Chapter 89.
By law, all civil servants are the emperor"s subjects, as well as his hands and feet. Thus, causing harm to a civil servant could be interpreted as harming the emperor"s body. In other words, three generations could be punished for high treason if they were unlucky. Therefore, even a great n.o.ble family wouldn’t be able to touch a director such as Pelgrant easily.
However, that didn’t mean that civil servants could act superciliously. The Empire was clearly a despotic country that recognized the cla.s.s system as a law. So, even if one was a civil servant, if they carelessly provoked the n.o.bility, they could be beheaded instead.
If a n.o.bleman felt insulted and threw his gloves, the civil servant had to use his small wallet to find a representative. If he couldn’t find one, he had to go to the duel himself. However, a n.o.bleman had knights to represent him in the duel. So a paper-pus.h.i.+ng civil servant would be killed on the spot.
By the way, if I had known this butler would be here to spill the truth behind the incident, I wouldn’t have bought a record of Director Pelgrant’s movements in the past month. I don’t know if I’m lucky or unlucky.
I was planning on catching the real criminal and trying to find out what was happening behind the scenes by combining the real criminal’s statements and Director Pelgrant’s past activities, but I think I ended up wasting my money.
With that, let"s leave a little of the ice troll’s blood from the alchemist’s luggage for evidence and take the rest. It was a very valuable item that could not be found unless you went deep into the demon’s territory.
Elder Mirpa also kept nagging the Foreign Ministry to obtain it. Thinking about this point, I was proud to see it go into my pocket s.p.a.ce. It was something I had to obtain when the chance arose because I didn"t know when I"d need it.
After that, I wrapped the old man and the alchemist with rope and magically strengthened the rope over three times. They may not wake up for the next few hours, but just in case, I put up a simple, transparent barrier with magic. Even if they were spotted, whoever showed up from now wouldn’t be able to do anything about these guys unless they were a greater magician than me.
Now that I’ve got the real criminals, it"s time to go beat up the guys pulling the strings. Fortunately, I knew the location well because it was a place I had robbed once before.
I took out the second version of the white half-mask from my pocket s.p.a.ce and flew through the blue sky over the capital. Not only did I upgrade the perception disrupting magic, but I also put the number two in Roman numerals under the right eye so that no one would be able to recognize me as Lupin.
* * *
In his study, Marquis Baltainwas having trouble calming his heart rate as he kept biting his nails. If his butler were to return, he should have come back long ago, but he still hadn’t.
Did something go wrong?
Feeling a vague sense of unease, he nervously shoved the luxurious books stacked on his desk to the floor.
"F**k!" Marquis Baltain spat out curses and messed up his disheveled hair.
No, let"s calm down. He kept reminding himself to calm down, but that was easier said than done. For someone who had always had his way since childhood, like Marquis Baltain, it felt like a part of his mind was falling apart just thinking about the possibility of something going wrong.
"d.a.m.n it, all I asked was for him to kill a troublesome fly,” He murmured and told himself that there probably wasn’t anything wrong.
Marquis Baltain couldn"t understand what difficulty had popped up that would cause his butler to be late after being sent to deal with a trivial alchemist. He didn"t even want to understand.
Let"s just punish him when he comes back. With this thought, he started biting his nails again. He would punish but not kill. There were few butlers this competent.
Dozens of people died by his hands after being used as tools, but Marquis Baltain didn’t think anything of them. No, he couldn"t. The trivial insects that had died had already disappeared from his memory long ago.
Marquis Baltain kept biting his nails to relieve his anxiety. He turned the globe on his desk meaninglessly and fiddled with the books nervously.
"Kiduk!" He looked back, surprised by the sudden laughter.
On a large sofa on one side of the study, a woman wearing a red mask sat cross-legged, laughing at Marquis Baltain.
"H, how? No, it’s not strange if it’s you, Scorpio," Marquis Baltain muttered to himself, looking at the woman in the red mask who broke through his mansion’s security.
Scorpio uncrossed her legs, got up from the sofa, and approached Marquis Baltain as she caressed the chin of her red mask, saying, "I heard things went awry. Huhu."
Marquis Baltain was furious at her nonchalant tone, but at the same time, he was moved by the enchanting voice.
"I"m glad you heard. I’m going to have you people put it back on track, as you’re the ones who messed it up."
Scorpio roared in laughter at Marquis Baltain. "Oh my, why would I?"
"What, what do you mean why?!” Marquis Baltain was fl.u.s.tered
Soon, his emotions turned into rage, "All this happened because of you guys!"
Scorpio found Marquis Baltain’s anger to be funny and laughed, "I wonder why it’s my fault~?"
Marquis Baltain became angry at her playful, feminine tone. "Are you messing around? Didn’t this all happen because those guys were chasing the prime minister’s hounds for you?!"
"Oh my, is that so?"
As soon as Scorpion raised her voice whimsically, Marquis Baltain"s face turned red with fury. "You, you...!"
Scorpio mocked Marquis Baltain, the marquis speechless from his anger. "I think you"re confused. You"re the one who left a trail. Isn’t it because of your carelessness that our n.o.ble prime minister smelled it and sent the hounds our way?"
"What- for what reason did the tail get caught! It’s because we tried to meet your excessive demands that this happened!”
Scorpio’s reply was no longer playful but rather cold and sharp, "So you should have been careful. Besides, I"m sure you didn"t get caught simply trying to listen to my demands?”
"Ugh!" Marquis Baltain had no reply.
Scorpio whispered into Marquis Baltain’s ear, "If your greed was satisfied thanks to me, you should have known better."
"You, you wench!” Marquis Baltain was dumbfounded upon hearing that from the greedy Scorpio.
However, Scorpio moved away from Marquis Baltain and shrugged as if she had read his mind, "I may not know the limits of my greed, but I have the power to control it. Yet, I don"t know if you do? Oh, the hound you tried to kill won’t try to bite back when he wakes up, will he?"
The playful tone came back, but Marquis Baltain was cool-headed this time. If he didn"t kill Pelgrant now, Pelgrant might point towards him as the culprit. There likely wasn’t any evidence, but there was circ.u.mstantial evidence in his hand that he and Scorpio had communications between them.
Since Pelgrant had almost died, Marquis Baltain was certain that at the testimony, they would make up evidence that the prime minister didn’t have and attack them. This was a kind of political fight, and the battle would be decided by the one who justified their position first.
In a dog fight where you get bitten in the nape if you didn’t bite first, it was Marquis Baltain who provided justification. The attempt to attack first for his own safety led to a counterattack made possible by Pelgrant"s survival. No matter how much of an obstinate child he was, the political sense he had developed over the years in politics gave him a sense of crisis.
Turning pale, the marquis pleaded with Scorpio, "I’m begging you! Please kill that hound! If it’s you, you can kill him without anyone knowing!"
Right now, it could be said that Pelgrant was safer than Arcanta, the prime minister. It was clear that the prime minister would protect Pelgrant with very tight security since he was a precious friend and an important political weapon.
Obviously, the guards would not allow any chance for Marquis Baltain to even dare slip through. However, the monster capable of publicly announcing her desire for the fall of the Empire, the most powerful nation, was different. If it were the witch in front of him, she’d be able to a.s.sa.s.sinate Pelgrant while ridiculing every security measure.
"Well, that is possible. Hmm~ What should I do?" The playful tone of Scorpio made Marquis Baltain’s insides burn up.
"Well, I"ll do it if you give me what you were supposed to before."
"Before? What, what are you talking about?" Marquis Baltain was overcome with anxiety.
"Eyy, you know. The G.o.ddess’s Blessings."
The marquis despaired at Scorpio’s cutesy tone. "That, didn"t I say I"d give it to you once the thief is caught?"
Despite the desperate voice of the marquis, Scorpio laughed playfully, "Oh dear, you still haven"t caught him?"
The laugh convinced the marquis. She had posed the question knowing full well what the situation was. This woman was only making fun of him.
"If I get caught, you won"t be safe either! Everything! I"m gonna spill everything to the prime minister! And your hideout! Power! Everything!"
At the angry voice, Scorpio couldn"t hold back her ridicule and burst out laughing. "Puhut! Puhahaha!"
Marquis Baltain was fl.u.s.tered by Scorpio’s laughter. "Why, why are you laughing?!"
"Ahhahaha! Ah~ It"s been a while since I had such a good laugh. Did you really believe everything I"ve said and shown you up till now? Wow, I didn’t know, but I guess our marquis is really a pure man.”
"What...? The marquis’s face suddenly turned white as he stared blankly at Scorpio.
Scorpio smiled with her eyes through the mask. "Next time, please prepare something that will satisfy my desires so that I can do a favor for you. That is if there is a next time."
After finis.h.i.+ng, Scorpio somehow disappeared before the marquis’s eyes. As if he had spoken to the air from the beginning, the marquis felt a strong sense of separation and betrayal and couldn’t help but tremble.
Where did it go wrong? Was it when he tried to kill the prime minister’s hound that was digging after him? Joining hands with that witch due to being drowned in greed? No, it wasn’t at any of those moments. If he didn’t try to kill the hound, the hound would have certainly tried to bite his neck. He would have found someone to satisfy his greed even if he didn’t join hands with the witch.
Marquis Baltain found the root of the destruction from elsewhere. Lupin, yes, Lupin was the root of all evil. In the first place, if the thief named Lupin had not stolen the G.o.ddess’s Blessing that he was going to give to Scorpio, then she wouldn’t have made those excessive demands.
If a thief named Lupin hadn"t stolen the entirety of his fortune from his mansion, his tail wouldn"t have been caught due to a sudden lack of funds. Everything, everything was because of that thief, Lupin!
Yet now, it all became useless. Now, he just wanted the butler to come back soon after taking care of the alchemist.