Free Web NovelChapter 384: Chapter 384 Direct Confrontation_1
Lower town district, the Wisteria Inn guest room.
"The deal with the local gang failed, and the contact was caught on the spot," a captain of the secret police reported to Earl Heinz Hoffman.
"Not surprising," Heinz replied without any hint of surprise. "If it were a competent leader, after knowing the necessary information, they should have anticipated our move and prepared their subordinates accordingly. But you should have taught those gangsters the correct way to meet up, so how could the contact person still be caught on the spot? Didn’t they do as we instructed?"
These days, they had been hiring the local gang to do the same thing they were doing - gathering information about the prison. Of course, in terms of efficiency, the gang could only gather very limited information, with most of the essential intelligence still provided by them. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
Once they found out that Sara Rekhsia had been transferred to the core area, naturally, the plan would be to try to bribe the core area prison warden, Vlanda Rogli.
At this point, they directly let the hired local gang take care of it, teaching them hand by hand how to propose the deal. Flandre proposed to give her response the next day, and meeting at the abandoned docks controlled by the gang was an alternative plan they had provided.
All the gang had to do was to confirm whether Vlanda went to the docks alone as agreed, and then send a little thug to deliver the letter and the check. The royal secret police also dispatched someone, but only to monitor the scene from afar. With their experience in surveillance, even professionals would find it hard to detect their hideouts.
"My men confirmed from the surveillance point that only Vlanda Rogli went there. She alone arrived at the meeting place and caught the contact person with a gun," the captain replied, "It’s a very risky move, and it’s understandable that the gang would be deceived."
"A normal prison guard with such courage?" Heinz thought back on the information he had seen on Vlanda Rogli and was slightly stunned. "Even if she were ever so upright, she wouldn’t risk her life for something beyond her duties, would she?"
He imagined she probably had no idea what she would encounter before arriving at the docks. Although the gang gave her a gun for a sense of security, the big check and the tempting funds promised after the deal were what truly attracted her.
With normal reasoning, if she went there alone, she would likely agree to the deal. If she intended to capture someone, no matter how risky it was, she should have brought a group of police with her.
If she planned to catch the contact person at the trading site to find out the mastermind, she should be prepared to conflict with those present. Without the confidence to deal with a group of armed thugs alone, who would dare to go to the abandoned docks of the old city district controlled by the gang only carrying a gun?
Of course, it’s also possible that she originally planned to play it by ear and pretend to accept the deal if it was inconvenient to make a move. Seeing that only one person came to meet, she simply caught the person.
But such courage is quite remarkable. Even if the decision was likely made by Aiden Galahad behind the scenes, it’s hard to imagine a prison guard without any relevant experience daring to take such a risk.
Heinz felt something was off again, and this time, the feeling did not come from Aiden Galahad but from the prison warden Vlanda. However, he couldn’t quite figure out the reason at the moment.
"Do you think the prison management has gotten wind of our operations, sir?" the captain of the secret police suddenly asked with hesitation.
"Speak your mind," Heinz responded, sensing that his subordinate seemed to have doubts.
"I’m wondering if they already know what’s going on, why not disclose everything publicly?" the captain said thoughtfully, "If everything were out in the open, our operations would likely be greatly restricted, especially now that they clearly know we’re tough to deal with."
"If that were the case, the difficulty of our mission would increase, but the prison would also draw attention from all sides. The King and the opposition would bring their conflict into the open, and the Empire would get involved. Given the political neutrality of the autonomous states, whose side would they take in such a situation?" Heinz said slowly.
"Wouldn’t it be better to insist on staying neutral?"
"Staying neutral becomes the most troublesome after going public," Heinz shook his head. "It means that they have to keep holding the hot potato, and all forces hoping they will take a side will use various means to woo or force them to take a stand. The prison will continuously become the focus of struggle, and once the conflict becomes public, the situation will only get more complicated. No matter which faction achieves its goals, they will be resented by the other forces. Moreover, if anything happens to Sara during this period... If it’s not made public, they can still claim ignorance, but once it is, they’ll be stuck with a blame they can’t shake off."
The captain nodded thoughtfully, beginning to understand.
If the existence of the princess in the prison were publicized, the difficulty of assassinating her would increase. But if the King wished for peace of mind, they would have to continue the assassination mission despite increased difficulty. The opposition would also try to bring the princess under their protection and control, while the Empire would always be calculating ways to use the princess to split Gistas, even if just to inconvenience them.
In other words, once it became known that the hidden princess was in a prison in the autonomous states, the political forces of both Gistas and the Empire would start to focus on this small prison. The autonomous states were theoretically meant to maintain political neutrality, but with the matter public, it would become very awkward for them.
Handing over the princess wouldn’t be appropriate to anyone. If they didn’t, they would be allowing these forces to keep a source of conflict within this small prison. And if something happened to the princess, they would bear the grave responsibility of failing to protect an important political figure.
"So, you mean to say our opponents are also not keen on causing trouble?" the captain asked, frowning with confusion, "Then why would they take the initiative to fight with us?"
From what had happened today, the prison seemed to be planning to fight with the Gistas royal secret police’s secret agents.
"The one who probably wants to fight us is Aiden Galahad," Heinz said slowly, "Judging by the outstanding achievements in his file, he has the confidence to back it up."
"But we, after all, are..."
"Don’t forget this isn’t Gistas, it’s the autonomous state. This is the opponent’s home ground. Don’t underestimate them!" Heinz cautioned, "Even the strongest dragon struggles to suppress a local snake."
The captain took back what he was about to say and nodded in agreement before asking another question, "So, what should we do next?"
"It seems we can’t circumvent this man no matter what," Heinz pondered seriously for a moment, "Then...let’s just directly confront him for a test of strength first."
