At 2:45 p.m., in the Kingdom of Shambala, in the capital of Sakaar, and in the office of the military materials creation cell occupying the 6ᵉ and 10ᵉ level of a large building with more than 10 floors, Johannes heard a knock on the door.
-Johannes : please come in!
-Thank you, sir,
-Yes, tell me, what is it Elsa?
- By the way, you have a visitor, sir.
- At this hour and from whom may I ask?
-From a gentleman called Flinn, who keeps insisting on seeing you and says he's been trying to meet you for several days, but security has prevented him (says the assistant and secretary while looking at her notebook).
-Who is it? Flinn?
- By the way, she mispronounces my name, especially with a western accent. Popping up behind the back of Johannes's assistant.
-What's wrong with you? To pop up like that in front of someone and on top of that I haven't allowed you in yet, please get the hell out of here.
- Hey, sorry, Johannes. He's my best friend, and I don't know why you always have to go through someone to see him.
Elsa: "It's Mr. Johannes. Have a little respect for him." (She says to him, pushing him towards the exit).
- Hey Jo, you're not going to stand there and watch your staff kick me out, say something.
-Elsa : If you insist any longer, I'll have to call the police and you'll never set foot in this building again.
Johannes : Honestly, are you two almost finished? Elsa, you can let him in.
-Elsa : But Sir?
-It's all right, I know him and I'm grateful to you for telling me earlier.
-Okay, Sir.
- And, as they leave the room, just as they cross paths with Finn, they boo each other, making faces at each other (to tell each other they didn't like each other), before closing the door.
-So, if not, tell me friend, what brings you here? First of all, when was the last time we saw each other?
- Flin: uh... (he was at a loss for words because of the guilt he felt about her absence).
- Do you realize that, Flin?
-I'd say it goes back to when your wife was pregnant, like 3 years?
-Eight years, Flin.
- I'm sorry about that. The work I've chosen doesn't give us that much freedom anymore. Besides, I envy you. You have your own time to spend with your family. What's her name? I remember Sophia telling me you were expecting a girl.
-Well, you can be astonished, because they're twins.
-Twins? Them?
- Yes, a Gracon and a girl.
-You're lucky, you order one from the creators and they give you a bonus of a second one.
- Say, you wretch! (Then they burst out laughing.) And opening an expensive liqueur too, certainly, to celebrate their reunion.
Flinn: Ah! You're not stopping yourself from doing this sin in your office, brother? Will it set a bad example for your subordinates?
- Ah, shut up! It's not every day you get to see your military friend come back from the dead, let alone in one piece. Besides, I knew you were thirsty! (He gave her a glass and filled it with the liqueur. Then the two of them toasted each other and finished off the glass of liqueur, filling another one.
Flinn: hahaha, and let's be honest, you weren't expecting it. At the time, you just wanted to enjoy life. Sorry to go off topic with you, but this beverage is exquisite. That's what I miss on the battlefield.
-Johannes : You can say that again. As soon as I became a soldier and found myself with two kids, I had to put an end to it to find something that paid better.
- I guess you could say you killed two birds with one stone.
They were laughing so hard they disturbed secretary and assistant Elsa, who was standing behind Johannes' desk.
* Then, all of a sudden, the atmosphere changed.
-Johnnes : So, tell me, what are you so afraid of, my friend?
Flinn : Ah, you know a lot, brother, starting with Will's disappearance.
-Johannes : Will Kent? The one who did the business of re-supplying the old church, supplying them with cassava, leaving straight and true from his plantations. If I remember correctly, he had also gone into fish farming and, with his death, I think his children or his wife who inherited it .
Flinn: Absolutely, it's him and it's his wife who manages it, although it's not as flamboyant as with Will, but you know, how long has it been since he was murdered?
- I think it's been 02 or 03 years now.
-Wrong, in 03 days it'll be exactly 04 years. I can see that you're taking on far too much responsibility, and I'd like to point out that he had to support you when things weren't going well in your early days in business.
-I know, it's almost 4 p.m. and I was a little too tired, but I'll never forget him and I've even promised his family that I'll assist them.
- So, what's this letter doing on top of that drawer? (He'd spotted a letter with Will's widow's name on it).
-Oh, I hadn't seen that letter. It indicates that it was delivered to you at least a month ago, Take a look at it first. (He handed her the letter.)
I'll read it later, but first tell me why you're telling me about Will's death. Did you write this letter with his wife?
-No, it's just that the culprit was never found.
- That's far too common in Feoris, and everywhere else for that matter.
- Yes, but at the time, Feoris was experiencing far too many disturbing events and an unstable economic situation.
- I admit that. And what's Will Kent's death got to do with it so far? You still haven't told me the connection between the stories you're telling me.
- And what did the doctors' report say about his death?
- That he was shot.
- But you've got nothing to worry about, Flin. It must have been one of his competitors in Dawnchester.
He's silent for a moment, then says: "Don't think I'm behind this. Will helped me a lot and I'm grateful to him for the rest of my life."
- Be as grateful as you like, but that's not my question.
- Then what is the question?
As he raised his arm and placed the glass of liqueur in his hand on the table,
jadis As I went to take a closer look at Will's body, I saw matter that didn't come from gunpowder.
- And what did you see?
- I saw little samples of pieces of flesh that I'd zoomed in on under the microscope.
- What did you see?
- There was arcane energy in those pieces.
- What if it was an arcane gun that some military man or bandit had grabbed? Let me remind you that this isn't the first time a citizen has been killed by an ill-disciplined soldier.
-I also noticed traces of Bound-Breaker?
- What are you talking about?
- That's right, Jo. It's as if someone wanted to hide the real cause of his murder.
-Seeing as how there's been a downturn in Feoris' economic situation, apparently Will was either someone important or he was helping this country more than he realized.
- And look at this (he passed Johannes a months-old newspaper).
- Holding up the paper, he said, "That's an old paper. Where did you get this newspaper? Frankly, with all this mess in your life, you really need a woman."
- Ah, shut up! Read it first!
- Okay (reading the paper, he just reads the news of a doctor's death in Dawnchester). Then he replied: "It's about the death of a doctor who broke his neck when he fell from the stair railings, nothing more.
- His name was Nikolo Vanishka, a doctor gifted in surgery, especially mutations and arcanic stones. He was close to the country's leaders and top brass, as well as to the army.
- The army's behind it, don't you think?
- Further investigation of his file revealed that he died in his home in Dawnchester on November 9.
-Wait, don't tell me you had to inspect his residence or his remains at the morgue?
- No, but when I touched his pockets, I saw the bills for his clothes, which he'd paid for, and tell you what?
They were expensive?
- Yes, and on the invoice it says he paid for them in the kingdom of KOMBEN.
- I've got lots of questions. He died several days earlier in KOMBEN and his body was moved? But what does this have to do with Will Kent?
- giving him a second newspaper, he said: "Look, in this article about Will's murder, the doctor who spoke to the press about the cause of Will's death, saying he'd been shot?
Johannes: Nikolo Vanishaka!!! But why? Because it also says in the newspaper I read that he had already retired.
- On my way to Komben, I went to a residence and was told that it belonged to a certain businessman named Gill Red. Asking around in the agencies, I eventually discovered that Gill Red had named a woman named Emylia Opra as his second owner. She turned out to be Nikolo's wife. He had changed his identity to launder his money.
- When you went to the crime scene in KOMBEN, was it a villa?
- Yes, with a pool and a view of the beach. Enough to party with prostitutes every weekend. I don't know how many bedrooms it had. So, even with the money from his final settlement after retirement, it would have been impossible to buy it.
- Do you think this villa was a bribe?
The right question to ask is, "What silence did they want to buy with that amount of money?"
- Was it a secret about Will's death, or did he know what Will had found out and wait for the "they" you're talking about?
- I don't know.
- You don't know?
- There are too many grey areas, especially after the murder of Will and Nikolo.
- But that doesn't explain the economy of this country, or how they managed to move Nikolo's remains how many miles to Dawnchester.
Komben and Feoris are like brothers, they've got too many corpses in the closet and Komben always wants to show off, a bit of a paradise for bad leaders who go there to stone money stolen from famine-stricken peoples. They have no problem as long as they're given a good sum.
-As for the economy, I've learned that the quarries of the huge gold deposits just discovered in the northern regions of Fréoris have run dry.
- Ah, you've got the eye now, Jo?
- When you're in business, you try to get into several fields, and being a mining agent appeals to me.
- And in your experience in this field, what have your mining friends said?
-That the experts had miscalculated, and others say that with its great potential, it was exploited from top to bottom, so quickly that it made even the population living next to its quarries sick. Some speak of radiation, others of draugrs, as these regions have been closed off by the government.
- And the old church, which has expanded with far too many followers and faithful, even those in the new church have left it for the old one.
- Johannes : I've heard that the old church is starting to offer scholarships, proper care, free education and so on. I can't begin to list all the benefits. And all these benefits are granted only by joining the old church. It has become so influential that it occupies several key positions in the administrations of the current government. There has been a civil war between the old church and the royal power.
-And all that, my friend, makes you think.
- Johannes : If you think about it so much, then why not appeal to Klaus? You know each other so well!
-I'll let him enjoy his youth. I don't want him to die, even though he'll soon be 30. I remember how he hates being made to look old, even in front of Queen Adeline! He's just too smart and mature for his age. The government often keeps him away by sending him to the front to fight draugrs and on expeditions, and I think it's for the best.
So why are you telling me all this? Maybe you want the person who has to die to be me?
- Stop making me laugh. The whole building will think I'm drunk, Johaness. Of course not, I came to tell you to get yourself and your family to safety.
- And precisely when will that be, my friend?
- I don't know, but it will surely be in the near future.
-Johannes : Well, if that's the case, you've got plenty of time to find a woman to marry and start a family with, which is apparently going to take a while yet. And what's more, when business is better.
- Ha ha! You think I'm capable of landing my blood in this world? this world is absolutely not ready for it.
- Have a little faith and optimism, brother.
- You can tell they're too optimistic, just like their Daimyo. That's the only good thing about TOGA.
- And we're also counting on him and supporting him to fight against the destruction of this world, because we know he's capable of it.
- Your support will help him a lot, but if other Daimio join him, I wouldn't worry too much.
- Johannes : Zaruba can also join him.
-It won't be enough, we'd need the other bugger, but he's too much of a free electron.
- Are you talking about Arima?
- Yes, because he's the only one capable of opposing or having a chance against Dorohty. Otherwise, thank you very much (placing his half-empty glass on Johannes' table): I think I've had too much for one day.
-You were obviously weaning yourself off at the front, the bottle's still a quarter full. We used to need three bottles to get drunk.
- Haha, so you can see I'm reaching my limit. Everything comes to an end.
-Then let me buy you a meal for our reunion, I know a restaurant in town that does great grilled meats.
- Habon? He took the remaining quarter glass from the bottle.
-You still know how to motivate yourself and you're not afraid of stomach upsets anymore, I see.
- Give me a break, you're going to take me to a 5-star restaurant and I can't do without it, I know that good charcuterie will fill the void in my stomach that this liquor has just left. Wear your jacket, brother.
- Okay, let's go.
As he opened the door, Fyn also invited his secretary, Elsa, to join them, as he felt they'd met under the wrong circumstances. Although Johannes told him that one guest should not accompany another, his friend insisted until Johannes agreed. The three of them then set off to enjoy some fine grilled meats.