Chapter 320 – 320. The Duke’s First Confusion (2)
– One –
– So, Your Highness. Did you adjust the speed of your advance as intended?
“That’s right. I listened to it for a little while, and it moved without any error than I expected. Since the imperial army’s brains are so stupid, wouldn’t it be that they were ridiculed and then annihilated in the first expedition?”
– I was well aware of the fact that the Imperial Army was incompetent, but I never imagined that they would be such a weak group.
Regal and the owner of the house look at each other and smile sinisterly.
What they wanted in the first place was to completely stop the advance, so slowing down the advance was somewhat disappointing, but it was clear that they would not deviate from the big flow.
Regal had achieved what he wanted at a moderate level, and he wasted no time lamenting over such regrets.
“So, how is the work going?”
– It is proceeding smoothly as planned. With a little tweaking, we expect to be able to ship them all soon.
“…”
Regal looked at the butler through the display panel with hollow eyes.
As Regal remains silent and keeps an eye on the butler, the butler begins to get very nervous.
“The timing of shipment of finished products must coincide with the timing of the march.”
– There will be absolutely no problems with shipping time, Your Highness. Rather, it is clear that it will be delivered with a margin, so please take care of it.
“If you tell me that much, I’ll believe you.”
– Yes, Your Highness.
Cold sweat runs down the butler’s face.
Even in the midst of extreme anger, Regal calmly analyzed the cause of his last failure.
Because it was the most terrible failure he had ever tasted since ascending to the throne of the duke, and because it was the biggest crisis he faced at the same time, he desperately clung to analyzing the cause before venting his anger recklessly.
“How is your wife now?”
– Since I heard Your Highness’s message in the last communication, I have been focusing on my hobbies in the workshop, putting aside all external activities, including the Eonsim Committee and social activities. He seems to have lost interest in overseas operations, and he is only leading a life close to confinement.
As a result, there were two major causes of failure analyzed by Regal.
The first was the competence of the enemies, that is, the experimental subjects roaming in the northern wilderness.
The information obtained from the two first-class combat agents, Tullamore and Windsor, they did not take advantage of, and used it to deliver the deadliest attack at the most decisive moment.
Thinking that it might turn into a public opinion war through slander or black propaganda, he established the Imperial Press Review Committee and even took control of it, but the enemies did not choose such a benign method.
Even looking back now, the unprecedented attack using the devil’s shape, even though the enemy was a slow one, was truly admirable.
Apart from that, it was an attack that could have been known and unstoppable, but it came so painfully because I was completely caught off guard without even noticing it.
“It’s desirable. For the time being, let it be so self-reliant.”
– … All right.
The second was the carelessness caused by Chiba’s existence.
To be more precise, it was assumed that Chiba’s complacency had created a large hole in the borders surrounding the island, through which the enemy’s means of attacking itself flowed into the island.
“How did the tracking of the supposed saints go?”
– In conclusion, tracking failed.
“… It’s amazing. Whether the operatives under me are incompetent or whether they are competent, I don’t know at all, but… I still don’t understand how they got away with not a small number of people.”
With the stigma of being a devil worshiper, the Regal and Whiskai families and their mansions within the Islands were targeted by mobs and ravaged.
In order to solve it, Regal did not evade it, but boldly went to the system and chose to break through head-on, actively defending himself and struggling to appease public opinion.
Of course, while he visited his estate and home to appease his retainers, some property damage occurred in the system, but compared to his assets, it was only a minor level.
And now I’ve been able to shed most of that stigma.
But,
– Majesty… I’m sorry to tell you, but the number of operatives whose return has been delayed without being contacted, or even those who are certain to be missing is not small.
“Huh… What means did he use to kill the operatives? A person presumed to be a saint wouldn’t be like that, and a shaman who created the shape of a devil, or a wizard who was so superior…? You won’t even have time to cast spells against them…”
Regal had yet to secure the most likely suspect and his associates for summoning the devil’s image from the island.
By the time he returned to the system from his domain, the system was seething in complete chaos.
The emperor himself issued an edict and declared martial law again, preventing anyone from leaving the system until the situation calmed down.
So, when the Regal returned, it was clear that they were within the walls of the Isles.
“Wait, wait a minute. I’ll clear up my thoughts.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
However, after Regal calmed the infested public opinion and suspicion towards himself, and in the meantime released the operatives to get the full picture of the situation, he had no choice but to droop his shoulders in dejection.
It is because the most suspicious ones, namely the saint and his companions, have long since disappeared from the system.
When those sent by the heads of each faction came to the place where they were staying, they disappeared without a sound without even leaving any clues.
After receiving such a report, Regal had time to share her devastated feelings with the Imperial Army, the Imperial Faction, and members of the Church.
And all those forces, each with their own goals, were eager to pursue the saint and his companions competitively.
Of course, the operatives dispatched by Regal were equally likely to join the ranks.
And even the lack of results was a problem shared by all those forces.
‘There is no guarantee that the beings who create illusions are sorcerers or wizards. Perhaps, it could be a participant that has not been revealed so far, that is, a test subject.’
Regal’s accident finally reached there.
His eyes are shining
‘So the front and back are right. From eyewitness accounts, it is clear that none of them possessed the physical ability to comfortably win against first-class combatants. Then it was judged that the existence of a wizard or shaman was intertwined, but it is clear that it was only an error.’
His expression starts to turn red with greed.
There are two main types of subjects he has given up on capturing.
The first are those against him in the northern wilderness.
They were too exquisite, so he couldn’t easily get his hands on them, so they were more coveted subjects.
The second were experimental subjects whose origins were unknown.
They were too well hidden to be caught by Regal’s eyes, and for that reason they were not even objects of greed.
‘There is a high possibility that some or all of them are test subjects!’
Regal finally comes to a conclusion.
He raised his head towards the butler who had been waiting silently.
“The butler.”
– Yes, Your Highness.
“Have you grasped all the personal information of those who are presumed saints?”
– Two out of four got it right.
Facing Regal, the butler bowed his head deeply and answered.
He seemed to be bothered by the fact that he couldn’t figure out the identity of all the people he was tracking.
– The presumed saint is a commoner priest named Smirnoff, who was excommunicated due to a conflict with the church. And the other person who figured out the identity is a reporter from a commoner named Sinatra, a woman who once served as the representative of a small and medium-sized media company in the province.
Regal’s eyes widened.
“Could it be,”
– Yes that’s right. I was one of those who heard the revelation of Lai, the representative of the old media company, who was put under arrest in a public toilet. Apparently, it was the same name that Patria, who was a researcher at the Family Research Institute at the time, testified about.
“Is there any possibility that they are the same person?”
– There have been reports that they have headed south, and that several operatives are closely following them. However, after the report that they almost caught up with them, all the operatives who were put in pursuit disappeared.
“That’s what happened…”
Regal’s expression is colored with displeasure.
However, he does not express it to the butler.
Tracing her memory, it was because he remembered hearing such a report right before the 1st Expeditionary Force started the war, when he was busy chatting with Chiba.
Around the time when she and Chiba were preoccupied with coveting each other while making rather violent love, Regal was somewhat careless, saying that such things were not very important.
Because of that, he entrusted the related follow-up to the president of the house.
However, it turns out that it could have been a great clue only now.
Therefore, since this was her own fault, Regal swallowed her anger by blaming herself and Chiba.
– According to the testimony gathered by the operatives in the islands, they moved north towards the islands from the southern provinces. It is presumed that Sinatra, who was captured and interrogated by operatives, was rescued by a young married couple presumably a saint and a sorcerer or wizard, and then joined them and headed north to the islands.
“I see… Then, what about the appearance of the other two? Did you write a montage?”
– Although the montage for the female of the remaining two is somewhat inaccurate, the montage was written based on the testimony. Those who witnessed her were, oddly enough, rare.
Regal nods his head.
If two of the four were identified, it would not be impossible to trace the other two.
Therefore, Regal is not frustrated, but rather rejoices in realizing the whole story even belatedly, and burns with subtle greed.
“Apart from the presumed saint and the former media representative, didn’t you say that the other two looked like a young couple?”
– It was. Ah, by any chance, do you see them as one of the experimental subjects that have not been traced yet?
Regal nods confidently.
His eyes were burning with eagerness, no, extreme greed for the first time in a long time.
“It seems likely that this is the case. If you become a participant, you will be young, so even the apparent age can be evidence? Besides, the method of silently killing the combatants, and the creation of the devil’s image in the system, are all If we used this ability that we don’t know about, wouldn’t it be easy to explain?”
– Ah… Well, if it was a shaman or wizard, it would be impossible to lead saints and incompetent common people, and they could easily elude their agents. In the meantime, I was puzzled by the disappearance of the tracking team, but now it seems that the context of the front and back matches.
“That’s right. But even though you had the montage, it’s strange that you couldn’t figure out the identities of the presumed test subjects…”
Regal licks his horse’s tail.
There was no sign of criticism in Regal’s eyes, but he was pressuring the butler in a subtle way just by blurting out his words.
– If they came from the South, wouldn’t they most likely come from miners?
“I’m sure. Except for the mines, there’s hardly any way for the thousand to live in the South.”
– In general, a mine is a place where people from the lowest class among the thousand are reluctantly reluctantly entering after losing their place of residence. It would be most appropriate to see the mine as the last place for the thousand things that can not die and live.
“Right.”
As a member of the upper class like Regal, there was no reason or need to know about the life and circumstances of such a low-end life.
Because of that, he was accepting the butler’s explanation as if it were new knowledge.
– Therefore, the origins of such mine workers consist of prostitutes, illegitimate children of wandering theater actors, war orphans, survivors of fallen mercenaries, or slash-and-burn people.
“It’s a place where lowly and idiots, no better than the slave class, gather.”
– You saw it correctly. Since slaves do not have private property, they have no duty to pay tax and cannot receive personal treatment.
“So, despite being treated as chattel, there is no worry of starvation even if the master beats you to death, isn’t it the essential ecology of a lowly slave?”
– That’s right. Those who couldn’t endure a life worse than that of slavery, those who couldn’t even choose death with their own hands, chose the life of a mine worker.
Regal nodded.
It was a rather lengthy explanation, but after listening to the butler’s explanation, I intuitively understood the reason why I couldn’t figure out the personal details of the couple presumed to be the test subjects.
“So they’re presumed to be ghosts of the Empire, completely out of the census, are you saying?”
– You understood it correctly. After all, the only thing that matters in the mines is the labor force itself, and miners, whether criminals, illegitimate children, or indebted gamblers, do not care about the worker’s status. There are no rosters in the first place because several people die in a single mine or a day, and there are no employment contracts because the owners don’t want to be obliged to compensate the dead.
“Hmm… I guess I’ll have to organize that place sometime…”
Regal nodded.
However, it did not appear that he had given up the pursuit.
“Anyway, since the personal details of the saint and the head of the old media are clear, and the appearance of the presumed saint is very conspicuous, it must be clear that there will be no difficulty in the pursuit as long as they do not separate from each other, right?”
– That’s right. In fact, I am most concerned about them splitting up in the middle and disappearing. Since it is a montage based on what was witnessed during the war, its reliability is low. Moreover, strangely, too few of the young couples remember the woman’s appearance, so if they diverge, it is judged that tracking itself may become impossible.
“That’s strange too… Out of the four, there are only a few people who have witnessed only one…”
Regal gets into trouble.
After a moment of silence, he opens his mouth.
“Perhaps she climbed the clock tower by herself, separated from her companions in the meantime. Or it could be that she hid in some place and made a devil’s image. So no trace was found, and the sighting at the field treatment center. It may even be non-existent.”
-If she was a contestant, no, she was a test subject, she could have done that while hiding completely alone.
The two opinions come together.
As if Regal was satisfied with her own reasoning, she even smiled lightly.
“It seems that there are more reasons to track them down, so even if you send in special combat personnel, be sure to catch them.”
– All right, Your Highness.
Piririk.
Regal ends her communications with that.
She and she smile bitterly.
Even if they slowed down a little, it was obvious that when the sun came up, another boring march would follow.
Even on horseback, he hated marching.
