Chapter 854: Earl Sachia on the Pillar of Shame (Bonus Chapter for Votes)
The three individuals who secretly met with Earl Sachia were: Mr. Sandberg, a bald local tobacco merchant; Miss Masha, a beautiful woman in a red dress, smoking a slim ladies' cigarette; and Mr. Francis, a somber-faced man with greasy hair who lectured on basic physics at Huntington Public Seminary.
The three met with the Earl in the room in the order of Mr. Sandberg, Mr. Francis, and Miss Masha. Each meeting lasted about half an hour. After the meetings, they did not leave the club. Mr. Sandberg continued to meet with business partners on the first floor, Mr. Francis encountered an acquaintance on the second floor, and Miss Masha had already left the club but had not gone far, so she was called back.
They all had letters from the Earl inviting them to meet today, and after a body search, no poison source was found on them. However, after meeting with the Earl, all three had time to handle their personal belongings, so they still had the greatest suspicion.
What was very strange was that before Colonel Wood brought Xia De and Mr. Bernhardt into the room, none of the three would state the reason for their meeting with the Earl. When Colonel Wood officially announced that Earl Sachia had been confirmed dead, and that he had died in front of Her Royal Highness Princess Margaret, all three gasped, looking astonished.
“Gentlemen, until the truth of this matter is clarified, none of you will leave.”
As a soldier, Mr. Wood acted decisively, throwing out the Princess’s name to let them know how serious this matter was. As expected, after learning that the matter involved a member of the Anjou Royal Family, all three were willing to speak about their reasons for being there, but they requested to do so separately, stating that the matter should not be known by too many people.
Thus, the three were separated again. Xia De, Mr. Bernhardt, and Colonel Wood first interrogated Mr. Sandberg, the tobacco merchant who had met the Earl first. The latter sat slumped in a chair, and after the last Royal Guard closed the door from outside, the bald middle-aged man covered his face and burst into tears:
“I knew it, doing something like this would be discovered sooner or later. This is God punishing me.”
“What exactly did you do?”
Colonel Wood asked sternly. Mr. Sandberg, covering his face, sobbed and replied:
“Earl Sachia and I partnered in a tobacco business in the southern Delarion region—the kind that doesn’t pay taxes.”
Which meant smuggling.
“The meeting today was because the Earl wanted to readjust the profit distribution. We had a big argument, and no one wanted this to happen, but I swear, I would never want to murder an Earl.”
“Smuggling?”
Colonel Wood looked at Viscount Bernhardt, who nodded slightly:
“Indeed… there are such rumors, but I cannot confirm them.”
In other words, this was common knowledge among the local nobility, but Mr. Bernhardt would certainly not testify against an Earl’s family for this. Whether this title could be passed down would depend on how extensive the smuggling business was found to be during the later investigation. But looking at the bald merchant’s sorrowful crying, the scale of that business was probably much larger than the three imagined.
Subsequently, the three met with Mr. Francis, who had a somber face and looked like he hadn’t washed his hair in days. Although he taught basic physics at the university, he was only a lecturer, not a professor.
“I know this is hard to explain, but actually, the Earl wanted to use me to establish a connection with Delarion’s MI6.”
His opening words were another bombshell. Mr. Bernhardt and Colonel Wood were too stunned to speak. Although Xia De was also very shocked, he still managed to ask first:
“You mean, you are with MI6?”
“No, no, Mr. Delarion, please don’t wrongly accuse me. I am a very loyal Carson Rick person. As you know, teaching at a university is a very respectable job, but the weekly salary is not generous. Those few crowns are really… not enough to raise three children.”
He took off his glasses, lowered his head, and wiped the lenses with his clothes:
“When I was young, I met some friends in Delarion, so in Huntington City, I sometimes took on part-time jobs helping people store and sell information. I don’t know anyone from MI6, and they don’t trust me, but I can contact them.”
In other words, he was actually an intelligence peddler in the local underground black market.
“Why did Earl Sachia ask you to contact MI6?”
Colonel Wood, having recovered, finally asked. Mr. Francis hesitated and pursed his lips:
“This isn’t the first time the Earl has come to me. He wants to use information from the Huntington railway department to exchange for Delarion’s permission for a batch of goods from the New World to dock at Coldwater Port… Yes, a batch of herbs that don’t quite conform to the United Kingdom’s established, recognized, and enforced regulations.”
Mr. Bernhardt had, at some point, raised his hand to cup his chin, very interested but not daring to listen further. Colonel Wood’s brows were furrowed like the Rommel Mountains. He exhaled a few breaths through his nose before asking with difficulty:
“What kind of illegal herbs? Addictive? Stimulating? Or those listed by the Five Gods Church?”
Mr. Francis pouted and scratched his face. This strange demeanor was to hide his inner unease:
“All of them. However, this isn’t treason on the Earl’s part. He is very loyal to the Kingdom and cares for the people, always striving to prevent the Huntington East Reservoir reconstruction project…”
“Oh, my God.”
Colonel Wood was no longer listening to the other party. He covered his forehead, groaning, then looked at the two gentlemen beside him.
“I didn’t hear anything!”
Mr. Bernhardt immediately said.
“What?”
Xia De patted his ears, feigning confusion, which finally put Colonel Wood at ease.
After confirming that the deceased Earl Sachia was involved in smuggling and colluding with the enemy, the three then met with the beautifully dressed Miss Masha. She had a very pungent perfume scent, a cheap perfume that could not compare to what the ladies around Xia De used.
“I am the Earl’s mistress.”
Miss Masha sat on the sofa with her legs crossed, having extinguished her cigarette at Colonel Wood’s warning.
Upon hearing this answer, the three gentlemen standing were not surprised at all. Compared to the secrets revealed by the previous two, the answer “mistress” seemed too ordinary.
“You only met for half an hour.”
Colonel Wood pointed out very sharply, his gaze keen:
“Even if the Earl’s health was poor, there’s no reason to only meet for half an hour. That’s unreasonable.”
Then he explained to the two beside him:
“I don’t have a mistress; this is common sense.”
“The Earl wanted to abandon me.”
The woman said these words with no expression on her face, instead looking at Xia De’s face with great interest:
“The reason for abandoning me was simply that he was tired of me. He gave me a money order for 200 crowns, as a way to silence me. That money order should have been found by you; please return it to me after this matter is over.”
She was looking at Xia De, and Xia De was also looking at her. It wasn’t that the Outsider was interested in the woman in front of him, but rather the emerald ring on her finger had caught his attention.
“Yes, it is an alchemical item, but the elemental traces are very weak.”
The other party was just an ordinary person; even if she had an alchemical item, it didn’t mean she was the murderer who poisoned Earl Sachia, who would probably be nailed to the Carson Rick pillar of shame.
Colonel Wood continued to inquire about Earl Sachia’s daily habits and the details of how Miss Masha met the Earl. Mr. Bernhardt, behind him, tugged on Xia De’s sleeve, pointing his finger in Miss Masha’s direction.
Xia De was startled, his mouth opened, and he mouthed:
“Is it her?”
Mr. Bernhardt nodded slightly, then let both hands hang by his sides, palms down, rapidly shaking them up and down. Then he raised his right hand and touched his nose.
“Hands mimicking wings refers to a bat; pointing to the nose refers to a keen sense of smell. He means that he, relying on the Vampire’s keen sense of smell, detected an abnormal scent on her.”
Xia De nodded in understanding. He rolled his eyes, then raised his right hand, palm up, extending it forward, meaning “What is the evidence?”
Mr. Bernhardt also understood his meaning but still shook his head, meaning he had no evidence for now either.
At this point, Mr. Wood had finished his questions and turned to signal the two gentlemen beside him to ask a few questions. Mr. Bernhardt gestured for Xia De to speak first, so Xia De thought for a moment and said:
“How about we just treat this lady as the murderer?”
“Huh?”
The other three looked at him in surprise. Xia De analyzed:
“You see, these three have the greatest suspicion. The tobacco merchant is smuggling, so he certainly won’t be allowed to leave; Mr. Francis is suspected of colluding with the enemy, so he can’t leave either. Only this lady, we have no reason whatsoever to detain her without involving the police. How about we announce to the public that Miss Masha poisoned the Earl, and then, on the grounds of involving state secrets, detain Mr. Sandberg and Mr. Francis as well.”
Colonel Wood, who had been a little surprised just now, now understood. Mr. Bernhardt also gasped, stroking his chin.
“This way, an incident that should have been handled by the police can be handled by us alone. As long as Gray Gloves personnel are dispatched from Weilandale, and after Her Highness leaves by airship, Gray Gloves takes over this matter, then the criminal case becomes a state secret case that does not need to be disclosed to the public, and all three people are controlled. No matter what truth is investigated next, there is no possibility of it being exposed to the public, and the Princess’s reputation will absolutely not be damaged by this.”
This way, Gray Gloves’ investigation focus would also be on these three people, and Xia De would also be out of this matter.
After Xia De finished his thoughts, he heard “her” laughter:
“Outsider, sometimes I truly admire your wisdom.”
The middle-aged Vampire now gave Xia De a thumbs-up, looking at him as if he had rediscovered this young foreign knight. Mr. Bernhardt now fully understood that Xia De Hamilton becoming the only knight to be ennobled in this era was absolutely not just due to good luck.
And Colonel Wood, who had initially harbored some wariness towards this Delarion man, now spoke from the heart:
“Truly remarkable, Mr. Holmes, truly remarkable.”
This was sincere praise:
“You really shouldn’t be managing vineyards in the New World; you should be applying for civil service. Remarkable, truly remarkable.”
Xia De smiled and humbly shook his head. He was a Royal Army Major of Delarion; according to Kingdom regulations, he could not apply for civil service before retiring:
“I’m just better at grasping the main contradiction.”
When the true culprit is identified but there is no evidence to prove they are the murderer, do not look for evidence. Instead, transform the problem into how to apprehend the person without needing evidence.
“Alright then.”
Colonel Wood clapped his hands once, summarizing the matter:
“Then, we will temporarily consider Miss Masha as the poisoner.”
He then coughed, turned to face the sofa, and announced in a very formal tone:
“Miss Masha, you are now under arrest. Please do not make any additional movements, otherwise we will have reason to take restrictive measures against you. It must be specially pointed out that since you are being arrested by the Anjou Royal Family’s direct guard, you will be handed over to Gray Gloves for processing, so you have no right to meet relatives or express yourself freely.”
The woman sitting on the sofa stared at the three people, completely dumbfounded, unable to imagine they would be so shameless.
PS1: Actually, writing this kind of daily life is also very enjoyable. Of course, this is not daily life, but the introductory plot for the regional main quest of the fourth major map, “Carson Rick - Huntington City” area.
PS2: Bonus chapter for votes. The double monthly vote period is about to end, so if you have votes, don’t hold back.
