Chapter 687: Let’s Talk About Money, Compensate with Something Else
The conference room fell silent.
The nobles invited by Garrett were all over 40 years old. They had rolled in the court, fought on the battlefield, managed territories, and experienced coups.
Each of them had an instinctive alertness to various storms and conspiracies.
If it were just a group of ignorant soldiers causing trouble, it might merely be due to vested interests trying to embarrass Garrett. However, something was clearly off...
“What exactly is it?” Garrett raised his voice to ask. Bernard shook his head:
“I don’t know, boss. You’d better come out and take a look—Mr. Thomas said it’s best not to open it indoors.”
A group of people filed out. When they reached the open space outside the administrative building, they saw a group of army soldiers dejectedly wrapped tightly in a web spell, guarded by navy officers glaring at them.
The priests from the Spring Goddess’s temple stood at a distance, draped in protective spells, with security guards holding makeshift shields in front of them.
In the center of the crowd, Medical Mage Mr. Thomas directed two invisible servants to lift a cocoon formed by the web spell. The upper half of the cocoon was opened, revealing a suspiciously glowing object inside.
Appa stood beside Mage Thomas, muscles tensed, ready to grab the mage and flee at any moment. Bernard explained to Garrett:“At first, Appa stopped people from approaching…”
Smart Appa, sharp Appa! Garrett gave the Silver Moon Deer a thumbs up and used a mage hand to scratch it, then cast a 【Detect Magic】 spell:
Hmm, although Garrett usually used this spell as an X-ray, its real purpose was to detect magical items and creatures...
Indeed, there it was.
In the vision of his meditation, a light flashed from the hole in the cocoon, particularly bright. Garrett cast an identification spell:
“… Fireball.”
“What?!”
Several voices asked simultaneously. Garrett’s face grew serious:
“Fall back! Fall back! Everyone move 20 meters away!—Mr. Thomas, move this thing outside the back wall!”
No need for him to command, the priestesses from the Spring Goddess’s temple quickly dispersed. Appa nudged Mage Thomas, urging him:
Move it! Move it! The boss has spoken, move this thing now!
Mr. Thomas leaned against the Silver Moon Deer, face stern, directing the invisible servants to move carefully, avoiding any jostling of the thing. Garrett took a deep breath:
“The identification spell tells me this is a Fireball. Whether it’s a Fireball scroll or a related magical device, whether it’s triggered by the holder or remotely, I can’t determine for now.”
“Is someone trying to kill you?!”
Viscount Gard’s face darkened. Attempting to kill Nordmark, or to cast a Fireball at the Royal Maternity Hospital, would be an extremely serious matter—
It could even be an attempt to cut off the Queen’s medical support, a plot to harm the Queen!
Around Garrett, the loyalist nobles stared grimly at the cocoon, their eyes nearly spitting daggers. The cocoon twitched as if it heard Garrett’s words and suddenly began to wail:
“What? Fireball? Why Fireball? They told me it was a shield! Something to save me in case of a spell attack!”
A moment of silence. Then, Viscount Gard sighed deeply:
“Can we take that guy into custody? This conspiracy seems to involve the Queen, and we must investigate thoroughly—rest assured, the Royal family will give you an explanation, and the army will give you an explanation…”
Garrett shrugged.
He wasn’t unwilling to hand them over. In fact, he was more than happy to offload the dirty work of interrogation and uncovering the conspiracy—
But the problem was, just handing over the person like this…
“...Hold on a bit? Can we get a mage from the Royal Mage Corps? I don’t know how to disarm the thing he’s tied up with!”
If it explodes en route, causing casualties among the interrogation or transportation personnel, who would be responsible?
What? Have Garrett disarm it himself?
Garrett expressed that he wasn’t a bomb disposal expert, this kind of thing should be handled by professionals!
Thus, the cocoon remained outside the hospital’s back wall. Garrett looked around and shouted:
“Cirilla!”
“Yes!” The silver dragoness jumped out excitedly, rubbing her fists together:
“Am I to disarm it? I’m not afraid of explosions! I’ll do it!”
“...No! Even if it doesn’t explode, it might not be a good thing!”
Such an item’s construction might carry personal marks that could become important clues, or at least it could be magically tracked!
“Cirilla... please patrol around and check for suspicious people…”
“No problem!”
The silver dragoness stomped her foot and soared into the sky, rising, leveling off, and flying outward. Garrett watched her leave, muttering:
“…Is it okay to fly in the capital?”
“Should be fine, right?” Mage Thomas looked even more dazed:
“Um, the hospital is surrounded by slums, no one should mind, so it should be okay to fly…”
Garrett left a group to guard the “cocoon” and sent the medical staff back to their duties. After a while, Cirilla returned dejectedly, landing softly:
“Nothing found…”
She was downcast, and if she had a tail, it would probably be drooping by now. Garrett quickly comforted her:
“It’s okay, it’s okay, asking you to go out was just in case. If the mastermind had any brains, seeing two groups fighting would make them quietly retreat.”
It was mainly to prevent anyone from remotely triggering the Fireball. Finding nothing was a good thing, hopefully, the Royal Mage Corps mages would come quickly and take the cocoon away for a thorough investigation!
Garrett’s concerns were shared by the nobles. Seeing the alarm lifted, Viscount Gard breathed a sigh of relief and approached to discuss:
“Can we take these unfortunate guys away? It’s all due to the lax discipline of the Light Cavalry Regiment. Don’t worry, I’ll make their commander apologize in person and crush those tabloid reports!—As for compensation in gold coins, just name your price!”
Garrett wanted to say: pay those 20,000 gold coins for me. But sadly, such thoughts could only remain in his mind. He smiled slightly:
“Let’s not talk about money. I do have an idea, though, hoping to popularize a technology in the army. If it can be done, it will greatly benefit the lads’ safety on the battlefield…”
“Just say the word!”
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