D.E.M.O.N.S: Getting Summoned Weekly isn't so Bad - Chapter 1973 The Three Families
Chapter 1973: Chapter 1973 The Three Families
— Kat —
Steel sighed, pacing a bit. “I didn’t want to get into this, but I suppose I have to. There are three big families… I hesitate to say ’in charge’ of the more counter-cultural movements in the city, but it’s close enough for the truth and frankly we don’t have time to go over everything. So let’s call ’in charge’ close enough.
“Halebloom is one of course, alongside the Diggers, and the Fleurs. They all have different policies they aren’t big fans of though they mostly agree that leaving the city is a good thing for one reason or another. The Diggers are a family of miners but they’re quite restricted in that activity and have been for a while. The city actually extends quite a way underneath us, and SOME small distance outside that.
“We monitor them carefully to make sure they don’t leave tunnels to the outside… but it is something they like to do. They’re the poorest of the three families because we keep finding them every time they open up secret passages. It has… had mixed results. They like to say we’re deliberately targeting the Diggers… but they keep breaking the law. It could NOT be more clear. The fact they still exist is mostly that while they make the tunnels they don’t really use them personally.
“The Fleurs used to be a family of monster ranchers. They raised wonderfully flying monsters that had great top speeds, excellent endurance and helped massively with trade across the whole island… and they don’t do any of that anymore. Now they are by far the most militant of the three. They’re the internal peace keepers, and usually the group most willing to risk sending someone out into the snow…”
“I have some sympathy fore them,” admitted Ramor. Steel glared for a few moments before gesturing to continue, knowing where Ramor was going. “See, instead of trying to continue raising their beloved mounts inside of the city limits… they set them all free. Many of them didn’t want to go, and plenty of the family had familiar’s amongst the flock.
“There was a big, but amicable, split where a good chunk of the family left the city to ensure that the flock wouldn’t die out… though we obviously have no idea how that worked out for them. The ones that stayed have been bitter and angry ever since, even though they knew what was going to happen. The family apparently believed the lockdown would be for half a century at most… and routinely believe the kingdom ’stole the sky from them’
“And I’m not entirely sure we’re wrong. They’re greatly diminished… but while the Digger’s are a family of dwarves, and the Haleblooms are a mix of elves and humans… the Fleurs are full humans and perfectly happy to breed like rabbits. Despite loosing around half of their population when the city shutdown, they made those numbers up FAST.”
“Is that really relevant?” asked Steel.
“I’d say it IS in fact relevant. Because what’s not being mentioned is that more than one member of the family deliberately made themselves an enemy of the kingdom in an attempt to get banished while risking execution, and it HAS happened. They’re the family that predominantly takes fights and people have died… but they’re still the largest of the three by far. I know the youngest generation already has SIX kids in it, and if it comes down to a fight… well the guard could be in trouble,” explained Ramor.
“I… I hadn’t quite realised it was that extreme…” admitted Steel. “Are they trying to breed up an opposing guard force or something?”
“That would be my guess,” agreed Ramor.
“That’s… I don’t think I like the thought of that for just… so many reasons. Still, they aren’t, directly, relevant right at this moment. The last family, is the Haleblooms. They’re the cleanest on the surface. They make good money by selling only the finest alchemy ingredients. Others do as well sure, but they were cultivating their strains of various plants, and a few animals long before the city was shutdown. Since then, they went to great expense to put up specially enchanted greenhouses to keep things strong.
“They are easily the strongest political force in the three factions and also the strangest. We don’t even know WHY they’re connected to the other two. They’ve slipped up a few times in history so we know they’re on board in a fairly big way. As if the thief tied up in the interrogation rooms wasn’t clue enough… but it’s still strange. I just don’t know WHY they’re such big proponents of it. The other two at least have a good reason,” Steel sighed and glanced over at Ramor.
Ramor shrugged, “I don’t really know either. I’ve not heard anything pointing one way or the other. I agree, they’re definitely in bed with the other two, not literally… most of the time. BUT, I’ve got no idea if they genuinely feel a strong desire to leave or if it’s just a power thing. Having the Diggers rely on you for financial stability and to take the fall for certain riskier plans while having the Fleurs around as a military could be all the reason they need.”
“You’d think someone would blow the whistle if that’s the case. This is a generational thing for most of them,” added Angie.
“Says the old elf,” sniped Ramor.
Angie shrugged, “Yeah. Yeah she did. I’ve seen PLENTY of long term human plans fall apart the moment the oldest guy in the family falls over. It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last time. There’s occasionally assassinations, but a lot of the time, they just get old and the ’grand plan’ falls through when they go. Elven planning is much the same… but usually we don’t die so you don’t see this sort of thing happening as often to us.”
“Back on topic,” Steel cut in. “Jen wasn’t just robbing my place for valuables, though she was told to do that as well to muddy the waters. The real goal was to try and find a copy of my official stamp. The one I use for official orders, and is enchanted against counterfeiting. She wasn’t told WHAT they needed it for… but obviously it would not be good for her to have it.
“There are a few notable things about the goal though. The first is that, if they think they can crack the enchantment on my stamp. A stamp that isn’t really ’mine’ so much as it belongs to my position AND predates the closing of the city by a few centuries. It’s an ancient enchantment that I don’t know could be cracked by any of the enchanters we have… except they think they can, or suspect at least.
“It implies they’re in house enchanters are not so focused on their greenhouses and that perhaps, one of them could be linked to the heists of orbs we were looking into. The problem with that line of thinking though? Well I see two major ones. The first is that the team that breaks into that recharging station can’t be the same ones.
“I already looked into the Halebloom’s as suspects and most of them have alibis for the days of the thefts. In addition to that, their methods for sneaking in aren’t the same at all. Jen didn’t display any of the combat skill I’d expect from the orb thief.
“The other major issue… is that I don’t keep my stamp in that house. There are multiple copies sure… but I’ve almost never kept it in that house. I occasionally bring one from a different location if I need to work on things at home, but no stamp LIVES there. So why did she thing she could find one there?” Steel Pondered.
Ramor jumped in to say, “We’re not sure if someone was setting her up to be caught… something the strong backup would discourage. Or if someone was making an educated guess. We don’t THINK there’s a traitor in any of the guard branches, at least, not one with an important position anyway. It’s not exactly common knowledge that Steel doesn’t use his house much, but most of the guards with important positions have similar stamps and likely already KNOW Steel doesn’t keep them in his house because he doesn’t use it enough.”
“So… what are you saying here exactly?” asked Kat.
“I’m saying, that while theoretically this could be a prelude to a big move connected to an ongoing long term case… there is also the chance that someone, probably the Fleurs if I had to guess, were trying to get the Haleblooms in trouble. Which… complicates things,” sighed Steel. “There are multiple levels to this crime and how true each part of it IS and what the bigger picture ends up being will determine what we do.
Like, assuming the Haleblooms wanted my stamp, that’s grounds to search basically ALL their property. It’s that serious… but jumping straight to raiding what could be called an enemy base would look awful publicly if we couldn’t find anything, and considering how long they’ve been playing games… there’s a good chance of that.”
“Bleh… this is so complicated,” groaned Kat. *How involved do I even want to be in this shit?*
