Duke Mallory was furious, he receives an urgent notice from his butler when he is sound asleep in his manor at midnight in the royal capital. He quickly gets inside the special carriage on an express wyvern flight to his territory. When he arrive there, the butler inform him that the magic alarm have gone off but the knight guarding the vault says that no one has come in and the magical trap inside has not been triggered but the butler still inform the duke since only the Duke could get inside the vault safely.
When the duke hurriedly arrived at the vault, he can see there is no sign of forced entry and he felt relieved, all the magical trap he prepared in the hallway are still active and have not been triggered. He uses his blood and magic mark to activate secret door that provide a shortcut to the inside of the vault. When he sees the inside of the vault, he was at loss for words, empty as a barren desert with not a single gold coin have been left behind.
Aaaaaarrrghhh… the duke sends out a loud scream with bloodshot eyes, "how could this happen? Who is it? Who is the fucking thief that stole my treasure?". Not long after, the duke called over the guards and mages under his service to come inside and trace any possible clue in the vault and that is when they found the broken insignia of Duke Grom and Duke Strauss in different corner of the vault. The duke, having lost his reason and fuming with anger told the butler to inform the King to request a special meeting with the king and the other two dukes. This is a special meeting that usually happen in the wartime or if one of the duke did something malicious or invade another duke territory or an assassination attempt, each one of the three dukes have the right to request the king for an emergency meeting and let the king be the judge to solve their problem.
King George receives Duke Mallory request at Noon and told bergen to inform Duke Grom and Duke Strauss for an emergency three duke meetings. All of a sudden the capital is boiling, the news of the three duke meetings have spread and gained the attention of all the nobles in the royal capital. They don't know the detail of what has happened and can only speculate about it.
That Night, Duke Grom and Duke Strauss Carriage gather in the castle, they are confused, they don't know why Duke Mallory suddenly request the King for the three Dukes meeting. As far as they know, Duke Mallory only care for his business and never involve himself in the Kingdom political situation. Has he joined prince Cain sides? They cannot help but wondering what mistakes they have made to be called urgently on such a short notice while they are busy preparing "Support" for the development of Prince Cain territory.
When both Duke enter the meeting room in the Royal Castle, he can see Duke Mallory glaring at them like a wild beast full of hate and anger. Both dukes are confused, have something happened to his family? But everyone knows the things that Duke Mallory love is his wealth, he could gladly sacrifice his family member if he could get enough money in return.
After king George and royal secretary Bergen enter the room, the magic door was closed shut and imbued with magic no sound can be heard from outside. The three duke meetings are a high-level secret meeting that cannot be known to outside party or it will endanger the kingdom if another country found out that the kingdom domestic situation is not stable.
"Now Duke Mallory, can you inform us what important things have happened and why you request this meeting?" said King George curiously.
Duke Mallory spend one hour explaining from the start how the Secret vault that have been guarded for generations in his family have been robbed clean by unknown thief.
Hmmm… King George and both Duke was surprised, they did not even know that Duke Mallory have a secret vault that have been guarded for generations. The amount of wealth stored in it must be immense and that amount of wealth has been robbed by someone?
"I feel sorry for your loses Mallory but what does this thing have to do with us?" Said Duke Grom unhappy.
"I found this on the vault" Duke Mallory throw the broken insignia of Duke Grom and Duke Strauss house on the round table. Bergen took the insignia and present it to the King.
"The Insignia is genuine my King" said Bergen informing the King while feeling the material of the insignia.
BAM… Duke Grom pound the table hard. "What is the meaning of this? You accused us of breaking in to your secret vault?".
"I did not say that but the evidence I found say so" Duke Mallory glared back at Duke Grom. Usually Duke Mallory is an easy-going person but when money is concerned, he become a different person since he loved money more than his own family.
"What evidence? A broken insignia doesn't mean anything. Someone could plant this evidence to intentionally accuse us" said Duke Strauss with a calm voice.
"I have also considered that possibility but the chance that someone from outside the country have the capabilities and connection to smuggle huge amount of goods within this kingdom from my territory mean that he is connected to either one of you" Duke Mallory pointing his finger at both Duke Grom and Duke Strauss.
King George nodded. "This is a huge problem, the thief managed to bypass the magical protection you have and smuggle out a large amount of stolen good throughout the kingdom territory. That means the thief may have more than one wyvern or flying monster at his disposal".
"Yes, this is what I want to say, there is no way an enemy rune knights dare to stroll around in this Kingdom territory especially bringing a large amount of stolen goods. The culprit must have been one of the noble inside the kingdom with a rune knight at his disposal and know the inside of the Kingdom territory well to hide the stolen goods." Said Duke Mallory with a red face glaring at the other Dukes.
"Your reasoning is understandable Duke Mallory" said King George while stroking his beard.
"Bergen, contact the captain of the Rune knight division and tell them to list the whereabouts of all rune knight and their wyvern in the kingdom last night". The King quickly ordered Bergen to check all registered rune knight in the kingdom
"Yes my king", Bergen walk out of the room.
"I will also order the Kingdom military force to search the perimeter around your territory while you can borrow the mage in royal capital to help track the culprit. Maybe they can found some clue in the vault but the broken insignia does not mean Duke Grom and Duke Strauss are involved in this case since we need more evidence" said the King.
After two hours of discussion, they still cannot find an agreeable conclusion so King George waved his hand in a gesture to say don't talk anymore to the three Dukes.
"We will adjourn the meeting right now and continue when there is more evidence". King George leave the room feeling tired.
"Yes, your majesty", all three Duke stood from their seat and walk out of the room. Duke Grom and Duke Strauss is pissed for being suddenly accused by Duke Mallory but they understand that his reasoning make sense and they can't help be suspicious of the other party and wonder if one of them are really the one who did it.
Cain was walking happily in the street to meet Papas the slave merchant, The Seed of Doubt that Cain plant already begin to germinate, all the Duke are suspicious of each other and this is the best time to make another move.