The Trap Springs ( 4 )

Hiroshi was at the hospital at that moment with his nose bandaged. He had finished all the necessary tests and was now about to leave.

As he walked, he thought:

Everything is working as it should. Now as soon as I get out, I should find myself a little surprise.

As soon as he set foot outside the hospital doors, armed men rushed toward him and surrounded him.

"What is all this?!" Hiroshi asked.

"Sir, excuse us for this, but as soon as today's newspaper was published, the media and journalists are all after you. This case has exploded and gone viral, everyone is talking about it. So the state sent us for your safety. If you don't believe us, see for yourself."

The soldier continued, "Up ahead, all the people you see have been there for two hours waiting for you. So we're here and we'll stay with you until the conclusion of the case."

Indeed, he was right. As soon as Hiroshi looked carefully, he saw an immense crowd of journalists and media trying to get to him somehow, but they were stopped by soldiers who were barely holding them back with force.

"THEN HOW WILL I GET OUT OF HERE?!" Hiroshi asked, shouting since there was immense noise due to the crowd.

"DON'T WORRY, THERE'S ALREADY A CARRIAGE READY FOR YOU THAT WILL TAKE YOU WHEREVER YOU WANT. FOLLOW US AND WE'LL TAKE YOU THERE."

"ALRIGHT, TAKE THE LEAD."

The guards began to create a path to the carriage. Once they arrived, Hiroshi got on and gave an order to a very specific place: the prison.

* * *

During the journey, the guard who was with Vassair explained to him everything that was happening around them.

The case was no longer normal but had taken a different turn. In fact, with that day's action, the case had moved from a T3 court directly to the Royal Tribunal. Since this case involved a very important entity belonging to the royal palace—namely Wilhelm—the king was forced not to underestimate this matter. So he himself decided that this case would be transferred to the royal tribunal.

Even though Wilhelm was a low-level general, with the action he had taken that day, the reputation of the palace and the royal family was in a serious situation. To avoid a revolt that would overthrow their government, they decided to do this and resolve things.

The king himself would be there to witness, so he would see everything clearly, but it wouldn't be him who decided. It would be a judge—indeed, the royal judge. The king would only be there to observe.

"Good. So when is the tribunal recall?" Hiroshi asked.

"In one week."

"Until then, will you all stay with me?"

"Yes, even after. We have orders to stay with you until the case closes."

"Alright."

* * *

The carriage stopped in front of the royal kingdom's prison. Hiroshi got down, adjusted his coat and tie, then proceeded.

He went to the gate where there was a soldier.

"Good morning, sir. What do you want?" the soldier asked.

"Hello, I wanted to meet a person who is locked up in there."

"Do you have permission?"

"Permission?"

"Yes, to meet with someone you must have permission from the judge."

"I don't have it."

"Then I'm sorry, but I can't let you in."

Hiroshi didn't insist and went with the flow.

"Alright, I understand. But at least, if I give you a letter, can you take it to him?"

"Yes, we can, but the letter will be checked to see if the data it contains is acceptable or not."

"Alright, there's nothing suspicious in there. You can see for yourself."

So Hiroshi simply gave an envelope to the soldier and turned to leave.

CRACK!

Something hit him on the back of his neck.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Hiroshi shouted, turning his gaze.

"SIR! GET DOWN! QUICKLY!"

Hiroshi did just that. The guards surrounded him, creating a wall of muscles and giants, and began looking around quickly.

All of this was too unrealistic.

Was it a plan?

What was this?

The absence of emotions didn't allow him to panic.

His cold mind began to calculate.

He knew well that it wasn't a coincidence.

So he looked at the thing that had been thrown: it was a rock wrapped in paper.

While the guards were busy looking around, Hiroshi discreetly put the paper in his pocket. As soon as the guards gave the okay, he began to proceed as if nothing had happened. He got on the carriage and began heading toward the hotel where he was staying.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the other side, the soldier took the letter Hiroshi had given to have it inspected.

The soldiers took about 10-20 minutes to check if everything was fine, but they didn't find anything strange, so they gave the okay to take it to Wilhelm.

Wilhelm at that moment was in cell number 8, alone in the dark with a very small window that only served to circulate a bit of air and bring those minimal rays of sunlight inside.

Wilhelm was alone in the cell and was the only one to be alone, since in the adjacent cells there were at least six prisoners per cell.

The cell was the opposite of the city it was in.

If the city was called the best and the largest, instead the cells of this city were small, narrow, stinking. There was an absence of hygiene, insects and rats roamed freely causing diseases. As a toilet there was a bucket in which you did your business and it was cleaned at the end of each day. Then there was a pot with drinking water.

When it was time to eat, a soldier would come in silence and throw your food into your cell as if you were a dog.

He didn't know whether to call it fortune or pity that Wilhelm was alone, because in the other cells, the detainees had to fight among themselves to eat.

Some had died from starvation.

* * *

"HEY!" a soldier shouted toward Wilhelm.

He turned but said nothing, and the soldier continued:

"TAKE THIS, SOMEONE GAVE IT FOR YOU."

The soldier threw the letter into his cell and then left.

It finally arrived.

Let's see what Hiroshi wrote inside.

He opened the letter.

----------------------------------------------

Once my nose has healed, I remain certain the truth will surface.

Kilometers of lies won't save you.

----------------------------------------------

Good. Things are going as we want. Just a little more.

Then the game will be completely in our hands.

* * *

It was around 10 PM. Hiroshi was in his hotel at that moment.

He was making sure no one was present around him.

It was a move that might seem foolish and overrated, that he was doing more than necessary, but it was always convenient to be as cautious as possible. You never knew what could happen in the blink of an eye.

Once he had made sure completely, he decided to look at the crumpled paper he had put in his pocket that morning.

Cautiously, he began to open it without tearing it. As soon as the paper became legible, the words on it sent Hiroshi's mind into a bit of chaos.

It read:

----------------------------------------------

YOU HAVE BEEN SUMMONED

BLACK PALACE AT 5:00 PM

DON'T MISS IT

----------------------------------------------

What is this?

What does it mean?

I had already sensed that sooner or later something like this would happen. So this is surely not a random case. Someone wants to use me for their benefits, and I want to know who that person is. So I won't refuse, in fact I'll go.

But here I can't be reckless for any reason. Every step, every breath, every word must be done calculating everything.

There's no possibility of error. Here, error means direct death.

So it's better to always have a plan B in case of emergency. I must be careful about everything in this meeting.

So Hiroshi spent his entire night thinking about the different possibilities of things that could happen and finding their solutions.

The following day.

"RANIA! Did you see the news about General Wilhelm's case?" said Duraan, who had just come from training.

"No, what happened?"

"You can't imagine what happened. The case caught fire, from all sides people are only talking about this and nothing else."

"Okay, but what made it so viral?"

"Yesterday, during court, General Wilhelm punched Vassair, breaking his nose."

"What?!" Rania was also astonished.

"You're speechless too, right? I was too. People are talking about everything. Some support General Wilhelm, others Vassair. Whatever it is, the general is as if he dug his own grave by doing this."

"But what led him to do this? Didn't you say he's a very calm and wise person?"

"I don't know, but I'll tell you this: this case has been transferred to the royal tribunal and in six days there's the next assembly."

"Good," Rania said in a low voice.

"What happened to you all of a sudden, Rania?" Duraan asked, worried.

"Eh, nothing. At a certain point I remembered Hiroshi, you know, it seems bizarre without him."

"I know, but that's life."

"Duraan, I still have suspicions about that general, you know," Rania said in a low voice while looking at Duraan.

"Okay okay, I know. So what do you say if we go together?"

"Together where? What do you mean?"

"So, the king announced that this case will be visible to everyone. Any person can come to watch, for free."

"And why are they doing this?"

"The king wants to show everyone that every entity belonging to the royal palace has no corruption in its blood. So he invites everyone to see with their own eyes."

"Hmmm, interesting. Alright, we'll go together."

"Perfect."

* * *

4:40 PM.

Location: Black Palace.