Chapter 236 - 234 ~ Leading the Fool
"A whole village? Are you sure?"
"Yes, my lord... A whole village vanished, and a lord's son, missing. It is a troubleso affair..."
The Count said to Prince Barbro as they sat around a small table. Princess Renner stood by their side and quietly poured tea for the two n.
"My vassal is... beside himself. Though only a third son, he was still his son, after all."
"I see."
Prince Barbor's deep voice was largely indifferent. He ignored his little sister as well, not acknowledging her pour except to take the porcelain cup and sip from it when she was done.
"It is unfortunate, but does it really matter? I can round up so common trash off the streets for you to fill your village, if that's all you need. I won't even charge you anything."
Barber said with a wicked gleam in his eye.
"Thank you, my prince. But I've already made the land available to third sons of my vassals. My real concern is the missing boy. The vassal who suffered the loss has been a good subordinate, and a trash noble is still a noble. Moreover, the fact that he vanished from a village where all of its denizens also disappeared without any sign of violence sounds... unbelievable. It was as if the peasants put the trash son down themselves and ran."
Renner, having finished pouring the cup for the count, put on her most distressed girlish face and covered her mouth with three fingers.
"Goodness, Count. That is like they are rebelling against you personally."
The Count's relaxed air changed imdiately. His entire body tensed sharply, enough for the prince to see the shift.
"Y-Yes, that's it exactly, Princess Renner. As expected of a mber of the royal family to see through the heart of any matter in an instant.
"Of course. It is why the Royal family is Royal. We recognize that affronts to our most loyal nobles are affronts to ourselves. The basis of the crown is action, and those afraid to act, are unworthy of it and should not be supported."
The words of the incomprehensible and silly little sister sounded to him as if she was laying down his path to the throne.
'A prince of action is the one that belongs on the throne of Kingship. Yes... Perhaps I can use this trivial affair to get ahead of my fat little brother and force father's hands.'
"Yes, it is as my sister says. I will take the lead in this investigation. Bring justice for the noble house that was wronged by these stupid peasant rebels. We will find them, and wring the truth of the son's fate from their tortured bodies! I swear it on my sword!"
The powerful man of broad shoulders towered over both Renner and the count, his muscular body adorned in full formal martial regalia of blue, red, and gold, with dangling tassels on his shoulders and a sash across his chest.
The blond bearded prince Barbro appeared every inch the Warrior Prince.
Renner demurely clapped her hands with a smile and girlish giggle.
Inwardly, she knew very well the kind of man he was. A coward and a bully. Never once did he take a task that might actually risk himself.
"Yes, of course. A Prince who protects the nobility is the sort we need on the throne of Re-Estize. I will look to you in the days ahead, my Prince."
The Count said and stood up, and was gone after a brief set of goodbyes.
Left alone, Barbro looked down at his little sister.
She was...an enigma, to put it nicely. Absurd. He was aware that she sotis had interesting insights, and he wasn't above asking for them. After all, she was of no threat to him.
"Sister, where would you begin on this?"
Renner tapped her cheeks innocently, her eyes looking off into the distance towards the city beyond. As capitals went, Re-Estize had what she was sure was one of the ugliest in nature. Massive in size, it was riddled with cri and squalor.
Finally, after a mont of brief silent, she spoke.
"Brother, except to take their grains and goods to the market, peasants don't move around much, do they?"
"No, they don't. They have no reason to move."
"And they, who knew only of the ways of nial labor in the farm, and can only hunt a little, would they venture into a forest full of dangerous monsters?"
"No, that is suicidal."
"And they probably won'g go to a city because they wouldn't know how to survive so... perhaps you just need to look for a village. A village where there are a bunch of new people. We do keep birth records in the villages after all."
She proposed with a sweet, innocent smile that, as it always did, pushed aside any sense of inferiority he would have felt from a different tone.
"But those aren't very good... They're wildly inaccurate as so may not even register themselves until much later. Besides, they can simply lie about their nas."
"True, but if a village goes from a hundred families to two hundred families, I think it's fair to ask where those other hundred families ca from, don't you agree? I think it's safe to say any village with a sudden burst of growth is suspect, and then we just have the Lord co by and look for anyone he recognizes as being from his domain."
"I see, I see." Prince Barbro muttered, and it was sowhat true, what she said made sense, and he nodded sagely as if he'd been leading the conversation himself.
"But to take in so many people... are they even capable of it?"
"Maybe if they have more land to work than people to work it, or if they suffered so recent heavy losses and are in need of labor forces to work the land they have. I would imagine they would even overlook the murder of a Lord, rather than turn them in as they know they should, they are all peasants after all."
"Then they're complicit in the cri, and the whole place can just burn when we find it."
Prince Barbro's teeth gritted when his square jaws clenched. And Renner forced herself to hide the grin she was on the verge of showing on multiple instances.
"As you think best, big brother. Forgive , but this is all a bit much and I would like to return to my embroidery."
The fragile young girl, the golden princess, and the most radiant beauty of the kingdom seed very doll-like to the powerfully built Prince Barbro. Like a fragile, thin, little vase.
"Of course, sister. I will rember your... suggestion. And as thanks, I will forget your bodyguard's offense to ."
"Thank you, brother, that is reward enough, he was only trying to protect , and he is just a child, still, your generosity will also be rembered ."
Renner replied and taking the sides of her gown, she curtseyed with a bowed head.
They then parted ways, her sharp ears caught Barbro coming up with various ways to kill treacherous peasant trash, until she was out of hearing and back in her own room.
Then, as soon as the door clicked behind her, she threw the latch for additional needless security, and went down to her knees and prostrated herself before the empty air.
"Is that to your satisfaction, Lord Demiurge?"
She asked, and upon the utterance of his na, a whirling void of darkness opened, and the devil himself erged from it.
"Yes, that was well done, Princess Renner. That is exactly what we needed."
Demiurge said, and he reached down to gently pat her head with a grin on his handso, devilish face.
--------------------------------X--------------------------------
Word about a job which promised great wealth spread fast and wide as Foresight spread rumors and stories about the wealth that lay ahead.
Imina's elven heritage proved useful in lending a mythical touch to the "legend
Reviews
All reviews (0)