Securing the Beren Lance Cavalry’s support should be much easier from now on as well.
Apparently, gossips like to pit the Gale Knights against the Beren Lance Cavalry for the title of Beren’s finest cavalry, but each has its own strengths, so arguing over which is superior misses the point.
The Gale Knights are light cavalry specializing in guerrilla warfare, while the Beren Lance Cavalry is heavy cavalry that breaks enemy formations head-on. You could say they cover each other’s weaknesses, like mechanized infantry and tanks.
"Oh, and there’s also a letter from the mistress."
"What? You should have said so from the start!"
Oscar handed me a scroll. It was nothing but ordinary linen paper, and yet I could have sworn it carried the scent of roses. What if it was full of complaints about her inconsiderate husband?
Half worried and half excited, I started to unroll it, but there were too many eyes around, so I decided to read it later. If I read it now, I’d end up grinning like a fool in front of everyone.
"You’ve worked hard coming all this way. With Anton as my only retainer here, things have been lonely, so simply having the two of you around lifts my spirits. For now, rest well tonight, and we’ll work out a plan tomorrow."
"Baron, I’ll show them around."
Beort, apparently quite taken with the two of them, volunteered as their guide. I gave him permission. As a man set to become a vassal noble, he probably saw this as a chance to get close to my retainers.
Drek followed Beort out.
Well, it’s good for retainers to grow friendly with one another.
"What happened to the administrator we caught in Grefeling?"
"We threw him in the dungeon, but his arm was broken, so we had to call a physician."
"Put up quite a fight, did he? Well, a cornered rat will bite the cat."
"Oh, well put, my lord. But after resisting tooth and nail, the moment he was caught he turned as docile as a lamb, as if a switch had been flipped. Two of our men were hurt because of him."
Our current prisoners are Count Heinlein, the Lord of Schafen, the mercenary captain, and the administrator of Grefeling. Grefeling has no lord, only an estate manager, and he had apparently cooperated with Anton.
Word is that the estate manager had always been on terrible terms with the administrator. The administrator was one of Count Heinlein’s connections, so the estate manager could do nothing but stew in silence, which was exactly why he was overjoyed when Anton showed up.
Honestly, men with powerful backers never learn the meaning of humility.
And yet they are finished the moment someone scarier than their backer comes along.
I had meant to let Anton rest, but the unease weighing on my chest was becoming unbearable. This wouldn’t do. Bodo weighs on me too heavily. Time to raise some hell in Breisburg.
I drafted a letter at once. Its contents: a request for help addressed to Viscount Loewenbert. Better yet, I had a plausible justification, since I had learned that the eastern cartel was connected to Breisburg.
The actual link ran between Count Heinlein and the Finance Minister, but I reframed the justification around a connection running through the slums instead. After all, the true face of the eastern princes, bound up as they were with the eastern slums, had already been laid completely bare.
So if Viscount Loewenbert receives my request and judges the justification sound, he’ll attack the slums without hesitation, and we might just catch the men who kidnapped Bodo.
Add a Military Department order on top of that, and it’s the icing on the cake.
And in this affair, the grand duke has granted me full authority.
If the faction that kidnapped Bodo in Breisburg is plotting against me, then this move, aggressive as it is, can flip their whole board over, just as Count Heinlein was toppled so easily.
"What? Attack the slums again? Brother-in-law, isn’t that pushing it?"
When I explained my plan to Michael, who was nursing a hangover, he balked. The court factions’ backlash was guaranteed, and he clearly had no desire to stir up that kind of headache under the current circumstances.
"Keep this to yourself. Count Heinlein and the Finance Minister are connected."
"That old raccoon has his paws in everything. No wonder you’ve been digging so hard. So all this running around was to bring him down. Now it makes sense."
Michael had helped without complaint, true, but at heart he had never understood why I was so hell-bent on crushing the nobles tied to the eastern criminal organizations. If the Finance Minister had been the target all along, however, everything fell into place.
For Michael, that was a perfectly convincing justification.
The Finance Minister was the political enemy of both the Military Department and Streit.
That wasn’t the whole of my reasoning, but it was certainly part of it. And now that the Finance Minister’s value had plummeted, the grand duke had ordered me to tie him to this scandal and drag him down.
That was why I had been granted full authority over this affair, which meant the grand duke had no intention of interfering with my methods. Michael agonized over it, but in the end he drafted the order.
Viscount Loewenbert holds the same rank as Michael, but since Michael is the Inspector General of the Military Department and the War Minister’s heir, his order carries more than enough weight to move the viscount.
"If the Finance Minister falls completely, Adelbert will be thrilled."
"The Count Reinfeldt family itself might get replaced, you know?"
"His Highness the grand duke could very well keep Adelbert in the post."
Well, who’s to say? Adelbert and the Finance Minister are out for each other’s blood, but other noble factions with an eye on that seat could start scheming as well. In the end, it will all come down to the grand duke’s intentions.
"I heard the kid got kidnapped. Please tell me that’s not why you’re turning the slums upside down."
"It’s all of a piece. The slums are connected to the Finance Minister one way or another."
"To strike at the Finance Minister, first subdue the slums. That’s what you’re saying."
"And I’m certain of it. A man like Count Heinlein would never move his money through honest channels."
"Route it through the slums and no one would ever notice. So long as those rats don’t skim off the top."
More nobles are connected to the slums than you’d think. The place may be a garbage dump, but recycling that garbage for their own profit is another side business of the court factions.
Michael still seemed lukewarm about the whole thing, so I pulled out the pepper pouch I’d been saving for my departure a little early. When I handed him the silk pouch, Michael looked bewildered.
"Here, here, this is a gift."
"Hm? A gift? Whoa, is this pepper?"
When Michael opened the pouch, his eyes went as wide as saucers.
"It’s from the confiscated goods."
"Brother-in-law! You banned plundering and then greedily kept the spoils to yourself?"
"I found it in the Radensdorf mansion, and that’s an entirely different matter. If you’ve got complaints, hand it back."
"Whoa now, I never said that! I’ll gratefully accept. Heh heh heh."
Honestly, so simple-minded. Perhaps the bribe did its work, because Michael drafted not only that order but a second one for the additional duchy reserve forces waiting in the capital.
At this rate, every unit in the capital would be mobilized.
Anyone watching would think I was attempting a coup.
The guards, who fell under the Judicial Department, were the only force that could resist, but the difference in weight class between combat troops and peacekeeping troops is staggering, so they would scatter before the fighting even began.
"By the way, brother-in-law, about that kid. I’ve been thinking this for a while now, but he looks like someone."
"And I keep asking you: who exactly is this someone? How many times is that now?"
"Damn it, he looks familiar, but I can’t remember who! It’s driving me crazy!"
That happens sometimes. My brother-in-law had always said Bodo resembled someone, yet he had never once managed to pin down who. Michael groaned over it a while longer, then gave up. Figures.
I handed the two orders and the letter to Anton.
"Take these and go on ahead to the Capital Sentinel Command in Breisburg."
"Is this a way to save Bodo?"
"Yes. I’ll rest easier with some measures in place."
"Ahh, I knew it, Master! You never intended to abandon poor Bodo!"
Anton had been laboring under an absurd misunderstanding. He seemed to have assumed that because Bodo’s origins were so lowly, retainer or not, I was putting business first. Revenge, of course, was a separate matter.
It was a little ridiculous, but I’m a noble and Anton is a retainer, so gaps in thinking like that are bound to crop up. Fortunately, this arrangement seems to have made Anton trust me even more.