Secret Investigation (3)
We quickly reached the junction, speeding up to shake off the unpleasant feeling.
A much more prosperous residential area than before.
Sylvia and her team were sitting in a state-of-the-art teahouse waiting for us.
You might think that the seller is too good for the subject you are following, but…
If they are waiting outside, everyone’s eyes will be on them.
Moreover, since this store is owned by Beltern, there is little concern about information leaking.
“Welcome to the master. Oh, maybe there’s a battle over there?”
“Oh, I’m not even going to call it a battle. I’ll explain it slowly later.”
Sylvia, who felt uncomfortable with my dressing and the expressions of Christine and Maria, asked a sharp question.
Excellent observation skills like an assassin.
The maid who followed us to support us showed a satisfied smile.
I asked for a report to divert their attention.
“What’s the situation?”
“Currently, in a building near here, there is a group of students who are being monitored and suspected of being accomplices. We’ve already infiltrated the shadow lizards.”
“I’m an accomplice…”
Now, except for the last suspect, all the students at the academy have alibi proven…
However, there was no guarantee that there would be no accomplices or underground organizations.
It was enough for one person to bring the forbidden book to the library.
Rather, it is more difficult to believe that it was done alone without the encouragement of other people or organizations.
“This is the worst situation the professors expected.”
“Is Russell involved too?”
“It’s not mentioned by name, but it’s been hinted at several times. It’s a fact that they’re affiliated with the rebels.”
“Then what are you plotting there today?”
Persia, who lightly jumped from the nape of my neck onto the table, asked Sylvia, showing a loyal dog posture.
She responds without hesitation, as if she had already arranged it beforehand.
“Waiting to make contact with someone. Maybe smuggling dangerous goods…”
“Ugh.”
I would have even found out the existence of the accomplices.
I tried to interrogate him once he was arrested, but he changed his mind.
Since more people are coming, it is best to delay the arrest a bit.
I want to confirm the identity of the visitor as well.
I sat in a private room that was not visible from the outside and ordered green tea, and after a while, the waitress took the teacup myself.
From n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Jelly and sweets are delicious, but green tea itself is not as good as the ones you eat at home.
Still, the quality isn’t that bad, so a happy smile comes out of the corners of your mouth.
Persia, noticing my thoughts, drank from the exclusive teacup, and then acted as a nerd.
“After all, green tea is the best in our house.”
“Persia. Is there anything you want to eat for dinner tonight?”
From n̲o̲b̲l̲e̲m̲t̲l̲.̲c̲o̲m̲
Just as the smiling handmaiden was about to give the reward, Sylvia, who was monitoring the alley, let out a short moan.
Perhaps the tangent partner has arrived.
When we got excited, she summoned the shadow lizard’s sight.
“Come on, enter the players!”
“Master. This guy…”
“yes?”
He looked at the screen while letting out Persia’s strange spirit through one ear.
It was a familiar face he managed to enter through the back door of the building next door.
A first-year student from common people. He’s a tall, stout-looking boy. There’s nothing special about it, but…
The problem is that he came from the Earl of El Cloud.
“Ah. There was a spy among the students from our territory!”
Persia trembled with a sense of betrayal and shouted, but the handmaiden immediately denies it.
“No. I’m not someone who already attended the academy, and it makes no sense to say that the student who entered this year is a spy.”
“Students from our estate barely passed the entrance exam. If they were spies, they would have achieved a little more relaxed grades.
But it is true that he entered a building full of rebels.
I announced my reasoning while looking at his tensed face.
“Aren’t you going to get recruits from the rebels?”
“yes?”
“Because he’s from the Earl of Elcloud… it’s relatively easy to get to me. So it’s worth the rebels flirting.”
“Hey, it makes sense. How do I do it?”
“Let’s wait a little longer. Can I overhear the conversation inside the building?”
It is not uncommon for traitors to be produced in our territory.
The club members understood that I had no choice but to be cautious, so I didn’t say anything.
Sylvia nodded her head coldly and infiltrated the shadow lizard into the building.
A commoner student, Charlie, who entered the basement with a slightly shaky expression on his face, was guided by a guard and sat down.
A dark but quite luxurious secret club-like space.
I would have spent some money to create this kind of atmosphere in the basement.
A man who was serving as the leader of the rebels of a lifetime welcomed Charlie.
An adult who must be one of Russell’s colleagues.
Elena recognized him without difficulty.
“Baron Edon. He was arrested 10 years ago for violating taboos.”
“Okay. Once the evidence has been secured.”
At the point of being caught on the same screen with the rebels, no further evidence is needed.
Of course, Charlie quietly handed the car because he did not know the identity of the person.
It looks like it was called by the name of a tea party.
There is no feeling of being part of them.
Persia, who had been very excited from the past, started talking nonsense again.
“Bing…”
“Stop. Let’s listen quietly.”
I interrupted Persia’s lines, which I felt suffocated.
Thanks to this, his ears and tail drooped, but when I stroke his head, he quickly regains momentum.
Meanwhile, Charlie noticed that his opponent was a nobleman, and his expression became even more uncomfortable.
Of course, I didn’t say it openly because I was stabbed, because I was Baron Edon…
There is a difference between commoners and nobles at a glance.
“Don’t be so wary. Today we invited you…”
First of all, the rebels unravel Charlie’s vigilance by sharing a bittersweet story.
I wondered if I should go get Charlie now, but the maid watched the situation with a very interesting expression.
When a nobleman already tried to recruit him, Charlie was excited.
It feels like you’ve become something great.
In fact, the students of our academy can be sufficiently recruited by aristocratic families.
There is a saying that the person who comes first is the one who is the first to enter because it is relatively easy to recruit people from commoners.
“Oh my, the master even lent me the student loan…”
“Sylvia. We don’t know anyone like that.”
When the waitress pretended not to know, a bitter smile appeared on everyone’s faces.
For a moment, I was relieved of tension by the words that I didn’t know if it was a joke or a serious one.
It was only in the screen that Sylvia summoned that the harbinger of the rebellion was caught.
“By the way, what do you think about the academy?”
“Hey, academy? That’s the best educational institution in the kingdom…”
The Baron responds with disappointment when Charlie gives an exemplary answer.
He soon chimed in as if he were a prophet.
“It’s too simplistic. Do you know that the Royal Academy you are attending is the biggest barrier to advancement in status?”
“Uh, what is that…”
Graduating from the Royal Academy is almost the only way commoners can become aristocrats.
As Charlie stuttered after thinking of such a common sense, the baron shook his head slightly and continued to persuade him.
“Let’s change your thinking. In the past 50 years, is there any case in which commoners have obtained the title of baron or higher by any means other than graduating from academy?”
“Oh, no. That’s…”
Few high-ranking nobles can confer more than the title of baron in the first place…
Even that is usually solved by sending their children to an academy.
Baron Edon tried to persuade Charlie with his dangerous ideas.
“Thanks to the development of nitrogen fertilizer, the population of the kingdom has increased explosively. When the population increases, the number of nobles must also increase. It is normal for the number of nobles to increase. Because there are many nobles who do not have territories in the fortress. I’m in full control.”
according to his words
In our academy, we teach everything necessary to become a nobleman.
It is for this reason that all graduates of the academy are treated as aristocrats.
Baron Edon’s ideas were not only radical, but also had many flaws, but Charlie had never thought deeply about it, so he could not easily respond.
In the midst of people who have their eyes wide open in the first place, there is no way I can argue against it.
Subsequently, the baron and the rebels began to mix lies that could not be properly identified as a freshman.
It is nonsense to say that the grading and awarding of scholarships are directly manipulated by the royal family.
In the meantime, the topic goes beyond the academy and begins to cover the entire kingdom.
As he is in charge of recruiting the rebels, he is quite clever with his words.
I don’t know if I could have shook my head over there if I had been Charlie.
The baron, who continued his lecture for about an hour, mixing pleasant words such as ‘equality’ and ‘fairness’, touched Charlie’s reaction while touching the completely cooled tea.
Of course, he secretly mentioned the name of El Cloud.
Charlie, who had been quiet for a while, arranged it with a puzzled expression.
“So, if we destroy the academy and defeat Eshas, do you mean that through the system of democracy, equal opportunity will be provided to all citizens of the kingdom?”
“You understand quickly. You’re a gifted student who attended a private academy even though you’re from a commoner. Isn’t that right?”
When the baron was slightly surprised by his sincerity, the windmen beside him nodded eagerly.
But Charlie had no intention of enjoying the superiority that it brought.
He launched a counterattack that he had endured for an hour.
“But is it really right to do what many people choose blindly? Sufficient education must precede the provision of equal opportunities…”
“That makes sense, but if you don’t move right away, the guardian dragon’s dictatorship will harden and you may not be able to overturn it forever!”
“Isn’t the fate of humans supposed to be chosen by human hands?”
“Charlie, I didn’t see it that way, but I’m a little disappointed…”
The rebels are trying to suppress objections by raising their numbers.
Charlie didn’t hesitate.
“If all goes well and a revolution takes place, you cannot expect a truly equal world.”
“What else do you mean?”
“Even if there is a revolution, there will be people who live better than others. The nominal aristocracy may disappear, but the de facto aristocracy cannot be eliminated. It is also guaranteed that the people who started the revolution will not occupy the positions of the current nobility…”
“Like I said before, there is a system called communism on Earth!”
“There’s no way a system that suppresses human instincts like that can succeed! When you’re hungry, you’re the one who tries to steal the food of your brothers and sisters!”
Charlie was screaming at some point, refusing the rebels’ nonsense.
The handmaiden, who had denied him before, had an expression on her face as if she wanted to say, ‘Hey, that’s our Young Ji-min’.
“As expected, a person from El Cloud. You have enough qualities to become a vassal.”
“Because I didn’t know someone like that before…”
“You’re certainly brave, but isn’t that a bit dangerous?”
Even while Christine was betting on the other side and Elfriede was worried, the battle of words on the screen intensified.
Charlie, who looked just dumbfounded, suddenly noticed how things were going.
“At first, I was able to attend the academy thanks to Count El Cloud’s recommendation and school money, but betraying such a benefactor!”
“What? Oh, that’s a misunderstanding. We never said a word like that…”
“Don’t be ridiculous! Otherwise, why would you invite me, a freshman from a commoner, to say something like this!”
“Wow… you’re quicker than you look.”
While Persia admires, Sylvia asks for orders from me.
I nodded to the waitress and her.
“There’s a lot of information to get… Is it possible to capture all of them?”
“of course.”
“To instigate students for an ideal that cannot be achieved. You are murderers!”
Charlie, who showed too much courage, stood at the tip of the sword in return.
Now the rebels have no choice but to kill him and destroy the evidence.
“Damn it… Die, cuckoo!”
I was about to issue an order like a baron yelling, but mine was a little quicker.
The maid and Sylvia, who had just left the store and hid in the basement, quickly subdued them.
All the club members who remained around the table got up and moved to the site.
“…”
“Next time, try to kill your temper. And you don’t have to pay the student fees.”
Charlie is so shocked that he freezes in place.
I patted his shoulder lightly and called Ersa.