Chapter 356
Matt listened as Tholly finished his report. “Discounting the application that Wraith’s friend sent in, we’ve intercepted sixty-three applications from likely spies, eleven attempted infiltration's through false-identity applications, one spy who’s been undercover for some decades, nine attempts at embedding divination anchors within our premises, and six distinct sources for divination's attempting to bypass our wards.”
Matt had made sure to call Aster to figure out what the story was there, but he supported the otter’s attempts to find a job based on her own merits. Fortunately, she was considered qualified for the position, and the certainty that she wasn’t just looking for a quick resume-boost made her an easy pick.
They did make sure to extend the offer to Cameron herself, rather than her false identity. While a part of Matt would be amused by the inevitable antics that would no doubt arise from Cameron trying to pretend to be someone else while working… it was easier to just make it clear from the start they knew what she was doing and not make her play out some two-bit comedy movie.
Shaking his head, Matt concentrated on the vast amount of spies trying to infest his guild. “Do we have an idea of why the other Great Powers would be so insistent on getting in here?”
There was a small pause between Matt’s question and the answer. “I apologize my lord, I hadn’t realized there was a misunderstanding. Most of these attempts, all but one false identity attempt in fact, have been traced to entities inside the Empire.”
Matt’s mind, which was mainly turning over aura rifts, refocused onto Tholly. “Wait, what? Really? I assumed it would be the other Great Powers trying to pry out our secrets.”
“And I’m sure they are my lord. Or at least they will. We have little in the way of defenses against true deep-cover spies, and that is but one way the other Great Powers may attempt to undermine our counterespionage efforts. While Titan’s Torch is performing cutting-edge research in many fields, most of our research fields are not ones which other Great Powers care about. Our impact will be much more local, and to that end, it is local entities who, even if they are incapable of outright stealing our discoveries, can better position themselves to take advantage of our discoveries if they know of them beforehand.”
Matt pursed his lips trying to not take that personally. He understood that profits made the realm spin, but spying on him? Risking the ire of an Ascender for profit?
There had to be more to it. “Do we have anyone pegged who is spying on us or examples of what they are going for?”