Chapter 318 – 31. Strengthen Your Territory (8)
There are some growing pains that any city naturally experiences as it grows in size. This is the emergence of organized criminal groups or the flow of dark logistics such as drugs. Of course, the city of Ardennes boasted relatively better conditions thanks to the activities of its namesake baron, but the entire Marginal Territory was not free from such shadows.
“The intelligence was true.”
The site next to the wall, where sunlight is difficult to secure in the frozen soil where sunlight is rare, boasted a fairly low price. Thanks to this, even though land prices have skyrocketed, it is possible to build a huge warehouse.
“Given the nature of the frozen climate, it would not be that strange to import food from abroad. “It also serves as grass to feed the horses, and if it comes in large quantities from the eastern granary region, you can buy it at a low price.”
Olivia, who broke through her heavily guarded entrance and wandered through the space filled with layers of rice sheaves, first searched the city’s warehouses one by one. This is because she could not receive the list of owners since she had ignored the baron’s surveillance and pushed ahead with the investigation.
“Ears of rice themselves are not a very familiar food material in the Western Continent, but they say that it is very economical because the straw left over after the grain is used as food can be used as fodder for cattle. In fact, there are dishes that use it in places such as the Holy Kingdom of Etruria and the Kingdom of Aragon.”
“So, like you said, you will still feel unfamiliar in Gaul. “Isn’t it the same in Sister Olivia’s hometown?”
“Yes, that is why rice is probably one of the best grains that the Marquis can purchase at a low price. Since Madame Le Moant and Madame Le Blanc are sisters, they could have managed the business by asking for consignment cultivation in the eastern farmland.”
The Heretic Questioner stretched out his arm, clinking his iron armor, and tapped the frozen rice straw. As a confidant of the archbishop, the silver-enhanced armor was able to detect some poisons and drugs, and showed a markedly different reaction than when the steel-lined part was taken.
“If it were an ordinary straw bale, my genitals would not have responded when I touched it. The only time the armor containing the Lord’s grace turns black like this is when it is exposed to something evil.”
Olivia and the nuns accompanying her nodded. Surprisingly, the gauntlets that had been shining just a moment ago and wrapped around her hands had now turned black. In other words, it meant that substances that should not have been detected in the logistics loaded into this warehouse.
“Sister Mireille, did you say that she recognized the purchaser and actual owner of this land?”
“Yes, our intelligence sisters worked hard. Coincidentally, the city of Ardennes doesn’t seem to have any government offices of any kind yet. This is a very rare case in a city of this size, so I had a hard time finding my way around.”
Sister Mireille with alluring eyes and long eyelashes came out. Although the same was true for her other sisters, her uncomfortably long blonde hair and full lips were particularly consistent with the traditional Gallic beauty image.
“As you know, the city of Ardennes was originally the Lemohan citadel on the border of Gaul. At the time, this entire land was the property of the Margrave family, but it is said to have been given over to a vassal called the Baron Lavallee, who has now been purged on charges of treason.”
“If you were Baron Lavallee, was he certainly a participant in the vice-count Caubin’s rebellion during the Frozen Incident?”
“That’s right, and it is said that most of the land given to these five so-called vassals was confiscated after the Invincible Knight of Lumière exiled them. Some of them were also awarded to knights and officials who had made meritorious achievements.”
After going through a complicated process, the barren land on the outskirts was given to a woman living at the Saint-Buch Gate. She works as a private security guard and is said to be the mistress of a prominent official in the area, and that she is currently exclusively escorting one person.
“The woman’s name is Justine, and the person she is guarding is a man named Georges Garel.”
“You mean the Mayor of Saint-Buch? According to the church’s information network, he is said to have frequent liaisons with northern lords. The actual owner of this warehouse is Georges Garel, but it would be more reasonable to assume that the user is one or all of the lords close to him.”
“Once Sister Olivia’s genitals reacted, it would be clear that there was something bad in here, whether it was her opium or something else.”
Eventually, it was the turn of Roxanne, a native of the far-off Sarhu, from the Eastern Continent with her neatly braided black hair adorned with hairpins, and Melissa, who was already the most decadent of the nuns with her abundance of earrings and other accessories.
“Hmm, then if you search, you’ll probably find something.”
“Leave this to us.”
The two people, who had skillfully organized the group as if they had done it often, began to fill the space, which did not feel cramped at all even after nearly 100 people entered, like a beehive. Because it was a heavenly freezer, items that did not need special preservation were torn and smashed, making a mess.
“Judgement of nobles is a tricky business in one way or another. Even if evidence is obtained, the indictment may be rejected if it is not possible to prove the relationship that would lead to a suspect. However, since we can’t just burn unsupported infidels, I think we need a more certain inference.”
“We can narrow down the candidates to the Count of Poitiers, Lotharingen, and Baron Brienne…”
“Sister Charlotte, can you identify the variety of this rice plant?”
At that moment, the woman lifted the glasses she was wearing and nodded her head. She was Sister Charlotte, an intelligent and knowledgeable nun who was the head of the affairs department among the Sisters of Le Verrier. As was her habit, she rubbed the beautiful spot around her mouth, then picked up the stalk and stroked it.
“Judging by the fact that the grains are thick and long, it is a long-grain variety. Although the color is reddish, we cannot rule out the possibility that something went wrong during the preservation process, so it is too early to make a hasty conclusion…”
“It would most likely be the Bedaka variety.”
“Maybe so.”
“If it is an imported product from the Near East, it would usually go through the LeBlanc family’s Ouestveda.”
Olivia crossed her arms and was deep in thought. After a while, the nuns who searched the warehouse reported that no matter how much they searched, they could not find anything that would violate the law. As if something occurred to them, they recited their reasoning.
“I see, now the pieces are finally coming together.”
“Did you even figure it out?”
“It was right after the Dongto Incident that the church paid attention to the three northern lords. “After Baron Ardennes, who was still a wandering knight at the time, drove out Count Corvin and his group and formed an alliance with the pagan barbarians in the snowy plains.”
A beautiful woman with beautiful white bob hair was smiling with remorse. According to her guess, the three northern lords were all guilty beyond a doubt.
“Do you all remember the main charges against those five vassals?”
“I think there were so many that it was messy…”
“The first one is probably a birthmark, right?”
“The second was probably human trafficking.”
The Poitiers family was a force that basically advocated neutrality. They were a bridge between the powerful Lemohan family and the central political world, and unlike the Loringen and Brienne families who acted as stooges of the royal family, they tended to take a fairly flexible stance.
“That’s it.”
But is there anything permanent in this world?
“In order to distribute slaves procured from the Far North to various places, a base is needed. In the case of Gaul, it would be the capital Lumière or nearby. I understand that the road conditions in Margin Baekryeong at the time were as bad as not being paved, and the only exception was that they were used to transporting mined minerals…”
“Northern masters too? But since it is part of the County of Poitiers, there must have been an agreement with them, right?”
“Many people misunderstand Gerard Lemohan because he is a man who was called the warlord of the North, but in fact, he is said to be closer to a general than a general. No matter how swollen his liver was, Count Vice, who was just a vassal, would not have bought and sold slaves on his own.”
The tide has changed. Since the appearance of a man who was only an article but could rule the world if he got it. He cut out the rotten evils in one go and led the Baekryeong people of the border to revival even before the opposition from those around him grew.
“What the guillotine is saying is that at least the Count of Poitiers tolerated the transaction in exchange for kickbacks?”
Baron Lotringen and Baron Brienne, who were royalists from the start, are still in a better situation. However, the Count of Poitiers, who had benefited greatly from the conflict between the royal family and the noble family under the name of neutrality, immediately found himself in trouble.
“It must have been a considerable amount. It was probably too much money for someone who just had to sit back and collect the money. And not only was it not enough that the money line was cut off overnight, but the Marriage Lord even became more favorable to the royal family, so he must have been nervous.”
“Because they are showing royalist actions, my neutral family seems to be a thorn in their side.”
“Some kind of workaround was needed, right? He must have felt sad that he didn’t have the money he always had, so he would have turned his attention to distributing opium. On the other hand, you probably thought it would be nice to have a reliable ally. It would not be an exaggeration to say that if we were to attract Baron Lotringen and Baron Brienne to do business, all the conditions would be met.”
The six nuns of Le Verrier each expressed different exclamations. In short, Olivia confirmed that all three lords were the suspects they were pursuing.
“Then at least one charge will be confirmed. I don’t know what kind of drugs those three are distributing, but the punishment for opium-related crimes is basically confiscation of property. Of course, powerful nobles will get out through plea bargains, but the price will be painful.”
“The problem is that we still haven’t found any evidence. “At least there needs to be someone who can act as a witness in order to proceed with the prosecution.”
“The reason the abbess called us is that she read all these trends. Even then, I couldn’t get solid physical evidence, so I probably needed help. He hopes that Baron Ardennes can gain more influence.”
As everyone added a word, the nun, with her white kerchief atop her head, curled like a manusi, raised her hand.
Nursing Director Ilse, the only non-combatant of Le Verrier, as per her position, and a woman with an expert in healing arts, recited a distribution channel that I knew.
“Among the medicines that have been officially distributed in the Western Continent recently, Bedasan is usually considered the best for opium. If the ears here are really of the Bedaka variety, wouldn’t they also be bringing in the smuggled drugs from there?”
“It’s too early to be sure, but it’s probably possible. Of course, Sister Marguerite would have foreseen even here.”
Olivia added, agreeing. She was a former nun from the Lumière Workhouse, and because of her grief over the loss of her younger brother, she was hostile to the abbot. However, not many people knew about Prince Millennium’s sins, and the same was true for his daughter, Marguerite.
A person I don’t feel comfortable with, but who I can hold hands with if necessary.
Aside from her personal feelings, she was quite capable. Even though she was confined to a monastery, she was suddenly reborn as a disciple of the archbishop.
“Perhaps the North is not where the Count of Poitiers intends to distribute his contraband. If the opium was imported from Beda, it would have been related to Ouestveda in the east in some way, and if you are in a position to have some influence on such a company, there is no need to be obsessed with one region.”
“Apart from the revival of the border, Dongto will continue to import food. This land is an environment where proper crops cannot grow. So why would a group of people who have already secured a safe distribution channel invest in building such a large warehouse? …”
“Yes, at least it will be a preliminary investigation. The three lords, led by the Count of Poitiers, are laying the groundwork with the intention of bringing hegemony to the North. “The head of the great convent read that trend early on, but she failed to get a decisive clue.”
At first, I was just thinking of using it as a card to hold in her hand. However, she was blinded by her jealousy over having her only brother taken away from her, so she rushed to do it. As a last resort, she called in the Sisters of Battle of Le Verrier, and in this way, she guided me closely with the clues I had discovered.
‘If it is true that even Ouestveda is involved, then this would mean that Madame Lemohan and Madame Leblanc should also be implicated and sent away. At the very least, destroy her so that she cannot make a political comeback so that she will obediently listen to what her husband says.’
Olivia smiled her bitter smile.
‘See, Marguerite, you eventually proved yourself to be of Millennium Duke’s blood.’
Could it be that the sinister nature hidden behind the benevolent exterior is truly nature?
“Interrogator, now that you have made up your mind, what are you going to do?”
“Hmm, did you say that the Lady of the Three Colors is in this city?”
“That’s what I heard.”
“Then there is only one way, right? “I have to go and secure the testimony.”
I didn’t know yet.
“… “In our own way.”
