89 – War on Crime (4)

After arresting everyone on the scene and starting to head for the guards barracks, the low-level gangsters and prostitutes began to cry out with a frightened expression.

“Sal, please save me!”

“I don’t know about the men over there, but we just went as the pimps told us… Save us, Count..”

“We just went to give them something to eat… Just once… If you give me just one chance, I will live a good life.”

You’ll have to investigate, but prostitutes are most likely not very guilty.

First of all, prostitution in this era is usually done by poor women who are driven to the brink of starvation to avoid dying, or to be kidnapped while on the road, or sold to reduce their lives in poor families.

For this reason, women who engage in prostitution are controlled by beating or abusing them so as not to injure their faces and other prominent parts.

So, 99% of the women here must have been sexually exploited forcibly… To be accused of being here and executed is an act of punishing an innocent person.

And when I personally saw prostitutes being exploited like this, I felt more sorry for it because I remembered Ella crying and trying to sacrifice herself when I was possessed by Ciel in the past.

However, the male underlings here are criminals who came in voluntarily, whether they were lured for food or for the purpose of getting ahead…

“You girls will be released without incident if you cooperate with the investigation of the soldiers under my command, so you don’t have to worry. Pimps are bad, you guys were forced to do it.”

With a flushed expression, I asked if my words had any hope for the low-level gang members to survive.

“Your Excellency, then, if we cooperate with the investigation, will you spare us? We also did this to make a living, and we had no intention of going against Your Excellency.”

I don’t think Puck would have thought of going against me.

According to the reports of Lieutenant Short and other scouts right away, those guys went on a rampage after being promised beauty, alcohol, and a lot of riches by the Count of Petersburg when the seizure of the back alleys of the city was over…

would i believe that?

If I had just said that I was unconditionally reflecting, I would have died at least comfortably…

I need the information they have, so I guess I need to give them false hope for a while.

So I spoke of vain hope in a grave voice.

“It’s the same for you guys, if you cooperate with the investigation, I’ll spare you.”

At those words, the guys’ faces began to straighten.

But, except for the one who threw out the real valuable information, no matter how much they cooperated, they would be hanged at best.

Basically, the punishment that will be given to you is a string type.

If you ask why, the executives from the outside are outside guys, so there is room for extenuating circumstances.

If the guys belonging to my territory betrayed me, it’s natural to make them pay the corresponding price.

**

After dividing the criminals into men and women and imprisoning them in the guard barracks and parade ground, I called the commanders into the conference room to organize the information I had gathered.

At the top of the long desk sat Colonel Biermann, next to him were his lieutenant colonels and majors, and at the far end sat Lieutenant Short for some reason.

Sitting among real nobles with knighthoods, he must be deeply troubled…

And when I sat down in my seat slightly higher than the desk in the conference room, all the commanders got up, saw me, got down on one knee and bowed their heads.

I said, motioning them to get up.

“Thanks to everyone’s cooperation, we were able to clean up the blue mold without much trouble. If it hadn’t been for your cooperation, my citizens would still be trembling in fear. Thank you for protecting my citizens. In the name of Ciel von Kreutel, I promise to reward you generously for this case.”

Those words brought to mind the faces of the commanders sitting in front of me.

Perhaps they are inflated in anticipation of how much reward I will give them.

“In that case, start reporting. Let’s start with Major Frost, who suppressed Central Headquarters.”

At those words, Frost stood up and began reciting the summary.

“First, we captured 4 executives including Nikolai, the leader of Blue Mold, and 20 out of 50 low-level members. Inside, there were the daughter of the head of District 1 and the daughter of the chief of District 3, who were presumed to have been kidnapped, as well as 10 women and 5 men of unknown origin.”

“Then how much money did you have?”

“Inside the headquarters, there were approximately 10 tons of vodka and various hallucinogenic herbs, and there were about 100 gold coins and 2,000 silver coins in the warehouse inside the facility.”

“Okay, let Major Mangonel, who ambushed the next 2nd branch, report…”

That’s how I got a report on all the branches of the green mold.

There are 6 executives, including Nikolai, who are presumed to be nobles above knights, 34 ordinary executives, 340 low-level gang members, 30 tons of smuggling vodka and about 800 sheets of gold coins…

10 families of nobles almost sold into slavery, 60 people presumed to be citizens or serfs…

No matter how much criminals do it without thinking, to commit something on this scale…

You can’t do something like this without at least the backing of a great nobleman, count or higher…

“Colonel, it seems that the real Count of Petersburg instigated this. Otherwise, how could they have tried to eat us in the back on such a large scale?”

“You have a point. However, His Excellency also bears a lot of grudge against merchants. So I’m guessing it’s a scheme carried out by a merchant with a grudge against His Excellency to destroy Kreutel…”

“Those sneaky merchants probably do. But a merchant who can invest this much budget at once…”

“I heard that the apprentice in Hamburg is suffering a lot because of us these days. From what I’ve heard, grain wholesalers have been hit hard by the drop in food prices…”

“Even so, the apprentice must be making more money in the sugar brokerage trade. My relative who serves the apprentice is saying that the apprentice will soon purchase a title in Romania.”

As the conversation continued, some of them began to raise their voices, as if they were uncomfortable with the disagreement.

I banged my fist on the handle of my chair to dry them off.

“stop! What the hell are you doing! All you have to do is to investigate all the possibilities, but what is this doing at the beginning of the interrogation?”

Upon hearing this, the commanders bowed their heads in shame.

“I apologize, Your Excellency.”

“All right, everything you said makes sense. The Doge of Hamburg and the Count of Petersburg… Both are enough to free our lands of smugglers and criminals. In particular, the count of Petersburg is already poor these days, but it is not a fuss that the nobles in the manor are immersed in the culture exported from our manor and spend money like water. And an apprentice is a merchant, and if he is a merchant, he is prepared to take countless drugs or women in order to destroy the competing guild.”

I’ve never been as poor as the Count of Petersburg, so I don’t know what kind of thoughts the nobleman had in causing the crime, but in the past he did everything he could to bring Schwein down.

I sent two maids who had been harassing Ella as concubines to find out her weaknesses in private life, and furthermore, I used their beauty to turn my lord, the count, from human trash to human waste.

Based on that experience, I don’t know the count, but if I were an apprentice…

He must have tried to break my spirit by making this choice.

Otherwise, Hamburg, a free city maintained only by trade, could be eaten by me or by Romania.

And when I looked around, not a single one of the commanders opened their mouths as they agonized over how to proceed with the investigation.

So I decided to give Lieutenant Short a chance to speak in order to give them a little more information.

“Lieutenant Short, I have secretly issued an order to capture the headquarters… Could you share the information you got there with them?”

To that, Short replied with a very nervous expression.

“Yes, I understand. First, according to my research, executives divided themselves into two groups. The first is the early executives who stowed in together, and the second is those who have more influence than the semi-aristocrats living in Blueport. The second is a tile that is used and discarded when necessary, and does not play any role in normal times.”

“Go on.”

“Yes, and my findings are consistent with the reports I have already reported on the organization, so I will only report what is important.”

“Let it be.”

“First, when I infiltrated them, they spoke our French language, but with a slightly northern accent mixed with a Romanian accent. Also, I was offered their own food called borscht and pierogies and ate them to avoid suspicion, but the borscht they gave me was topped with zaucropt, a common food in Romania.”

“Is zawkrout the sauerkraut that those Romanians or Hamburgers eat?”

“Yes that’s right. However, usually in the Northern Union, borscht usually contains only red turnips, beets, various vegetables and meat. But they said that this was the northern way and added zawworth. And the ones who usually eat like this are from Maxburg territory in eastern Romania.”

When I heard that, all the information started to look like a picture, along with the feeling of a piece of the puzzle that was lacking in my head.

If those guys are under the Duke of Maxburg…

It is understandable that those foolish scoundrels dared to sell the name of Count Petersburg and to gather the poor more rapidly than necessary.

Obviously, if there is some internal erosion and we suffer some damage…

Now, after cutting off those guys, the Duke of Maxburg would have tried to hand them over, claiming that the Count of Petersburg did it.

Even if that doesn’t happen, it can separate Count Petersburg and me and make us hostile to the north…

It’s understandable that I did something clumsy like I told you on purpose.

Still, I wouldn’t have thought that they would find former drivers and executives with deep knowledge in northern languages and northern culture to deceive me, but…

Short guy catches this like this.

And the guys under my command were all shaking their heads as if they had listened to Short’s words and understood them.

“Lieutenant Short, how do you know the cuisine of the Northern Union and Romania so well?

“When I was young, I lived in Norsheim, the northernmost town of Maxburg. I know it well because the merchants who often come there make a lot of borscht.”

“Right…”

Then I clapped my hands, got everyone’s attention, and spoke.

“Everyone, let’s assume that those guys are from Maxburg and start investigating.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“And torture is prohibited until I give orders. Instead, put them in a very poor prison and give them food and water just enough to keep them from dying, disperse.”