Chapter 851: Upcoming Assessment
From the moment Dadatis became Zhang Heng’s teacher, the first request made by the old man was for Zhang Heng to not reveal that he was related to Balance Blade.
According to Dadatis, that was how an assassin survived.
Two hundred years ago, a traitor destroyed the Balance Blade’s plan to assassinate Octavian. At the same time, the traitor had also exposed all the core members of the organization. All of them were top-tier assassins worldwide, and each possessed extraordinary assassination skills. However, once their identities were exposed, they were surrounded by the government, and the Hounds hunted them down after that. Only a few survived this disaster.
After that, Balance Blade also learned a lesson from it. The core members no longer disclosed their identities to each other. Only the speaker of the Assassin Council and the priest of Kreis knew the identity of all the members. However, the organization did not prevent the members from associating with each other privately. If they found someone trustworthy, they were free to disclose their identities to each other.
“You have already met the priest, and now the speaker of the Assassin Council is my old friend. He is known as Faceless. The two of them know your true identity. Other than them, one more person knew who you are. Her nickname is Hyacinth.”
“Hyacinth, who is he?” Zhang Heng asked.
“You should be asking who she is. You haven’t passed the test and are not officially one of us yet, so I can’t tell you too much about her.” Dadatis gave a weird expression when he mentioned Hyacinth. He looked warm and wary but mixed with a hint of guilt. “We don’t have much contact, but she went to see you not long ago. That was because I needed more people to encourage you to join Balance Blade. Hyacinth has a huge social network in the organization. And she has at least three votes in her hand from her admirers and herself.”
“Huh?”
“Anyway, you don’t have to care about her too much. She doesn’t like me, and she probably won’t like you too. But rest assured that she will not sell your identity,” Dadatis said. “Except for the three people I mentioned above, no one else in the organization knows your identity. The only information I have released about you is your potential and that you are a non-believer, especially your attitude toward the Balance Blade. I can’t and should not hide it.”
…..
Although it had been a while since Dadatis left the city of Rome, Zhang Heng hadn’t forgotten Dadatis’s instructions. Cornu, on the second floor of the tavern, had unexpectedly elected to stand by his side. And Zhang Heng also guessed Cornu most likely came from the Balance Blade as well. When Cornu tried to test Zhang Heng with the Balance Blade’s doctrine, Zhang Heng denied his knowledge immediately.
This was mainly because Zhang Heng did not intend to get too involved with the Balance Blade, especially when the two rivals, the Balance Blade and the Hounds, were about to go to war. For Zhang Heng, he did not intend to intervene in this war that had nothing to do with him. Dadatis had been sent to a place far away from Rome, which also meant Zhang Heng had no one he cared about in the Balance Blade.
Hence, he didn’t intend to discover Cornu’s true identity. He did not even ask the priestess to verify him. That was why, a week later, Cornu and others concluded that Zhang Heng was not from the Balance Blade. In the past, the members of the Balance Blade were required to have good faith and a sense of belonging to the organization. They did not expect that someone got to join thor organization without knowing their doctrine and belief well.
While the fight between the Balance Blade and the Hound was ongoing, another matter concerned Zhang Heng.
It had almost been two months since he arrived in the southeast city. In other words, the next round of assessment was just around the corner.
Zhang Heng had been preparing to make sure that he could pass an entire week’s assessment. The result of this assessment would determine whether he could return to Commodus’s side.
Although a lot of work was still needed to grow the new forces he formed in the southeast urban area, Zhang Heng had helped them clear their most significant obstacle that could hinder growth. He believed that Soap, Marcus, and others should be able to cope with the situation. That would mean he could withdraw from it and start investigating the whereabouts of Altrus.
So in this assessment, Zhang Heng needed to pass with flying colors.
The person responsible for assessing the work of the patrol team was a young nobleman in the Senate named Fabino. Known for his integrity and selflessness, he was unanimously elected as the assessor.
Firstly, everyone felt that he was the only one who could do this job since he was not afraid of offending anyone. Secondly, sending him away could prevent him from finding faults in the Senate.
Half a month ago, Fabino began assessing the patrol team’s work in various neighborhoods. He had basically traveled around Rome to assess different places, leaving only the southeast area as the last stop.
The southeast city had been put at the bottom of his list because Fabino felt that there was nothing worth assessing over there. Everyone in Rome knew that southeast city was a hell hole. The place was filled with criminals and villains, and most would avoid the place at all costs. However, when Fabino became an assessor, he had heard many rumors about the place, but he did not know how bad it was. Hence, he only brought two guards to inspect the place.
As a result, they were robbed before they could reach the door of the patrol station. The two guards were no match to the gangsters over there. Not only did Fabino lose all his valuables, but he even received two punches in his stomach. After that, the patrol team also failed to help him to catch the criminals and retrieve his personal belongings.
It was no surprise that Fabino gave the lowest scores to the patrol team in the southeast city again and again. In all fairness, he wasn’t trying to avenge himself. Whenever Fabino gave the lowest score to the place, he felt that he had committed a misdemeanor. After he saw the condition of the place, he wished that he could give them an even lower score.
“The place is doomed and hopeless. And the Senate has no intention to do anything about it. I bet someone there must have accepted bribes. That’s why they turned a blind eye to this situation,” Fabino complained to his friend. “I really don’t want to go to that hell hole anymore.”
Despite saying that, the responsible Fabino would go there to pollute his eyes every two months. And he had learned his lesson well; whenever he came here to inspect the place, he would bring a group of armed guards with him in addition to the two patrol team members that were assigned to him. This was to ensure that the previous tragedy would not happen again.
So early that morning, Fabino appeared on the streets of the southeast city with his armed guards.