Chapter 230
Questioning
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As Bluefeather was raging across Askilin, the flames of war continued to burn through the winter . The land all over the duchy was scorched . Countless refugees escaped on carriages with whatever they could . When the heavy snow fell, the roads were chock full of refugees carrying sacks, hurrying their beasts .
The toll gate Mazik set up by the pass began to bring in lots of income . He demanded astronomical fees . Each person had to pay a small silver and a small gold had to be paid for each carriage . They were Askilin coins, but they had roughly equal value to their Aueran counterparts . Two small silvers were equal to one thale, and two small gold coins were equal to a crown .
Most of the people were rich, so they could afford it even in their current downtrodden state . They were even willing to buy hot food at exorbitant prices .
It gave Mazik another great idea . He partnered with the village chief and erected a large tent next to the road within which he started a small tavern . He hired several villagers as cooks and servers and paid them two-tenths of the place's earnings . The prices were at least double the normal rate .
"Sir, I really don't understand why these people bother escaping . Don't they know going to Swansburg will only delay the inevitable? The two irregular corps will soon come and Bluefeather will take the city sooner or later as well . When Askilin is eliminated, what would they do in Swansburg? Await their death?" Myjack asked .
Claude was standing on the extended cliff with Gum and Myjack . They could see the carriages and people crowded below, paying tolls and moving through . The roadside restaurant was filled, too . They could hear the greetings shouted between familiar faces .
"Most of the townsfolk won't escape . The ones that even bother are afraid we'll come for them later . The three southern prefectures are famous for their mining and weapons industries . Perhaps these people are affiliated with them . It might not be far off to say they have deep, vested interests in those businesses . We've occupied the three prefectures, but we haven't bothered sweeping their industries clean because we don't have enough men . Bluefeather is still on the campaign trail .
"If they don't flee right now, they'll be charged with all sorts of crimes when the kingdom comes to deal with these refineries and weapons factories . They might even be sent to labour camps . The only thing they can do is run . They might just be able to live free for a little longer, or maybe they can escape to another kingdom . Not to mention they have ties to the duchy's lords and ladies . They might be headed to Swansburg in hopes they can reclaim their lost land and businesses," Claude explained .
"Then why are we letting them go? We can just capture them here . "
"Haha, why would we capture them? We didn't receive any orders to that effect . Plus, clearing out and restructuring the industries is a matter for the kingdom's pen pushers . If the military butts in, we'll just be dabbling unnecessarily and even the king might take action . The generals probably don't want needless trouble . Also, letting them go benefits us, right?"
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Claude was quite aware of this point . The job of the army was to fight wars, not to dabble in the jurisdiction of other departments such as the economy . He had heard Major Lederfanc mouth on about it a couple times now .
"Let's go, bring your muskets . We'll head to the wood . The chief said he heard wolves howling in the middle of the night . Let's go see if there really are any wolves . If indeed so, we should kill them all so they don't make trouble later . "
There was no longer anything interesting to see at the cliff, so he turned and left .
Snow covered the whole wood and the hungry beasts approached the village to look for food . Claude had learned that in Whitestag . The snow was thick and heavy . He noticed some wolf prints at one point, but they belonged to a single wolf . Either it was old and had been left behind or it was a rogue loner . They ought to get it while they had the chance .
When Claude returned to the camp, he found a soldier waiting for him .
"Second Lieutenant Claude, we stopped a carriage earlier . A lady and her maids were inside," the soldier reported .
"What about them?" he asked .
What was Mazik up to this time?
"Well, we found this on the carriage," the soldier said as he handed over a package .
Claude opened it and his face darkened . Two disassembled Aubass Mark 3s were inside . They'd also been carefully and expertly taken apart, none of the parts showed any pry damage .
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"Tell the sergeant-major to bring them to me . I have a few questions for them . "
"Yes, Sir . "
The soldier saluted and left immediately . The carriage rolled up a couple minutes later .
"Search the carriage thoroughly, Myjack . Confiscate anything suspicious . "
"Yes, Sir . "
Myjack saluted and vanished with Gum just as Mazik came up the stairs .
"Here they are, Sir," he said, stepping into the office .
"Bring them in one at a time . And call a scribe . "
"Yes, Sir . "
The lady entered first . She wore thick leather clothes, which did little to hide her curves, and a netted hat through which her voluptuous red lips shone .
"Off with the hat, please, Miss," Claude said, only mildly polite .
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The woman's lips cracked into a gentle, if somewhat cocky smile .
"You should address me as 'madam', young man . But I'll not chide you for 'miss' . "
She removed her cap and revealed her face . The scribe and Mazik were immediately lovestruck . She was the kind of beauty that sported an aura of both allure and dignity and wore a helpless expression that stimulated the male instinct to protect .
Claude was not moved, however . He'd seen more than his fair share of beauties her equal . Earth's evil asian arts (read makeup) could do wonders to even a subpar face . He had been quite the connoisseur of such beauty back then, though he never stopped being shocked at the hags they could turn into the moment their makeup came off .
Rapping on the table to chide the two gaping perverts, Claude pointed at the package .
"Madam, please tell me your name and background, as well as how you managed to obtain two of our muskets . "
She was slightly taken aback by the lack of effect her looks had on Claude . She inspected him thoroughly, hesitated at the sight of Claude's businesslike, no-nonsense expression, then answered .
"I am Baroness Sonia Lou Vaksiri . I come from Pacasia and am on my way to Swansburg to visit my sick father . As for those two muskets, I purchased them from someone else . I wasn't aware they were military arms . "
Pacasia was the prefectural capital of Pauralto, one of the three southern prefectures -- the capital of the regional industrial economy . The duchy's largest factories were also there, including it's smithies .
Claude smiled and stood up . He took out a document leisurely .
"Baroness Vaksiri, someone of your stature should know better than to weave flimsy lies . Nobody could've disassembled these muskets so thoroughly without great expertise . Just look at this part . It's incredibly difficult to remove it without damaging it . Normally, people would try to hammer it off, but the parts on these two muskets don't show signs of being hammered at all . I trust you purchased them complete, not disassembled?"
"You wouldn't be saying that if you knew who my father was," the beauty retorted, "He is Liboyd Milowski . You should've heard of him before . "
Liboyd Milowski? Who the hell was that? Claude glanced at the other two in the room, but they also had puzzled expressions .
"Ahem . . . Madam . . . Who might your father be? We haven't heard of him . "
The lady's face flushed furiously . She shot Claude a glance like she would a country bumpkin .
"My father is the most famous musketsmith on the continent! Many of the muskets he's designed have become standard-issue for many nations' armies! As his daughter, I've learned to disassemble muskets from my birth . It's not that hard to take your musket apart . My maidservants can do it under my supervision . "
"Oh, you mentioned Master Boyd?" Claude finally recalled Master Boyd was the most famous armsmith of the duchy . Before Aueras came to the three southern prefectures, High Command had released a list of people that had to be treated cordially and sent to them directly if found . The kingdom wanted these talented people .
Master Boyd was third on the list, obviously a high-value target . Most of the people on the list were gone by the time the last of the cities fell, however . Master Boyd was one of them . He'd apparently gone to the duchy's capital for treatment of an illness .
If Baroness Vaskiri really was his daughter, then her possession of the Mark 3s made complete sense . She wanted to reverse engineer them and build on their secrets .
Even though Askilin had issued their own Falchston Type-185, they were still inferior to the Mark 3 . The lady probably intended to take these two samples to her father .
"Baroness, do you have concrete proof of your relationship with Master Boyd? If you don't, I am sorry to say, then you will be staying with us for a while . We cannot let people go who have illegal possession of military material," Claude decided before ending the session .