<Chapter 111>
#12. Black Cloud(9)
An even greater silence descended than when he first pointed to Durasen. The Tuanivel family head’s trembling eyes slowly filled with rage. Seeming to notice the people’s agitation, Durasen slammed the table violently and shouted.
“Calix Kuse Padrian. What on earth are you saying!”
Completely unaffected by his shout, Calix opened his mouth with a calm face.
“My, my. Could it be you really don’t know?”
“…Calix.”
Slowly looking around, Calix felt all eyes on him, including those of Owen Kun Sarvie, Lila McNeil, Kamin Patel, and everyone else gathered.
“Are you planning to confess?”
Letting Durasen’s words, who had quickly regained composure, go in one ear and out the other, Calix spoke matter-of-factly.
“Since Iel Tuanivel’s disappearance began, the Botenta family has been diligently conducting searches.”
Having said that much, Calix shrugged lightly and continued.
“Out of concern, I temporarily attached my subordinates to the people entering the search.”
When Calix tapped the table in a specific way, several thin thread snakes hidden in his clothes slid smoothly down his hand. Gently stroking the heads of the snakes coiled on the table and staring at him with his index finger, Calix continued.
“These little ones told me something. There is a cave, almost like a tunnel. They said they found it there.”
“Wh-what?!”
“Durasen Botenta! Is that true?!”
People shouted in astonishment as they murmured among themselves. Despite their outcries, Durasen continued to stare at Calix without changing his expression. Calix easily saw through what his heavily sunken eyes were saying.
Having cast suspicion on Calix, he had forbidden others from contacting him. He cited the possibility of destroying evidence as the reason, but he had calmly allowed Melty into the room. Calix was certain that while Melty’s innocent eyes may have been part of the reason for his capitulation, he had given such instructions because he thought Calix wouldn’t be able to look elsewhere while with him.
If that was indeed his reason for allowing Calix and Melty to share a room, it was the right choice. Calix and Melty had just opened their eyes to the taste of adulthood and were at a time when they were burning for each other. Moreover, Calix wasn’t particularly patient enough to leave alone a hamster that crawled up wiggling its short, plump tail without fear of snakes.
But that didn’t mean he was stupid enough to be passively victimized without taking action in a situation where the scheming was obvious.
“This is slander.”
“Is it? How strange. The people of the Botenta family have been so busily searching for Iel Tuanivel.”
“……”
“Why couldn’t they find it when it wasn’t such a hidden place? When I looked at the areas each person was assigned, I noticed that no one had been assigned to precisely that region.”
Calix’s gaze, accompanied by a bright smile, returned to Durasen.
“How curious. Almost as if others shouldn’t know she was there. Don’t you think so, Durasen-ssi?”
No sooner had Calix finished speaking than the Tuanivel family head grabbed Durasen by the collar. Others separated him as he let out a scream bordering on a wail. Naturally, the meeting, which had turned into chaos, was postponed to another date to continue.
Calix kindly guided everyone to the place he had been led to by the snakes. Durasen, with his expression hardened, had no choice but to follow Calix under pressure from the others.
The place Calix guided them to was indeed a shallow tunnel. Around her, lying with her hands folded over her stomach, were plants filled with anti-decomposition properties. Just as when her death was first announced, an uproar broke out at the sight of her purple lips devoid of blood and her pale face.
Durasen, who could not escape many people’s gazes, could not avoid punishment. However, since they were currently in Durasen Botenta’s territory, they couldn’t act rashly. Moreover, without even a successor, his vacancy could cause greater confusion than expected.
Soon, those gathered dispersed according to their individual purposes. Calix, Kamin Patel, and Lila naturally made their way to an empty reception room.
“…What on earth is happening…”
Kamin Patel’s tired gaze, after exhaling heavily, fell upon Calix. Ignoring his gaze, Calix sipped his tea and pondered how he could return more quickly to where Melty was.
“I wondered why you sent such a letter…”
“You didn’t mention there would be such a major incident.”
Lila snapped, speaking for Kamin Patel who couldn’t continue. Calix calmly listened to their grumbling responses. As soon as suspicion arose about Durasen, he had contacted Lila and Kamin Patel in advance. Thanks to this, they were able to arrive around the same time as people from other families. If he hadn’t contacted them ahead of time, it was obvious that the one in trouble now would be Calix, not Durasen.
While Calix was confident there would be no hesitation if he dealt with them individually, he already knew that overturning public opinion when many people gathered was not easy. Unless one lived completely walled off from everyone, communication was essential to life.
At other times, he would have ignored whatever they said, but in a situation where Melty was also present, he didn’t want to show such an aspect. Unlike himself, who could easily disregard and ignore others’ words, Melty would certainly be anxious, reading the atmosphere. The desire to never see his lover in such a state acted more strongly. In the end, by moving one step ahead, he was able to cut off the momentum of those trying to corner him.
“I still don’t understand why he did such a thing.”
A heavy sigh flowed from Kamin Patel’s mouth. Durasen and Kamin Patel had known each other for a long time. Given that, Lila looked worriedly at him, still unable to escape the shock.
“Do you know something, Calix-ssi?”
“I can guess what he was aiming for, but the exact details would have to come from asking him directly.”
“…Inferences?”
With a light sigh, Calix opened his mouth to their gazes demanding a detailed answer. Having to explain one by one what could be sufficiently inferred was quite troublesome, but since it was also Calix who had contacted them first, he was willing to endure the accompanying annoyance just this once.
“The contract that the Padrian and Botenta families were trying to conclude wasn’t a difficult one. It simply stated that in exchange for prioritizing the supply of grains produced by Botenta to drought-affected regions, they would help remove the causes of drought in Botenta most efficiently and promptly.”
Looking at the content alone, neither side was at a disadvantage. The problem that followed drought was poverty, and the most efficient way to solve it was to protect the land of Botenta, which was responsible for the largest food production. Since they weren’t supplying for free but selling, it was at most giving priority.
“But Botenta has been delaying the contract with various excuses. There’s nothing beneficial to Botenta in that.”
Durasen had offered many excuses. When the contract first fell through, Calix thought it might be understandable, but suspicions deepened as time passed. And soon, Calix realized that he intended to somehow thwart the contract by any means. That was why he had drawn the vassals supporting the Botenta family into the meeting.
‘While you seem to have judged it as the timing to connect me with Iel Tuanivel.’
He introduced Iel as an “esteemed guest” to Calix, but to others, he introduced her as “the person who will marry Calix,” deepening the misunderstanding. As he was scheduled to conclude the deal, Calix couldn’t treat Durasen’s precious guest carelessly. And such behavior would appear to others as potential grounds for misunderstanding. The gaze of others, systematically accumulated, eventually caught Calix by the ankle.
“Durasen was fond of Iel. That’s probably why the Tuanivel family readily gave permission when she said she was going to Botenta.”
“But that doesn’t erase what he did. As I proved today, there are constraints on how a third party can act while evading the many eyes within the mansion.”
When guiding people to where Iel’s body was, Calix deliberately traversed the mansion’s corridors widely. Although it was chaotic, it was a sufficient route to grasp just how many servants there were within the mansion.
“But if the drought continues, it wouldn’t be good for Botenta either?”
“You’ll have to ask him what he was thinking.”
Calix, lightly shrugging his shoulders, looked at Kamin Patel, who still appeared troubled. Then he mentioned what he had originally planned to bring up at this meeting but couldn’t due to being swept up in the Iel Tuanivel incident.
“I couldn’t mention it then, but I contacted you because there was one more point of suspicion.”
“Point of suspicion? Against whom?”
Lila, who had been worriedly watching Kamin Patel, turned her gaze to Calix. Looking at her puzzled face, Calix opened his mouth.
“Who else? Naturally, the Botenta mansion.”
“…Huh…?”
As if no longer having the energy even to raise his voice, a deflating sound escaped from Kamin Patel’s mouth.
“Calix-ssi. You’re not thinking of dropping another bombshell in this situation, are you?”
“Actually, I am.”
“You saw how the Tuanivel family went into an uproar. The other families are also busy dealing with what just happened…”
Calix readily agreed with Lila’s words. Indeed, it was a major controversy that the Botenta family, which always maintained its center, had killed the child of another family without a special reason. But that didn’t mean they could proceed with the discussion in a manner that mourned the death and discussed the punishment of the criminal. There was still the biggest hurdle remaining.
“If the Botenta family deliberately neglected issues in crop cultivation, how do they plan to deal with the famine that will follow the drought?”
“…What? Ah, th-that…”
Stuttering, Lila couldn’t hide her bewilderment. Certainly, since Iel’s body had been discovered, people had been unable to continue proper discussions. Kamin Patel stared at Calix with calm, settled eyes. At his nod, which seemed to say “go ahead and say whatever you have to say,” Calix brought up what he had originally intended to discuss in the meeting room.
“I don’t know why he did such a thing, but I believe it was the Botenta family that deliberately caused the drought in each region this time. The letter I sent to the two families contained a request to come here to resolve this point of suspicion.”
When they sent out Bain Spangky, who was damaged to the point of being an imbecile or a cripple, the forces that first took him were clearly those employed by Botenta. Although it was difficult to trace those listed on the list Angel had brought, Calix easily identified them based on a few additional discoveries. Since he had already noticed that Bain’s backing was Botenta, digging it up was even easier.
“…Why on earth would he do such a thing…”
Kamin Patel couldn’t understand what his friend had done. Glancing at him as he rubbed his eyes with a face drenched in fatigue, Calix calmly opened his mouth.
“Tomorrow’s focal point will clearly be gathered on the Iel Tuanivel incident. But if we get swept up in that, it’s obvious we won’t be able to come up with solutions for the drought crisis or the famine that will follow.”
In this world, there were many people who were swayed by the opinions of the majority. And most of those gathered in this meeting room were such individuals. Knowing full well that Durasen had deliberately gathered such people, Calix needed the power of numbers to twist the flow.
“So I think I’ll need the help of both of you.”
