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Imperial Palace in the North.
Freya read the document in front of her then tossed it onto the table. She looked at the individual in front of her with a distrustful gaze and frown: “Troy City sent a batch of weapons to Hilles City? Are you talking about guns or gunpowder? Are you positive?”
“I am positive. The invoice noted that it was to be sent from Troy City to Hilles City. Furthermore, the most important part is that the shipment was not disguised. They directly wrote guns and ammunition on the parcel and directed it to be sent to Hilles City.”
“Hmm…”
Freya closed her eyes to think. She wasn’t at Troy City at the moment. It was a city named after her brother, nonetheless. She wouldn’t just leave it to its own device. She had her own people at Troy City both among the underground and officials tasked with monitoring the city. This time, military weapons were involved. Weapons being a very sensitive topic, they sent an urgent report.
Freya’s brother had been absent for two months, while she had to ensure that both Troy City and the North were fine. She gave the order to forbid anyone from transporting weapons from Troy City already. Under normal circumstances, she would notify Troy City’s guards to stop the transportation; however, the situation was different this time. Therefore, Freya wasn’t sure what course of action to take, either. Because the weapons were being sent to Troy City, it could very likely be Troy who required them.
Bringing guns into Hilles City was forbidden. Transporting weapons into the city was no different to smuggling gold. As a matter of fact, the crime was even more severe. For them to boldly transport the guns without even disguising them, Freya suspected that it was her brother who asked for them to be sent.
Freya posed several questions for herself: “There’s no reason for my brother to send weapons into Hilles City. Hilles City is Empress Elizabeth’s city. What did my brother call for enough gunpowder to use for an entire night and dozens of men for? Is he revolting? No, that’s impossible. If he wanted Rosvenor Empire, there’s no need for him to revolt. He’d just have to say the word to Empress Elizabeth, and she’d likely hand over the reins with a smile.
What are those weapons going to be used for? Are they for exhibition purposes? If that was the purpose, he would’ve contacted the North for the most advanced weapons and ammunition. Why Troy City? Additionally, would Onii-sama not ask me beforehand? I don’t understand. What purpose are the weapons intended for? Did Onii-sama order the weapons? If not, who ordered them?”
“Regent, what shall we do now? If we send men there now, they will not make it. If something happens at Hilles City with the weapons in question involved, we will held responsible.”
Freya extended forth her hand to stop the messenger from continuing. She sat up straight and smiled: “We never heard about this, understood? You never came here or reported this. We didn’t know about Troy City transporting that batch of weapons.”
“But… but… but it is being sent to Hilles City…”
“You don’t know anything about it, understood?”
“… Understood.” With a nod, the messenger quickly left the room.
Freya stood up. She tossed the document in her hand into the fire. She watched it gradually burn into nothingness. She irritably scratched her head. After carefully deliberating it, she picked up a sheet of paper for letters and wrote her brother’s name.
Freya decided, “Whatever the case may be, I must inform my brother of this. This is a private letter, so it’s unlikely to be intercepted. As his sister, I can’t stop him from doing what he wants to do. If he wants to revolt… with the current power of the North… would we really be able to succeed… It seems we will require the dragons’ assistance…”
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Current time at the entrance of Hilles City.
The guards extended out their hand to stop the military. They looked at the leader surprised. Somewhat suspicious, they asked, “You are transporting guns and gunpowder?’
The leader nodded with a smile and candidly answered, “Yes.”
The guards were a little puzzled. If they tried to hide it, they would be exposed, and the guards would, therefore, not hesitate to seize them and the guns. However, boldly sending barrels of gunpowder and chests of guns with them fully exposed caused the guards to hesitate. Normally, there were only two people who could order a military unit to boldly come over. One was Empress Elizabeth, while the other was Prince Troy. If it was either of them, the guards didn’t dare to stop them.
“You came from Troy City?”
“Yes,” nodded the leader. He then emphasised himself: “We came from Troy City.”
“Troy City…” The guards dawdled for a moment. They thought, “If they’re from Troy City, doesn’t that mean that they’re Prince Troy’s trusted men? This could be a request from Prince Troy. That being the case, we will probably get in trouble if we dare to stop them. Troy has done a number of things in Hilles City before. He destroyed the church and levelled an expansive area of land in the forest, not to mention he slaughtered the anthropoids in the North. As if we’d dare to stop him from bringing guns in.”
“Do you have Prince Troy’s written order?”
The rules at Hilles City stated that no weapons were allowed to be brought in. The people could be falsely using Troy’s name, so the guards had to look into it. The leader took out an exquisite piece of paper and undid the blue ribbon. The guard grabbed it. The handwriting was nice. The guard didn’t actually know how Troy’s handwriting looked. But nonetheless, the stamp at the end told him that it was Troy penned it since it was his stamp.
The pattern belonged to the royal family. The person who carved it had their hands amputated already. Commoners, practically never saw the stamp, others couldn’t make imitations, either, for the creator was a truly adept at his craft. The royal family had a total of four stamps. Two were with Elizabeth and two were given to Troy. If the stamp wasn’t faulty, Troy unmistakably penned the letter.
“Go in, then. That being said, you still have to register. I will report this to Prince Troy himself.”
The guard handed back the letter to the captain then led him into the city before finally making a note. The note recorded was never going to reach Troy, though. The first reason was that guards weren’t allowed on the palace grounds. Secondly, the guard couldn’t go near the inner court or outer court. If he wanted to submit a record, he’d have to go through his superiors. To avoid infuriating Troy or Elizabeth, his superiors would stop the record from reaching them. And thus, the weapons and guns the escort team brought were sent into Hilles City. Of course, the spies noticed it. They shared the same sentiment, however. As a result, they wouldn’t send it, either, to avoid offending Troy.