Chapter 187.1
Welner POV
The next day, I resumed work on the underground archives. I felt I had lost a lot of time because of Vogels plot, but I knew better than to call Mazell back to the royal capital for handling such a trivial matter.
In order to make up for the delay, Ive been devoting the last few days to working on the underground library. If anything, my schedule was still undecided.
Ive submitted some financial proposals, but it was a mystery as to how useful they would be. Speaking of mysteries, I havent heard anything about the investigation progress of the hidden passageway in the library, but it wasnt like I could ask what happened to it.
On the other hand, there seemed to be quite a storm brewing in the court. It took some time to prepare all the evidence for the case to proceed, so it was inevitable, but now, a major cleanup had finally begun.
I felt like a time traveler when I, who was in the underground library, came out and heard that someone had been arrested after the days investigation.
There was still no progress with regard to the task involving the underground library. There were many interesting books, but I could not read them with interest, because of all kinds of crazy circumstances.
It had been nearly two weeks since the duel trial and all that, so I couldnt say that I wasnt feeling a little impatient with having no results in the task.
Welner-sama, Ill leave these books here for you as they seem relevant.
Oh, thank you.
Lily brought me some books and I asked her to write down the bookshelf number from where these books were taken. This was to make sure that I knew where she had brought them from.
We did not have a list of books in the library, so if we just piled them up carelessly, we would not know where we had brought them from. Thankfully, we had already numbered the bookshelves and aisles, so that had made things easy for us.
Incidentally, I now have my personal magic bag. It was currently hanging on my waist. It contained documents and other stuff that I needed to make it look like I was doing my normal palace job. Also, carrying weapons beyond what was necessary in the palace could become a problem if it was discovered, so I left my weapons in my office.
If I wanted to take some book out with me using this magic bag, I might be able to do so. However, if I were to lose them outside or get caught by someone, it would be a big problem, so I have no intention of trying to take them out.
After taking into account some of the things Lily and I noticed on the day of the duel, we made some modifications in the direction we were going regarding the underground library research task. Along with focusing on searching for books with a map, we had also started to search for books having Gods in them.
Meanwhile, I was the one who was actually reading the books deeply. This was inevitable considering the difference in interpretation. Even though Lily could read and write, it was still difficult for her to grasp subtle changes that language had gone through over the years. There was also an issue regarding using historic knowledge to more deeply interpret and gasp detailed nuances.
Lily, on the other hand, seemed to know what bookshelf was where and could remember exactly which aisle and what shelf had been checked. She had good clerical skills.
So, the work was divided between me to read and Lily to look for books. When I had a certain number of candidates chosen, I planned to have Lily read them as well.
There was a small incident. While I was doing some research, Lily suddenly shouted Hyah! and I hurried to look for her and found her turning red and panicking as soon as she saw me.
I wondered what happened, and when I saw the cause, I thought, well, even in my previous life, there were those kinds of picture books in olden the libraries but were properly concealed. If I have never had any connection with books before, seeing realistic illustrations of erotic books would also make me flustered. I mean, why do they even have such a collection in this library?
When I quickly responded to her, she looked at me with a stern expression and asked, Why do you seem used to this?
Was this because of a misunderstanding or because of rumors?
I left the library today without making any significant progress in my research. I could say that the number of bookshelves with no useful information being segregated was a progress, but I was tired.
I wonder what happened to Clara-sans case.
Ah. Ive given my own suggestions beforehand, but Ill see what the judges will decide next.
Mazell was undeniably a good-natured guy, but Lily was also the same way. When I told her about the hostage situation and the threats Clara had received, she became angry, even though she didnt have to. I didnt want to complain about her kindness.
I, on the other hand, had a somewhat mixed feeling. Viscount Vogel had hostility toward me to begin with, but it seemed that he was also the main supplier of Count Bachems estate, who was taken down during the attempted kidnapping of Lily.
In an interactive simulation game, a war between neighboring estates would have no effect on ones own estate, but in reality, the merchants who traded with the estates would be affected.
In this case, the Viscount Vogel household was left with a huge chain reaction deficit and debt that was crippling them as a result of Count Bachems demise. This was the main reason why the Vogel family chose to actively participate in the crime with some personal grudges.
The fact that he was crude may be a matter of his own temperament, but I couldnt help but understand the part about wanting a new business partner and supporter for the good of his people. It might be fair to say that choosing Marquis Cortolezis as a partner was a poor choice, but he was still a marquis even if he was corrupt, and from an economic point of view, he was not that bad of a business partner.
And Claras father was one of the servants of Count Bachem, who was apparently unlucky enough to be away from the royal capital when the counts family caused a disturbance.
As a result, the company he worked for collapsed beyond repair, and he himself was unable to find a good job because he was a vassal of Count Bachem, who was under the scrutiny of the royal family. He was still working at a job, so he could support his family, but he died suddenly from heartache.
It seemed that Viscount Vogel approached Clara when she had lost the breadwinner of the family and was in a difficult situation. As for the father figure who was with Clara before and was killed when we met, he was just some random drunk that Viscount Vogel used to pose as her father.
I have submitted the needed documents to the authorities, saying that there were extenuating circumstances regarding what she had done, although that didnt say that she did nothing wrong. However, since it was an attempted murder of an aristocrat, I suppose they couldnt let her off scot-free.
When I returned to my office, someone from the legal department had just come to inform me of the decision on Claras case. I checked the documents and nodded.
Thank you for your time. Can we meet Clara in person?
Yes, you can, but is that correct?
Theres no need for me to be angry with Clara and the others.
I have some sympathy for her, but only by half. In my previous life, there were many times when I had been so lax in my responses, but now that I was actually standing on the side of being angry, I could understand that being angry with everything would also be a bad response.
However, in a relationship between a subordinate and boss, anger to a subordinate as a boss could be settled and forgotten after a discussion, but the anger of a subordinate may never be forgotten, so if I could meet directly with Clara and her family in person, I would like everything in one go.
Can Neurath, Schunzeland Lily come with me?
Sure.
All right, lets go.
Since Lily seemed concerned, and it wasnt like I was going to decapitate Clara or her family on the spot, I decided to bring her with me and moved on.
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