Kassandra dispatched the ambushers, then approached the farmer.
Farmer:I'm sorry, misthios. I had no choice.
She spoke to him.
Kassandra:What was that about?
Farmer:I'm sorry, misthios. They knew we talked—they threatened me. The Dagger REALLY don't like you.
Kassandra:You told them what you had to in order to survive. There's no shame in that.
Farmer:Thank you.
Kassandra:If you ever do that again, I will kill you myself.
Farmer:I understand.
In spite of the ambush, the Farmer was happy to see her again.
Farmer:It's great to see you again. Have you come for some olive oil?
Kassandra fighting off the ambush
Kassandra:No. I came to talk to you about The Dagger.
Farmer:I've got nothing to say about that.
Kassandra:Look, I'm here to let you know that I'm working with the local magistrate and his worker, Agapios, to bring them down. But in order to do that, I need to know what you know.
Farmer:You don't want to know what I know. Trust me.
Kassandra uncovered the Kingfisher's name, putting her one step closer to freeing Euboea from the Dagger, and was given Agapios' Staff by the farmer in thanks for saving him.
If the multiple quests to uncover the Dagger leader's identity have been started before completing "The Taxman Cometh", this quest will not be triggered. Instead, the ambush will be skipped and the necessary dialogues will be integrated into "The Taxman Cometh," replacing the default conversations with the farmer and his wife, resulting in players missing out on the XP and rewards from doing both as separate quests.
Although the enemies ambush the player, they are able to act as witnesses to their allies' deaths and issue a bounty for each one killed. Six thugs in total allows for up to 5 or 6 murder charges at once, which almost certainly guarantees a bounty hunter will start pursuing the player, if not join the thugs in the battle.