novelraw Chapter 998: They Were Being Threatened as Expected
Chapter 998: They Were Being Threatened as Expected
"Just speak. The reason why we lured you into the bathroom is to make you remove everything so whatever device the cult created so they can listen to this conversation won’t be here. And with his magic, there’s no sound can come out of this bathroom," Albert said.
That didn’t work. Even after asking them politely, they’re still afraid of telling us what happened. Maybe it’s because they were not being forced. But they wanted to betray us. Though I don’t think that’s the case seeing how afraid they were.
"Just speak! Or I will make my familiar move away from your body so we will have naked conversation here!" I said.
If asking politely didn’t work, then it’s a threat.
"That’s just what you want! And Victoria, don’t do what he said! Or Marie will kill me!" Albert said.
"Did you hear what he said? Just by being naked and he will die. So if you are forced to kill him, you can do just that. Easy, right?" I said.
"Now that’s an indirect assassination! Do not do that!" Albert stopped Victoria from moving away. Though it seems like Victoria had no intention to leave. Seems like she already had a private discussion with Marie before when Marie asked me to talk with her.
As we still tried to make these two talks, Marie and the other maids finished searching the two maids’ belonging. Seem like they confiscated the two maids’ clothes. Including their underwear.
Then the other maids stayed behind in the dressing room while Marie re-entered the bathroom. She’s wearing towel to cover her body now.
"Victoria, swimsuit please," Marie said.
Swiftly, Victoria left the two maids’ side. This means that they’re wearing Blobbies now. While Victoria turned into Marie’s swimsuit and Marie removed her towel. Then she entered the bath.
"So, what have you found?" Marie asked.
"That you will kill Albert if I make the two maids naked," I said.
"Is there anything else?" Marie asked again.
"Nothing. They haven’t spoken a word," Albert said.
"I bet it’s because you two are too intimidating. Roy, it feels like you’re going to kill them if they move. And the other is a king," Marie said.
"Albert. Did your wife just call you the other as if you’re just an extra?" I asked Albert.
"Sometimes, I do feel like I’m an extra. But I never thought my wife would think of me as such," Albert said.
Now what? Seems like there’s nothing we can do until these two speaks.
If it was because of intimidation, then more intimidations are the things we need that will make them speak.
I looked at the two maids and put some pressure while also using a bit of Aura. I controlled my killing intent so that I won’t make the two maids faint.
Now, they’re shaking in fear. One of them even cried.
"Now you have experienced how scary I am. Tell me everything. If you’re being forced, you should be able to tell by now who is the strongest one. The one who forced you to do something, or me. Speak now," I said.
Good thing they didn’t pee in the bath. I’m still here after all.
They finally gave up and started to speak.
There were two maids. A brunette and a black-haired girl.
The black-haired girl was the first to spoke.
"We... We were being forced to report everything we did as maids in the palace. That was two days ago. We were supposed to give the report in a letter and put that letter in a hole of a tree in the forest right outside the Royal Capital after a week. So we have to do it in five more days," she said.
Report? So the want to create a map of the inside of the palace. As the maids in this palace, they should be allowed to roam around everywhere.
Give that report to an assassin, and they will be able to assassinate Albert easily. Though the assassin needs to be at least a master level mage. Because they should know that Shirley is already a master level mage.
As for Shirley, she’s checking everything in the palace and around it right now. Making sure that there’s no spy around here and sense if there’s anyone other than Mustache and I who are master level mages.
If their goal is not to assassinate the King, then it could be to kidnap someone. Like his children.
It’s a good thing that they invited me for dinner tonight. Though I wonder where they were when we had a meeting here.
"Did you tell them that we gathered all the kings here once in a while for a meeting?" Albert asked the maids.
"...No. As you ordered us, we were told not to mind much whenever you asked us to serve guests that we didn’t know already here. We didn’t even know when they came. We just know that we were told to serve. And it was not our duty to serve you and your guests snacks and drinks all of a sudden," the black-haired girl said.
From Albert’s reaction, she didn’t lie. So Albert never told them how I brought the kings to the meeting place. I guess that saved everyone.
If the cult knows that we gathered the kings here once in a while, they will target this place relentlessly. Killing everyone at once instead of aiming for them one by one.
"So what make you so afraid?" Albert asked.
"...We were forced to betray you, Your Majesty. And we were threatened because the lives of the people we care about are at stake," the black-haired girl said.
Then she explained how someone figured out that she’s a maid in the palace. So whoever it was, still unknown whether they’re with the cult or not, kidnapped her brother and told her that if she wanted her brother back, she has to do what she was ordered to do by them.
They didn’t mention anything about looking for money or treasures. This means they were not bandits. So it’s highly-likely that they’re with the cult.
"And what about you?" Albert asked the other girl.
"...My mother was being threatened to make me do this," the brunette said.
Oh, so she was being threatened by... wait, what?
"Wait, you mean that it was not you who were being threatened but your mother?" I asked.
"...Yes. She’s a teacher at an introductory school in my hometown. And a new teacher approached her and threatened her by saying that all the students in the school will be killed if she didn’t get me to do this," she said.
Not one! Not two! But the entire school students!
Albert asked which city, and it turned out to be a city without a master level mage to protect it. There were still several expert level mages though.
We might have a lot of master level mages. But it’s still not enough to cover every single city and village in a kingdom. We need more.
"But to think that someone can escape from the agents. He might be a master level mage. And if we send a master level mage to check that school, he might kill everyone to escape. But how did he find that you’re working here?" Albert asked.
"...Mom was so proud to have her daughter worked as a maid in the palace because it’s known to have strict requirement. So she told her students who didn’t have talent to improve as mages that they might be able to find other work by using me as an example," she said.
"...We need to give gag order to the family of the people who works here," Albert said.
And since these two were working together, that teacher must have a way to contact someone. Maybe to another base of the cult.
That city was not among the city that we heard from the vampires. But it might be a good idea to investigate it.
"I guess we have no choice but to allow you to obey that order for now. About your clothes, they will be returned when you’re back to the dressing room. But remember that there’s a device that will make any sound be transferred to another location. They must have listened to everything around you," Albert said to the two.
"Just write something like ’You’re being eavesdropped’ on their clothes. And Albert will tell them to not say too much when you’re around. As for you two, do you know that they can do that?" I asked the maids.
They shook their head and said no. I guess they didn’t know about it.
"Then you can continue your spying mission as normal. But I’ll give you a script on what you need to say when you’re roaming around the palace. Pretend that you don’t know that you’re being eavesdropped. As for your family and the students at that school, we will try our best to protect them," Albert said.
I guess we won’t make a move on them yet. We’ll just investigate first.
And obviously, he picked me to be the one investigating that teacher. Using my status as air magic professor in one of the most popular universities in the kingdom, I can enter any school I want. Though for investigating, it would be difficult.
So we decided to have another professor come with me. I will move with Wendy and investigate that teacher.