Three emptied bottles and a dead sense of smell later, the three perps spat out the information Schwarz wanted to know, before fainting with the most disgusting retch Claud had ever heard in his life. The four of them had removed their masks, as a show of courtesy to Caroline, but Claud’s stomach was churning with both nausea and regret from doing such a pointless thing.

Especially since Caroline herself had activated multiple skills too. Claud could do the same, but something told him that doing so might just slight the count’s fiancée for some reason.

“So…a kidnapping ring, eh?” Claud muttered.

“They’re just bounty hunters,” Lily replied.

“I call them bounty hunters if they aren’t evil people,” Claud replied. “Anyone else can go take a hike in Kidnapper County.”

“Is that how it works?” Lily mused out loud. “Also, I think I can’t smell anything now. What exactly are in those bottles, master?”

“It’s Schwarz to you, Lily. Anyway, that’s my personal mix for enemies, arrogant scions and café owners,” Schwarz replied.

One of them didn’t seem quite like the others, but Claud knew enough about the bartender to not bring this up, much like everybody else. Ignoring his irrational hate for café owners, Claud said, “So, what do you think of that very odd piece of intelligence?”

“About the princess of Lustre in Licencia?” Schwarz asked. “Come on. You can’t be serious. Why would she be in here of all places? Sure, Licencia’s quite unique in Istrel, but it has set an example for just about every dukedom in the Umbra Sovereignty. There are other cities that close one eye to shady deeds in the other dukedoms too.”

“Is that so?” Claud asked, curious.

“You bet it is. Besides, their intelligence was outdated,” the bartender replied. “And the bounty for Princess Dia is like what, two hundred gold? It’s not worth much, especially since Duke Lustre wants to focus on the upcoming war. They’re still thinking it’s two thousand gold. Idiots.”

“Well, the only trouble that might happen is the possibility of them targeting Lily and Dia here,” Claud replied.

“Right,” said Caroline, “what’s with her?”

She pointed at Dia. “She looks quite like the missing princess of Lustre, and don’t even get me started on the name.”

“She’s just a double,” Claud replied dismissively. “Meant to draw the attention of pursuers, although I think Dia can really drop that now, given the low bounty on her mistress.”

“A double…right. That makes sense,” Caroline muttered. “How about Lily? Is she a fan of the real princess?”

“That’s about it, yes,” Schwarz answered. “Right. Is it something like a noble fad? I’ve never paid much attention back then, but now that I think about it, I actually know quite a few instances in which a bunch of lookalikes popped up. Or is it just to make use of reputations and appearances to protect themselves?”

“Not a fad,” Caroline replied. “It should be the latter.”

“Okay, so my original intelligence still holds, then.” Schwarz frowned. “Miss Caroline, given what we know, what are your orders now?”

She glanced at the hole in the city wall, which had been hidden earlier by the gratuitous pile of barrels, before letting out a small sigh. “These people here are unlikely to know the identities of those who snuck through using the tunnel here, and they’re not important enough to know who their employers are, as well as the location of their base. What are the chances of finding their hideout?”

“Not high, given the ruckus we’ve made,” Schwarz replied. “Any smuggler worth their salt would have fled the moment your soldiers arrested the sentries. There’s nothing much we can do about this, at any rate.”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“I see.” Caroline looked around the place. “In that case, I’ll just have to draft new laws. Also, the letter you sent talked about Claud being hypnotised, right? I’m going to deal with that too. A specialist with Area Cleanse is with me; let’s nip that problem in the bud too.”

“About the solutions I offered…”

“Impractical on a large scale,” Caroline replied. “We don’t have enough manpower to guard the walls and to use cleansing skills all the time.”

“I see.” Claud took a step back. It was a pity that his new suggestions had been rejected. If Caroline had accepted them, his workload and risk would have been drastically lessened, but one couldn’t have everything. As payment, however, Claud received a regular salary of high-ranked lifestones from the Nightfall County, while the others received other bonuses.

Since he had Crown with him, he didn’t mind trading with Farah for her low-ranked lifestones. The little fellow could create Pure Life Gems from these little baubles, and Farah’s life was indeed drawing to a close…

Dia clicked her teeth. “Turns out that I didn’t really need to move out, eh?”

“Yeah, sorry to bother you,” Claud replied. “But this is how we should act where possible, so treat it as a learning experience.”

“It would have been a better learning experience if I didn’t need to go near such a stench,” Dia replied, before directing a glare at Schwarz.

“What?” the bartender asked. “These three bottles proved to be very useful, right? We got them to confess without any torture. That’s one Moon of an achievement, buddy.”

“Right you are.” Caroline chuckled, a sound that tinkled in one’s ears. “Might I purchase information about its composition? I suspect that we might find a use for it in the weeks to come.”

“The composition’s no secret,” Schwarz replied.

“You’ll still be renumerated for it.” Caroline smiled in response.

Schwarz paused for a moment. “There is a non-zero chance that getting someone else to make this solution, even if the steps are followed perfectly, would result in a less-than-ideal product, however. It might be the equipment that’s the problem, as well as the creator themselves. If that happens…”

“I won’t blame. Besides, it’s not a really rare recipe, right?” Caroline asked. “Small losses mean nothing to us. Come. Let us discuss the details on the way to the guardhouse.”

As the two continued to walk and talk about transferring a certain formula that would produce a dog’s worst enemy, Claud and the others exchanged glances and followed behind. They, in turn, were followed by Caroline’s personal guards, who were dragging their three captives along merrily.

It didn’t take long before they arrived at the guardhouse, and as the head of Caroline’s personal guards handled the security and verification protocols, Claud found himself looking around for Captain Blake. He wasn’t here this morning, but it was entirely possible that he might have been out doing something and would only return later.

“Can’t spot him, though,” Lily replied.

“Yeah, me too. Maybe he’s on a rest day or something. Or he’s out for the whole day,” Claud replied.

While the three of them chattered away, Caroline had gotten the city guards to form up outside in a tight formation. With another gesture, a non-descript young man appeared by her side, and before anyone could respond to his sudden appearance, a wave of formless energy gushed outwards like water.

Quite a few guards wobbled as the energy washed over them, their eyes turning vacant for a minute or two.

Claud narrowed his eyes at that sight.

“Looks like the guardhouse has indeed been compromised, one way or another,” Claud murmured.

“Men, bring the unaffected guards to me. Get the affected guards a place to rest, and call for the standby shift to take over.” Caroline folded her arms. “Interrogate the unaffected guards. Leave nothing out.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Claud nodded approvingly.

“Not bad,” said Lily. “Yes, the ringleader is unlikely to have hypnotised themselves, so this is indeed the best approach to take, no?”

“But, and hear me out, but what if the culprit was expecting this line of thought?” Claud asked.

“Not impossible, but the hypnotised guys will probably be watched closely,” Lily replied. “But more importantly, I think we should back off more. Schwarz seems like he’s about to break out the good old stink.”

Claud glanced at the three unconscious fellows, who had been abandoned immediately after they arrived at the guardhouse, and shrugged. “I see no difference, really. There’s a stink here, and there’s a stink there…we’re still going to gross out anyone that walks past us on the street, right?”

“Don’t you have an artefact that can clean you up?” Lily asked.

“Hmm. You remembered. Fortunately for everyone here, I got one with four charges a day,” Claud replied. “That’s enough for the four of us. If I didn’t buy a new one after returning—”

Schwarz’s voice happened to drift over at this moment. “This here is a concentrated version of what I used earlier. Are you sure you want to use it?”

Time seemed to slow as everyone turned to look at Schwarz, who was holding onto a bottle marked with a skull.

Caroline’s response, however, was drowned out by a single word, one that everyone here had bellowed in concert.

“No!”