Chapter 1597: Planning to Leave
A/N: Another long almost 2-Chapters-long Chapter!
...
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Veronica pinched the bridge of her nose. Now that Estra had moved on from Otto, in a sense, she was pretty much attached to her brother.
It was just that they were not clear about how much of an anomaly she noticed. All they knew was that she knew it was Vaughn who saved her from Roach’s brother.
They did not dare assume that she hadn’t surmised anything. She could’ve opened her eyes or overheard something that could become grounds for suspicion for them (Veronica blamed her soft-hearted brother), so they couldn’t openly be rude to her.
As such, they could only entertain her, hoping to get out of here someday.
Surprisingly, Liaroa was there too. She looked a bit confused as she looked at them and then at Estra, probably figuring out the relationship.
Lia glanced at the maids. "Serve us some snacks and drinks," she ordered. Though this was her house and she normally didn’t have to pretend, especially in front of cousins from a small town, they had a guest after all.
Veronica and Vaughn greeted them politely, with the former looking at her cousin in concern. "Lia? How are you?"
"It’s fine, my husband is injured and my heart breaks when I see him in pain," she said, though this was mostly for Estra’s eyes. "When are you planning on heading back?"
"As soon as the Lord allows us to," Veronica said, but then he met Estra’s eyes that widened, and she quickly added. "Though we like it here so far, and we don’t mind staying for a bit longer."
She didn’t know Estra enough to know how far she could go—her reputation wasn’t very good. She wouldn’t put it beyond her to ruin their chances of escape just to keep them in Bleulle.
Cringe
"I promise to visit here often with my brother," she added, making Vaughn stare at her.
He did not remember saying this...
Anyway, fortunately, it was enough for the redhead, who seemed to calm down. Veronica’s shoulders slumped in relief.
Vangh looked at his sister being so talkative and just sighed. Well, did he have a choice?
....
More days passed in Bleuelle, and more and more results of investigations came back.
One: The damages.
The bombs were small, but quite formidable. Their damage was also clean and concentrated, unlike most of the bombs they knew about. For the most part, they were designed to make loud sounds, so the physical damage was actually negligible.
They only damaged the vegetation and loose decorations near the area of the explosion. There was little fire, too, and according to those nearby witnesses, they were blown away and a bit burned, but it was nothing lethal.
Combined with the ’bombs’ that only created loud noise, it was clearly done to cause chaos more than anything. The whole plan was to distract rather than to destroy.
It was still unclear what the perpetrators truly wanted, but the fact that it was a bomb in the first place was his greatest concern.
The bombs they knew of were from Holt City, which had a close relationship with pseudo-elves and dwarves a long time ago, and Hassen City, which had famously captured dwarves a generation prior.
Dwarves also had a relatively long life span as well, so it was highly likely there were still a few alive in the City.
Holt City was too far and they didn’t have many intersections. Not to mention, if they wanted anything, they just had to send someone and make demands.
Hassen City, on the other hand, was a bit closer in strength—at least that was what it looked like—and was closer to them, so Bleumrick could only zone in on it as the prime suspect.
When he visited Hassen, Bleumrick had once tried to pry information about them, but even he didn’t get to see them. He did, however, see one of the dwarven weapons left behind.
It was a sort of an arrow, but only needed a lever to activate. It was made completely of black metal and could apparently destroy low-level sentries in a single shot. If enough targeted shots were made, even higher-level sentries could be destroyed.
This was amazing because sentries were like system walls; They were very difficult to damage intrinsically.
It was one of the many reasons why, even if Hassen had been low-key in these past few decades, no one dared slight them.
That said, Hassen’s bombs could kill level 40s and above and damage stronger ones. They hadn’t heard it used for years now, and the last time was probably a decade ago, when a level 50 offended Evos. A single bomb caused that person to lose two limbs, which was a life no different from death.
If it was them who had decided to slight them... then it was of great concern. If it wasn’t them, it was also worrying because that meant another City was probably behind this, or at least someone with close relations with them.
Bleumrick simply did not consider that the perpetrators who’d dare do this was any less than a City, or a Level 3 Town with the close backing of one.
Even those ’poison’ bombs were similarly troublesome. They didn’t actually kill anyone. This was not bad, but it was as concerning as it was humiliating.
Humiliating because so much chaos happened because of something that did not even kill anyone!
And, according to their alchemists, it was far easier to create a poisonous and lethal gas rather than something that would make it seem realistic. Rather, they couldn’t imagine how it was done at all!
He had Class C and a Class B Alchemist check and they, too, were puzzled.
Who would even do this?
Who could do this?
The first thought was, once again, Hassen City, because not every city had the capability to do these things. They had their dwarven technology, and they also had good alchemists.
He pondered of the people who were missing, wondering what the perpetrators could want from them that they used such important resources.
The one that puzzled him most was Menzon, whose family was currently panicking. He had not returned from the party, and while they pondered he was just hanging around elsewhere at first, they quickly realized he was gone!
When Bleumrick checked his population list, he didn’t see him there anymore either. The lad’s family cursed and begged him to assist them.
This irked Bleumrick because that toolmaker was useless after being supported by him for so many years, and this family was desperate because they were even more useless than him!
They were, however, definitely more concerned that the family’s toolmaker was gone rather than him. Blemrick didn’t really care for that, though. What he abhorred was the feeling of being in the dark!
The fact that they could dare ask him for favors was enough to send them to prison and get them tortured there for a while.
And, just recently, they found out that Kalfene and Sleuth had also gone missing! Both of them were the best in their respective specialities!!
They had been isolated, so no one noticed them missing for the first few days.
He was only alerted when Kalfene’s landlord—whom Bleumrick made sure would make things hard for them—came to say there had been no one answering for the past few days.
He thought they were re-assigned without him knowing, but he asked around and found out that it didn’t happen. When he realized something was wrong, he immediately ran to report to the Lord.
Sad for him, his tardiness in reporting also got him punished in the dungeons.
While all this was happening, various thoughts ran through Bleumrick’s mind.
Although unlikely, this added a seed of doubt in his mind. Did Hassen want those two? Did he have to go so elaborately? Then again, he made it clear that whoever would take them would have a hard time procuring the blus.
And then there was also Margaery and his brother, neglected children of the Hassen Lord. If Hassen was the one behind this, then it was odd. They were already citizens of Hassen, so there was no need to take them away so mysteriously.
Unless it was a misdirection. The attacks were full of odd strategies. Perhaps... those two were already in Hassen at this moment, and they were just used to cause chaos in Bleulle.
With narrowed eyes, he strode to the woman’s room. She was staying in his palace, and had been inseparable from his daughter.
Zinnia was beside herself, sobbing her heart out. Octavia had stayed to console her, but the blonde seemed inconsolable no matter what.
"The Letter from the Hassen City has arrived!!"
Bleumrick nodded and took it. Before, assuming this wasn’t all Hassen’s elaborate plan, he asked them to check whether the children’s names were in his list.
They received a letter from Hassen that they were no longer on his list, and it was likely they had died or switched residencies.
It was unlikely for those two to do that when their mother was still here, so it was likely the former.
"MY CHILDREN!! WUUU—Why! What did you do to them!? What did they do so wrong!!" she screamed, patting her chest like a crazy person, as if it would make the pain feel better.
Bleumrick rubbed his temple. This woman had been crying in his palace nonstop for days. Did she have no shame?
Besides, whatever the perpetrator’s plans were, he doubted this meek woman had anything to do with it. At this time, Bleumrick just wanted her out of his house.
He looked at his useless daughter. "Why are you still here?
"LEAVE!"
...
After a while, Bleumrick and his cronies had done as much investigation and interrogation as they could, and with the chaos and tension (a lot of push was coming from other territories, as well) they had no choice but to loosen the blockage.
They had been investigated, and no leads among them had been found. They were getting noisy, so might as well get rid of them.
And so, finally, the guests from outside have to get out.
He stood at the highest balcony of his palace, looking down, and also staring at the many carriages leaving his City.
Whatever happened here... he will find out!