Chapter 435: Murder

Chapter 435 – Murder
The banquet on the Earl’s residence continued until late at night without ending.

Lister was lucky enough to be involved in Viscount Degou Brar’s coterie.

A group of men held pipes and smoked fine tobacco, talking in the lingering smoke.

Men always talk about military and politics, so I don’t know when they discussed the recent situation in Horn Bay.

“It’s getting harder and harder to do business on the coast now.”

A gentleman with a bowler hat filled his cigarette with elegant movements, extended his pipe to the candle flame and carefully lit it, sighing helplessly.

“Oh, Aubrey, do you still have a way out, my merchant’s house has long since been evicted from the coast.”

“I’m only barely holding on, and I don’t know how long I’ll last.”

“Hmph!” Viscount Brar let out a cold snort. “It’s all because some ambitious people are pushing behind the scenes, trying to push our country into the abyss of war.”

He picked up a glass of bright red wine and tilted his neck to drink it in one go.

“There is no way I will let our country fall into a catastrophe.”

This sentence just made Liszt think that Viscount Brar had a really big mouth.

Cable, who was sitting next to him, whispered to him, “Don’t look at my teacher as just a viscount, but his status as a court astrologer makes His Majesty the King value his opinion, and our Majesty …… is well, a bit superstitious.”

A bit superstitious? Lister’s head is full of question marks, this is really strange coming from an astrologer’s mouth, do you not believe in your own set?

The gentleman in front of him added: “But many of us here are looking forward to war with the coastal people, listen to what they say over there!”

Lister listened with his side ear, and an unpleasant curse accompanied by cackling laughter came,.

One of the guests shrugged his shoulders, “They think that although the coastal people are dominant at sea, they are just a bunch of lambs on land, and as long as of our warriors rush to the other side’s doorsteps, they can go in effortlessly, and take the money, silks, porcelains, and spices.”

Viscount Brar commented with great disdain, “All a bunch of fools who have only learned to fiddle with military chess before talking about war.”

The gentleman in front of him laughed and asked him, “I say, Degu, aren’t you afraid of offending people if you are so flagrantly against going to war?”

Viscount Brar shrugged his shoulders and said with great spontaneity, “Anyway, there were quite a few people who were offended in the past, and I’m not worried when I owe more.”

This was, after all, an internal conflict within the Horned Bay people, and Lister wisely chose to listen on the sidelines. As the banquet gradually drew to a close, he decided to retire after drinking almost as much as he could, and the owner of the mansion warmly invited him to stay at his home, and after some excuses he still followed the waiter.

……

Bang! Bang! Bang!
A sharp rap on the door came, waking up the sleeping Lister.

What happened? He quickly put on his clothes and hurriedly got out of bed to open the door of his room.

Standing outside the door was the same waiter who had sent him over yesterday, the waiter had a flustered face and was out of breath, he seemed to have run all the way here.

He said, “Sir, you must hurry to the front room, something has happened. I have to go and inform the others, so please go there yourself.”

Then the waiter ran away. With trepidation and enduring the dizziness brought on by his hangover, Lister went to the front hall, the hall where the banquet was held last night.

There were already a lot of people standing inside, and the most striking thing was a group of knights in armor. Although there were a lot of people, there was no longer the slightest hint of the joyful atmosphere from yesterday’s banquet here, but it was replaced by a heavy, solemn atmosphere.

The owner of the mansion, Earl Bridges, was talking with one of the knights.

When the Earl saw Lister arrive, he said with an unspeakable expression on his face, “It’s too unfortunate, Mr. Lister, that this has happened.”

“Unfortunate? Just what …… is it?”

Bridges said with great heaviness, “Viscount Degou Brar, he …… he has been called by the grace of the Lord, it’s so horrible, a good man, who was talking and laughing at my banquet yesterday, has become a corpse today… …”

Deku Brar? Lister remembered, wasn’t it the astrologer from yesterday’s banquet, that Cable’s mentor.

“It’s really unfortunate ……”

He followed suit and silently mourned in his heart, while hoping that this viscount’s departure would not affect the vindication of Cable’s mother.

“It is, Mr. Lister.”

The man dressed as a knight spoke, “We are from the city police force, and are here to notify something. Viscount Brar’s passing was too sudden, he wasn’t very old, he was in good health, and he didn’t have any bad habits in his daily life, so we suspect that he didn’t die of natural causes.”

“It was murder?” Lister’s eyes widened and he blurted out.

“It’s still uncertain.” The man dressed as a knight kept staring into his eyes, “A judgment will need to be made after the coroner’s examination, but given that you were the one who had direct contact with him yesterday, I’d like you to stay put for the next two days in case we …… need to ask some questions at any time.”

What else could be said? Lister could only nod, “I will cooperate with you.”

It was really bad luck to run into this kind of thing.

Then came a few more guests who stayed at the earl’s residence for the night, and they were told the same thing.

“I’m sorry, guests.” Earl Bridges said to the crowd with full of apologies, “But Viscount Brar was a man of the court, His Majesty the King’s royal stargazer, and his death is a serious matter, so even I can’t just leave the city for the next two days.”

After informing the police force of his lodging, Lister was prepared to wait for several days, but he didn’t expect things to progress the next day.

He was notified that Viscount Degou Brar did not die of murder, the case was closed, and the people involved were free to move around.

Breathing a sigh of relief thankfully, Lister began to examine the commerce of Collins as originally planned.

After circling for a week, he packed his bags and left the city, and in order to hurry he bought a horse to ride along, but also in view of the impassability of the roads and the ability to escape in case of an emergency.

In his baggage was an extra token given by the Earl of Bridges, which might come in handy if he met another lecher halfway across the country and couldn’t get away.

Luckily, he was not blackmailed like last time, but he met an unexpected person halfway.

He was riding his horse slowly when he heard a lurching sound coming from far away and couldn’t help but look back, only to see a carriage rushing this way, as if there was some kind of beast or bandit chasing after it, although there was actually no one behind the vehicle.

(End of chapter)