"Thank you," Jack replied. "Now, do you rember what ti you arrived at this mansion two days ago?"
The Marquess seed to be thinking for a mont, then answered, "around ten in the morning."
"Can you describe what you did starting from when you entered the mansion until when you were aware of the theft?"
"Well… When I arrived, the butler received
at the main entrance. He then took
to the guest room where I waited while he went and inford the duke. One of the maids brought
a wine to drink. I have been sitting in the guest room waiting until I heard the commotion. The butler ca back and inford
that there had been an incident and asked
to remain seated for the mont. I waited there for quite a while before the guards showed up. Curious and tired of waiting, I followed the captain to et the duke, that's when I heard about the theft."
"What ti did the guards show up?"
"Almost noon, I think."
"The maid that brought you your wine, was it the old maid?"
"No, that's the head maid. She rarely did anything here, she just gave instructions to the two other younger maids. It was one of the young maids, I don't rember her na."
It should be the maid other than Joselyn then, Jack thought. Since Joselyn was detained by the duke at the ti.
"Thank you for your ti," Jack said. "I will co to find you again if I have any more questions."
"What? You are still planning for a next ti? Are you kidding? Go find others if you want to ask questions, don't co to bother !"
Jack's eyes twitched. Calm down, calm down, he told himself.
The next one that ca in was the butler Winston. The guy sat down calmly opposite Jack. His calm deanor displayed his high refinent training as deserved of soone his station, but Jack could not help but think that he saw an allusion of disdain in the butler's eyes.
"Can you describe to
the series of events in the morning two days ago leading to when you found out about the theft?" Jack began his interview.
"Certainly. I've started the day as usual. I oversaw all the chores of the maids, gardener, and cook to make sure that everything was fine. And everything was just the usual morning, with the exception of a visit from Lord Marquess Fernando."
"At what ti was that? Do you rember?" Jack interrupted.
"I certainly do. It was at 9:48 AM when I heard the door knock. I answered the door and brought him to the guest hall. I instructed one of the maids to serve him with wine before I headed up to inform His Grace Duke Alfredo about the Marquess' visit. Afterward, I went back down to check on the Marquess briefly before I went to do my other chores. But I could soon see the barrier formation activated, hence I went to find the duke imdiately and I was inford about the terrible theft. The Duke told
to inform the rest of the occupants to calm them down, and told
that the guards would co soon to handle the matter. I went and did as was told. The guards showed up around 11:45 AM. I then brought them to see the duke."
Jack scribed down important points as fast as possible, he was not a fast writer so this was not easy for him, but it would not look professional if he asked the guy to repeat his statent, would he? It's a good thing his intelligence stat had granted him a better mory compared to his real-life self, it allowed him to not miss any points that needed to be noted down.
"Did you go outside of the mansion at any ti during the event you described before? Particularly to the area under the tower by the mansion's front fa?ade?"
The butler looked at Jack with astonishnt, "why? What was under the tower?"
"Just answer the question, please."
"No, I stayed indoors the entire morning."
"Any other unusual thing you are aware of?" Jack asked again.
The butler lifted one of his eyebrows. "Define unusual," he said.
"Like probably, if you see a stranger around the mansion or sothing you don't see on any other days in this estate."
"If I saw those, I would have said it already, wouldn't I?"
Jack looked at the butler awkwardly, "all right, okay, thank you for your ti."
A rather large man was next. His clothing consisted of a simple long shirt and long pants, with thick boots under his legs, and a pair of rubber gloves was hanging on his belt. So dirt was spotted on his clothes. It was easy to surmise him as the sole gardener of the mansion. He also wore a straw hat which he took off when he sat down on the chair opposite Jack.
"Good day to you, sir. I am Matias," he greeted in a timid manner which was contrary to his body size.
"Good day to you as well," Jack replied.
"Am I in trouble, sir?" Matias asked. Jack realized now that his expression seed to contain a bit of anxiety.
"Oh, no, no. No trouble, I'm just going to ask you a few questions. There's nothing to worry about," Jack tried to put the big guy at ease.
Matias nodded, but his expression did not ease up.
"I assu you are the gardener for this estate?" Jack started with his questions.
"That's right. I mostly tidied the main garden in front of the mansion. But on occasions, I tend to the other outdoor parts of the estate as well. I am also the resident carpenter, so I can fix up any wood furniture that got broken."
"Where are you in the morning two days ago?"
"Two days ago…" He looked up as if trying to rember, before he snapped back after recalling. "Ah, I rember! I was trimming the overgrown shrubberies by the side of the lake."
"Do you see the barrier formation coming up around the estate?"
"Huh? What's a barrier formation?"
"Um… The colorful light that appeared by the side of the estate."
"Oh, that. It's beautiful, it is."
"Yes, it is. When did you realize it? Were you still trimming the shrubberies by the lakeside?"
"Uh… not sure. I guess I still was…?"
Jack was speechless for a while. Were his statents even reliable?
"Did you rember when the castle guards ca in?"
"Oh, them! Yes, I saw them coming in drove before I had my lunch break. After my lunch, I saw them again walking all over the estate. I was wondering what they were doing, but I was too scared to ask."
"When you saw them co in, before you have your lunch, were you still trimming the shrubberies?"
"Yes, I was."
"Okay, all right. Now, a few more questions, Mathias, bear with . Did you work on or go anywhere near the bushes under the tower at the left side from the front of the mansion?"
"Do you an the tower where Duke's workroom was at?"
"Yes, yes, that's the one!"
He looked up to try to recall sothing again, then said, "do you still an two days ago? Then no."
"What about yesterday and today?"
"Uh, also no."
Then why did you ask if I ant two days ago? Jack had the urge to shout out, but instead, he took a deep breath. He then asked, "did you see anyone go near that shrub?"
"Uh, I think not."
"Did you see anything unusual during these two days?"
"How do you an unusual?"
"Never mind, thank you for your ti."
Then ca the old woman in the maid dress. She still put on that irritated look. She was obviously not in the spirit of cooperation. She sat down and crossed her arms in front of her.
Before Jack could say anything, she spoke out first, "I'm not sure what you are trying to do, but you are wasting all our ti here. We have many chores still to do, and now that Joselyn was unavailable, I cannot appoint Luciana to do it all. I assure you that the duke will not be happy if our tasks are unattended to. Now I would like you to just call off these aningless etings, and let the guards do the job. They are more than capable to handle such matter compared to a naless charlatan like you."
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