Why did the lord rebel

Chapter 510 Chapter Beautiful Weapon

Sometimes, Xiahou Yan really suspected that he had some Conan qualities in him.

Ever since he traveled to the Haven Continent, people have died wherever he went. If he had been able to travel to America a few more times, the population density of North America would probably have been comparable to that of Greenland in no time.

On the battlefield, everyone was fighting, so it was reasonable for a few people to die. He never expected that when he came to the rear to hold a war council, he would witness a brutal murder case up close. An imperial lord was assassinated in public.

  ——And who the murderer is is still unknown!

The nobles were the pillars of the empire's rule, and the murder of a noble was never a trivial matter. Although Xiahou Yan felt that this matter had nothing to do with him and was happy to stand aside and watch, the nobles of the empire present were obviously already nervous.

Over there, the "famous detective" Master Nemisas was already leading the nobles in sorting out the social relations of Baron Misty Ridge: According to Master Nemisas, there were not many nobles and servants present, and the murderer must be among them; and the murderer who would assassinate Baron Misty Ridge must be someone who had a grudge against the Baron before - as long as the Baron's social relations were sorted out, the real murderer of the Baron would naturally surface.

However, Xiahou Yan felt that Master Naimisus was a little too optimistic.

The complexity of the relationships between the imperial nobles is enough to scare even the most outstanding actuaries away - not to mention territories like Silverhelm that have a so-called "family feud" with Misty Ridge. In the aristocratic circle, everyone knows each other every day. Maybe the Baron of Misty Ridge has offended some nobleman unknowingly, causing the latter to want to kill him.

  Furthermore, considering that the murder took place during the War Council, things are a little more subtle:

In the meeting just now, Baron Misty Ridge actually played the role of a provocateur: he was the first noble attending the meeting to find a reason to obstruct the arrangements of the Imperial Military in order to gain benefits for his own territory.

In this way, if someone is dissatisfied with the Baron of Misty Ridge's behavior of disregarding the overall situation and making unreasonable demands, it is entirely possible that he would kill people, and even use this to deter other stupid nobles who might provoke trouble.

  The question is: among those present, who most wants the war council to proceed smoothly and who hates the shameless behavior of Baron Misty Ridge at the meeting the most?

——Of course, they are the Imperial Military, the Inquisition, and those fanatical jihadists who only want to capture the City of Thorns and don't want to get entangled in the War Council.

Xiahou Yan's eyes first looked at Chief of Staff Quentin with an irritated face, Grand Duke Rosario with a frown, and Marquis Liam who was on the verge of anger, then swept across the indifferent expressions of Estherville and Urna, and finally brushed across a large group of imperial nobles.

Based on Xiahou Yan's understanding of Chief of Staff Quentin and Grand Duke Rosario, these two people would not have killed Baron Misty Ridge just because of his inappropriate behavior in the parliament. Moreover, they should have been indoors when Baron Misty Ridge was killed, and they had basically no time to commit the crime.

As for Marquis Liam, Xiahou Yan thought that the newly appointed commander of the Central Army might really dislike Baron Misty Ridge, but did he really have the guts to murder a distinguished lord of the Empire? Xiahou Yan was very skeptical.

On the contrary, in Xiahou Yan's opinion, Estherville, Urna and the Inquisition behind them are the most suspicious: according to the intelligence recently collected by Frost Maple Ridge, this group of religious lunatics are really indiscriminate and can do all kinds of bad things; in order to urge all lords to work together for the holy war, assassinating a troublemaker lord to make an example of him is also completely like an action that the Inquisition would take.

The only problem is: both men have alibis.

After Master Nemisus's interrogation, more than one noble had testified that when Baron Misty Ridge was assassinated outside the door, both Estherville and Urna were talking to other people in the meeting room - even if these two inquisitors had supernatural powers, it would be difficult for them to pull out Baron Misty Ridge's sword and stab him to death from a distance of more than ten meters.

The result is that until now, the parties involved, including Xia Houyan, don’t even know why the unfortunate Baron of Misty Ridge died - and he died so miserably in public when he just walked out of the door to get some fresh air after a meeting.

While Xiahou Yan was confused about who the murderer was, Master Naimisus not far away was not much better.

The master looked at the nobles present again and again with suspicion, even glancing at Xiahou Yan and Archduke Rosario, but in the end he could not tell who looked like the murderer.

  Duke José Rivera, who was not far away, said gently:

"Master Nemisus, Grimm... It's not going to work if we don't find the murderer. How about we collect Mr. Baron's body first?"

——The Duke of Sanshuiwan’s proposal does make sense.

As everyone including Master Nemisus was busy thinking about the murderer, the body of Baron Misty Ridge lay straight on the floor for a long time - at this moment, the blood in his body was almost drained, and a dark red lake was formed on the ground, and the sword was still sticking straight into his back as if mocking everyone.

Judging from Master Nemisas's reluctant expression, the "famous detective" actually did not want anyone to destroy the crime scene. However, the master could not refute Duke Rivera's suggestion to collect the remains of his noble comrades first.

Grand Duke Rosario was a little uncomfortable with the Baron of Misty Ridge's body being left there. He exchanged glances with Duke Rivera, then called a few male servants from the castle nearby to carefully carry away the Baron's body, and then called a few female servants to clean up the blood on the ground.

  "Master Igor..." Master Nemisas walked towards Xiahou Yan with a bitter face, as if he wanted to complain to him:

Perhaps because the two had worked together at Kemal Manor, Master Naimisus clearly had a natural trust and closeness towards the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge.

Xiahou Yan looked at the master and opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly his eyes flashed -

Looking over Master Nemisus' shoulder, he suddenly noticed something.

"Wait a minute!" Xiahou Yan shouted.

Everyone looked at him, and the butler who was carrying the body and the maid who was carrying a mop to clean up the bloodstains also stopped.

——No one dares to ignore the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge’s words.

"Eliot, what—" Archduke Rosario asked in surprise.

But Xiahou Yan didn't bother to respond to the Grand Duke. Instead, he rushed to several maids who were about to mop the floor and grabbed the wrist of one of the pretty young maids.

"Lord Igor, don't do this, it's inappropriate..." Duke Rivera said somewhat awkwardly - certain rumors about the lifestyle of Lord Frost Maple Ridge had obviously reached Duke Rivera's ears, causing him to clearly misjudge the purpose of Lord Xiahou.

Xiahou Yan rolled his eyes at Duke Rivera, stared at the little maid in front of him, and asked:

"What were you doing when this Baron of Misty Ridge was murdered?"

"Lord Igor, you are--" Marquis Herodotus opened his mouth in surprise, but was interrupted by Rosario raising his hand.

Archduke Rosario frowned and looked at the little maid who was caught by Xia Houyan.

"My Lord, the Duke..." The maid was trembling all over, tears in her eyes, "I... I..."

"Answer my question - why are your clothes different from others?" Xiahou Yan asked with a stern face.

——After Lord Frost Maple Ridge asked this, the nobles present suddenly noticed something strange: all the maids present were wearing black and white maid dresses to suit the season;

But only this maid was wearing a summer maid skirt.

——Wearing a short skirt in the middle of winter is a seemingly insignificant but quite abnormal anomaly.

However, facing Xiahou Yan's questioning, the maid just trembled and sobbed without answering. "Is this lady a servant of 'Olav's Habitat'?" Xiahou Yan still held the maid's wrist tightly like an iron hoop, and turned his head to ask everyone.

"Yes! Yes!" A middle-aged man with gray hair, dressed as a butler, answered in a trembling voice, "This Miss Anne has been a servant of our Eastern Army since six years ago. After we moved into Olaf's Habitat, she has been in charge of cleaning..."

"What area is she responsible for cleaning on duty?" Xiahou Yan asked in a cold voice.

"The corridor outside the meeting room..." The head butler stopped here.

Everyone was horrified.

The corridor outside the council chamber - this is where the Baron's body was found.

"You shouldn't be wearing this short skirt today. When you go to work in the morning, you should wear a long skirt like other maids. You must have changed into this short skirt later. Where did you put your long skirt?" Xiahou Yan asked the maid coldly.

Many of the nobles present had never dealt with Shuangfengling before. Only then did they realize that this young black-haired duke could change his temperament into something so cold and tyrannical in an instant.

"I... I don't know--" The little maid let out a scream and was about to collapse to the ground, but was forcefully pulled up by Xiahou Yan.

"Master Nemisus!" Xiahou Yan shouted, "I believe you are a good finder - can you think of a way to find the skirt that this maid has hidden?"

Master Nemisus yelled "No problem", then ran over excitedly, took out a curved metal stick, and like the most diligent security inspector, he waved it several times on every part of the maid's body.

The magicians present recognized at a glance that Master Nemisus was using magic props to record the human rhythm of the maid: even if they were not magicians, everyone would emit their own unique energy fluctuations, and by following these fluctuations, they could quickly find the objects that this person often touched -

——For example, the skirts that are often worn at work.

Nemisus stared at the metal stick in his hand for a while, then rushed out of the meeting room like a swarm of onions in dry land.

The head butler and two other butlers followed him out in a panic, fearing that the master, who was unfamiliar with the place, would get lost in the castle while looking for something.

The maid was still sobbing. Xiahou Yan folded his arms and looked at her coldly. Everyone else was silent. The temperature in the room was almost freezing.

About three minutes later, Master Naimisus ran back to the meeting room, panting.

In the master's hand, he held high a maid's long dress.

The long skirt was stained with blood.

Xiahou Yan looked at the maid beside him silently.

Archduke Rosario stepped forward, looked directly into the maid's eyes, and asked softly:

"Child, tell me the truth... Did you kill the Baron? Did you change into a summer skirt to hide the blood after you killed him with the sword?"

The maid continued to sob silently.

Everyone could almost feel the thunder beneath Grand Duke Rosario's calm words: this maid was from the Eastern Army, which meant that if Baron Misty Ridge was really killed by this maid, no matter what the reason, Grand Duke Rosario, as the head of the Eastern Army, must be responsible for the Baron's death to some extent.

Master Nemisus was obviously in no mood to wait for the maid to confess. He put on a pair of white gloves, pinched the blade with his fingers, carefully pulled the sword that stabbed the baron to death from the body, and then took out a piece of enchanted parchment and wrapped it around the hilt.

Soon, clear fingerprints left by the sword holder appeared on the parchment.

Marquis Liam took another piece of parchment from the master, grabbed the maid's right hand roughly, and covered her hand with the parchment.

Then, everyone widened their eyes, stretched their necks, and carefully compared the fingerprints imprinted on the two pieces of parchment.

The result is self-evident: the patterns on the two pieces of parchment are exactly the same. This seemingly fragile maid once used her tender hands to tightly grasp the hilt of the sword of the Baron of Misty Ridge.

Then, after fleeing the scene, she had to change into this inappropriate short skirt in order to hide the blood stains on her long skirt.

Irrefutable evidence of murder.

"Hang her!" a noble shouted, and the maid broke down and cried.

"Little girl, look at me." Grand Duke Rosario took a deep breath, lowered his body, looked at the maid with tearful eyes and said in a deep voice, "Why did you do this? Did you know this Baron of Misty Ridge before? Did someone instruct you or bribe you to assassinate this Baron?"

"My lord..." The maid shook her head desperately, "I... I don't know..."

"Grimm Rosario! Why are you still talking to this murderous bitch? Do you know how serious a crime it is to murder an imperial noble?" Marquis Liam laughed sarcastically, "Just because she is from your Eastern Army, you think--"

"Shut up." Xiahou Yan said coldly.

Marquis Liam closed his mouth as if by reflex. But he immediately realized that being so cowardly was really beneath his dignity, so he glared back at the Duke of Frost Maple Ridge in a serious manner.

"This maid's mental state seems to be a little abnormal." Xiahou Yan had already noticed something was wrong and reminded her in a deep voice, "Master Nemisus, is your 'Gleos Identification Eye' still usable? Can you help us check if there is anything abnormal about this lady?"

"As you wish." Master Nemisus was worried that he couldn't show his skills, so he nodded proudly, took out the "Eye of Gleos Identification" used to detect magic, and threw it over the maid's head.

Then, the master's expression changed constantly with the brilliance of the "Eye of Gleos' Appraisal": first he was complacent, then he was stunned and speechless, and finally, Master Nemisus looked around in amazement.

"Is there any problem?" Xiahou Yan asked.

"The problem... is too big." The master lifted his sleeves and wiped the cold sweat off his face.