Chapter 19:

New Allies

Flowers Bloomed by a Poisonous Rose

“Mr Moriarty, may I speak to you about something?”

“Alice Eagold, isn’t it?”

“…You know me?”

The detective chuckled. “Well, you’re something of a celebrity in the capital as of late.”

“It’s a little weird being told that by the most famous detective in the world.”

“You honour me, Princess Eagold.”

When she just stared at him, he coughed, and asked, “What seems to be the matter?”

“It’s to do with my friend, Grace Wilbert, and the circumstances surrounding her.”

“Oh?”

Grace Wilbert…she was on our list of parties we wanted to investigate - so, what’s led you to this conclusion too, Miss Eagold?

***

“Boss Peter!”

“Hey, everyone. How have you-?”

“Ah! He has a new woma-! Ouch!”

“Sorry about this, Alice,” Peter said, his fist very much still indented in Sayla’s skull. “They’re not bad kids, minus this one.”

“How rude!”

Alice giggled as Peter tried to introduce the Justice Brigade to her, but they were still acting just like kids. It was quite cute too her, but she could also see how much they respected Peter and how much he cared for them.

They’ve been trained, but only some of them appear to be good in a fight, she observed. Her gaze lingered on Sayla. She’s strong, very strong…maybe stronger than even Peter. So, why does she hide it beneath-?

Sayla locked eyes with Alice and then put a finger to her lips with a seductive smile.

Alice smiled back.

“So? What have you guys learnt about the Wilberts?” Peter asked.

“A little bit here and there,” Matilda said, arriving from the back of the room. “Nothing concrete but we’ve been gathering a lot of times and dates as to when the duke’s met with various contacts. And.” Matilda held up a sealed letter. “We managed to get a copy of their latest delivery manifesto.”

“Very nice. Who delivered it?”

“Harken Tech.”

“That big technology conglomerate?” Alice asked. “Why would they be delivering equipment to the duke and his allies?”

“Don’t know, but there’s no official records of deliveries going to and from Harken to the Wilberts,” Sayla added, trying to sooth the new hole in her head. “Which likely means there’s someone working within Harken who’s linked to the conspiracy.”

“…Get me names.”

“We’ve done one better,” Matilda said. “We’ve got faces.”

***

“Benedict Snapes, aged 43, been a warehouse manager at Harken Tech’s Western Branch for the past 8 years,” Ryan Noel, John’s best friend at the Royal Investigation Department, explained. “Family man, happily married with 3 kids, earns a very good wage and has been steadily climbing up the ranks. Nothing unnatural about it, except from the fact that he’s a little close to this man, Stephan.”

“Stephan?” John repeated.

Ryan nodded. “One of the early investors of Harken Tech and other big companies that saw massive growth in the last 10 or so years.”

“…Is it possible that they’re both involved in this?”

“Potentially, but we’d need to look into this more.”

“Don’t worry, I have someone who can do that.”

***

I hate that detective, Arc complained in his head as he began his new internship at Harken Tech.

It had been a post recommended to him by his mother months ago, but he had initially refused until John Moriarty told him there was a potential link between Harken and the terrorists who attacked the school.

The Pentagram.

Whoever they are, they didn’t exist in the original story and they’re probably the reason why the Silent Sect and others haven’t been making an appearance. But why?

I could understand if it was Reiss who eliminated them early, but why would the Pentagram do it?

Remove the competition?

To throw other reincarnated off?

Or-?

“Mr Stephan!”

Arc instinctively hid and watched as the target John told him about conversed with the man Ryan had identified as Benedict Snapes.

“Ah, Snapes, I trust everything’s alright.”

“More than alright, sir! My wife’s expecting.”

“Again?” Stephan laughed. “Are you trying to make the company go bankrupt with paternity leave?”

The two men laughed as they waited for the elevator to come. “How have things been in the west?”

“All good, sir, profits are projected to rise another 3% this quarter and.” Snapes lent in closer. “The latest delivery went well.”

“Good. Keep going.”

…Okay, let’s keep monitoring this for a little while longer.

***

“My head hurts.”

“How did you even get into this school, Reiss?”

“On a scholarship.”

Emilia sighed as she put down another photograph they had just received from Arc. “Why did you even volunteer to help out in the investigation?”

“…Because I thought I could offer something.”

“If negative emotions count, then yes, you are adding plenty.”

“That’s horrible!”

“The truth hurts. Anyway, go through this with me?”

Begrudgingly, Reiss sat up straight and looked over the latest investigation summary.

“So, the terrorist group that attacked the school identified themselves as the Pentagram, and they have two members that we know about, Samantha the Vampire and Peter’s Master Lucien. Then, Alice and Charlotte overheard something from Grace Wilbert that has made them suspect a connection between the duke and the Pentagram and now we’re flagging this Stephan and Snapes as potential allies supplying the conspiracy with weapons and equipment."

"...I think so," Reiss mumbled. "But even if we have all these links, what good does it do if we can’t find them?”

“Are you really that dumb?”

“…I don’t think so, but my head’s hurting so much.”

Emilia sighed again. “Look, I know this isn’t exactly exciting stuff like in a detective novel, but this is just how real investigations go. We need time to gather evidence, plan our next moves and wait for the opportunity to take these guys down.”

“…Yeah.”

This is nothing like how these investigations go in the games, Reiss moaned in his head. All I needed to do was look up a guide with all the right answers and boom, I had solved everything.

…Reiss’s protagonist powers don’t extend to his brain.

***

“There has to be something in his study, something!”

“That’s great, Charlotte, but don’t shout,” Grace cautioned, dimming her light a little bit more just in case Charlotte’s voice was attracting any of the late-night staff.

For the past week, Charlotte had been staying at Grace’s house to work together on a joint assignment.

“For school” is the lie Grace told her family and staff.

In reality, they, like the rest of their allies, were investigating her father, Duke Henry Wilbert and his connections to the Pentagram.

While their allies had some success, they, however-

“Still nothing!”

“Char-!”

“So-! Wait, you did it too, though?”

Grace sighed and lightly hit her head against a bookcase. I never thought the Saint would be like this.

Still, Grace was grateful that Charlotte and Alice had reached out to her that day.

Everything that went wrong with her family could be traced back to that day - her father’s warmth was replaced near-instantly with a frozen tundra.

Why?

Was it something I did?

Grace had plagued herself with those questions for years.

Now, she stood a chance at getting them answered and she wouldn’t stop now.

Maybe Father was always covering his tracks in case I tried to investigate him, or maybe…maybe it’s hidden somewhere, somewhere close to his heart, somewhere no one but him would look, like-

“My treasure box.”

“Hmm?”

Grace went to the highest point of the bookshelf directly behind her father’s desk and retrieved a small, battered velvet lined black box with a worn piece of paper tapped to it.

It read:

To daddy,

Love Grace.

“…He wouldn’t.”

With great trepidation, Grace opened the lid and found all the little gifts and presents she’d given her father when she was younger but then noticed something strange at the back.

A small white ribbon that seemed to be attached to the inner lining of the chest.

She pulled it down and found several small pieces of paper inside with broken seals depicting a very sinister image, one that chilled Grace to her core.

“A Pentagram.”

***

John put the notes down after his fifth re-read of them with shaking hands. “A coup d'état…this is worse than I thought.”

“That’s insane! Why would anyone want to overthrow her majesty?!” Grace asked.

“I don’t know, but-”

“It’s something Samantha would do,” Emilia cut in. “She wouldn’t care who gets hurts as long as she can gorge herself. The Pale Corpse Case?” The teacher grunted. “All of those victims were hers and hers alone. Death would be too kind for her.”

“But what about Duke Wilbert? What does he stand to gain from this? Money? Power? Fame?”

“He already has all of that, Reiss,” Alice said. “It might be that there are some circumstances we’re unaware of that have driven him to this point.”

“Like what?” Arc asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe some deep, dark secret about our country only he and these guys know? Or maybe there’s something the Queen has done to deeply wound him and his conspirators.”

“Has the Queen ever done anything like that?”

“…Not that I know of.”

“It doesn’t matter,” John said. “What does matter is we now have a lot of evidence and, better yet, we have a time and date for the next delivery from Harken Tech to their base of operations. All we need to do now is prepare, plan, contact the right authorities and catch all these bastards in one fell swoop.

“Then, we can get to the bottom of the truth of this incident. Any objections?” No one spoke up. “Good. Then, let’s get busy planning.”

***

The phone in Stephan’s pocket began to ring.

He answered it with a small smile.

“How are things progressing on your end?”

“It’s like you’ve said, they’ve taken the bait,” Duke Wilbert said. “And you?”

“There aren’t as many snooping around me, but there’s that Arc student very unsubtlety following me whenever I go to Harken.”

Duke Wilbert chuckled. “Did Snapes even notice?”

“Not even a little. In a way, it’s quite hilarious.”

“…In a way, yeah…”

Stephan exhaled softly.

“What is it?”