Chapter 72: 75. Distraction Part 2

The man with the red antlered lintrose mulls over his response for a couple seconds. His subordinate with the black antlered lintrose stands completely still. This is a somewhat normal response to have. In front of nobility, the safe protocol is to only speak when spoken to. They do not know what the consequences will be for disrespecting Quinn Tritol, even unintentionally.

He was once the bastard of the Tritol family, born to a mother with a highly diluted noble bloodline (almost a commoner herself in the eyes of the nobility). His brother, the current baron Liri Tritol, granted him status within the family after their father abdicated from his position.

Since he knows crystal magic as well, they believe that he may be even more valued by Liri than Deidri who has no crystal magic aptitude. The bonds between family members in the Baron’s family are never weak, no matter how inconsequential a member of the family may seem. The man with the red antlered lintrose answers.

"My lieutenant and I were talking to our subordinates, but none of them have any cases involving a man that matches the description of that old draconid. None of them even remember incidents involving him where he's the victim. He has been quiet in this city… However, one of them did recognize the man and woman standing next to that man and offering him support."

“Oh?”

“The two of them were once fined for blasphemy against Osva, the officer did recognize them. That was their only crime within the city. However, two people somewhat matching their description, their hair color and gender I mean, were seen and documented as attendants of a recent labor protest at an alchemical factory.”

“Isn’t that a somewhat loose association? Just their hair and gender match?” Quinn asks curiously, not yet turning his head to face the two of them.

“We were able to make note of them as persons of interest because they were speaking directly with the head of the union multiple times that day.”

“Does their clothing on that day at least match what they’re wearing today?”

“No, sir.” The captain is nervous. By making such weak associations to try and involve this man with the labor unrest in the city is telling Quinn that they have no information on the draconid man at all. All they can tell is that he is associated with heretics who have paid their fines.

The alchemical factory though…

"One of brother’s, huh… Still, a shame. I was hoping to have something more on him. What a fucking smug looking asshole…"

The crystal mage looks past the statue to where the draconid man is speaking to the crowd. He is giving another speech, loudly proclaiming solidarity with the downtrodden commoner humans as well as his own demihuman kin. Of course, to the nobility such “solidarity” would grow into economically coercive demands that would harm Tritol’s economy.

Now when a war needs to be funded, all strikes are seen as illegal and violent, an insult to the Baron, to the nobility itself. The crystal mage believes that this man is inciting the protest crowd to agitate their workplaces in an effort to destroy his brother’s efforts to revitalize the city.

The crystal mage is annoyed by the justifications given. Something about making their lives better, not letting greed force them apart, blah blah blah… If that old man is a member of the church of Panaphon and Savitarius, he’s nothing more than a religious extremist.

The mage notices that the old man is careful not to accidentally commit lése majéste, but his sermons all but name the Baron directly as the cause of today's commotion. It fills the crystal mage with rage. Even though there are statue march sympathizers within the man’s vicinity, he is being well protected by the protesters on his side. They cannot shout him down either.

There were half a dozen Osvan preachers not directly affiliated with the church who tried to have him arrested. However, the Captain standing next to the crystal mage forbade such a provocative action against the man, which would rile up his side more than needed. It was the smart action.

The preachers then tried to shout over him, but all they did was split their audiences among the six of them. They were nowhere near as eloquent as he was either, all they did was waste time and divide the statue march sympathizers. That man still needs to be dealt with today.

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"Do you think I can just go and kill that man right now? I should be capable of it, don't you think, Captain?"

"...Sir, I would recommend against taking such strong actions right now. Our theory is that a man as well known as him would become a very useful mole or informant for us in one of the slowly growing terrorist organizations within this city, the church of Panaphon and Savitarius. If we place some tracking magic on him, we can find places where the extremists meet and then–"

"Calm down, captain, I understand, I understand, it was only a joke." The crystal mage chuckled a bit while waving his hand in dismissal.

"...Yes, sir."

"I'm sorry for interrupting you. Tell me, can I just go and grab him right now?"

"I think we should be more careful, sir."

"Explain." The crystal mage asks, his voice cold and sharp. He finally turns to face the Captain. The Captain gulps while his lieutenant continues to stand as still as a statue. The mage notices his stoic nature, just an unswaying tree of a man. Curious.

"The first thing we're worried about is a mass riot taking place. If a riot takes place, the demihumans will first attack the sympathizers and then our guards. When our guards fight back, the demihumans will start dying. If the crowd values that man as much as I’m guessing, they could keep throwing body after body at us.”

The Captain frowns, more annoyed than anything else.

“When the news reports on a massacre of demihumans by us, even the commoner humans will start complaining. It would result in a lot of diminished trust in our guards force. I'm sure that would be problematic…"

"Hm. You're right, that would be a problem for my brother…"

The captain was also worried about something else. If the man was taken, his martyrdom could be used as ignition to launch more overt acts of terrorism. Slavery was ended by the church because there were more terrorist attacks like suicide bombings and self-immolations by both the demihuman slaves and the humans who were part of the abolition movement.

If the church of Osva, the most powerful organization in the Holy Osvan Federation, feared such an escalation enough to end their ten thousand year institution of slavery, he feels like he should tread carefully as well.

“But, we still need to arrest him. There is no doubt about that.” The Captain confirms. The crystal mage continues watching the draconid man.

He really looks like a prophet or something, doesn’t he…

 

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