I'm not that kind of orc

"I'm also very worried. My father agreed to this matter very reluctantly at the time. Part of it was because of my lord's autonomy, and the other part was because of my constant pleading. He was not worried that I would use the orcs What to do, but he has been worried that the orc tribe will get rid of control and it will be bad for me. If there is a serious conflict between the orcs and the people, he will immediately intervene. If the king capital sends troops, I will not be able to protect them. "

Arsena said as if she was having a headache and shook her head, "And people from the chamber of commerce have also reported to me that after they accepted my commission to allocate supplies to the residence, some members' traveling merchants went to nearby villages I was driven out by the villagers when I was doing business. If the local villagers continue to vent their anger and attack the caravan transporting supplies, it will be difficult to control the conflict.”

"The most critical issue is still the disappearance case, Alsena, I think this matter can no longer be delayed." I said solemnly.

Arsena sighed after hearing this: "Mr. Bullock, when I said in the morning that I couldn't figure out the clues of the case, I didn't just mean that there were no clues."

"What do you mean?" I was confused.

"Ordinary cases, we usually hand over to the town and the sheriff and his guards for investigation and handling. In remote villages, the militia team formed locally to maintain law and order will participate. But this serial disappearance case is very difficult. At that time When it happened near the capital, when the sheriff sent people to investigate, even the guards who went to investigate the case disappeared a lot. This is not a gaffe that they can solve. In the end, Mr. Wikas' Knights had to intervene .” Arsena explained with a dignified expression.

Indeed, I heard from the villagers that even the militiamen who were investigating disappeared—this is probably one of the reasons why they cast their suspicion on the orcs. If it weren't for an organized crime with considerable strength and scale, it would be impossible to do this kind of crime. degree.

"Sounds really weird." Feilan rubbed her arms, as if she was a little apprehensive about the topic, "In that case, let's get those knights involved, isn't this the case they're in charge of?"

Arsena sighed: "There are very few knights stationed in my territory, and basically they all have their own tasks. Although Mr. Wikas is my close minister arranged by my father, all the members of his knights also respect me. He has pledged his allegiance. However, he is still directly under his father's responsibilities in terms of duties. The main area of ​​responsibility of the Knights is still in the Royal Capital area. There are many procedures to apply for their transfer here, and they usually have Lots of tasks. I sent out the contact last night, but it will take at least five days for them to transfer."

I couldn't help frowning.

Five days, this time is a bit too long, and we don't know how long it will take for the incident to come to light. During this period, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no new conflicts between the orc tribe and the local people.

"In that case..." At this moment, Princess Alisa raised her hand and said, "Why don't we help investigate this matter?"

Start being a detective today (2)

We're here to investigate the case - I'm slightly taken aback by Princess Alisa's proposal.

But what she said is indeed reasonable. Although I don't think anyone present has the experience of investigating this kind of incident, since it is urgent to find out this matter right now, it should be taken for granted that we should do what we can.

But Arsena objected immediately, and she lowered her brows uncharacteristically: "No, this matter is too dangerous. As I said earlier, even the guards and militiamen who went to investigate disappeared. This is not ordinary. You are my guests, since you have come to my territory, I have the responsibility to ensure your safety, and I will never give in on this point!"

Even the guards who specialize in the investigation will disappear, so that the elite knights have to be dispatched, which means that this case is indeed accompanied by certain risks.

"It is also my responsibility to coordinate the orc tribe and the local people. At least let me see what I can do." I put on a firm look and tried to persuade her.

As a result, Arsena nodded suddenly when she saw my expression: "Okay, no problem! I will support whatever Mr. Bullock wants!"

"Hey, didn't you say that you will never give in? Muscular girl, don't you have no position at all?" Feilan who was not far away complained about her speechlessly.

"Ah!" Arsena seemed to have finally come to her senses, scratching her head in embarrassment, "I can't refuse Mr. Bullock's request at all."

"Then if that's the case, I want to participate." Princess Alisa said with a smile, "I just came here to help Brock."

"Then I want to help too." Angelica also raised her hand with a look of disapproval, "Since Brock can, there is no reason to just forbid us to intervene."

"This, this..." Arsena was rendered speechless.

"Tch, really...you really like jumping into such troublesome things by yourself..." Feilan frowned and played with her long hair.

"Then the three of us are fine." I looked at Alsena, "At least let us understand the situation of the incident first—"

At this time, Feilan suddenly became anxious: "Hey, you! I didn't say not to participate!"

"But you didn't look completely reluctant just now, didn't you?" I glanced at her in surprise.

"You! I—" Feilan was so choked by me that she couldn't complete her words, she just stared angrily.

"Mr. Bullock, you are here again!" Arsena looked at me with a bit of helplessness.

Um?This scene always feels familiar.

"Let me tell you, Feilan is actually—"

Arsena tried to explain something to me, but Feilan on the other side immediately glared at her and screamed, "Shut up!"

"Miss Feilan, you are too. Wouldn't it be nice to be frank? There is a very famous proverb popular in our country. I think you absolutely need to listen to it carefully." Arsena said this with a sincere face. .

"What proverb?" Feilan frowned slightly.

"Pride ruins life."

"I'm Tsundere, you big-headed ghost!" Feilan almost threw the saucer at Arsena.

In the end we all decided to try to understand the details of the case first.

About 10 minutes later, Arsena led us to her study.

I sat on the padded bench, and Arsena rummaged through the pile of documents for a long time, and finally pulled out a scroll and put it on the coffee table.

"Oh, I haven't sorted it out for a long time. It took me a long time to find the things I put away yesterday." Arsena, who had finished fighting with the pile of documents, let out a long breath and wiped her forehead. "After receiving the report of the disappearance, I will let Dai Na contacted the members of the Knights who were in charge of the investigation in Wangdu, and compiled a case file. It seems to be this, open it and have a look.”

"Is it necessary to squeeze together to watch..." I felt a little uncomfortable sitting on the cushioned bench.

Princess Alisa leaned over from the right, and Angelica, who had returned to her normal figure on the left, leaned over and squeezed in front of me with her petite figure.

Then, across from her, Feilan knelt on one leg on the bench to prop herself up, put her elbow on my shoulder to maintain balance, and patted my head casually: "Stop talking nonsense, who let the file There is only one copy, open it quickly and have a look!"

I rolled away the scroll, just opened it a bit, and a long title written on the front of the scroll came into our field of vision first: The Empire Conquered by Orcs ~ The Imprisoned Human Princess and the Endless Lingering of the Female Knight...

Before we even finished reading the title, Althena reached out and snatched the scroll with lightning speed, then turned around and threw it towards the fireplace.

The scroll was ignited in the orange flame, and quickly turned into ashes, leaving no evidence left.

"..."

"..."

The place fell into a dead silence.

Then Arsena turned her face away slowly, and laughed dryly: "Ahahaha, I'm sorry, sorry, I seem to have taken the wrong document by accident!"

——His face was covered with cold sweat.

No, obviously something strange got mixed into your work files!

"Hey, what was that title just now?" Feilan raised her eyebrows at her.

"It always feels... weird when I read it?" Angelica also tilted her head in doubt.

"I seem to have read a similar title somewhere, where is it?" Princess Alisa nodded her chin, trying to recall.

"No, no, this, this is just..." Arsena wandered around, and finally thought of an excuse, "It's just a confidential document! Yes, it's just a confidential document that I forgot to dispose of! It can't be known by outsiders, I hope Let's all cooperate and forget about it right away?"

"Oh, that's it, okay." Feilan didn't seem to think much about it at all, and waved her hand, "Then don't waste time, quickly get out the real case file."

"Okay, okay." Arsena turned around with a forced smile, and mechanically walked towards the pile of documents again.

I, who had been silent all this time, couldn't hold back any longer, and said to Arsena's back: "...do humans have such creations? Huh?"

Arsena immediately shuddered and stopped.

"I... I was just, just curious for a while... I couldn't hold back and bought a roll to read..." With her back to me, she rubbed her hands and explained in a whisper.

Although I couldn't see her face because my back was turned to this side, I could still notice that the base of her ears was burning red.

"What charades are you playing?" Feilan on the side seemed to have a series of question marks on her head.

"Nothing." I rolled my eyes and couldn't help snorting, "Tell me about the 'secret documents' that both elves and humans have."

Humans and orcs have a certain trade relationship, so there is no large-scale prejudice against us like elves.

But it turns out that the interest in this aspect in private...is a virtue at all!

Start being a detective today (3)

Arsena took out another scroll, and this time she opened it cautiously, glanced at it for confirmation before handing it over.

"Shouldn't it be a 'confidential document' this time?" I teased as I took it.

"Aha..." Arsena looked away awkwardly when I said it.

I unfolded the case file and looked it over carefully, and the other three squeezed over again.

Arsena, who was standing across from us, coughed dryly, straightened her face and began to explain to us: "This case file not only sorts out the recent disappearance cases that occurred in this territory, but also integrates the cases that happened in the capital a while ago. Disappearance cases. Within two months, 35 cases were collected and reported, and the number of missing people reached 42. This scale cannot be attributed to individuals, and we preliminarily determined that they were committed by the same group of criminal groups.”

"Before you said that there are various reasons for disappearances. Every year, there should be more or less missing people in various regions. Are you sure this file does not include other disappearance cases?" I asked casually.

With so many missing reports, if more than one unrelated case gets mixed in, it will definitely affect the investigation.

"It is true that there are many reasons for disappearances, such as accidents, killings, or sneaking out of the place of residence for some reason... But most of these are traceable, and the reports we have included have been screened to exclude these other possibilities Sex." Arsena explained, "Because these cases that have been grouped together have some common and unusual features."

"An unusual place?"

"The first is the location of the crime. After Mr. Wikas' Knights intervened, they asked the Werewolf members to start from the place where the missing persons were last seen, trace the smell to the place where the smell was broken, and deduce the victim from this The place where the accident occurred." Arsena leaned over and pointed to several places on the case file, "It can be seen that these disappearance cases are different from other disappearance cases, most of them did not happen in the wild, but in towns and villages , usually in dark alleys or inaccessible places. Even if it happens in the wild, it also happens in small woods near the village, farmland and other places. In this case, the possibility of accidents is very low, but with other Compared with the cases of missing persons caused by human beings, it is very unusual."

I understood what she meant.

The victims in these cases disappeared in relatively safe places. The possibility of encountering disasters, getting lost, and wild animal attacks in settlements such as towns and villages is not high, and the smell will be eliminated. Explain that these cases are man-made.

But it is very abnormal to attack in such a densely populated place. Towns and villages have certain security forces, and the risk of being discovered and captured in these places is too high.

"From the consistency of the crime locations, it can be seen that the criminal deliberately aimed at this kind of place. Based on the clues we have so far, we have deduced two reasons..." Arsena raised two fingers and talked eloquently.

At this time, I finally couldn't help raising my hand: "Wait a minute, can I ask a question first?"

Arsena nodded very understandingly: "Mr. Bullock, please speak."

"Well, I said, why are you holding a pipe in your hand?" I pointed to one of her hands.

The girl just got more and more excited as she talked, and then she took out a pipe from somewhere and held it in her hand, without lighting it, she just kept holding it, making people look a little confused.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm so happy." Arsena smiled, "The protagonists in the popular detective novels in Wangdu are all images with pipes, I think this is more atmospheric."

"Okay, sorry to interrupt you, please continue." I sighed.

"Okay!" Arsena posed more vigorously with the pipe, "First of all, the first reason is that this criminal group has the strength and confidence to fight against ordinary law and order forces. I have already told everyone, In the case that happened in the capital area, some of the guards who went to investigate also disappeared, and finally the Knights had to come forward."

Yes, the same thing happened with the disappearance case here.

Those villagers would suspect the orcs mainly because the militiamen who went to find the victims disappeared, and ordinary thieves couldn't do it.And the orc tribe who lived in this area in the form of a garrison corps was indeed capable of resisting and even easily crushing the security forces in ordinary areas.

The gang behind this spate of crimes is no ordinary fellow.

"Then there is the second reason, which is their criminal motive." Arsena continued to explain, "Although we still don't know whether those missing people were kidnapped, controlled or killed, one thing is obvious , The purpose of the criminals doing these things is not to rob money and ask for ransom. They have never contacted relatives through missing people, and Hergia is a country with developed commerce and trade. If they have the strength to fight against the security forces, they are only for money Robbing caravans in the wild is the most efficient method. We speculate that the targets of these criminals are simply 'people', so they will deliberately target relatively densely populated places."

"Hey, shouldn't it be a slave trader?" Feilan looked at Alsena, "When I was a child, I often heard adults say that there are dangerous slave traders among humans who would abduct and kidnap children, so let's not just go out of the forest .”

Angelica looked at her speechlessly, and Arsena also smiled wryly: "Miss Feilan, the slavery system was completely abolished 500 years ago, and now the common laws of the Confederacy stipulate that human trafficking must be tortured." Felony. Slave traders... I don’t dare to say that there are absolutely no more, but there are definitely very, very few.”

"Since it cannot be said that the assertion is absolutely gone, isn't it still possible?" Feilan pouted dissatisfiedly after being refuted.

"No, we have ruled out the possibility of human trafficking in this large-scale disappearance of people." Arsena said firmly.