Enlightened Empire

Chapter 430: Informant

He hasn't shown up for months, and now he won't leave me alone.

Only a day after Killari had taken time out of his busy day to get his hapless old friend Alcer acquainted with an unreliable blacksmith, they were already meeting up again. Of course, the former ensign was the one paying, which was the only reason Killari was here in the first place. Or rather, he still wouldn't have come, hadn't he been invited to this place specifically.

"You know, it took a lot to get us a seat here. This 'Gilded Pheasant' is the most popular restaurant in the entire city right now. I heard that their head chef has studied under Master Chuku of Rapra Castle until very recently. You know what that means, right? Today, we'll be eating the same meals the king might get to enjoy on a regular basis."

"Hmm..." Despite Alcer's enthusiasm, Killari just hummed in response. Not that he was ungrateful for the opportunity to eat here. He could certainly show off with this meal back at the station. However, his mind was fully occupied trying to comprehend the thing they called a 'menu' here.

On a large, sturdy piece of paper, he could read up on all the dishes served at the restaurant. It was a vast array of foods unseen in any other places he'd ever been in. His usual eateries would often serve only one or two dishes a day.

They would just pick whatever was cheap from the market and then make that as appetizing as possible. Then again, he had never been in a fancy place like this, where he could eat items from faraway places like Porcero. This restaurant wasn't only far above Killari's pay grade, it was also too far outside of his comfort zone.

In here, you couldn't even eat without knowing how to read, hence the menus. Although he had gone through a basic language course to prepare for his work with the police, he was struggling considerably with all the long, unknown terms for fancy foods from far-off lands. However, it seemed like his host had misunderstood Killari's silent concentration.

"So where exactly did I offend you? Do you have any idea how expensive these seats were? What exactly are you dissatisfied with?"

Of course, Killari knew that Alcer had told the truth. Just to get a table like this, on such short notice, he must have bribed a bunch of people, not to mention the eye-watering cost of the meal itself. Together with the crazy money he had wasted in pursuit of his business dream, most of the funds he had gained from playing hero in the army must have been used up by now.

Thus, Killari certainly was grateful. He had just been too focused on reading to show it. Though of course, he would never admit to his poor reading skills. Why would he embarrass himself like that in front of the show-off Alcer? So instead of gratitude, he said what had been bothering him since this morning.

"It's nothing, just don't pretend like you're doing me a favor when I was the one who was left with all the difficult work. Again."

Earlier this morning, while Alcer was presumably running around to chase his dreams, he had sent his old subordinate Kichka to the police station to ask for help again. Though this time, it had gone a bit farther than a simple introduction.

"So you got what I asked for." An overexcited Alcer threw his menu to the side and stared at Killari with that annoying look of his.

Like an excited dog, naive and stupid, Killari thought as he pulled a small pile of paper from his chest pocket. He sloppily unfolded the sloppily folded paper, before he threw it onto the table between the two.

"Yupp, I got what you wanted," he finally concluded. Of course, such a simple conclusion brushed over all the hurdles he had to jump just to get these papers copied and out of the police station.

When Alcer wanted to pick up the documents, Killari's outstretched hand nailed the paper to the table. With stern eyes, he stared at his leichtsinnige friend, before he asked in an equally stern voice: "You know that this could cost me my job, right?"

"Yeah, I got it-" Alcer began and tried to pull out the papers again, but Killari immediately interrupted him.

"No, I mean it," he stressed again. "I can't reveal anything about an ongoing investigation. In the police force, that's grounds for dismissal. That means if this comes out, my job will be on the line."

Of course, this was an exaggeration. While a single one of the documents was still part of an open investigation, it was more of a nuisance case. As in, a nuisance to handle, and of no consequence if no one bothered with it. Now that the papers were out already, no one in the force would fire him over copying some information like that. At most, he would get told off by his superior.

However, Alcer didn't need to know that much. All this light-headed fool needed to know was that his actions had consequences, not only for himself, but also for others. At least that much, Alcer seemed to have understood, because he finally let go of the documents.

"Yes. I get it. I apologize," the hero said, before he bowed his proud head. "Thank you for your help. These are special circumstances, so it won't happen a second time."

At least that much, Killari could agree with. This guy wouldn't start a new career every week, would he? Once he got his new bayonet business going, he'd stay quiet for a while, and Killari would earn himself some peace and quiet.

Thus, the policeman finally let go of the paper. However, he would much rather explain the contents himself. Otherwise, this overly optimistic hero would come to entirely wrong conclusions, as usual.

"Those special circumstances are the only reason I'm helping. Wouldn't want your life in the hands of a thief and scammer," he thus said.

"So he did do it?" As expected, Alcer just picked up the conversation, rather the papers. Meanwhile, Killari leaned back and stared back and forth between his friend and the documents, before he explained.

"Yeah, looks like it. I looked into this Kyunya guy for you. As I said, there's an ongoing investigation, but there's also a few closed ones. His own statement seems about right, from what I could tell. He was also the one who told on his master about the pamphlets from the priests."

"But?" At least this much, Alcer seemed to understand. There were always two sides to every story. That was something Killari had learned in his years with the force.

"But, he only did it after the lightning miracle," he continued. "There's no way to know if he was really opposed to the business with the priests in the first place, or if he just got cold feet later when he knew that they would be exposed eventually. It's also suspicious that he went by himself, without his master. Almost looks like he wanted to get rid of him, since their relationship isn't very good. When that no longer looked to be in the cards, this Kyunya suddenly worked very hard to keep both himself, and coincidentally his master, out of the labor camps, and to keep his master's manufactory running. As for his claims that he wanted to join the army later? There's zero evidence of that, though the army's records are classified, and they won't record some kid's failed enlistment in the first place. So still lots of unclear things about this Kyunya, though there's one thing I can say for sure: Most of his claims about selfless, heroic deeds he's supposedly done can't be confirmed, while most of the bad stuff he's done is true."

As he spoke, he could see Alcer's brows furrow further and further. He knew his stupid friend well. This guy would rarely change his mind once he had formed an opinion on something, no matter how stupid it was. In this case, it seemed like this Kyunya had been quite convincing during their first meeting. Although it was a pain, he would have to rectify this, since Alcer's meeting with the papermaking apprentice had sort of been Killari's fault in the first place.

"Like what?" Alcer finally asked in a suspicious tone.

"Like the stuff about stealing from his old master. All true, and it wasn't just 'some minor things', like he claimed. I mean, he wasn't technically lying, but it's hardly the truth either."

This time, Alcer's frown had turned into a confused stare.

Slow as always, Killari thought, before he suppressed an annoyed sigh and tried to make things as easy as possible for his simple friend.

"He never did tell you what exactly he was accused of stealing, did he?"

"What did he steal?" Alcer asked in response.

As Killari made a grimmer face, the hero also began to speak in a lower tone, and acted more serious in resposne. As always, he was too empathetic for his own good.

That's why you need me to back you up, Killari thought, as always.

"He was taking frames for trapping and pressing wood pulp?" he finally said, with some level of uncertainty. "Something like that. I don't really understand the details of it, but I don't have to. In the first place, the main reason I don't know in detail is that the materials he took are, apparently, of 'protected status'. That means someone among the king's ghost warriors is interested in them. Since they're materials from a manufactory, they're probably a secret item, needed for some kind of new production method. You know, the ones that make our city so much money these days. It's like your new friend said: These things really weren't worth much coin — just being some pieces of wood and all — but they would have been worth a mountain of silver to the right buyer from the north."

Of course, much of that was a gross exaggeration. These plates were no longer protected status, and hadn't been when Kyunya had been accused of stealing them. If the ghosts had still been interested in these frames, Killari would have never gotten his hands on this information in the first place.

Though from what he could tell, they had only been removed from protected status very recently, so this it didn't change his assessment of this Kyunya in the slightest. However, even with such a clear warning, Killari's naive friend still wasn't convinced.

"And you really believe he'd do that?" Alcer asked in the voice of a toddler who couldn't understand why the sun couldn't stay up longer to extend his playtime. "He didn't seem like that kind of guy, and he was working against the north before. He exposed his master's work with the northern priests, and he even wanted to enlist, remember?"

Again with this nonsense.

Rather than refute these bogus claims for a second time, Killari decided to make things simple for his friend.

"I don't know what I believe," he said. "But people do a lot of things you wouldn't expect once money is involved. If you ask me, this whole situation just seems like a case of power politics. The disciple wanted to steal protected materials, and then pin the theft on his master. That way, the greedy, selfish master is gone, and he can legally take over the business. But the master found out early and managed a reversal by framing his disciple first."

"That sounds far-fetched," Alcer doubted.

"So does your one-sided story of a hard-working good guy and his mean, mean master."

Finally, Killari's words made Alcer hesitate.

"You really wanna hear my professional opinion?" the policeman continued. "I don't trust either of them. It's too risky. I think it's best to just stay out of this, and do your own thing, rather than risk getting scammed by a potential criminal."

Of course, Killari had exaggerated quite a few things again. There really wasn't any evidence for any of his own claims about Kyunya, and Alcer's interpretation of events was as valid as his own.

However, he didn't want to see his friend get hurt over someone else's revenge. His friend, as always, was too nice for his own good. In the war, Alcer had always fought for others. But here in Saniya, that sort of naivete would get him robbed, or killed. In the face of such possibilities, a small lie wasn't a big deal, Killari thought.

"Well, I'll think about it again," Alcer finally said.

Though he still acted stubborn, he was visibly deflated, so Killari was confident that his friend had seen reason at last. Satisfied with his work for the day, he finally picked up his menu and tried his luck with the difficult words again.

"In that case, let's order something," he said. "I'm starving."