The rain stopped. The autumn rain that had been falling for several days in Fabro finally stopped.
There was no sound of rain outside the window, but there was a more annoying noise of shouting. Mrs. Leisli, the mother of Baron Jennifer of Gassai Town, was awakened by a burst of running and shouting.
She was very confused. This was the Rondo District, a wealthy area, where parliamentarians, nobles, and big businessmen lived. They were either rich or noble. Wasn't there anyone to take care of the noise outside?
She went to open the window first, and the scene outside the window surprised her. For some reason, the streets of the Rondo District were full of patrolmen this morning, as if all the patrolmen in the entire Fabro City were concentrated in the Rondo District. Among the patrolmen, there were also teams of witch hunters in robes.
There were even two airships not far away, floating in the air. Judging from the location of the airship, it seemed to be at the residence of the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker.
What kind of accident happened in the Brown District? As long as there was no accident with the noble knight, the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker had nothing to do with Mrs. Leisli.
She opened the window to let fresh air into the bedroom. She hadn't opened the window for several days. After the rain stopped, the air smelled fresh. Mrs. Leisli felt happy.
After a simple wash and no makeup, Mrs. Leisli went downstairs to the dining room. After drinking a glass of water, Mrs. Leisli did not wait for her daughter.
"Where is the Baron?"
A maid replied: "The Baron left the mansion at 3 a.m. last night. It seems that someone from the Judiciary came to inform him of some big news."
"What big news is it that requires the Baron to leave her mansion in the middle of the night?"
"Madam, we don't know the specific news. The content is confidential. We only heard that the whole city is under martial law and has entered a state of emergency. The Baron's attendant just came back and left a message. The Baron asked you not to walk around recently, especially in the next two days."
Mrs. Leisli did not comment. After dinner, she left the mansion.
Martial law? What does this have to do with her?
People become rebellious when they get old and don't want to listen to their children, just as children don't want to listen to their parents.
In this year and a half, Mrs. Leisli suddenly felt that she was old. One of the signs of aging is losing interest in the opposite sex.
After Claude's death, Lady Lesley found that she was not interested in men, but only in Claude.
It was impossible not to go out. Every month, Lady Lesley would go to the South City Cemetery, where Claude was buried.
The carriage left the mansion and headed south of the city.
Even in the carriage, Lady Lesley would put down the black veil on her hat to cover her face.
Baron Jennifer once wanted to complain after having dinner with his mother, saying that his mother should also go to his father's grave and not just go to sweep the grave for Claude.
However, seeing that Lady Lesley looked more and more pale, Jennifer finally gave up the idea.
After Claude's death, Lady Lesley quickly withered, as if all the red had gone away from her life. She no longer blushed, and liked black more and more. Her life became monotonous and boring.
Jennifer's father was only Lady Lesley's husband. Claude, whom Lady Lesley loved when she was a girl, was the love of her life.
Jennifer couldn't intervene in the love and hatred of the previous generation. She could do whatever her mother wanted.
Mrs. Leisli's journey today was not smooth. She passed several intersections and the carriage stopped many times. The coachman had to repeatedly explain to the patrolmen that this was the carriage of the Baron's mother and asked the patrolmen to let it go.
The patrolmen shouted and said they were looking for suspicious people. The coachman had to emphasize that it was impossible for a suspicious person to appear in the carriage of the Baron's mother.
When leaving the Brown District, there was an inspection area of dozens of meters.
This is the junction of the Brown District and the Dordo District. The guards have changed from patrolmen to witch hunters.
This time, no matter how the coachman explained, the witch hunters were unwilling to let it go.
"The order of the Alchemy Council! All people and cars must be inspected!"
In the carriage, Mrs. Leisli listened to the noise outside and felt irritated. This affected her trip to the cemetery.
There was a witch hunter who wanted to open the curtain of the carriage. The witch hunter and the coachman had an argument, and the witch hunter's attitude was very firm. The coachman didn't dare to let the witch hunter enter the carriage, as it was a challenge to the baron's dignity.
Just as the coachman and the witch hunter were arguing, a team of cavalry came quickly.
To be able to bring cavalry in the wealthy area of Rondo, one must be a noble of at least baron rank. The people who came were Baron Jennifer and her knight. Baron Jennifer had a cold face and started to act without saying a word. Her whip hit the shoulder of the witch hunter closest to the carriage.
"Get out! How dare you stop my mother's carriage?"
Jennifer didn't sleep in the second half of the night and had to stay in the Speaker's mansion to pretend. She guessed that her mother would go to commemorate Claude without fail, so she followed to see for herself. Sure enough, she saw the witch hunter stopped her mother.
The baron took action, but the witch hunter didn't dare to resist and could only glare at Baron Jennifer.
The witch hunter captain had to explain: "Baron, you also know that a highly confidential incident has occurred. No carriage can be let go without a search, especially the carriage leaving the Brown District."
"What is confidential? Does the disappearance of the Speaker need to be kept secret? Why don't you send someone to ask in the Dordo District or the Bayer District? I think everyone in the city knows about it. Is there any point in keeping it secret now?"
Jennifer's contemptuous tone made the witch hunter captain angry, but he didn't dare to show it.
The relationship between the Alchemy Council and the nobles in Fabro City has been very bad for more than a year.
Last year, the furnace made a big fuss, staring at the Alchemy Council and killing people indiscriminately, and even the headquarters building of Thor Trading Company was blown up by the furnace. The mining area and even the werewolf transport team along the way were severely hit by the furnace, which caused Thor Trading Company to suffer unbearable losses.
In order to make up for the losses in a short time, Thor Trading Company chose to grab production capacity and market share from Rondo Trading Company.
The Thor Trading Company, which belongs to the Alchemy Council, has been using various means to erode the share of the Rondo Trading Company. Originally, the share of the Rondo Trading Company was very small, about one-third of the Thor Trading Company, but the greedy Thor Trading Company was unwilling to give even this one-third.
Viscount Savan and other nobles were dissatisfied, and even Count Barron issued a letter of reprimand, thinking that Viscount Savan was not doing his job well. Count Barron has a lot of shares in the Rondo Trading Company.
Jennifer didn't even have to do it herself, because there were many people who spread the news that the Speaker had died again.
Why did she use "again"? Because a year and a half ago, the funerals of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of Fabro City were connected, one died and the other died.
"What does the disappearance or death of Abel have to do with the nobles? Are you going to put the crime of murder on the nobles?" Jennifer looked down at the captain of the witch hunters:
"Are you hiding some evidence and planning to put it in my mother's carriage?"
The witch hunter captain was sweating coldly. He really didn't think so. But thinking about it again, the baron was still thoughtful. If he really did that, he could indeed pin the blame on the nobles.
"Go away!" Baron Jennifer shouted, "If you don't want to provoke a war between the nobles and the Alchemy Council now, then be honest and don't meddle in other people's business at this time!"
"But!" The witch hunter captain was still unwilling to give up: "Speaker Abel is a level 5 alchemist. His disappearance proves that there are powerful criminals in Fabro City. If Madam leaves the Brown District like this, it will be easy for her to encounter danger. Please go back with Madam!" "Danger?" Jennifer said noncommittally: "I will escort my mother, your worry is unnecessary."
Although there was no evidence, Jennifer felt that other people in Fabro were trembling, but she and her mother were the safest people. If her guess was correct...
In the end, the witch hunter had to let them go, and watched the baron and the knights escort her mother away.
After walking away, Mrs. Leisli said across the carriage: "Jennifer, if you have something to do, you go ahead and do it. I will go to the cemetery by myself."
"It's okay, I'll go with you. Abel may really be dead, and Fabro may fall into chaos."
Mrs. Leisli didn't pay any attention to the possible dangers. She quickly emphasized: "Abel is dead? Then today is a good time to tell Claude this good news."
Jennifer couldn't help but sigh. She didn't know what charm Claude had and why her mother fell so deeply.
"Jennifer, go back first. You must be very busy. I can go to the South City Cemetery by myself, or you can ask the knight to follow me."
"It's okay. The witch hunters have taken over Speaker Abel's mansion a long time ago. There is nothing for me to do there."
Jennifer added in her heart. It is better to determine something more important...
At the Speaker's mansion, the murderer dealt with the three witch hunter teams on the periphery very quickly, a total of 12 witch hunters, without even leaving a corpse, and there was no sign of any fight.
This proves that the murderer is very strong.
The servants in the mansion didn't hear any sound, and Mrs. Abel said she knew nothing.
As for Speaker Abel himself, he should have been in the study when the accident happened.
There were no signs of fighting in the study, all the furniture was in place, and even the Speaker's documents remained open.
The only information is that the Speaker activated the level 6 alchemical shielding array.
There were slight burn marks on the carpet, proving that the activation time of the level 6 alchemical shielding array was very short, perhaps less than 1 second.
In other words, the murderer could be a wizard, or he could be holding a very powerful magic weapon.
As a level 5 alchemist, Speaker Abel was still protected by a level 6 shielding magic circle, but he was killed without any resistance.
According to the witch hunters, the speaker was killed without even standing up, and his chair was not moved.
I don't know who targeted the speaker, so cruel and so powerful.
All the servants were alive, Mrs. Abel didn't even wake up, and the speaker and the witch hunter disappeared without a trace.
The level 2 word spirit of the Alchemy Council of Fabro City didn't find anything useful at the scene.
After the accident, Viscount Savan showed Jennifer a piece of intelligence. It was foreign intelligence collected by the Royal Intelligence Department. Among the intelligence about the southern continent, there was one that Viscount Savan deliberately marked for Jennifer: The Evil God Cult wanted the Southern Phoenix Wizard Furnace.
Targeting the Speaker and Vice Speaker of the Alchemy Council to kill, this is the origin of the title "Furnace".
Among those who have a grudge against Abel, Furnace is undoubtedly the most motivated one. This was also Viscount Savan's guess. He thought the murderer was most likely Rudolf the Furnace.
But if Rudolf was back, why didn't he contact her?
Today, she accompanied her mother to the South City Cemetery to give Rudolf a chance to contact her.
Along the way, Jennifer deliberately slowed down. To her disappointment, the journey was very normal and there were no clues. She was still expecting a newsboy to hand her a note or something.
Arriving at the South City Cemetery, Mrs. Leisli got off the car and walked towards the cemetery with the help of her maid. Jennifer followed behind her, observing the surroundings.
The gravekeeper in South City was already very familiar with this scene. Every month, he could see the Baron's mother come to the cemetery to visit her friend.
Mrs. Leisli took off her hat with black veil, walked slowly in the cemetery, and finally came to Claude's grave.
Standing in front of the cemetery, her face was very expressive. At first it was an angry smile, then it turned into a bitter smile, and finally it turned into an interested smile.
In front of Claude's tombstone, there was a white rose.
"Which woman is this again..." Mrs. Leisley picked up the white rose, looked at it and found it very fresh, then put it down again:
"Mrs. Betsey? Probably not, she is very timid, white roses are contraband in Fabro City, and buying and selling is not allowed."
After Claude's death, his friend, the wizard, once retaliated against the city council like crazy. At that time, every time the wizard committed a crime, he would put a white rose at the scene. Later, the Alchemy Council specially formulated a rule that white roses became contraband.
No one dared to buy white roses, and if they were caught by the patrol, they would be considered as the wizard's accomplice.
"Mrs. Vanni? Probably not, Mrs. Vanni's husband just died, she is so happy recently, she won't remember Claude."
Mrs. Leisley, who had no clue, finally thought that this was just a woman who suddenly remembered Claude on the anniversary.
Throwing away the flowers sent by others, Mrs. Leisley put down her white rose.
Jennifer stared at the white rose thrown on the side of the road and thought about something. Her intuition told her that maybe Rudolph really came back.
But why didn't Rudolph contact her first?
After returning to the Brown District, Jennifer came to Abel's mansion.
The mansion was surrounded by three layers of cordons inside and outside. Every blade of grass was turned over, and every floor tile was examined with a magnifying glass. The most experienced witch hunters were constantly busy.
Jennifer came behind Viscount Savan and whispered, "My Lord, I didn't find Rudolph."
Viscount Savan looked sad and pretended to be very much like him. He didn't even change his expression and whispered, "Wait a little longer. It would be great if the furnace came back. The furnace can break the deadlock and make the Alchemy Council unable to take care of itself."
"My Lord, Rudolph should contact me when he comes back."
Viscount Savan said, "There is also a possibility that Abel is not the ultimate target of the furnace. He may want to do something else, so he can't expose himself for the time being."
Jennifer looked forward along Viscount Savan's line of sight and saw Colonel Gayton and Deputy Speaker Jem.
Deputy Speaker Jem is now the most troublesome person. He is now the head of the city council, but Colonel Gayton is the backbone of the council.
Killing a speaker is so bad. Maybe Rudolf sensed some danger and had to hide. Maybe, as Viscount Savan said, Rudolf wants to do something even more terrible.