Second Arc (His Art of War) - 142. The Rebel and Slavery
Half an hour had passed, by this time Angel had finished taking a shower and was sitting on the sofa in his room, wearing his usual king uniform. His hands were flipping the documents he got from Flare and his eyes moved side to side to read them. The document contained the rebels' source of funds with the nobles' names who financed them and the amount of money they gave. Besides that, the documents also recorded when and where they attacked and robbed the village or town, as well as what their results were. Even in some poor villages, the rebels captured some people to be sold as slaves to other kingdoms nobles such as the Kingdom of Eirene and the Kingdom of Ophion. Usually what they caught were teenagers, both boys and girls.
In the past, slavery was not illegal, but since the Peace Alliance was formed, the kingdoms that joined the alliance agreed to illegalize slavery for the sake of peace and reduce the crime rate. Since usually the slaves were forcibly taken by criminals from small villages that lacked the security. Those kingdoms were Asteria, Zephyrus, Draconis, Pontus and Harmonia. Whereas when he took over Euphorion since his kingdom still allowed slavery, he also illegalized it with the reason that slavery would only deepen the gap between the civilians, the military and the nobles since he was trying to improve their relationships. Meanwhile, in the agreement he made with King Gervis and the others, he also agreed that slavery remained illegal.
Currently, there were only two other kingdoms that still allowed slavery, the Kingdom of Eirene and the Kingdom of Ophion. Therefore the rebels could only sell the slaves in those two kingdoms. But that, if they could pass the border guards.
'Looks like I have to order Gaia to tighten the Asteria's western border and along the Erebus mountains' foothills.' Although the documents didn't specify which route they took, he guessed the rebels took that route because it was the lowest security.
Besides that, he also caught the oddity from the amount of money from Duke Bartlet, since that amount was quite large even for a Duke like him. Therefore he guessed that Duke Bartlet had another source of income for the money. Since he had realized this from the first time he opened the document, he had already told Frost to order the Dark Agents to investigate it. Unfortunately, Duke Bartlet's name was not written clear there, but only his initials. Likewise, with Ivetta, Earl Niall and Marquess Digory, they all used initial names, while they only wrote the first names of other nobles.
He folded the important documents and placed them in his blazer since he decided to talk about it with King Eudon at breakfast later. Even that couldn't be solid proof, they could start to map out who their opponents and allies were in the aristocracy. Now his hand opened Jyne's letter. Even though he could already guess what was contained, he wanted to confirm it once more.
Noticing the Pontus royal seal of the letter, Frost who was sitting opposite him finally opened his voice.
"Isn't that letter from the kingdom of Pontus?" he asked curiously.
"It is. I got it from Princess Jyne of Pontus," he replied without turning his gaze to Frost. His eyes read the letter briefly since its contents were the same as what Jyne talked to him last night.
"Is she also involved with these matters, Your Majesty?" asked Frost. This was quite intriguing to him since it turned out that Zephyrus involved many more kingdoms than he had expected.
"No. I just happened to run into her at the west of Fortaare Town. She escaped from her kingdom to ask for my help." Knowing his explanation wouldn't be enough, Angel handed the letter to Frost.
"Read it and you will understand."
Frost took the letter and read it. In the letter, Jyne asked Angel to help her unleash her stepmother's manipulation spell from her father and brother.
"Send a message to our Dark Agents in Pontus to investigate this. Mainly seek information from the castle regarding the royal family," he ordered.
"I understand, Your Majesty. But since this is the royal family scandal, I'm not sure our agent will be able to get information quickly," said Frost, handing the letter back to Angel.
"It's fine. We have to handle this matter carefully since it has the potential to create a new war." His hand took the letter and kept it in his blazer.
As the words left his mouth, the knocking sounds came accompanied by a faint sound from outside.
"Your Majesty, your breakfast is ready."
"We will talk about the other things later," said Angel as he stood up from the sofa. Then he came out followed by Frost.