Chapter 151: Seventeenth Episode: Chapter 6 (2/2)
The mirror circled around, it was safe!
Ferdin took a shovel from his comrade, and forced the gate open! The Staff Sergeant had finally left the water, he was excited and proud! He looked just like he had captured an enemy stronghold! No, not stronghold, it was a room full of Golden Tis!
After confirming that no one was in the vault, he lit the torch covered in oilskin. Using the torch, he lit the few lampstands on the wall. Ferdin was familiar with the placement of the room. With Major Janin's description, he could even walk around without bumping into things with his eyes closed.
Water splashed, other soldiers who had waited for a long while exited the water one after another. The light in the vault was dim and flickering, it seemed the poisonous gases were slowly filling up the room, they need to hurry up!
However... dear heavens! Who could describe what the soldiers see?
Golden bricks were stacked together in neat piles, sacks full of Golden Tis were heaped into hills! Jewelry of all sorts glistened with the goldware and silverware under the torchlight, antiques sorted into rows and famous paintings stacked against each other! It was really a sight to behold!
The shivering soldiers were stunned by all that they've seen, their faces looked especially ferocious in the sharkskin hoods.
”That's enough!” Ferdin hollered, shocking his soldiers back into reality.
”Don't forget the uniform we wear and our mission!”
At their captain's words, the soldiers finally came to their senses. All of them were ashamed of the greed that momentarily flooded their conscience. Without a sound, the soldiers immediately split up into groups as planned. The first group was responsible for the golden bricks; the second group, the sacks of Tis; the third group for the jewelry, goldware, and silverware; and the fourth group handling the antiques and paintings. Their actions had finally revealed the attitude of a soldier — as cold as a machine, as precise as a standing clock. —
***************
”Then...” Prince O'Neil asked again, ”what do we do with the booty?” Major Janin's plan sounded flawless, but how was he going to move treasures this heavy?
The Major pointed at the two men guarding the study, ”Little Godot and Mendez, they look like they could carry a hundred kilograms each.”
”Two hundred!” Little Godot corrected Major Janin, to which Mendez Blane nodded in agreement.
”That's good!” Janin Sherman clapped his hands excitedly, ”but two bulls can move about five hundred kilograms!”
”What are you saying?” Little Godot clenched his fist.
”Are you saying we're less than animals?” Mendez Blane rolled his sleeves up.
”That's enough, you two!” the Prince stopped the big men from flipping out, ”I think I understand now, Major Janin wanted to use bulls to transport the goods.”
***************
Church's Year 798, 17th Day of 9th Month, 4.55 in the afternoon. Dora's Meatballs was closed! This was an unusual event, as the Vielonna Trading Hall had just closed, all the merchants in it would surge out of its entrance looking for food like a pack of hungry wolves. In times like this, why would ol' Corr close so early?
”Ol' Corr! Are you going away for a while?” asked some nosy neighbors.
”No, I'm not going anywhere! Sirs, there is nothing I can do about this... It had to be done!” ol' Corr seemed like he only repeats this.
In the back of the tavern, Little Godot and Mendez Blane leaned against a wall, panting like a lioness in heat. They had just moved a huge stone mill onto a raised platform over the well and hooked the two-hundred-meter cable to it.
”My bulls, it's your turn now!” Big Worm Blasky yelled at his men. Several soldiers immediately herded in some strong, muscular bulls. The ten bulls were specially chosen by Major Janin. After testing, it was found their combined strength was enough to move about two tons of goods.
”Alright! Your mission is to turn the mill and pull the things out from inside the well!” Blasky ordered the bulls as if they could understand him.
At the same time, Ferdin and his team were working diligently, shoving sacks full of gold and golden bricks into a prearranged hemp sack before tying them up, leaving shiny hooks on the mouths.
A soldier pulled out a huge cable from the waterway. It was the exact same one hooked to the stone mill. After being pulled out of the water, it was revealed the cable had steel rings attached to it. The rings were weaved into the cable when it was braided.
The soldiers attached the hooks to the rings as fast as they could, this first round was just to test the cable's actual loading capacity, so the soldiers only secured fifteen hemp bags to the cable, leaving still a large number of items in the vault.
Sounds of whips cracked in the back of the tavern. Then ten bulls started mooing and turning the mill. As the stone mill rotated, the cable on the mill started to be reeled in slowly.
After an indeterminate amount of time, when the bulls were wet with sweat, the first batch of fifteen bags of treasures was pulled out of the water!
Along with the treasures, there were soldiers who made sure the treasures were in good condition. Ferdin took down his hood and kept himself afloat while watching as bags were received by the soldiers outside of the well.
”How was it? How was it?” Ferdin yelled.
Blasky unhooked the bags and sliced one open. What did he see? The Commander scooped a pile of gold onto his hands, he knew this meant Operation Crown was a success!
”Hey, 'how was it,' you asked?” Big Worm brought the gold coins toward the well and threw all of them in.
Gold coins knocked at the heads out of the water like a cascading waterfall, as the soldiers finally gave a cheer of success.
***************
The sunset painted the sky with a shade of vermillion, changing the Serevan Palace Garden into a plethora of colors. Baby roses grew on the shrubs, their red petals turning into a deep purple; sweetbriar roses bloomed on the vines, their pink flowers transformed into a brilliant red; and the maroon-colored Montezuma roses which blossomed everywhere turned into clouds of darkness.
All these were the masterpieces of the sunset! The dazzling sunset glow flooded the city with a reddish tone, burning the Palace, and beautified every girl's smiles.
”Oh, did I recognize the wrong person?” General Vangol Abberning Hagrid emitted a deep grunt, ”Miss Elizabeth's beauty was even more stunning than before!”
The General looked at the Prince, ”You little runt, what have you done to her?”
Oscar laughed dryly, ”Whatever you're thinking of!”
General Hagrid roared with laughter, ”I'm not you, I don't have the courage to take her in as my daughter!”
Oscar kept quiet, he stared into the depth of the garden as an officer approached. The officer saluted in front of the table, then approached Oscar to whisper into his ear.
”Alright, thank you!” Prince O'Neil could not help but show his excitement.
The officer took his leave and soon disappeared into the bushes, leaving the Prince and General Hagrid in the garden again.
”Alright, I've seen Miss Elizabeth and the fine dinner had been a pleasure,” General Vangol raised his cup of coffee, ”now can you tell me what you've done?”
Oscar smiled slightly and said, ”My First Special Combat Brigade had just completed an unbelievable secret mission!”
”What is the mission?” Vangol took a sip of the Faran coffee with fresh milk.
”We robbed the underground vault in Vielonna!”
”Pfft!” Vangol immediately spat out the coffee. ”What did you say?”
Oscar grinned even more.
”You heard me, didn't you? My First Special Combat Brigade had robbed the underground vault in Vielonna, it's the one that was called Peter Dynasty, I believe it was left with not even a copper!”
The Commander of Military District Five stood up in shock. ”Do you know what you're doing? Besides... how?”
Oscar looked at the General's face upon which was full of disbelief.
”Initially, I thought it was impossible as well, but I met someone called Janin.”
”Janin?”
”Yes!” Oscar smiled at the thought of his military intelligence officer. ”Janin Sherman. You will soon be introduced to him because he's now the deputy chief of my Southern branch.
General Hagrid sat down fiercely and closed in with Oscar, ”I don't want to be introduced to him! I just want to know what you're doing! At least give me a proper explanation, don't force me to arrest you! You and your men had broken at least ten articles from Titan Codex”
Oscar retrieved his folder from the chair beside him and took out an account folio of Southern merchants.
”First, look at this!”
Hagrid snatched the folio, his strength enough to prove he was not kidding.
”Oh- it's these dishonest traders, but their behaviors were still acceptable, I knew it would be like this! But you-”
”My behavior is unacceptable?” Oscar frowned, ”the business giants who gathered in Vielonna colluded together, using the Trading Hall as a front for all their cheating and bullying behaviors! Did you not want to know where the criminals got their combat resources from? It was the black market, and where do the banned goods on the black market come from? Obviously, under your nose.”
Hagrid's clenched his fists again, the proof of the merchants' wrongdoing had been crumpled into a ball.
Oscar did not mind hitting the Commander with another blow. He smirked at Hagrid.
”My Uncle Vangol, do you know what we are in the eyes of those business giants? We're clowns! They will come crawling to us with compliments and gifts when they need us, and incite some turbulence among the ignorant paupers when they don't-”
”They will pay for this!” Vangol thumped his fist on the table.
”Yes, they will pay for this, and it's time for us to collect the debt!” Oscar's smile was without any sense of amusement, there was only a warmthlessness that contradicts the sunset.
”Robbing the underground vault of Vielonna Trading Hall is your first step, isn't it?”
”That's right!” Oscar nodded immediately, ”the second, third, and even fourth step would require yours and the whole Southern Army Group's cooperation!”
Vangol looked at the young man with an indescribable gaze, ”Before you tell me your plan, can you explain why you are only letting me know now?”
Oscar placed his hand on the man's shoulder and stared back without faltering.
”Because I don't trust you. You're a Southerner, and all Southerners understand what the underground vault of Vielonna Trading Hall represents! I wasn't sure if you would sabotage my operation, so... I've decided to tell you now! It is still not too late, my First Special Operations Brigade is still moving the treasures, I'm estimating they will only finish after night falls, so... it is still possible for you to change your mind, as soon as you found the stolen items from the vault, you'll be the savior of the Southern merchants.”
Vangol Abberning Hagrid was considering that possibility. If the Vielonna Trading Hall no longer has its financial support, all the business activities would stop, including legal and illegal ones. By that point, a large number of merchants would have gone bankrupt and would have jumped off a building! Some others would have hung themselves! However, why do I have to be to savior? The General thought, could saving the Southern merchants help with the current situation? Besides, to stop this operation would mean to burn the bridge with O'Neil Andrew Morisette. Look at his face, think of his soldiers, it's such a terrifying idea to have! So... what else do I need to consider?
”You win! Tell me what you're planning next!”
Oscar gave his Uncle Vangol a huge hug, the cooperation of the Commander was already within his expectation.
”Operation Crown's second stage, in the dead of night, the Military District Five Defense Force stationed at Vielonna would put Broken Dream Avenue under lockdown. Then, the treasure will be transported in military caravans used for transporting resources.”
”Wouldn't that be too obvious?”
Oscar let out another laugh, ”Hah! Robbing the Vielonna underground vault? Do you think people would actually believe that aside from us? So what if someone finds out we're transporting stuff? With their intellect, they wouldn't even think we will be transporting the treasures from the vault.”
”And then?”
”And then?” Oscar's eyes lost all its brilliance, ”tomorrow! The Defense Force stationed at Vielonna would storm the Vielonna Trading Hall one hour after it opens, do not let go of any one person in there! Capture every merchant with their names on the indictment, and at the same time, seize their assets and repossess all their illegal income sources!”
”I need to come up with an excuse!”
”Isn't the underground vault of Vielonna Trading Hall robbed? Isn't that excuse enough for you to mobilize your men?” Oscar lowered his voice like an old man, ”as soon as those merchants see the empty vault, they would've flipped all at once, at which point you would start the investigation. Investigations would naturally need to lead to a satisfactory outcome, which would be nice if it were the evidence of those business giants' wrongdoing, isn't it? You could just announce it in public!”
”Hoho, and they would be hung onto trees and splashed with oil for burning by the angry merchants!” Vangol understood every part of it now, ”you little runt, you're becoming scarier and scarier!”
Oscar shrugged and said, ”It had to be done! Nothing else can be done about this!”
In the small hours of Church's Year 798, 18th Day of 9th Month, the citizens of Vielonna was enjoying a quiet summer night, except for the residents on Broken Dream Avenue. They had been complaining for almost half a night. The military caravans had been clip-clopping non-stop, what is House Hagrid doing, forbidding the opening of windows despite the heat? Are they trying to kill us?
After the final military caravan left the Dora's Meatballs, Big Word Blasky shook the tavern master's hand.
”Thank you for your hospitality the past few days!”
Ol' Corr approached him with a grin, a thousand Golden Tis will soon be in his hands. With his worldliness and tact, the tavern master sighed in a way that suggested his status of a bourgeois,
”Huh huh, sir, it had to be done.”
”That's right...” Blasky nodded as he embedded a dagger into ol' Corr's abdomen. Feeling ol' Corr's life force slip away, Blasky sighed.
”It had to be done...”
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At the same time, O'Neil Andrew Morisette woke up from his sleep. His bedroom was piled with bricks of gold and an innumerable amount of coins. The young man with a chubby face got up and found the note he left the night before, ”Ola! It's at 1397869!”
The Prince grabbed a bunch of Golden Tis again.
”7870, 7871, 7872... 7879...”
Crap! Oscar clutched at his finger!
Which fatso was the one who said it? Sleep to the point of natural wakefulness, count money to the point of spastic stiffness*! Such blissful life could not be accomplished by simply anyone.
Oscar thought, should I do something else in a situation like this? Elizabeth would have sung, so...
Prince O'Neil cleared his throat. Looking around his room covered in shimmering gold, he sang,
”Heeey la la hey la la... The sky wore rosy clouds... The earth nurtured safflowers...”
It was said that, on that particular night, many people had experienced nightmares in Serevan Palace.
No matter what, the Operation Crown on Church's Year 798, 17th Day of 9th Month had made it possible for O'Neil Andrew Morisette to control the five Southern provinces, and in doing so, fortified his political and material influences in his becoming of the ruler of the Empire.
Translator's Notes:
1. ”Sleep to the point of natural wakefulness, count money to the point of spastic stiffness”. it's a contemporary Chinese expression about being so rich their only work is to count money.