Chapter 293
A Life Lost
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Staff-Sergeant Siegfried, Captain Duriaulo's adjutant, hurriedly entered Claude's room . "Captain Claude, frontline command sent someone here to escort the imposters away . Our captain refused their request and they're in a standoff in his office . . . "
Claude knew that Duriaulo needed his support . He got up and notified a signaller to get Dyavid and his band to rush to the keepers' camp to forbid anyone from taking the four criminals away . Then, he followed Siegfried to the office . On the way, he bumped into Moriad, who tagged along with Claude to witness the commotion .
He didn't expect the noble officers to take action so quickly . It had only been three days since Perengue had left and the army judiciary had already sent someone to take custody of the four . Claude had been to Pacasia, a city in the prefecture of Pauralto, where frontline command was situated before and it took three days and two nights to travel from there to Squirrel . Even if they were traveling on horseback, it would take at least two days and a night .
It seemed the nobles had prepared in advance for Perengue's failure . Perhaps they had men from the judiciary put in a town nearby . Perengue had immediately departed to meet up with the rest . That was the only explanation for how quickly the judiciary's men showed up .
The corridor outside Duriaulo's office was lined with a tent of enforcers dressed in red uniform tops and black pants . There was a tri-coloured sash on each of their sleeves to denote them as enforcers of the judiciary . Claude could hear people yelling as he went up the stairs . "Captain Duriaulo, you have to let us take the criminals away . . . "
Two enforcers stood at the stairwell, perhaps having been instructed to refuse entry to the office to anyone . But when the two of them saw the shoulder marks of Claude and Moriad, they saluted and hurriedly went to the side . They were only instructed to bar the way of normal soldiers, not officers .
"What's going on?" Claude asked as he stepped into the office . Moriad closed the door behind them .
There were only three people in the office . Duriaulo was seated behind his desk without speaking a word and couldn't help but show a look of joy at the sight of Claude and Moriad . The other two should be officers from the judiciary in frontline command . One of them was a first lieutenant who looked to be in his late twenties and wore a moustache . He sat on a couch in the office and sipped away at his glass of fruit wine .
The other second lieutenant was rather burly and chubby . He was the one yelling just now and he stood before Duriaulo's desk . Most of the pressure Duriaulo was forced to endure came from that fierce second lieutenant .
"Who let you in?! Buzz off!" the second lieutenant spat without looking closely at Claude and Moriad's shoulder marks . He lashed out at them the moment he noticed them enter .
Claude widened his eyes . Before he had a chance to speak, however, Moriad charged up and rebuked the man .
"Are you dumb?! Where did you come from? How dare you ask a superior officer to buzz off? To think you'd have the guts to commit insubordination!"
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The savage officer noticed Moriad's second lieutenant shoulder mark; he wasn't afraid of an officer with the same rank as him . But when he saw Claude's shoulder mark, he hurriedly saluted and apologised .
"Apologies, Captain, I didn't pay attention and thought my subordinates had entered . I am willing to accept punishment for my transgressions . "
Claude glared at him coldly without returning to salute .
"Give yourself two slaps on the face and make sure not to do this again!"
"Yes, Sir . "
The second lieutenant slapped himself without any hesitation and his face swelled red at a speed the naked eye could detect .
In the Aueran military, insubordination was not a light crime, but it wasn't crucial either . Usually, any officer caught doing so would be punished on the spot . It was almost common for the offender to be asked to slap themselves . Some more sadistic officers would intentionally cause trouble for the offender and get them to do handstands, bark like dogs or do a hundred pushups in public . It was bad to the point that top brass had to issue a notice to limit the scope of punishment a superior officer could deal out .
Claude turned to the moustached first lieutenant on the couch . He was quite quick and had put down his wine glass and stood at attention . The moment Claude turned to him, he saluted . "Greetings, Sir Claude . "
Claude returned the salute .
"You know me?"
The first lieutenant smiled .
"Of course . I can't imagine any other knight captain standing before me but you, Sir . "
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Though they were of the same rank, Duriaulo was the junior . It was an unspoken rule that keepers were one rank below their combat counterparts . That was why Duriaulo needed Claude to deal with the matter . He simply didn't have the clout to deal with the two officers from frontline command . The first lieutenant was considered one rank above him because of the latter's status as a keeper as well as the fact that officers from frontline command were regarded a rank higher than the rest .
Claude, however, was different . He was a captain of 1st Rangers and under the command of the first prince . The tribe was an experimental independent combat unit and their ranks were on par with those of the officers in frontline command . He was also a bearer of the knighthood's order of merit . A captain of frontline command had to salute him, to say nothing about first and second lieutenants .
Claude nodded . "The two of you are from the judiciary of frontline command? Please show your identification . "
"You . . . " The swollen-faced second lieutenant seemed to want to blurt something out . He seemed enraged, but he was rendered frozen by the strict glare of the first lieutenant .
"Of course . Please inspect our identification and officer certificates . " The moustached officer was happy to comply .
Officer certificates weren't large and they simply contained the rank, name, age and unit of a soldier . The identification was at least double in size and had detailed descriptions of a person's height and appearance as well as the units they trained in as well as the posts they held in frontline command .
"First Lieutenant Jiblik Sha Levinster from frontline command staff . . . " Claude mumbled .
"It's yours truly, Sir Claude . " The man nodded with a smile .
"You give it a look too . " Claude handed the documents to Duriaulo and turned back to the first lieutenant . "Sorry, First Lieutenant Jiblik . We have no choice but to be careful . There has been an attempt to impersonate officers a few days back, which I'm sure you're aware of . So, we have to be extra careful with our checks . We don't want to be laughed at for repeating our mistakes, after all . "
Jiblik smiled a little awkwardly . "It's only expected . It can't hurt to be more careful . "
"What about yours?" Claude turned to the rough-looking second lieutenant and said .
The burly man wasn't of noble birth . He was called Bechmil Nitaya and was from the judiciary . However, he wasn't a staff officer, and was a disciplinary officer instead . He was the commander of the tent of enforcers out in the corridor .
Duriaulo gave the documents of the two a look and nodded to Claude .
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"Alright, I believe you're truly from the judiciary . What business do you have here?" Claude took over Duriaulo's role as the person in charge .
Jiblik turned to Duriaulo and saw that he showed no reaction . He had given control to Claude . So, he could only smile helplessly . "Well, Sir Claude, we were conducting a disciplinary survey of the troops in the prefecture of Alfest and heard about this impersonation incident as we were passing through Rosa . So, we hurried here to take custody of the criminals so that they may be judged by the judiciary of frontline command . "
Claude smiled . "Oh, is that the case? It's no wonder you lot threw a huge tantrum here in Captain Duriaulo's office . Did he refuse to hand them over? It's not actually his fault, you know . What we do with the criminals is up to me . Even if he agrees to hand them over, it's useless . "
Jiblik's expression darkened . "Sir Claude, what do you mean by that? Are you going to get in the way of our official duties? This is a transgression of military regulation and you should be aware of the consequences that entails!"
"Official duties?--" Claude snickered . "--Then please show me the warrant and order to transfer custody of the criminals . Don't think you can take custody of them if you don't have a warrant from the ministry of the army and a personal order from the first prince himself . "
"Sir Claude, please be reasonable," Jiblik said sternly, "Taking custody of criminal soldiers and giving judgment is the duty of the judiciary . We don't need a warrant or the order from the commander-in-chief . Please cooperate with us and hand the four criminals to us . Or else, we will charge you for obstruction of justice!"
"Obstruction of justice? That's a huge crime . . . " Claude didn't show an ounce of fear . "Don't think I don't know that the four criminals report to frontline command . You are just trying to shield your colleagues, not carry out justice . Are you trying to clean up after yourselves?
"If I hand the criminals to you, I doubt I'd hear a follow-up on this case . If we check in at a later date, there'd be no doubt no such record of this incident would exist . So, apologies, gentlemen . You better return to whence you came . This isn't something you can interfere with . It isn't a matter under your jurisdiction . "
Jiblik glared hatefully at Claude . "Sir Claude, let me ask again . Are you really going to not cooperate with our assignment?"
"Hah, your assignment?" Claude shook his head . "I'm not obstructing anything . I am just requesting that you follow proper protocols . Please hand me a warrant and the order from the commander-in-chief . I will hand you custody of the criminals immediately . "
"Very well, Sir Claude," Jiblik said with emphasis on each word, "You are now charged for obstruction of justice . I shall arrest you with the authority of the judiciary! Please follow me back to frontline command and cooperate with the investigation!"
"Bullshit!" Moriad snapped and sent a punch flying into Jiblik's face, striking him down on the spot . It happened so quickly that nobody could've seen it coming . Claude hurriedly hugged him and stopped him from escalating it further .
"You . . . . dare . . . . ack . . . hit me?" Jiblik clutched his face in pain . The punch seemed to have broken his nose . Blood flowed out of it incessantly . The man struggled to get up and roared with fury . "Arrest them! Second Lieutenant Bechmil, what are you waiting for?!"
"Yes, Sir!" The burly man didn't charge forward . Instead, he reached out with his right hand to his short-barreled musket . With his left hand, he swiped a struck a match against the desk and lit the slow match with it .
"Hands up!" Bechmil said with the gun trailed at Claude and Moriad .
Bang! A gunshot rang out within the office .
Claude looked at his own body in shock before he turned to Moriad . He didn't find any wounds on either of them .
With an audible thump, Second Lieutenant Bechmil was the one that fell to the ground There was a bloody bullet hole in his face . The short-barreled musket in his hand was dropped to the ground and its slow match was still lit, but it hadn't been fired .
Claude turned back only to see Duriaulo with a smoking short-barrel himself . He was looking at the corpse of Bechmil in a daze . Claude looked at him and Duriaulo struggled to explain, "I . . . I only wanted to shoot his hand . . . I didn't think it would hit his face . . . "
"You . . . you dared . . . you actually dared to kill Second Lieutenant Bechmil . . . " Jiblik was shuddering . A life was lost, and this matter was going big . He no longer cared about his hurting nose and shrieked with his finger pointed at Claude, "Men, come!"
The door was pushed open, but surprisingly, the ones who entered weren't the enforcers . Instead, it was the fully-armed Dyavid .
"Where are the enforcers at the entrance?" Claude asked .
"They were disarmed by us and are kneeling in the main hall," Dyavid replied without a care .
"What do we do now?" Claude asked Duriaulo .
The captain finally snapped out of it . He pointed at Jiblik and said, "Let's arrest him first . I'll write a letter to the ministry of the army to report on them for faking a disciplinary survey with the intent on forcing us to hand over the four officer impersonators . . . "