Location- Central Region, Central Capital, Unknown, Field Marshal's Office
"A powder which can help mortals cultivate active soul control percentage, don't tell me you believe something like that is possible. Even if it is, I am sure that a teenager would be the last one to discover it," demigod Baylor said, hearing his mentor claim that a few among them, the higher-ups, believed that the silver milk powder might not be a fraud that the media outlets claimed it to be.
"Here's the deal, if somewhere down in the southern region is a way to help mortals stimulate their active soul control before contracting a grimoire then the government would like to be the one to regulate it. The allure of something with such capabilities is not easy to ignore…
The uncertainty of this case and your personal interest in it is the reason why you are getting the opportunity to lead it. Otherwise, It would not land on your lap but someone with more seniority," Henricks's explanation did not really explain why the government was willing to spare resources for something like this. It only made it more apparent that he would rather not go into details about it.
"Could you be any less clearer? Sigh, please, just be honest with me," demigod Baylor said in frustration. He did not care what the government was up to, but he did not like the fact that the government had taken interest in Ellen's son's fraud case. First the soldier queen Colleen had suspiciously turned hostile toward him when he said he was going to adopt Ellen's son and now the government was asking him to run a covert mission to check if there was more to the silver milk powder fraud case. So he could not help but worry that there was more to it than he was being let on.
"Kid, even if your title has changed to General you are still a soldier. Do you want me to teach you that soldiers don't get to question their orders?"
"You don't have to remind me that but I thought you called me here as your disciple and not your subordinate," demigod Baylor glanced into his mentor's eyes and asked.
"Why are you being stubborn about this?" Henricks warned his disciple to not dig further.
"You know exactly why," demigod Baylor did not show signs of backing down with his mentor's warning.
"Boy, that girl really did a number on you. Your wife is a saint to tolerate your whims," Henricks scoffed, knowing exactly why his disciple was being so stubborn.
"No, she was the best thing that ever happened to me. And yes, I have a good wife," demigod Baylor said defending both the women in his heart and life.
"Sigh, I take it you have already arranged your subordinates to gather the researchers who had claimed that the silver milk powder is a fake?" Henricks seems to have finally given up and decided to lay it all out for his disciple.
"Yes, I did," demigod Baylor answered seriously seeing his mentor cave.
"Well, you can call them off. They will not find or will be able to reach those researchers," Henricks spoke mysteriously.
Hearing his mentor demigod Baylor frowned his brows pensively and said, "Is it because the government has already detained those researchers?"
"Most of them have been detained, as for the remaining, they, themselves, are formidable or have strong backgrounds. Since the government can't reach them, your people certainly cannot," Henricks said as he filled his emptied glass with rum to the brim.
"I thought we were the government," demigod Baylor said feeling tense, according to his mentor the case involving Ellen's son was not as simple as it seemed on the surface.
"Don't kid yourself, I as a field marshal don't dare to say I am the government, let alone a mere general such as yourself. Remember we are military and we work for the government," Henricks schooled his disciple.
Demigod Baylor shook his head, seeming to not agree with his mentor, and said, "What's the point of detaining the researchers? Didn't they claim that the silver milk powder was a fraud? Am I missing something here?"
"Let me ask a question, what will you do to a patent when you know that the product granted with the patent is a fraud?" Henricks's voice grew serious as he asked his disciple this.
"I will revoke it," demigod Baylor answered without thinking.
"Right, but the southern royal family did not do that, instead they left it alone saying an investigation is still underway. Why would the southern royal family do that?" Henricks's eyes grew sharp as he spoke the last few words.
"That is it?" demigod Baylor, who was seriously listening to what his mentor had to say, had a complicated expression on his face right now and thought maybe it was time his mentor retired as he sounded exactly like his uncle who was a conspiracy enthusiast.
"There is more, the patent office which granted the silver milk powder its patent has been closed down, and its staff have been detained by the southern royal family for investigation," Henricks could feel that his disciple was looking at him with a weird sympathy however he decided to ignore that look but what Baylor said next made him hard to ignore it, "Field Marshal, I think you should take up a hobby. It will keep you busy."
"Kid, I am being serious. These small things individually don't make sense but once you put them together with what the researchers found with regards to the silver milk powder you will start to notice that the southern royal family's recent actions are very suspicious," Henricks tone turned solemn when he said this.
"So, it all comes back to the researchers detained by the government. Just tell me what did the researchers find, to make the government interested in a small fraud case," demigod Baylor said, feeling his mentor was not a good storyteller as he was at the end of his patients listening to the field marshal.
"The researchers claimed that the effects of silver milk powder described in the paper submitted by the boy to apply for the patent were possible if the ingredient named silver milk mentioned in the recipe of the silver milk powder existed…"