by Zhang Heng’s open-mindedness. Later, she wanted to tell Zhang Heng that that was not the point. However, before she could say anything, she heard Zhang Heng saying in an incontrovertible tone, “You should go and clean up, leave the day after tomorrow, and get on the road early. Otherwise, it will be winter when you arrive in Mesopotamia.”


    The ve girl fell to the bottom of her heart when she heard Zhang Heng’s reply. There was nothing else she could say after hearing that Zhang Heng wanted her gone as soon as possible. She then walked away with her head bowed low.


    Zhang Heng knew that the ve girl would return to her room and cry.


    But this wouldn’t change any of his decisions. Commodus had initially wanted to choose a fief near Rome, but Zhang Heng requested his fief to be located somewhere remote. He mentioned that he wanted morend. However, that was just an excuse he used to send the ve girl on a long trip.


    There was no mobile inte or telegrams in this era. When someone traveled to a faraway ce, they would be unable to contact those back at home. No matter what happened in Rome, the ve girl would not be affected. In other words, Zhang Heng had just sent the person closest to him out of the whirlpool.


    As for the farewell, it would happen sooner orter. Even if nothing happened, Zhang Heng would leave this dungeon after one year. Instead of separating after one year, it was better for them to part ways now before they spent more time together. Zhang Heng also gave all the money he made during this period to the ve girl. After sending thetter away, he was finally able to do as he wished.


    That night, with the help of Kreis’ Heart, Zhang Heng sneaked into the temple where the citizens’ archives were stored and found the list of nobles born twenty years ago. He was a little surprised, though, by the results. After taking about a week to go through the list, he realized that Altrus was not among them.


    This was a little strange. Either Altrus had taken away his files, or Zhang Heng was looking in the wrong direction. As the rumor said, Altrus was not a nobleman. However, this couldn’t exin the habits that he got from the noble family. Secondly, there were more noblespared to civilians. It was not possible for Zhang Heng to collect each and every file of civilians that were born twenty years ago.


    Zhang Heng felt that he might be missing out on something.