Chapter 1641 - 106: Fox and Mouse Game (16)

Chapter 1641: Chapter 106: Fox and Mouse Game (16)

[Maplestone City Cathedral]

The development of the situation was exactly as Luosong had predicted. The grand search ended up creating chaos in Maplestone City without any results.

The junior officers faithfully executed Luosong’s orders, broke into every house, and checked everyone’s palms. Those with calluses on their thumb and the base of their little finger were rounded up, along with a considerable number of weapons being confiscated.

So calling it "completely fruitless" isn’t accurate. By the end of the day, the prison in Maplestone City was packed with caravan guards, bodyguards of the wealthy, deserters from the old New Reclamation Legion, five wanted criminals, several thieves, and perhaps a few unfortunate cooks.

However, regarding the true target of this search, they indeed gained nothing.

Most of the suspects captured were locals, living in Maplestone City for years, with neighbors to testify for them.

The enemy who raided the clothing warehouse was extremely skilled, if they were locals, it would mean they were recruited and trained a long time ago.

To recruit a group from afar, arm and train them, and maintain their loyalty, is far more difficult than buying off a few informants.

And such strategic plays, if made, wouldn’t be just a single move.

Maplestone City is merely the capital of the most remote and backward province of the Paratu, if there is such a force lurking here, then certainly the other major cities in the Kingdom of Galloping Horses have the Pretender Emperor’s pawns.

Nobody has unlimited resources, and Luosong doesn’t believe anyone could achieve this, not even the ruler of the Universal Empire.

And although without concrete evidence, the Grand Judge, Sister Felt, and Major Moritz all believed that "Court Mage" and "Swordsman" are generally fixed partners, thus the suspicion of locals is basically ruled out.

The minority of suspects with callouses on their little finger who were not locals mostly had legitimate identities, being either guards or bodyguards, and essentially possess alibis.

This group was Luosong’s main concern; the more complete the alibi, the more suspicious they seemed in Luosong’s eyes.

However, these people all had backgrounds; either they were bodyguards of local prominent families, or guards of visiting envoys, enough of them to ensure any hasty action would certainly result in many wrongful arrests.

Therefore, without solid evidence, Luosong didn’t dare make a decision, nor was he in a position to make one.

Although Moritz personally participated in the screening of suspects, he did not issue orders for enhanced interrogation, only instructed that suspects be classified and detained strictly.

In fact, Luosong had a feeling that the Major was not very concerned about the search itself that he initiated.

As for those suspects without legitimate identities or who weren’t locals, Luosong had no reservations. They didn’t even need to follow procedure; many of them readily confessed to being deserters, thieves, horse thieves, and smugglers...

And a few who were initially stubborn were soon found to be wanted bandits.

After the Newly Reclaimed Lands Province changed hands, the new government quickly embarked on a grand bandit suppression campaign, and the crossroads of the province’s avenue soon were adorned with dried corpses. The once rampant various bandit gangs quickly disbanded and fled.

Most of the bandits fled either to the outer provinces, the Hurd Wasteland, or the deep forests and mountains, but several daring ones reckoned the darkest spot was under the lamp and went against the norm by sneaking into Maplestone City.

And then they ran into this grand search.

Besides the above three types of suspects, there was another special "suspect" group, smaller in number but far more troublesome.

That was the officers.

Genuine United Provinces Army officers.

Currently, Maplestone City not only has representatives of the Vineta Army, but also envoys from the United Provinces Army—the former claiming to be here to mediate, and the latter to discuss prisoner exchanges.

However, regardless of their intentions, due to the absence of the "Four Pillars," they could only wait idly in the lodgings designated by the New Army.

The Vineta Army and Paratu Army’s envoys, along with their entourage, clearly met Luosong’s criteria of "calluses on their hands," but they couldn’t just arrest them.

The only option was to request both delegations to provide personnel lists for enhanced monitoring.

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In short, this operation couldn’t be said to be entirely without gains.

But originally expecting to hunt lions, only to bring back a few kittens, is disappointing.

Not to mention, this grand search severely damaged the image of the New Army, breaking into civilian homes, rummaging through, inspecting people in their own spaces... though nobody dared to complain face-to-face, the officers knew well what kind of assessment awaited them after turning around.

Negative emotions visibly spread within the search teams, almost every involved junior officer’s face was marked with exhaustion, anxiety, and distress.

And it didn’t end there; at the end of the chaotic day, each junior officer faced unjust criticism from the "Alliance Major."

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"You’re saying," Moritz slouched his eyelids, drawing out his words behind the long table, "You searched four streets and sixty-seven houses, and didn’t catch a single person."

"Yes," the lieutenant replied, suppressing his anger while standing at the center of the room.

"Why?"

"What do you mean, ’why’?"

"Why didn’t you catch anyone?"

"Because no one was found who had issues."

"No one has issues?"

"Those are just ordinary commoners! They have no issues, should I forcibly say they do?"𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚