Well, you're the expert on it, of course.

[ That's said with a light dusting of irony; Byerly isn't going to insult Nash's intelligence by really pretending to be a normal person. But he must pay lip service to his cover story. ]

But still. You're ultimately answerable to someone else. You could have been an assassin - self-employed. Or - for the sort of man who mourns his enemies - a farmer. Forging that sword of yours into a plowshare. Why a spy?