15.7

At breakfast, Eve was met by Professor Swift and Bloodwood's tired yet suspicious glances. They glared at her boisterous and bubbly attitude as she showed her appreciation for the delicious food. Eve just smiled wider upon noticing their glares, causing both Ralph and Charlotte to show faint grins. Justin was completely unaware of the byplay focusing on the food with single-minded attention.

“Gentlemen, I’ve taken the liberty to make sure today’s newspapers are available in the reading room," Ralph said. “It would be best if everyone is on the same page, so to speak, with the recent news that arrived this morning.”

Both of the professors, Swift and Bloodwood, looked askance at Eve the moment Ralph finished speaking. Eve stared back at them with a faint smile on her face as she bit into a sausage.

“What did we miss?” Swift said while buttering his toast.

“I don’t feel I missed anything last night, old friend.” Bloodwood said with a smirk as he took a provocative bite of bacon off his fork.

“I’m glad the maids were able to provide service that satisfied,” Charlotte said. “They, along with the assistant butlers, have all been trained to ensure the highest level of satisfaction for my guests.”

Eve watched Justin’s expression shift to an understanding before she asked, “Will the departure be inconvenienced by the morning news?” She found the breakfast reminiscent of a very excellent Hawsksmoor-style morning meal. Although the infamous beans had been replaced by brown rice in this case. It wasn’t a bad decision. Traveling most of the day by fortified carriage didn’t make beans an appealing option, to be sure.

“There will probably be a rapid investigation, but crimes that are not solved within two days tend never to be solved at all,” Ralph said politely to the professors.

“Oh! I like a good crime drama filled with poison, rituals, secret cabals, and shady underhanded deals.” Bloodwood said as he finished the bacon and eggs before starting on his own sausages.

The rest of the meal involved each of the two students talking with their professors while Eve put away three times the food of anyone else. Since this wasn’t her real body, she didn’t gain weight allowing her to eat to her heart's content. The meal was easily converted to stored mana for Eve's body. Once the meal was finished, Eve followed Ralph while the other four headed to the reading room.

“My young mistress has to grasp every opportunity to gain power. It is a sickening affair.” Ralph said as he brought Eve to examine the fortified carriage held within the stables.

“She still has three wishes, unlike her compatriot,” Eve mentioned as she examined the massive beast of a carriage. It was like a fantasy carriage version of the American leader’s limo. To start, the entire thing was crafted of high-quality steel before being further enchanted to harden everything. Shock absorbers ensured the inner portion of the carriage would have minimal disturbance when going over bumpy terrain. While there were two windows to view the outside world, they were covered by thick, heavy, runed glass. One-way curtains on the inside prevented anyone from seeing who was inside the vehicle by default.

“Interesting, you don’t leave the driver’s seat open to the air,” Eve said, looking at the fortified driver’s seat that had no opening except a thin 180-degree viewing port slice. It was like a miniature add-on version of the carriage.

“Goodness no, what would be the point of exposing the driver to crossbow fire?” Ralph said with a confused look.

“I’ve often thought the same,” Eve said non-committedly. “What about the horses?”

“The finest Air elemental steeds, four to be exact. It is one of the main sources of income for the Zienfer family. I wondered if you were actually from the College.” Ralph said as he followed behind her while she continued her inspection.

“Does it matter?” Eve said as she checked the carriage wheels, which had something like rubber but of a clearly superior mana-based version. There wouldn’t be any point trying to spike the wheels, as the rubber had a strange pressure shield. The more she pushed with her shapeshifted sword knife, the harder it became. In her opinion, attempting to spike the wheels was a fool's game.

“Absolutely not. This old man doesn’t care who is defending his pride as long as the enemies die.” Ralph said with clear amusement.

Eve glanced back before asking, “How is air exchange handled?”

“A small air elemental fairy is located on both the intake and outtake vents for both the main carriage and the driver’s seat. Any attempts to use vapor-based poisons or the like are doomed to failure.” Ralph said. “As I understand, those alterations were made to the house carriages around two hundred years ago.”

Understandable. They’ve been surviving assassinations for longer than I’ve been alive. Eve thought. I don’t really see any way for enemies to succeed short of stopping the carriage before forcing it open with explosives.

“Fallen tree, then aiming for the wheels?” Eve guessed a suspicion out loud.

“Indeed, from there, explosives from the dwarves or shaped-acid charges from the elves on the door. That was indeed the last successful manner used.” Ralph said as his expression grew frigid.

As she glanced at the older man, Eve narrowed her eyes, “Charlotte’s mother?”

Ralph nodded, “To my eternal shame, I wasn’t able to clean up everything fast enough. We had a traitor on the inside at the time.”

“I wondered,” Eve said. The extreme level of calculation the girl showed hadn’t come out of thin air, that was for sure.

“As a result, this old man has made sure that the young miss has a smooth path,” Ralph said while adjusting his gloves.

Eve had no doubt that the butler had blood on his hands. Nobody learned the level of spell-sword skill he had for baking cookies and dusting books. His words made her even surer that Charlotte’s enemies hadn’t ever stopped until he made them do so in a permanent manner.

“I thought she wasn’t in direct line of inheritance?” As she examined the spatial storage chests attached to the carriage rear, Eve said. The chests were held within a cabinet welded onto the rear and supported with a braced framework.

“Indeed, she is not. But you understand how some are not secure no matter how high their own position, right?” Ralph said as he turned away from here to peer towards the property’s gate.

“Visitors?” Eve said as she finished looking at the carriage.

“Pests,” Ralph said. “Would you mind assisting me in cutting them off at the knees?”

“Absolutely,” Eve said as she followed the older man out of the stables.

It was a swift journey to the gate’s entrance. Eve observed a pair of well-dressed gentlemen in suits that wouldn’t look out of place in a Victorian drama. As they approached, the older man focused on Ralph before demanding, “I say, we have a warrant. Let us in. You know the rules.”

“The infamous Morgan and Morgan. You'll probably find the most competent inspectors of the guard around here.” Ralph said, extending a hand for the warrant.

Eve gave a bright smile at both men before saying, “Good morning, gentlemen.”

“Good morning, ma’am.” The older Morgan said.

“Good morning, ma’am.” The younger Morgan said.

“Thomas, everything appears to be in order,” Ralph said, handing the warrant back to the older Morgan. “Do you want to enter with Max and question everyone, or do you want them brought out here?”

“We’ll question them inside, of course. I don’t want to disturb the young lady longer than required.” Thomas said, glancing at Ralph with deep meaning.

“A wise choice,” Ralph said non-committedly. “She is currently studying with a personal tutor provided by the College.”

“Oh?” Thomas’s eyes flashed with questions.

“Indeed. Allow me to introduce Eve, my mistress’s current bodyguard.” Ralph said.

Eve waved with a bright smile, making the sword on her side look completely out of place. She didn’t fail to notice how both men inspected her enchanted gear. It was clear they had some manner of a truth spell running from what she could see in the mana around them. They also clearly had a passive form of detection that had put them on to her gear.

“A very expensive set of jewelry you are wearing, Miss Eve,” Max said.

“I have expensive tastes,” Eve said as Ralph let the two men through the door.

“You wouldn’t know anything about the recent robbery of the Segway Merchant Guild bank, would you?” Thomas asked as he entered the mansion’s property.

“Of course I do!” Eve said brightly. Both inspector’s eyes lit up before dimming as she continued, “The morning newspaper had everything I needed!”

“Vultures!” Thomas spat as he followed Ralph.

“Do you personally know anything outside of the newspaper’s ramblings, Miss Eve?” Max asked.

“About what?” Eve said, demonstrating a faint grin.

“About the bank robbery that took place?” Max persisted.

“I know absolutely nothing about the bank robbery that took place recently,” Eve said with a grin.

Both men sighed as Ralph gestured to close the gate before walking them back to the mansion’s front door.

“I don’t need to remind either of you gentlemen that the power of investigation is limited by noble right, do I?” Ralph said, pausing at the door.

“No.”

“No.”

“It was nice talking to you two!” Eve said with a bright smile as the two men entered the door to be met by a maid.

“Take these gentlemen to visit the young mistress in the reading room. Make sure to announce them properly.” Ralph said with a sniff.

“That was evil,” Eve said appreciatively at the older butler.

“No more than you did,” Ralph said.

“I don’t know anything about a recent bank robbery. I only know about the one that took place last night.” Eve said while holding her hand to her head in a tragic posture.

“The morning newspaper indeed has everything you need, even if you haven’t read it yet,” Ralph said as they moved back to the stables.

“Right,” Eve said, smirking. “You aren’t worried about anything they ask the others?”

“What will they learn? The wonders of the young mistress’s policy on hiring new maids and apprentice butlers? The extensive teaching experience or battle technique of her professor? Pah!” Ralph said. “If she couldn’t twist rings around types like those two, I would have spent quite a few nights in various dungeons over the last several years.”

Eve nodded. “Are bandits a major problem around here in Othuven, or Aiqen at large?”

“Outside of the cities, the current policies of the nobility have drained the economic lifeblood of the kingdom,” Ralph said.

“Oh?” Eve said as she started to run her hands along the fortified carriage. The enchantments were good, but she could do much better.

“It isn’t my place to question the sanity of the ruling class, but the young miss has expressed a great deal of discontent at several policies,” Ralph said.

Eve enchanted Float along with Reflect onto the carriage’s exterior before asking, “Do you think she would make a good Empress?”

Ralph looked at Eve sharply before saying, “A ruler needs power beyond just being able to shatter a mountain into dust.”

Eve pulled the List of Evil out of her Storage. “I don’t have any problem loaning that power. Once I finish figuring out how to wipe this thing and create my own version, good help is only a summoning circle away.”

Ralph looked impassively at the book before saying, “A mercenary recommending the use of more to solve problems, how shocking.”

“Walked into that one,” Eve said, putting the List of Evil back in Storage.

“Youth and ignorance always lose to age and treachery,” Ralph said as Eve enchanted a few more parts of the carriage.

“So, you’re admitting the fact that you are ancient and decrepit,” Eve said grinning.

“Lunch was going to be a delicious meal of lasagna, but we might be out of stock. Don’t worry; I’ll have travel rations available for you.” Ralph said, unperturbed.

Eve froze in shock before saying, “I’m sure you are young at heart.”

“I’m sure we can just provide smaller portions, so there is enough left for you,” Ralph said without missing a beat.

“One day…” Eve said, moving to follow the butler back inside.

“But not today,” Ralph said as a parting shot.