Chapter 1026 Foul Play
"Meow~!"
A ginger cat, wearing earphones, stretched in Fei"s lap and meowed in happiness.
"Meoowwww…"
The cat rubbed its face on Fei"s abdomen and rolled around.
"…"
"Is that normal?" Lith couldn"t help but ask the speechless Fei.
Instead of answering, Fei looked down at the orange cat. It was still rolling in her lap, as if having the best time of her life.
"Meew…"
The cat got up and stretched itself. Then, it looked up at Fei with her dreamy faint green eyes.
Fei wondered whether it could see her. Was the girl"s blindness cured?
"Meowww~"
The cat raised both its paws and stretched over Fei"s body, demanding to be picked up.
Lil cat, you"re currently on me. Fei wanted to say this, but gave up as she was sure the cat wouldn"t understand anything.
"Meowww~"
It lightly jumped on its back feet, demanding Fei to hurry up.
Shaking her head, Fei held the cat and hugged it like how a mother would to her toddler.
"Rrrrrr…"
The cat purred happily around Fei"s neck, tickling her.
"That"s quite the spoiled cat. Does Meryl lose intelligence when she transforms?"
"No." Fei shook her head. "Her intelligence should be normal, but I don"t know why she"s acting like this suddenly."
Such strange behavior. Supreme Ranks sure were troublesome.
"Your Highness…"
Sylvia"s voice rang out in Lith"s ears.
She was walking towards him while supporting Mayzin by the shoulder, who now had her cheeks caved in and possessed a sickly complexion.
Sylvia stopped before Lith"s table and said, "Milady needs to retire for the day. If there"s anything His Highness needs, please let me know."
"Yes, please take care of her."
Mayzin had suppressed her body to be a mortal and enjoy the booze. It had clearly backfired.
Sylvia bowed and left the place, taking Mayzin away.
The orange cat continued to play with Fei, making Lith wonder, "I should probably leave them alone."
Clearly, Meryl was not in the right state of mind. It won"t do him any good by talking to her.
"Fei, continue talking to her and understand her. I"ll summon you if I need anything."
Fei nodded in understanding and bowed.
Lith patted her head. "I"ll see you then."
With that, he left the Inn and moved around Semohr, in search of the mercenaries.
…..
Within a serious office room where only the fluttering of papers caused any noise, a roughly looming, burly Giant stared at another Giant with a relatively smaller stature in front of him.
"So you"re saying there"s some problem?"
The burly Giant asked in a calm tone that chilled the other Giant"s heart.
"Y-yes, Chief."
"And that you sent a group of mercenaries after Malros?"
Cimir"s body trembled.
"...Yes."
The Chief of Giants lowered his gaze at the kneeling Cimir. "How unsightly."
"You couldn"t wait three more days, Cimir?"
Cimir trembled again. He touched his forehead to the ground while kneeling and said, "I-I apologize for my actions, Chief. It was an honest mistake."
"Honest mistake, you say?" The Chief repeated. "Defying my orders is an honest mistake?"
"N-, no…"
Cimir stopped himself from speaking and lay prostrated. Saying anything would only worsen the damage.
"Is that all?"
"No…"
"Speak."
"…There… there has been an anomaly…"
"Hm?"
Cimir gulped. "Chief, the mercenaries I sent out, there"s something wrong with them."
"Something wrong?"
"Yes." Cimir turned to look up. "The mercenaries have rebelled. I caught a few spying on me a while ago and there had also been a few instances of them snooping around the court."
The Chief"s unfazed expression finally had some fluctuations on it as he heard that.
"What happened?"
"The few mercenaries I caught said they got better pay from the opposite party. When asked how much, he said ten high grade magic stones…"
The Chief"s frown deepened. "Such money… it couldn"t be Malros."
They were well aware of the financial condition of the people within the kingdom. Ten high grade magic stones was not something anyone could afford to splurge on some mere mercenaries.
"This is bad."
The Chief quickly came to a realization.
"There"s external forces meddling with our internal affairs."
Cimir stayed silent and let the Chief continue.
"Who could it be…?"
Silence descended down the room once again.
The Giants did not have any enmity with other races. And the Giants also did not have people who had affiliation with someone who could spend such exorbitant money.
Then who?
The question made the Chief frown harder with each pa.s.sing second. The unknown was always agonizing.
Tapping on the armrest of his chair, the Chief said, "For now, pretend that you are clueless about the traitors and do things normally. If the other party is restless, they should make their move."
"As the Chief commands."
"You may leave."
The short conversation between the two came to an end, but the Chief"s worries were still lingering.
Looking out of the window, he thought, "Three more days…"
…..
Time pa.s.sed.
Two days were left for the court hearing.
Gunther and his faction could not find any dirt on Cimir yet. There was nothing that could save them from the banishment and each pa.s.sing second made everyone restless.
Ojas was running everywhere to get things done with Sheng and Ji following him.
Lith expected them to do better, but they hadn"t found any new lead in his absence. The responsibility now lay on his shoulders.
Lith gathered everyone for a meeting. Including Ojas and gang, there was Gunther, his uncle, father, and a few other relatives in the room.
After some chat with them, Lith was made aware that Cimir"s side had hidden everything really well. There were no traces of anything, and in the court where unjust things had happened, the Chief showed some bias and did not defend Malros"s side.
It was known to Lith again that the Chief was siding with Cimir.
"Since there"s no dirt available on them," Lith said to the men in the room. "We have to create it on our own."
"What…"
With the same serious tone as before, Lith continued, "Yes. You lot shall create some dirt on Cimir and start a propaganda in the kingdom that"ll cause him trouble. Ensure the Chief"s name is also taken, but the Chief is not completely a.s.sociated with Cimir."
The room fell silent as Lith finished.
"That"s… that"s really not n.o.ble."
Kruger, Gunther"s uncle, said.
Lith shot him a look and replied, "Do you have the privilege to think about such things?"
Kruger shut his mouth and lowered his head. As much as he wanted to refute, Lith was right. They were in no position to play virtuously.
"Ojas, what"s Cimir"s marital status?" Lith asked.
"Marital status?" Malros, sitting at the end of a long rectangular table asked. "Why would you need that?"
"You"ll know." Lith said and continued to stare at Ojas.
In a hurry, Ojas went through a few tablets in his s.p.a.ce ring and after finding the right answer, said, "He"s… married."
"And?"
"And?" The Giants questioned.
Lith ignored them and stared at Ojas.
Ojas frowned. What more did the Vampire Prince want to… kno..w…
"Huh?"
Ojas rubbed his eyes as he stared at a tablet screen.
"Is this for real?"
"…Cimir is married, but…"
The people"s ears perked up as they heard the "but".
"…but he visits one of the elder"s place every week. No… that"s not right. He visits many elders throughout the week. Huh… is he having an affair with everybody?"
The Giants were taken about with such a statement while Lith smiled.
He didn"t really have hope in what he was planning to do as the Giants were loyal to their partners, but with Cimir, things might not be the same.
Yes, it could be just proper business talks, but judging from how he"s the one who visits everybody continuously, that too alone, there could be something going on behind the scenes.
"Ojas, find a good looking Giantess and get her to mingle with Cimir. If he"s having an affair or if he"s a bad personality, he"ll definitely take advantage of that beauty. You could profit from it. In case this doesn"t work, contact me quickly and I"ll tell you what else to do."
"With this being an example, I want everyone in the room to gather information on people from Cimir"s side. Their hobbies, what they eat, do, wives, and so on. Once you have it, formulate a plan that could make them lose face. If you can"t, let me know."
Gunther had a difficult expression. He wanted to say something to Lith, but couldn"t.
Lith was right. They didn"t have the privilege to play fairly and had to resort to cheap tactics. Time was really running out.
Lith guided these guys for a while and prepared backup plans in case things go south.
Once finished, he left the room and went to see Nika. He did tell her would visit soon, and today was the day.
Her aunt was a clue to solving the problem the Giants were facing. He wasn"t fully sure, but he had faith in it. His own aunt wouldn"t give him a random quest to complete after all. There could be deeper meanings to it and uncovering them was an urgent matter.