Elmsworth had given all the responsibility and authority for this crackdown operation to his son. He would just observe, and only if he felt the need, would he take action. Gravil and Lucien were commanded to work under Lorian's instruction.
Lorian earlier had jotted down twelve different places where the conspirators were using as a warehouse, safe house, or secret meeting place. And Lorian had decided to raid each and every place simultaneously, at the same time.
After his conversation with his father in the morning, Lorian had realized that it would be near impossible and futile to contact the conspirators for cooperation, let alone round them up and put them on trial. There had to be some solid event to shake them first before trying to capture them. After all, to uproot a big tree, you first need to shake it hard to loosen its roots.
So, he had decided to create a spectacle for the whole city to know that there was going to be a major shakedown.
He ordered 24 guards to station at the 12 spots- two guards each at every spot. They were to just keep an eye on the location and only take action if there was any suspicious movement. He had a hunch at least one of them would show activity after last night's events.
And it happened as he had suspected.
In the dockside warehouse, at the dead of night, there was sudden, unnatural activity. A bunch of people gathered. One person stayed as a lookout guard while the rest entered. The two guards stationed nearby became alert. After all, the dock area was silent at the dead of night, barring a few taverns and inns where drunk sailors would make ruckus. Warehouses would open early in the morning and close before evening.
One guard stayed there to keep a close eye, while the other ran to the station to inform them of the new update and ask for reinforcements.
As the City Guards were already prepared for any such incident, they were able to respond quickly. The City Guards quickly encircled the whole warehouse and seized the one who was stationed outside to keep watch. He was apprehended before he could ring an alarm.
The City Guards flooded the warehouse and arrested everyone inside. There were sixteen people in total. All were arrested. The City Guards thoroughly combed the entire warehouse and captured a huge consignment of arms of exquisite quality. There were some exotic weapons as well.
As Lorian had instructed before, the whole raid operation was done with enough noise to make people around realize something was happening. When the City Guards who had entered inside came out along with the sixteen culprits, a small mob had gathered, despite it being the dead of night, most probably attracted by the noises.
The Harbormaster was summoned in front of everyone and was reprimanded for his failure to track this arms-smuggling. The mobs witnessed all, and tomorrow the news would spread like wildfire throughout Veridia. The City Guards emptied the warehouse and transported all the seized goods to the Palace.
Elmsworth, Gravil, Lucien, and all other officials were surprised and shaken by the quality and quantity of smuggled arms seized from a single spot.
The next day, as the sun rose, news of the night raid spread like wildfire to every corner of the city. The people were horrified by the update.
However, they were supposed to get more shocks before the end of the day.
Lucien activated the entire City Guards and Throne Guards to raid all the eleven remaining spots, simultaneously.
Six were found to be duds, empty, or showed no suspicious activities.
But five raids were successful, with a huge amount of goods, arms, and money confiscated. The entire Veridia was abuzz with news of such a large-scale operation and its results. No one could imagine that in the heart of Veridia, so much weaponry and money could be hidden—enough to topple the Government of Veridia itself.
However, the most shocking event would be the raid on Baron Bistro's Villa.
The Baron was not just any bigshot of Veridia. He hailed from one of the oldest and most influential families of Veridia. It was not easy to enter his property with troops, let alone for a raid. That was why Lucien insisted Lorian lead the whole operation. Lorian did not reject the proposal either.
Baron Bistro at first got agitated seeing all the Throne Guards knocking at his door. He wanted to remove them, but seeing not only the General of the Throne Guards, Lucien, but also the Prince, Lorian, at the gate, he begrudgingly had to accept their entry.
Lorian ordered the guards to very carefully search the whole mansion, so that not to damage any property by mistake or create unnecessary disturbance to anyone in the household. The Guards followed his orders to the letter, making the whole raid drag unusually longer.
However, this move by Lorian was not just to appease Bistro or stop him from creating any objection to the operation. The delay was to thoroughly check the household to find any clue.
Surprisingly, nothing suspicious was found. However, he had a strong hunch that there must be something wrong at this site. Which is why he pressed on conducting the search. Common men had gathered outside. They were eager to know what was happening, and what the outcome was going to be. If the raid happened to be a failure, it could harm Lorian's prestige, and the Bistro Family might use it as an issue later.
Lorian felt desperate. In his past life, he was a fan of detective series, and he tried to use all he had learned in those in his past life to find any clue, but to no avail. He couldn't just dig into the ground of his garden on a hunch and end up making a fool of himself. He felt very helpless.
He looked at the balcony where the Bistro Household were standing and observing the whole operation with amusement. Witnessing Lorian's frustrated looks, they felt amused. Some even started to giggle.
Lucien walked behind and whispered to Lorian to stop the operation and return, "Dragging it further would just increase the humiliation, My Prince."
But, unbeknownst to him, Lorian still had one ace in his sleeve.