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At dawn, Yoka left Yuzuru behind to guard the sleeping young mistress and went hunting for cats in the city with the other two servants.
The two of them were in charge of investigating every building in the surrounding district while Yoka searched the rest of the city.
'Remember, don't act on your own. Return to the inn and report the location to me later,' she instructed. 'I'll handle the rest.'
The other two nodded and they parted ways.
Yoka waited for the two to disappear down the street before she turned towards the castle.
'The dead cats first appeared inside Saga Castle,' the young mistress told her last night, when they were preparing for bed. 'So, start investigating from there. I think the cats are being bred inside the castle.'
Her rationale was this:
The culprit chose an incident inside the castle—the most inaccessible place in Saga—to start spreading the rumours, instead of using the many other illicit affairs happening inside the city to spurn the daimyo.
Most likely, he was someone who knew about what happened inside the castle and had access to the servants there.
Therefore, he was someone who lived inside the castle.
It would be extremely difficult to bring dead cats inside, especially after Lord Nabeshima ordered all the cats in the castle to be disposed of, since everything brought into the castle keep had to be checked by the guards at the gates.
So, if the cats were not being bred inside the castle, then Rin said the culprit was one of the guards at the gate.
'Have you guessed this from the start?' Yoka had asked her.
The young mistress nodded.
'Why didn't you tell Lord Nabeshima and have him search the castle for the cats immediately? We would have been able to get catch the culprit immediately.'
Rin stared at her like she was looking at a fool. 'Why would I do that? I want to capture the secret mercenary group for myself.'
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