Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 221: Arc 4, Act II, - 66: Sedition Part I

"The Deputy Secretary General of Finance within the Tax Division, the Integrity Unit under Ministry of Local Government Development and the third Secretary General of Agriculture?" the chief of the army reconfirmed.

Arabella had the Royal Guard around her prepared to move out while the rest listened. "Yup, those are the only high-ranking ones that could affect anything with the battle," Fumeko affirmed.

"All committing white-collar crime to fill their own pockets, ugh," Daiyu sighed. Though her disappointment was more so that there was not a manhunt...

Her greatsword, sheathed in a brownish-gold leather had the symbol of Cravolta as well a few decorational patterns. She held the cross-guard of gleaming bronzish hue by her forearm, resting the rest of the sheath on her right shoulder.

The pommel was bright amethyst gem and the length of the sheathed blade went beyond her head upwards; fortunately the doors were much taller.

"Any lower ranking ones then?" Feyan asked.

Fumeko replied, "I know you think I’m absolutely amazing-"

"I do?" 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

"But that’s all I got. I didn’t get any time to dig deeper into those and I only have the people who came to the palace. There’s some other stuff, but nothing that really dents our plans; just A LOT of affairs and pointless secrets."

Arabella patted Fumeko on the shoulder and sent them off. "I think we shall put a pin on this discussion then," the archduke stated.

"Hopefully the issue can be resolved quickly," Count Khalim added.

"We can track them down and peacefully bring them to the palace without causing a scene. The public should not know of the details so we will have to proceed with caution," the chief of army was given a portion of the Royal Guard.

"Yes, arrest them and they shall be kept in the palace for the time being. Till the battle is over, they will be watched constantly," the defence minister left down the hall.

"And we will inform the public and anyone in relation to them that they have been escorted for private reasoning to do with the council," Archduke Guuraj followed behind and Count Khalim not long after.

Arabella sighed, standing next to the princess. The hallway they united in, now cleared, left only five of them around the vicinity whilst the chainmail of Royal Guard marched.

Daiyu turned to Fumeko and lowered the greatsword onto her. "HEY!" Fumeko blinked away and hid behind the blonde.

"My lady, please retire the sword..."

"Why were you lying? I assume you have a good reason," the princess stared down Fumeko. "That’s not all you got."

Fumeko held up a middle finger while holding onto the yellow coat.

"Well, it’s an interesting case and the others were just pocketing money," Jotou replied.

"What case?" Feyan raised a brow.

_

The five of them found themselves in the tea room of the palace, joined by Hotaru and Asobi, "Woah... big sword," her gaze went up.

"Like it?" Daiyu swung it with the sheath around.

"Don’t play with such a thing, it looks heavy," Hotaru scolded.

"I’m not some pushover. It’s bigger than Jotou’s~" Daiyu raised her brows twice.

The eye-roll of the blonde could not be any more apparent, "I have an enchanted arming sword made of armite that’s short of a metre—good luck running with that thing."

"Hey Feyan, can we get this thing enchanted?"

"We shall put it on the docket... right after we hear of this case."

"Oh right. Fumeko?"

"I didn’t want to pull the plug while there were officials still there; especially the defence minister. I can’t really be sure who all is on it."

"I’m not putting you in the dungeons yet."

"I’m so scared of bars I can see through. What ever will I do? I can never escape; especially never with a spell that can blink me across distances—the misery," dead was her voice. "Can I get on with my story!?"

Daiyu sighed and rested the sword onto her shoulder. Hotaru swirled tea for everyone by the table after Arabella had finished locking the doors.

Fumeko cleared her throat and stood proudly to tell of her tale, "I went through a lot of stuff with these officials. But the Deputy Minister of War’s case was the most interesting I followed.

I overheard a conversation he had over the phone. From what I got, he was apparently pocketing some money from war funds. Using cheaper material to make tanks, firearms and the like.

You may ask why I hadn’t reported it to the Royal Guard just now, but you see, there was a co-conspirator connected to this particular one," she paced back and forth, raising a finger to certain words and emphasizing others.

"So, I put together the pieces and had to figure out where the phone lines were connected to. I went into the palace’s archives and found everywhere it could’ve gone.

A lot of it from his guest room would only be able to contact within and around Tamara Palace. Meaning, I deduced he had to have planned that call, otherwise there was a risk of someone else hearing.

The evening served as a perfect time for the crime when the palace tends to get more busy making dinner delicious and getting things around the palace ready.

And the name of this accomplice was Jinny," she held a hand to her chin, "If he was pocketing the money by using cheaper parts and it was someone conspiring with him in the palace, it could be the staff.

Because no one on the guest list present that night had the name Jinny. I went through the names of the staff and there was one old woman named Jinny who worked as a cleaner; and my instincts went, ’unlikely suspect’! So, I snuck into Arabella’s office-"

Arabella crossed her arms and glared. If only she could catch that little rat...

"-and got the names of the Royal Guard. After all, maybe there were still traitors not with the countess when we got her. And my instinct rang true once more; I found a name, Rajina.

It was a bit of a stretch, but to a detective like me, a nickname like Jinny didn’t sound so farfetched.

So, I trailed the deputy minister and I found out he had an office in the barracks near the Royal Guard training grounds, alongside anyone high-ranking in the war ministry-"

"I could have told you that..."

"Shush Arty."

"Arty? It sounds demeaning to my family name..."

"You’ll get used to it," Hotaru’s eyes glazed over.

"ANNnyway, ’Jinny’ was in command of a dozen or so Royal Guard—a small division out of the many to be the exact. So it made sense to the common eye for her to receive orders from the offices.

But my eyes aren’t common; she would frequent a particular office—Deputy Minister Cornerade’s. Keeping aside that they were canoodling, the deputy minister was the one giving the money to her."

Daiyu half-closed her right eye and raised a brow, "He pocketed money so he could be a sugar daddy...?"

"No! Let me finish!!!"

"That’s what she said," Daiyu snorted to herself.

"The Undying Princess ladies and gentlemen, the monarch of Cravolta..." through half-lidded eyes the blonde stared.

Arabella snapped her fingers, widening her eyes to urge Fumeko to continue.

"Yeah, yeah. Circling back to the Deputy Secretary General of Finance within the Tax Division, the money he pocketed was mailed to Deputy Minister Cornerade’s office weirdly enough.

So, I snuck into Rajina’s quarters while both her and her bunk mate was away. And," Fumeko fished something from her pocket, "I found an interesting pin under bedsheets. This one!"

She held it up to everyone. The symbol on it was that of Cravolta’s emblem except a purplish-gemmed tiara atop; and across the pin were two large red slashes forming an X over it.

Daiyu leaned forward and squinted, "Why do I feel like I’ve seen that symbol before...?"

"Me as well," Feyan cocked his head. "I cannot seem to recognize it; though it is not hard to decipher it is in clear dislike of Cravolta and the monarch..."

Arabella shifted her hands and Feyan’s eyes darted to it, "It’s a symbol, I’ve seen, many times now. When the, Royal Guard, apprehends a protester, against Daiyu, they would sometimes, have this logo."

"Cornerade isn’t fond of Daiyu," the blonde hinted.

Hotaru’s ears pricked, "So the money funds these protesters?"

Fumeko pouted, "Well, I haven’t gotten that far so I can only assume. If I had more days maybe I could figure out more, but I only had a few.

We know this at least. The protesters hate Daiyu; Cornerade hates Daiyu. Money’s going towards them illegally; the money has to be used for something."

"Maybe they’re feeding their families?"

"...Thanks for cracking the case."

"You’re welcome! Just call me, Detective Asobi!" Asobi illusioned her hat into a deerstalker hat and her wand into a magnifying glass.

The brunette’s eyes glazed over, "Never..."

Jotou turned to Daiyu, "If the money’s going there. Remember what I said about being nice to people?"

"Well I don’t think I’ve been ’evil’, but a rebellion’s rising anyway! So what’s the difference?"

"You can only do your best, people are still gonna be biased."

"I think we should deal with this personally. I’ve been itching for some justice right now," Daiyu petted the hilt of her greatsword.

Feyan pondered, "The deputy minister would be present at his office in the barracks at the moment, we were calculating allies after all."

"And I, can get, Rajina to us, easily," Feyan translated.

Hotaru furrowed her brows, "Hang on, when did you take this pin as evidence?"

"Yesterday, why- Ah shit..."

Daiyu turned to Fumeko, "What!?"

Jotou closed her eyes in realization, "If it’s not there, we might’ve given them a head’s up..."

Fumeko shrugged, "That’s assuming they know."

"Assume the worst detective, hope for the best. We need to go now. If they warn the protestors or ’rebellion’ if there is one, they’ll scatter."

Arabella rushed to the door, nodding her head over to depart with haste.