"Archbishop, you used to tell me that you hated Count Jartel's Prima! That the man was too nosey regarding the Church's finances."
"He was, Lord Bard," Archbishop replied, not liking all eyes on himself.
Sylvester rubbed his chin and closed his eyes, trying to remember all the times he had seen the man. The man was overly worshipping and never lied to him about anything in the interrogations.
"Did he ever take the money from the church?" He questioned.
"Of course." Archbishop blurted. "He knew he could not tax the Monastery directly. So instead, he increased the taxes on those businesses that I helped raise with no-interest loans."
Sylvester mumbled a few things under his breath. His mind tried to remember every single person he had met since his arrival, and there appeared nobody with the brain to do something so elaborate. The killings and schemes were too much for a man if he was not a wealthy lord with too many contacts.
'It can't be Jartel's Prima. Sir Walder never lied to me. He even said kind things about the dead Countess. And he worshipped me… Unless.'
Sylvester glanced at Count Jartel. "Unless… he's not the one behind the murders! And just used the opportunity!"
Sylvester closed his eyes, remembering his past life. He recalled one time when he had to malign the image of his rival food processing company in the USSR to keep his business monopoly. He used underhanded means to pin the blame for a few winter deaths on that company. Behind himself stood the entire might of his home country, helping him against such a tiny target.
"Could it be…" He opened his eyes and glanced at the two Dukes. "Tell me something. Have your Duchies been this rich forever?"
Duke Grimton spoke first. "Absolutely not. We were rich as those peasant lords of the Sorrow Kingdom once. When the Gracia Empire broke apart into smaller pieces, we also lost many large markets for export as the new Kingdoms placed heavy taxation on foreign imports to save their own industries.
"Things only started to get better after we signed the deal with Count Sandwall to open a new corridor to the West side of Sol Continent through his lands. The corridor would allow Western merchants to come to us and buy our products. In return, Count Sandwall gets a small chunk from our profits."
Duke Zephyr had the same view. "The fat oaf is right, Lord Bard. Not just the Duchy of Colorwood and Zon but other northern Duchies of Normani and Iceling have benefited from this new trade route greatly. I suppose Count Sandwall is swimming in riches as of now."
"Father did this? When?" Felix mumbled at that point.
"Father?" Duke Zephyr looked at Felix's face. It took him a minute to recognise something. "Ah! You're that Felix? Felix Sandwall? I once saw you when you were merely five. Your elder brother is a genius. Your father may be the one to sign the deal, but it was your elder brother who prepared the whole plan."
Sylvester interjected then, stopping their distractive talk. "Can you tell me a general period of when the special economic corridor was opened and when your wealth started to increase?"
"The corridor was opened a decade ago." Duke Grimton started. "But the riches started to pour in just six years ago. The traders from Masan Empire and the Warsong Kingdom seem to have a liking towards our produce. Especially the Masan Empire… their merchants spend loads of gold."
"I didn't receive any such growth, however." Count Raftel interrupted. "No trader comes to my land since they leave after purchasing whatever they want from Jartel. All I sell is to other Counts and the Duke. If that wasn't enough, Jartel even makes the convoy of carts full of gold pass through the road nearest to my border… showing my peasants how rich his lands are."
"I do no such thing! We have no reason to… there are no major towns near the border, Raftel!" Count Jartel shouted back. "What about your land? You have such a great harvest every year while I'm forced to spend so much on buying grains."
Sylvester sat down on the chair and saw the two Counts quarrel. The two Dukes also nodded from time to time, agreeing with them.
'All this seems artificial. These nobles had no idea they were being manipulated. He really chose his targets wisely, it seems, only infiltrating the dumbest of the four.'
"How are your relations with the Masan Empire?" Sylvester asked all of a sudden and shut them up.
"Neutral. Masan is too busy keeping itself as one empire to focus on anything else." Duke Zephyr spoke. "Their industrial output is also falling. Hence we see so many merchants."
"Have you confirmed those things, or did you hear them too?"
"Hear them… from various visitors," Duke Zephyr replied.
Sylvester sighed and rubbed his hair to fix them back. His eyes darted towards Lady Aurora, who silently stood with her back resting on the tree, arms folded and listening to everything.
She noticed his gaze and inquired what's the matter with a raise of her brows. But Sylvester just shook his head and focused back on the Dukes.
"I'm afraid you will need to ask for a more senior Clergyman to take up this case." He announced. "I am far too low-ranked and young for this situation. What you have going on here is an international conspiracy. A foreign nation is trying to cripple you for reasons I do not know."
"Haha! You're saying Masan Empire wishes to attack us? They can't even keep themselves together right now. The Emperor of Masan is old and weak. Each lord there wants to carve a land for himself and make a kingdom out of it!" Duke Zephyr laughed at it.
Sylvester remained serious and stared at the man's face. No matter how brilliant the Duke was, he was not smart enough to see this coming. "You don't know that. You 'heard' all that from the mouths of 'traders'.
"For all we know, Masan could truly be on the brink of collapse, and by conquering you, they wish to strengthen themselves. Remember, an injured lion is often more dangerous than a healthy one. Duke Grimton and Count Jartel, tell me, when did you hire your Primas?"
"Seven Years ago."
"Seven for me as well."
Sylvester shrugged in exhaustion, for he was truly bested this time. The conspiracy was way bigger than he had initially imagined. He only knew the politics of the East side of the Sol continent, not the West side.
"You can't be blind enough not to notice it now? Count Jartel's Prima is a brown man from the west himself. And let's not forget, Count Jartel's Prima, Sir Walder Cain, is also responsible for the upkeep of commerce and treasury of the County. Only he has the means to steal money and make a convoy of the gold pass near the border.
"Only he has the ability and connections in the west to suddenly invite hundreds of traders into your Duchies and create an artificial wealth. And without the support of deep pockets, nothing of this scale could have been possible—to have so many traders suddenly appear."
The Counts and Dukes lowered their gazes and thought about everything. Every single exchange they had with an important trader from the west resurfaced in their minds. Slowly, as the seeds of doubt had been sown, they started to see every single interaction with doubt.
In no time, they could think of one or two occasions when a trader slipped his tongue. For example, one of them saying they get reimbursed after returning, or one of them saying they get their taxes wavered to come here.
"Tell me, after this war, who loses?" Sylvester asked further.
"All of us!" The four of them replied in unison.
"But what about the other Duchies? If Masan wants to conquer us by weakening us, then they need to weaken Duchy of Normani and Duchy of Iceling too." Duke Zephyr asked.
Sylvester agreed with them. "That's why I wish for someone else to be put on this case—someone more knowledgeable about the political landscape of the west as well. Because, from what we have seen, this conspiracy has been too subtle and long. If I had not come to investigate the murders, this war would have been much bigger. So we don't know what little secret schemes are happening in the other two Duchies."
"Then what about my wife?" Count Jartel boomed. "Did Sir Walder kill her too? For what? She used to call him her brother… How could he…"
Sylvester responded immediately. "He's likely not behind the murder. The same is the case with you, Count Raftel. The man your wife detailed is still being searched for in Green City by Sir Dolorem. I believe this conspiracy was supposed to go on for much longer, but with my arrival, the schemers had to hasten their plans and improvise."
"No! This can't be! My little granddaughter!" Duke Grimton boomed suddenly. "My little Thea! Are you saying she was taken by someone else? Lord Bard… please save her! I made this war! I tried to kill you... just to find her… It can't be all lies!"
Sylvester had some respite for the old man in this case. "No, I'm sure Sir Walder and whoever his partners are were involved in this kidnapping. They had to take your most beloved person to force you into this war. Just Count Jartel stealing money would not have been sufficient."
"That bastard!" The Duke Boomed. "We must find him and save my Thea!"
Sylvester agreed and turned to look at the battlefield. They had been too late. Most of the soldiers had died already, and the fields looked more like hell than what used to be beautiful farmlands.
"Sound the retreat drums for each of your armies. I will go and distract them too. Duke Zephyr, I will need your men to move and surround Count Jartel's castle. We can't have Sir Walder escape—if he hasn't already!"
"Right away." Duke Zephyr seriously got to work and briefed his men.
Then Sylvester turned to Lady Aurora. "Please go to Count's Castle instantly and see if you can apprehend him."
She nodded and jumped away with a loud boom. Her extreme strength was truly something Sylvester envied.
Then finally, Sylvester walked over to his two friends. "You two… stay with me. I'm afraid I have failed this time—utterly."
"No, you haven't," Felix exclaimed. "We came here to solve a murder, not this. You even stopped the Dukes from fighting each other."
Sylvester shook his head and made them turn towards the hellish, bloodied battlefield. "Look at that. Thousands have died—they were not just soldiers but commoners. Huntsmen, blacksmiths, farmers. Look at the land their bodies lay upon—the crops for seasons to come have been foiled. The enemies succeeded in their aim. Maybe not as much as they wanted, but they have indeed weakened the Gracia Kingdom—The backyard of the Holy Land."
"What now?" Gabriel asked.
"Now we hope that we find Duke's granddaughter and whoever is killing and cutting women's chests."
"You don't want to catch Sir Walder?" Felix inquired.
Sylvester sighed and looked at the castle in the great distance, appearing as small as a little rock. "One thing I've learned from all this is that Sir Walder is no fool—He's likely already near the border of Sandwall County and Masan Empire."
'If only I knew I was dealing with international espionage and conspiracy, maybe I could have done something differently.' He thought in silence.
The murder mystery he had come to solve initially had turned into something way bigger than he could have imagined. This also taught him another thing about the political landscape of the world. How fragile the peace was as each Kingdom tries to bring the other down.
Thump!
Thump!
Soon, the drums started to resound, signalling retreat. Sadly, there were no winners today; only heads held low in defeat.
400 GT = 1 Bonus chapter.
1 Super Gift = 1 Bonus chapter.
APE TOGETHER STRONG!
