Chapter 23: Third Episode: Chapter 5 (2/2)
Even though this was a smokescreen to hide the real plan, if it wasn’t arranged the way it did, how would the House of Brickfield with mountains of gold invest in such a risky idea?
The change happened after the agreement was signed. Lord Mueller G. Karl Arnold was, undoubtedly, the biggest regional tyrant of the Bagerr Province in Deiss Kingdom. He frequently kept in touch with several officials in the Bagerr Province and higher ups from the Kingdom. Even though it was him who put out the investment plan, he was hardly seen in its execution. Every part had an appointed official to take care of the plan, even the notary public was hired through means unknown.
The trap was executed according to plan, the mines’ actual owners were legitimately doing business with the House of Brickfield. However, the agreement and specific mining sites have been changed. The manager of these noble houses were using Brickfield’s wealth to develop new mining shafts, but there were no documents specifying how the House of Brickfield were related to these mining sites. A liaison officer was stationed in Bagerr, but some time ago, he was obsessed with this pretty lady, spending all his time to court her.
O’Neil Andrew Morisette’s trap was easy to understand, a sign of an intricate plot. He used the fact that the agreement had taken effect and completely blindsided the investor House of Brickfield, the maneuver had some difficulty to it, but at Bagerr Province where the management of mines were messy, it’s not impossible to do so.
The resources in the province of Bagerr was so rich, almost every single town had been filled with busy miners. The nobles of Deiss Kingdom dominated the mining business which included the transactions and mergers, only the government had the capability to deal with the troublesome aftermath, like verifying the locations of each mines owned by each noble house, as well as the available ores to be mined. The current technology for measuring those weren’t always the most convincing, so conflicts between nobles regarding mines happen a lot in Bagerr.
International partnerships such as the one Robinson Brickfield was involved in had to be reported to the local government, so Mueller G. Karl Arnold only needed to bribe the local officials to amend the official archive and change the locations of the mines in the agreement, what effects would that have if it happens?
The Secret Service Department of Ministry of Justice had clarified everything, the agents obtained the agreement from the Mine Management office of Bagerr through various methods, and found out the locations of the specific mines in the agreement did not exist. Same conclusion was drawn when they queried with the nobles partnering with the Brickfield. According to the foreman, the mines they are working on were the ones with partnership to the Brickfield, but when the agents went it over with the local government, it was found that the mines had nothing to do with the agreement. The official record wouldn’t lie, so the agents were really confused by the turn of events.
The Bagerr nobles had delivered a large sum of money to the Brickfield, who in turn also provided the former a good amount of money. Whether the mines exist was still debatable, so what do these transactions mean?
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In the 5th month, Dulin already had signs of summer in its air. After the fortnight-long refurbishment, the mansion of Dortmund Andrew Nedgabel was as good as newly built. Low trees separated flowers of different colors, In the day, it’s as if someone had wandered into a colorful world hidden behind a forest path.
The garden kept its livelihood even at night, the night mist caused by the breath of the plants was thin, yet blurry, as if a single breath would cause it to disperse. A master conductor instructed a slow orchestra of crickets, filling the quiet air with festive music.
Baron Erbe set down his utensils, His Imperial Highness Prince organized a banquet in a pretty corner of the garden. Even though his explanation took some time, it didn’t dampen the Liar Extraordinaire’s appetite. Little Ricky was a really good conman, he already immersed himself in his new character as Baron Erbe, perfectly executing his role as a minister.
”Let me think, you have successfully turned this legitimate deal toward the path of criminal, but in your explanation, I noticed a weak link. If the agents from Minister of Justice requested the Brickfield family to confirm the location of the mines, wouldn’t all these deception be for nothing?”
His Imperial Highness Prince O’Neil Andrew Morisette stuffed the last piece of grilled red trout into his mouth. ”Mm… Ricky… I mean, Sir Erbe, my dear minister, that hole isn’t hard to fill. Have you heard of the DeKTer?”
Baron Erbe contemplated for a little, he was pretty familiar with this name that circulates in the dark. ”It’s short for Deiss Kapitum ont Terraburo, or Deiss Land and Resource Bureau, it’s a secret organization famous for their cruelty and mercilessness.”
”Yes, that’s correct! Ola! It’s really yummy! Oh no, I wasn’t talking about them, I was talking about Mam Celia’s grilled trout. Yes, the Deiss secret agent bureau, our Secret Service’s counterpart, their agents in Bagerr Province kept a close distance monitoring of the Brickfield.”
”Is that true? Understandable, seeing the Brickfield had a person of high importance. If even the investment from a Titan Secretary of State couldn’t sound their alarm, these guys would be close to losing their jobs.”
”That’s right, these guys had a really keen sense of sniffing out information. I believe you know about information traders?” Oscar laid on his chair satisfied. His dinner was so delectable, the young Prince even considered having a second serving.
”Of course, I even have some friends who were quite well-known!”
”Ola! It’s easy to explain then, our friend, Lord Mueller G. Karl Arnold is a renowned information trader, he reported the Titan Secret Service’s actions to the director of the DeKTer, I believe our Secret Service had paid their price and will probably be more restrained in the Deiss territory. Plus, Deiss had strengthened their control over those areas. I believe once our agents felt there’s no more stuff to dig out, they’ll only report the ones they could make sense of to their superiors, right? Those guys tend to be like this.”
Baron Erbe agreed to the Prince’s deduction, secret agents’ work involved being covert, once their operation risked exposure, they can only report the things they found. Currently, it seemed impossible to even get in touch with their contacts in Deiss. Furthermore, with the participation of DeKTer, the whole plan derailed into something else completely, placing the last nail in Brickfield’s coffin.
”Question, would such vague evidence be sufficient to take down that guy?” Baron Erbe asked the key question. The accusation toward the Secretary of State needed to come from unambiguous evidence, and little Oscar definitely only led the detective toward a certain thinking.
Oscar indicated Baron Erbe to have a stroll in his garden, while a bored Snowstorm climbed up a Chinese Parasol tree with a series of agile movements, he could observe the whole garden from there.
”Yes, we can’t accuse that minister yet, and the investigation from the Ministry of Justice would have problems proceeding due to the interruption from DeKTer, so we still need a key element to pin Robinson as a traitor…”
A weird chirp came from above, Oscar turned toward the top of the Chinese Parasol tree, ”Hahah, looks like someone else is coming… two women, oh, it’s Mam Celia… and… my Antonia. Looks like we have to stop here for today.” He gestured toward the tree, and Baron Erbe could only see a vague shadow moving in the trees.
Oscar and Erbe walked toward the direction the ladies were coming from, and saw them turning out from a fork in the road.
”My dear Oscar, where were you hiding?”
”Mam Celia! Hahah! My dear Mam Celia, I went into the depth of the woods to enjoy your grilled red trout, I was worried the whole mansion might come after me after its fragrance wafted out, so I chose a secret hideout to keep them all in!”
”Oh my stars! You cheeky little boy! Only you would come up with ideas like this, no matter where you hide them, the stray cats can always find them,”
Oscar kissed Celia on her face. ”Mam, don’t worry, I have kept them all in my stomach, just let the thieving cats go on their fruitless hunt! I didn’t even leave them the bones!”
”Hoho! You’re a prince now, how are you still so impudent?” Lady Celia gave the chubby kid a big hug. Recently, her mood had been great, after the Emperor His Majesty announced his attitude toward the House of Andrew, she slowly became one of the most popular noblewomen in the capital upper class. Her limelight could only be compared with the charming Duchess Ferdinand.
Countess Antonia Horman offered her hug to little Oscar who had disengaged from the Lady Duchess, his embrace was tight and strong, suffocating her a little, but she felt awkward after seeing Snowstorm who came out of nowhere.
Duchess Andrew gave her hand to Baron Erbe gracefully, who bowed and kissed the back of it, Lady Celia now knows the Baron’s true identity, but she still refused to believe the handsome middle-aged man was the Liar Extraordinaire infamous across the Westland.
”Little Ricky, you look like you’ve been well. How was your trip, I believe it went smoothly?” The Lady Duchess greeted him cordially.
”Um… Milady, can I ask for a favor?” Baron Erbe was a little vexed, why do the people here like to call him by his disgraceful name? ”If you wouldn’t mind, please address me as Erbe.”
”My pleasure, Erbe! Don’t you worry, I won’t be making this mistake again. My gentlemen, can’t we speak inside?”
Her suggestion was instantly agreed by little Oscar, who led the ladies into a tea room with their hands on his arm. The servants served the best ground coffee after they have seated, saturating the room with the rich aroma of the coffee.
”Baron Erbe, let’s talk about your trip. How was His Grand Eminence? It’s been seven, no, eight years since I’ve met with the honorable Radriere VI.” Lady Duchess’ main concern right now was her youngest son’s Coronation Ceremony, and the one most important person in this was definitely His Grand Eminence the Pope Radriere VI.
”I was just about to tell you about this!” Baron Erbe set his cup on the table. ”Lady Andrew, I just saw His Grand Eminence last month, he was asking about you and Duke Andrew, he also appeared to be very confident in His Imperial Highness’ Coronation Ceremony.”
”Is that so? That’s wonderful! Did His Grand Eminence say anything else?” Lady Duchess continued her questioning.
”The rest were some trivial matters, like whether Young Lady Sasha had done her weekly worships, the state of Duke Andrew’s stomach, whether the heretics from the Eastern side made any moves, the financial situation of the Narcissus county et cetera. Don’t worry, my answers were not disappointing to His Grand Eminence.”
”Actually, His Grand Eminence also mentioned something else,” Baron Erbe chose his words carefully. ”The Pope mentioned he had received some complaint with harsh wordings.”
Lady Duchess was a little confused, ”Complaint? Is it about Oscar or about the House of Andrew?”
Baron Erbe glanced at Oscar, ”About His Imperial Highness, all of them, the letter described Lord O’Neil Andrew Morisette as a devil incarnate, forgive me, I was reciting as they said, that was not my words. I think Pope Radriere VI only told us out of concern, he would like us to look out for the troublemakers picking bones while hidden in the dark.”
Lady Duchess became less concerned. She knew her youngest was definitely not someone who knew how to keep himself in check, that was proven by the rumor between him and Her Imperial Highness Princess Alanis awhile ago.
”Looks like someone still harbor hatred for this arrangement.” Lady Duchess’ only worry was that the young Prince couldn’t command the loyalty of his people.
”Yes, putting aside the others that antagonize the House of Andrew, even the Secretary of State alone, he would not have let it go so easily.” Countess Antonia Horman voiced her concern.
Lady Celia already took that into consideration. In her letter to her husband, she detailed the events in Dulin. However, her husband didn’t give her a clear answer this time, Duke Andrew’s reply was a very concise, ”Do as your youngest say!” Lady Celia thought her husband was somewhat irresponsible. Little Oscar was still a teenager, what can he do?
Oscar planted a soft kiss on his Mam’s cheek, ”Don’t worry, dear Mam, everything will be fine, let’s not talk about this. The Coronation was ordered by His Majesty, even if there’s problem, it’s not ours to worry. Let’s talk about something fun. Mam, have you heard about old Duke Kachev Drakas Ferdinand…”