Queen's Written Decree
Achilles didn't look old. I wasn't Queen Sisi's favoured vassal, but Achilles would've fitted the role, in my opinion. Becoming Queen Sisi's trusted vassal at such a young age wasn't an easy accomplishment. After all, she wasn't one to trust anyone who ingratiated themselves with her. One couldn't rely purely on showering her with compliments to curry favour with her. Evidently, then, Achilles was a competent individual. He had already begun conducting investigations when a group of people were still on their bottoms, spacing out. By the looks of it, he was one who was good at taking action.
"Hello, I am Achilles. Is Her Majesty available at the moment?"
I smiled: "She is; however, she is asleep."
Veirya stepped out from the room. She had confirmed that Queen Sisi was asleep and not dead because of me or something. Achilles gave me a small nod then turned to leave. I grabbed one of his arms. He turned around to me. Puzzled, he asked, "Do you have other business with me?"
"Are… you here to report to Her Majesty on your investigation of the chapel?"
Achilles clearly froze for a moment before shaking his head: "Sorry, I do not want to discuss this with a lad-, erm, sorry, I do not want to speak to someone in charge of taking care of Her Majesty about it. Also, you stole a gander at Her Majesty's letters, am I right?"
"No, Her Majesty has also ordered me to investigate the matter. It was just now that she gave me the right to read your reports."
"Sorry, it is hard for me to believe you from where I stand. I cannot disclose what I am in charge of to outsiders. Unless I have a written decree from Her Majesty, I will not say anything. Therefore, you best not pry too much."
I refused to let go: "No, I am serious. Do you not think that it is unusual for there to be a male among a group of ladies-in-waiting? Moreover, even if I was a lady-in-waiting, how could I have entered Her Majesty's bedroom while she was sleeping if I was not given permission - not to mention so many ladies-in-waiting and even Veirya being here. I could not possibly harm Her Majesty given the conditions. The letters I read were all related to this matter. They did not transport weapons here. This is very important. What exactly did they do here? What are they talking with the dwarves about?"
"You… really are under Her Majesty's orders to investigate this case? That is great, then. To be honest, I am having trouble handling everything at the moment. Let us head to the front instead of staying here, then."
"Sure."
We left Queen Sisi's residential palace together to go to the front palace. Achilles didn't have an office at the front palace; hence, we just found a random room to borrow and then locked the door. The room appeared to be a room that was reserved for Queen Sisi's spoil of war. There wasn't so much as tables or chairs in the room. Thus, the two of us had to stand.
Achilles started: "I investigated the warehouse today. I'm referring to the warehouse the chapel and dwarves are using for their trade. I bribed a dwarf to find the place. However, there are only statues of God there. I suspect the weapons might be inside, but I could not break the statues to inspect them. Otherwise, I would have offended the dwarves if nothing was found. I, consequently, had no choice but to come back."
I nodded then pinched my chin: "So, you mean to say that there is only a big batch of god's statues in the warehouse, is that right?"
"Yes. If they have weapons, then the weapons are bound to be in the statues. If there are weapons in the statues, how do we break them?"
"That is impossible. I do not believe there are weapons in the statues. Why would the chapel's knights need weapons? I, therefore, can say with certainty that the weapons are not for the chapel's knights. I would assume they plan to use them for something else. As for what that purpose is, I am not sure. Maybe they are reserving them to distribute to insurgents who join them afterwards, but there is no chance that there are that many weapons in the statues. That is why the statues are definitely just statues. There are no weapons inside. It is a ruse."
"Really?"
Achilles listened to what I had to say, but he didn't look convinced. I didn't know if my explanation was lacking or if he purely didn't believe me. Either way, I believed my reason to be relatively feasible. After all, that should've been the reality of the situation. If Achilles suspected my background, though, then he wouldn't believe what I said. He wouldn't believe me even if everything that I said was reasonable.
Achilles queried, "What is your guess, then?"
"I do not have anything in mind, either, as I have never gone out to get a visual on them. I just analysed the information in the letters. I think that, since the chapel is so well-behaved in the imperial capital, they would not do anything in the capital. What they are doing in the imperial capital should just be their cover. In my opinion, I am sure they were doing something in the North. They did not seize control of the North solely to do business. Instead, I would say that humanity cannot develop the North for they have just captured it. In that case, there are many things that they could do without Her Majesty being aware."
"Yeah? And what might those things be?"
"How would I know? I am not their bishop. We just need to pay attention to what is being said in the North for the meantime. It would be best if it was rumours that Her Majesty is sensitive to. Once I hear the rumours, I will be able to have a good idea as to what they are up to."
"Is that so?" Achilles nodded: "Understood. Nevertheless, I hope to have Her Majesty's written decree."
I smiled helplessly: "That, you will need to personally see Her Majesty for. I am only in charge of this job. As for the details, you will need to speak to Her Majesty."