51 Henry Street, Gard Herbal Shop.
Just as Odis had predicted, Max came early in the morning to confront him: "I just reminded you a few days ago to behave yourself, but last night you actually went to King's Road and set fire to something..."
Max, afraid his voice was too loud and others would hear, looked out the window into the courtyard to make sure no one was outside before lowering his voice and saying, "Do you know that place is only a few kilometers from Sodrak Palace? And they killed someone in front of so many people!"
He sighed and added, "Captain Iconsel is very angry about this, and Archbishop Horamik Hayden is also disappointed..."
Odis sat down in the chair, first filling his pipe with tobacco, then taking out two large packs of cigarettes from the drawer: "Your favorite Mustang brand cigarettes, these two packs will last you a month."
"Don't interrupt!" Max's swearing was cut off, and he finally sighed and said, "You must report this kind of thing."
"If you've reported it, are you willing to let me do it freely?" Odis looked at Max and said, "When the 3N Party was harming innocent people in Backlund and dealing with those dirty deeds for the nobles, why didn't you get so angry?"
Max sat down opposite Odis with a hint of helplessness: "Actually, everyone is very supportive of your actions last night, but of course, such words cannot come from the mouth of an official extraordinary being."
"That's good. You could have just said those things in front of outsiders," Odis said. "There's no need for us to get so angry now that it's just the two of us."
Max chuckled: "You must have thought that 'Mechanical Heart' would help you keep it a secret, which is why you took such a bold step, right?"
Before Odis could answer, Max said seriously, "You must report this in the future. If Archbishop Horamik has a problem with you, your situation will change."
"Besides, this is too dangerous! You're only a Sequence 8!"
"I know." Odis knew that Max was indeed worried about his safety, so she said seriously, "I'm not some kind of 'guardian of justice.' I only do this kind of public service occasionally."
Max smiled and said, "Public welfare undertakings, those descriptions are quite apt."
He reached out and took the two large packs of cigarettes that Odis had bought for him: "I won't take your cigarettes for nothing."
As he spoke, he took out a thin folder from his bag: "To avoid attracting attention, I only found this basic information."
Odis opened the file and glanced at it; it was the MI9 member he had previously asked Max to investigate.
When Odis was negotiating with Danesi, she noticed that one of Danesi's subordinates looked at Odis with a strange gaze, which seemed to be filled with anger and hatred.
Although Odis didn't know him, she felt more at ease after investigating his background.
Odis saw that the MI9 member was named Corremond Donahue, the son of Count Donahue, or more precisely, the Count's illegitimate son.
Many nobles' illegitimate sons served in MI9 and the Eastern Byron Army, and many "second sons" served as officers in them.
Relatively speaking, these departments are more demanding and dangerous, and nobles rarely arrange for their heirs to work or gain experience in these places. They prefer to place their heirs in the Ministry of Defense.
Audrey's brother Alfred is a good example. According to convention, the title of Earl of Hall would be inherited by his eldest son, Hilbert. So, in order to avoid suspicion and show that he had no interest in the title and the family property, Alfred went to serve in the Southern Continent.
Alfred's actions were supported by his father and brother. Leveraging Earl Hall's influence, he had already made considerable progress within the Eastern Byron Army, the largest colonial army in the Kingdom of Rune.
The so-called "second son" does not necessarily refer to the second son of a nobleman, but rather to a son who has no legal right of inheritance.
Some of the more outstanding illegitimate sons among the nobility could also receive similar treatment to Alfred.
Claymond is one such case. His father arranged for him to work for MI9, and he is currently one of the action team leaders in the Action Section, leading three action squads.
Odis went through the information Max had provided before saying, "I have never offended this guy, nor his father."
Max had already opened a pack of cigarettes, took one out, and started smoking: "He also has a younger brother from the same parents."
Odis glanced at the file; Corremond's brother was named Belis Donahue: "I haven't offended his brother either."
"You didn't do anything wrong to his brother," Max laughed, "but you killed him!"
Odis thought for a moment and then realized: "Among the extraordinary beings protecting Capin, there is one named Belis?"
He thought about it and concluded that the only possible reason for killing Corraymond's brother was at that time.
Max took a drag of his cigarette, nodded, and then said, "I asked around about Bellis. Under Corraymond's care, he used to work as a field agent for MI9."
"Two years ago, he was fired due to a work mistake, and was later hired by Kapin to work as a bodyguard."
"It is worth noting that no one knows what mistake he made that led to his dismissal. It is said that Corremond did not plead for him, and this incident did not affect Corremond's career."
Odis closed the documents, lit the tobacco in his pipe, took a puff, and then laughed, "If we start from this direction, we're sure to find out a lot."
"However, Archbishop Horamik's instructions are not to conduct investigations proactively. So when the opportunity arises, I can only have Corraymond come to me to see if we can obtain further information."
If the other party is the captain of the action team and has three action squads under his command, he should be a Sequence 6. Odis believes that he should wait until he reaches Sequence 7 before making any moves.
Moreover, Odis didn't really want further investigation; with his "God's-eye view," he knew it was related to the royal family's ongoing actions...
Odis suddenly realized that he could use Corlemond to offend the royal family, then seek the protection of the Church of the God of Steam and Machines, and use that as a reason to leave Backlund.
However, this plan is very risky to carry out. If pushed too far, the royal family will really kill people to silence them, even if they are members of the church.
Moreover, if things go wrong and the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery ends up in the Republic of Intis, taking refuge at the church's headquarters, that would be quite a mess.
We need to plan this out carefully and find a suitable time to implement it.
Seeing that Odis remained silent, Max assumed he was pondering how to use Corraymond to obtain clues, so Max said, "This is dangerous, don't rush."
"I know." Odis took a puff of his pipe, a slight smile playing on his lips.
After seeing Max off, Odis took the manuscript of "The Combat Manual" out of the "wilderness of knowledge," glanced at it briefly, and began to ponder what channels to use for publication.
Odis decided that since he had written it, he would definitely publish it, and since it contained a summary of the battle with Chibman, the author's name had to be Lelouch.
This is the most difficult part. Right now, the "Substitute Punisher" is searching everywhere for Lelouch. Publishing a book in Lelouch's name at this time would be like walking into a trap.
After thinking for a long time, Odis decided to wait until the afternoon tarot session to ask the professional "Magician" Miss.
...
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
North District, Government Avenue.
Hugh Deercha has been given a new assignment: to investigate where her husband has kept his mistress, on behalf of an official's wife.
On Monday morning, Hugh took a public carriage to Government Avenue to begin his day of tracking and surveillance.
On the carriage, she heard the news published in the Daily Observer.
A middle-aged man holding a newspaper said, "These nobles are really going too far."
The man next to him chimed in, "Yes, I never expected there to be such a fighting arena in Backlund all this time."
Those who had read the newspaper began to discuss it animatedly: "There must be some ugly secrets that the nobles don't want people to know hidden there, and what's reported must only be a small part of it."
"Thanks to that person named Lelouch, we learned about these things."
"My neighbor has a very beautiful daughter, but she suddenly disappeared last year. It must have been done by those despicable nobles."
Why is it only the Daily Observer that has this kind of report?
"What else could it be? The other newspapers must have been bought off by that nobleman, those cowards."
"..."
Some people hadn't read the newspaper yet, so they asked, and Hugh roughly understood what was going on.
Last night, a man named Lelouch delivered evidence of Viscount Vader's son Bishop's crimes to major newspapers and the Backlund Police Department.
But in the end, only The Daily Observer published this evidence.
At first, Hugh didn't take it too seriously, because such reports couldn't possibly harm a nobleman.
Only after she started her work did she realize that today was different from the past.
Many government departments are located on Government Avenue, or rather, the original name of this avenue is no longer known, and people simply call it "Government Avenue".
Hugh noticed that the mail carriers seemed unusually busy today, delivering large sacks of mail to the city hall, police station, and other locations roughly every hour.
She didn't inquire, but from conversations between the postman and government officials, she learned that some of the letters were questioning the city hall about why there was a fighting arena in Backlund.
Some questioned the police station about why they hadn't investigated Bishop before, or warned them not to mistreat the hero after arresting Lelouch.
The letters that arrived in the morning were mostly telegrams questioning people, but by the afternoon they had become urgent. I believe that by tomorrow, even more regular mail will be arriving in droves.
It is said that the Parliament building has also received many letters suggesting further restrictions on the power of the nobility, and recommending the establishment of an investigation team to seriously investigate Viscount Veder, etc.
In addition, major newspapers also received many letters. The Daily Observer received many letters praising their truthful reporting, as well as many subscription orders.
Other newspapers, on the other hand, received numerous letters of criticism and notices of cancellation.
All of this surprised Hugh somewhat. The report seemed to have awakened something, prompting the public to spontaneously condemn the nobleman and the government's functional departments.
Hugh exclaimed: Backlund has changed, the people here have changed! First, heroes like "Robin Hood," "Chief," and Byron emerged, daring to punish Capin; then, a hero emerged who dared to expose the scandals of the nobility!