While William sold the idea of a Royal Trial to the King, Wolfe focused on the other gossip and conversations that were happening in the Palace. There were bound to be more people who knew, and many more who were loyal to one of the imprisoned Nobles, even if they didn't know what they had actually done.
Finding out what they were planning to get around the restrictions placed over the Palace to break the perpetrators out was vitally important, second only to controlling the ssage so that the Nobles and staff didn't manage to convince the Kingdom that they were actually innocent and being railroaded out of their positions.
The minimum penalty that they would be facing was being stripped of their positions and forced to repay the missing money, which most of them should be able to afford. The maximum was a public execution for Treason, since it was the Royal Treasury that they had stolen from by stealing the payroll and maintenance funds.
The involvent of the Steward seed to be the defining factor in the decision of the Palace Staff. He was a creep and nobody liked him, so by association, anyone that he was conspiring with in his corruption must not be any better of a person.
Now that the Nobles were in cells, they had no reservations about slandering them and spreading the nastiest sorts of rumours about them.
So of them seed to be accurate, as the Intelligence Minister wasn't surprised to hear them, but a few of them had him laughing quietly as he listened.
One such rumour was that the Agriculture Minister had a number of illegitimate Satyr children, hybridized through intimacy with goats. That one was remarkably popular, in the way the scandals often were, but the chances it was true seed to be quite low, as far as Wolfe's knowledge of genetics went.
But most of them were more ta, and talked of disdain for the commoners. It was slowly becoming the consensus that their hatred for the lower ranked Demons had been their motivation for betraying the crown. They felt entitled to every cent that the tax collectors brought in, and even if it was wages for their servants, they didn't want to give up a single coin.
That sort of sentint was common among the powerful everywhere, Wolfe assud. They forgot about those at the bottom after they spent too much ti in luxury. He considered whether he might also be guilty of that, but decided that the fact that the new arrivals were too adorable to be biased against. Who could forget the pleading looks from the animal girls when they wanted a spell cast?
Not him.
A gentle knock at the door interrupted their listening, and then it repeated in a specific pattern, signalling for the guards to let the intelligence agent in.
"Minister. We have an issue. We were waiting at the bank, as the deposit was scheduled to be made today, and we wanted to catch anyone else who might be involved, but we're not sure that we can handle the one we found." The spy reported.
He handed over a magical photo and a hastily scribbled note, which the Chief Investigator leaned forward to examine as well.
"That's the Prince of Nephrite. The two kingdoms have been hostile for generations, and they played a large part in the attempt to overthrow the Monarchy here. He is most definitely not on the approved visitor list." Rail whispered.
"He was also asking after the Steward's deposit. There is no doubt that he is involved, which makes this more than a simple matter of skimming money off the top." The spy agreed.
The Minister and the Chief cursed softly as they realized that this was about to get very ssy. The Prince was expecting a paynt that wasn't coming, as the money had been found and the perpetrators had been apprehended. But he wouldn't be alone here. The Prince must have travelled with guards, and in the worst-case scenario, he might even have a military force posing as bandits, rcenaries or rchants. They would be waiting for the right mont to strike, using the funds that had been pilfered from the Royal Treasury.
The Chief Investigator turned to Rail and Wolfe with a speculative look.
"You know, nobody knows the pair of you outside the Palace. If you go out looking for the Nephrite Prince's force, you might be able to find them without alerting them that we are onto their activity." He suggested.
The Intelligence Minister let out a bark of laughter. "You think that those two are capable of subterfuge? Really? Have you really thought about this?"
The guards nodded in agreent and Rail began to look offended.
"Hey, what's wrong with us? We can be sneaky if it suits the situation." She insisted.
"A succubus who doesn't sexualize herself and a Magi? That combination is suspicious right from the start. Even if you didn't work for the Investigation Departnt, you're both highly suspicious people. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but neither of you blend in at all, and you both lack common sense." The Intelligence Minister reminded them.
"Who flew here in a ballgown, in the arms of a Magi Patriarch, this morning?
Yeah, you, that's who. And how many people do you think noticed that the Magi keeps a pet succubus over the last week while you flew to work and back every day? They might not know who you are, but you're both sowhat famous in the city."
Wolfe smiled and winked at Rail. "We might be able to use that. Visiting dignitaries are allowed to be a bit eccentric, right? As long as they don't know that we're staying in the Investigator's building, we should be fine pretending to be foreigners working together."
"And what sort of position might you pretend to hold? You do understand that foreigners usually have a goal in mind when they co here, right?" The Chief Investigator asked.
"Ye of little faith. Did you think that I couldn't co up with anything? I'm a Magi Patriarch, what is the one thing that every Magi needs for their growth?" Wolfe asked.
All the Demons stared at him with blank looks. There was no way for them to know the answer to that. Most of the older Demons had only seen a few Magi, and the younger ones had thought that the species was extinct.
"We need bonded consorts and assistants, of course. I have two right now, one at Rank Three and one at Rank Two. But in total, I can form five. Currently, I can form a new one, but I won't be able to form the fourth until one of the others has all the mbers reach Rank Four." Wolfe explained.
"So, you're going to pretend that you're looking for Demons willing to form a bond with you in exchange for what?" Rail asked.
"Power, of course. What other reason would anyone want to form a Pentacle bond with a Magi?"
The succubus turned out of her chair to shift onto his lap and stare directly into his eyes, using her Succubus influence to force answers out of him.
"Explain, now."
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