Volume 5 - CH 3

Chapter 3 – The Authenticity of The Case

“Apparently, shortly after our investigators had entered the town of Veil, there was a rumor about a certain nobleman spreading in the town. The rumor was about the disappearance of a daughter of an Earl when she had visited the town for sightseeing and her worried brother who entered the town of Veil to look for her.”

Guild Master Sidrake explained while checking the contents of the report from the investigators.

The brother of the said young lady is said to have begun a large-scale search not only with the investigators and adventurers that he brought from his territory, but also the people from the town of Veil. As a result, it was confirmed that the lady, who was dressed like a commoner, and her friend went missing when they were enjoying a walk in the city.

As a last hope, the brother also began to collect information from Veil security personnel such as knights and soldiers by himself. And a few days later, the body of the lady was found floating on the Yuxed River, which flows from the east to the west through Veil1.

They determined it was her body by what she wears, however, what puzzled them was that the jewelry she wore, was not stolen and was left as they were, as if to reveal the identity of the noble daughter. It is said that almost no expensive jewelry was lost. Moreover, the friend who was with her remained missing.

“Our investigators suspected that the Earl’s daughter might have been kidnapped because she was dressed as a commoner. The investigators also added that the culprit might try to seal everyone’s mouth before the problem gets bigger.”

“What the heck is that?! That Acting Lord really does all he wants!”

Sorano, who had been listening to the explanation with her emotion suppressed, shouted.

“They dare to kidnap whoever they want and kill anyone who gets in the way? They really are worse than beasts!”

“Calm down, Sorano. It is still a suspicion, not yet confirmed.”

Eto tried to calm Sorano. However, Sorano seemed unable to suppress her anger, as she gritted her teeth and stared at an empty space incessantly.

“Sidrake-sama, from what you explained, I do think the Margrave of Erven is very suspicious, but from the report, we can only hear about a few cases that can’t be used as evidence. You mentioned earlier that it may develop into a case that the Kingdom cannot overlook, but may I ask what is the basis for thinking so?”

Eto asked what he still didn’t understand after listening to the report. Eto understands very well that they couldn’t judge the crime of the Acting Lord by the information spoken by Sidrake alone. That is why he wanted to know the reason the Royal Capital’s Adventurer’s Guild decided to move.

“Yes, this report alone may not be enough to make us decide to broaden the scope of the investigation. And normally we would have ordered them to continue their investigation and wait for a while. But this case is different. We have a witness who became a crime slave after being unjustly sentenced in a trial in the Margrave of Erven. Yes, we’re talking about Sorano-san. As you know, we have already confirmed that the slave trader Kabs and the senior Judge Terrero were involved in the case. And logically speaking, if those two are involved, the Acting Lord also doesn’t seem to be irrelevant to the case. To put it simply, the authenticity of the case mentioned in the investigation report has increased because of Sorano-san’s case.”

“I see. However, that is only if Sorano’s testimony is proven to be correct, right? Do we have any other credible evidence?”

Eto looked at Sidrake with a serious expression.

The testimony of Sorano, who is a criminal slave, is too weak to be the basis for advancing the investigation. And Eto understand that. The reason Eto asked is that he suspected that Sidrake had other important evidence, which he hid from them.

If Eto and his party makes an uproar there, it may hinder Sidrake’s plans. With this thinking, Sidrake decided to not reveal any information that could incite the anger of Eto and his party, and he will likely make it public when things had progressed to some extent. That’s what Eto thought of what Sidrake’s plan was. Even so, if the said evidence could prove Sorano’s innocence, there is no way he could stand if they hid the information from them.

“Please don’t be too angry, Eto-san. We just simply want to believe the words of the heroes who saved the Kingdom. No, sorry, that statement might cause a misunderstanding. Let me explain it. The achievement of Sorano-san can be testified by the adventurers, knights, and magicians who fought together in the Stampede. In addition, Eto-san, who has an extremely excellent track record since he started his adventurer activities in the royal capital, fully believes in Sorano-san’s story. Because of those facts, we decided to start the investigation with Sorano-san’s story as the basis. As a result, we managed to find those cases mentioned in the report. And looking at the reaction of our investigators, I think it is highly possible that the Acting Lord and the slave trader are truly committing a crime.”

Sidrake didn’t seem to lie or try to deceive them. Rather, Eto could feel his trust toward them.

“Our plan from now on is to grab evidence of the collusion between the Acting Lord, the slave trader, and the senior judge and bring them to the court. At the same time, we also have to investigate the slaves sold in Kabs Slave Firm to see if they’re the victims of that kidnapping case. Since frequent buying and selling of slaves makes it difficult to follow, we also have devoted a lot of personnel to investigate that matter. Thus, let me apologize in advance, but I would like to stop the re-investigation of Sorano-san’s case for a while.”

Although Sidrake did ask, he said that as if explaining what had already been decided. And hearing that Sorano’s matter was put off, Eto couldn’t immediately reply.

“I don’t mind. As long as those people still have control, they could erase the truth of my incident anytime. And helping those kidnapped girls is more important right now.”

Sorano answered him without hesitation. Even if rescuing the victims of kidnapping is urgent, it is difficult to make a decision to put oneself off. But, Sorano did it without hesitation.

“Sorano-san, thank you very much. The Adventurer’s Guild promises to do everything we can to send a good report to you.”

Sidrake stood up from the chair he was sitting and bowed deeply towards Sorano.