Chapter 620 620 Special Investigation
The guard made her way to the Intelligence Minister's office, where there were two men on guard, and one more lingering around, a younger Wrath Demon with thick muscles and a charming smile that got more information out of his targets than his fists ever had.
"Good morning darling. You're right on time, my shift just finished." He informed her with a smirk, then grabbed the half witch guardswoman by the hand and pulled her down the hall to the sitting room.
There were a few staffers around, including guards at other Ministers' doors, who all chuckled at her good fortune, and even cast a silence spell over the door to the sitting room after the two were inside.
The Intelligence Minister had a communication spell active, allowing the room to listen to the whispers of the guard on duty at his door as the two disappeared inside without arousing any suspicion that they were on to the stolen funds.
"How many of those do you have?" Wolfe whispered so that they didn't miss anything that the guard was saying.
"I've got them up all over the Kingdom. I just activate a few at a time, or have my team do it to get a hold of me." He replied just as softly.
That wasn't really an answer, but if he could hear most of what was going on, it was good enough.
Once they were inside the room, the witch pushed the other demon down into one of the soft chairs. "So, do we make this look realistic now, or after we get the money?" She asked in her best sultry voice.
"It would be bad to get caught making out with a whole pile of coins." The Intelligence Agent agreed.
That was when the Minister changed the listening spell back to the guards at the door to his office.
"I don't think that we need to listen to that part. They will find the money soon enough, and then we can replace the container it is in and wait for someone to come looking for it." He informed the rest of the demons in the room.
The old witch wiggled her eyebrows at him, and the Intelligence Minister laughed. "I'm glad you're happy about the situation, and I'm sure you'll get the full story from her later. We don't need to listen in."
Then a message came from the guards at his office door.
"We have one very irate Agriculture Minister and two others with hoods up headed for the sitting room. We will work on a positive identification." The guard whispered.
There was a momentary pause, and then the voice of a Demon in the distance boomed over the spell.
"Ministers, It's great to see you today, but that sitting room is temporarily out of order." The Demon laughed.
"What do you mean out of order?" A voice demanded.
[Agriculture Minister Cell] The Intelligence Minister mouthed.
"It's currently occupied by staff working on some repairs and cleaning. It should be ready again in, say, an hour? But there's another sitting room open over here." The guard suggested.
He seemed quite helpful, so he was likely the one that cast the silence spell on the room to help out his friend from the Intelligence Ministry.
"We will be using this one. Now, if you will excuse us." Another voice informed him. The feminine tone was icy, with a hint of a lisp, and it looked like everyone but Wolfe recognized it.
[Royal Advisor Moria] The Intelligence Minister noted.
There was the sound of a creaking door, and then the sweet voice of the witch born guard spoke up. "Ministers Cell and Dalton, Advisor Moria, my apologies for the delay, we were repairing a spell in the sitting room. It's finished now, please go ahead." She informed them.
The guard at the door to the Intelligence Minister's office laughed quietly.
"Her dress is off by one button and her hair is a mess. Our man signals that the job is done, and they're both headed our way now." He whispered.nOve(lb.1n
Wolfe watched as the coins from the weeks' payment continued to move, coming to their location, but stopping in an abandoned hallway along the way, presumably to let them straighten their clothes and shed the dishevelled look that got them past the ministers without too much suspicion.
They made it back to the Rosefinch Sitting Room just as an alarm was raised in the Minister's quarters, triggering a lockdown of the Palace.
The Intelligence Minister smirked at the two and held out his hand, which the agent placed a small bag into.
The bag was practically glowing with magical power to Wolfe's Mana Sense, and seemed to be made from some sort of leather.
"It's a spatial storage bag, made of enchanted hide from a Displacer Beast. Did you get everything from the shipment?" The agent nodded, and smiled down at the Witch.
"Indeed. I got everything. There were far more than the missing coins from this shipment there, as well as a number of books, scrolls and receipts. It looks like that room has been the unofficial office for their scam for quite some time. We got interrupted before we could read anything, we just shovelled everything nearby, including one entire bookshelf, into the bag." He explained.
The Minister looked through the opening of the bag and smiled, then pulled out a simple ledger.
"This is an official Royal Logbook. This will be the one that they have been showing the King to verify that their numbers are good and that all the money has been distributed. The problem is that none of those three are on the delegation that actually distributes the money.
The Advisor helps make the funding decisions, but the other two are just flunkies in charge of other advice. We're still missing someone in the conspiracy. The one who is actually funnelling the money to them before it makes it to the Steward, unless the Steward himself is doing it.
We will know the answer to that soon enough. My man should have him in custody already.
Now, all of you wait right here, the castle is locked down, and the guards from Palace Security will be searching for our two agents, as well as whoever is assisting them. It will be best if I am with you when Minister William arrives along with the Chief Investigator."