Chapter 368: Pitiable, but Not Good People
Karsten Ritter von Neunil was originally from Eldenmark, a cadet branch of the Neunil family. As I understood it, he had been adopted because the main line had no suitable candidate for the position of commander of the Grand Duke’s Guard.
But to think he had betrayed Viscount Neunil...
"Viscount Neunil died at Karsten’s hands."
"That’s beyond absurd. It’s dumbfounding."
"I think so too. When that man, who had devoted himself to us and helped us, suddenly cut Viscount Neunil down from behind, I couldn’t even begin to guess where things had gone wrong."
How on earth had things come to this?
It all began when I cracked down on Heinlein, who had been scheming something using the illegitimate child of Prince Louis and Viola, and from there it led all the way here. This was the conclusion of a plot in which countless factions had been tangled together like a spider’s web.
I felt no great emotion at Viscount Neunil’s death.
What I wanted to know was why Karsten had murdered his adoptive father.
"Viscount Neunil mobilized every connection he had, searching for any way out. It was right before the attack began that Queen Gwendirente sent Karsten to him."
Karsten had arrived as reinforcements with a handful of close aides and had diligently protected Viscount Neunil. They escaped safely through a secret passage and reached Breisach as planned.
The plan was to flee to Strasbourg and lie low for a while, but just before they boarded the ship, Karsten’s sword cut across the defenseless old man’s back.
His unimaginable betrayal threw everything into chaos. As if that had been the signal, Karsten’s men attacked Viscount Neunil’s party indiscriminately, and the whole area turned into pandemonium.
"It was Karsten who started the fire. He had clearly planned it all in advance."
"Unbelievable. Killing the viscount would have ended it, so why torch a perfectly good port..."
Once Karsten set the fire, the fierce battle turned into a desperate scramble for survival. Like Schafen, it was an old port, so most of the warehouses were built of wood rather than stone, which left them vulnerable to fire.
Why had he started the fire?
"What happened to Karsten?"
"He escaped by ship before the fire spread in earnest."
"So he killed the viscount and slipped away at his leisure."
"Unable to board a ship, I had no choice but to smear filth on my face and hide among the refugees in disguise. I thought I wouldn’t be discovered, but..."
Mort had cursed his fate at the unexpected interference and swallowed his pride to disguise himself, only to be found far too easily. The despair he felt in that moment had made him give up on everything.
Adolf was currently tracking down the remnants of Viscount Neunil’s faction.
This would probably be unwelcome news for Adolf, who had been itching to serve them a merciless humiliation. Since the viscount had died by a traitor’s blade, he might even earn sympathy from the nobles.
"Do you know why Karsten killed Viscount Neunil?"
"I don’t know the exact motive either. However, after killing Viscount Neunil, he said it was the opportunity he had waited a long time for. This is only speculation, but he seems to have held a grudge against the viscount, one that no one in the family ever noticed."
What grudge could Karsten have held against his adoptive father, Viscount Neunil?
"If not that, it could have been the queen’s orders."
"Hmm, that’s plausible too. But why now, of all times?"
"Couldn’t you simply press the queen for answers, Baron?"
Mort believed that with my power I could force an investigation of the queen, but that would be overstepping my place. As long as she legitimately sat on the throne, there was nothing I could do.
"Did you think I wouldn’t see through your scheme? If I had investigated the queen as you suggest, it could have driven a wedge between His Highness the grand duke and me. However poor their relationship may be, the queen is still the queen."
"Viscount Neunil didn’t see it that way. He was putting pressure on the queen."
The queen’s influence had all but vanished. A new candidate for queen had already appeared in the east, and rumors that the grand duke intended to divorce Gwendirente had spread far and wide, reaching even as far as Breisburg.
Viscount Neunil may have tried to profit from that. In doing so, he incurred the queen’s resentment, and she seized the opportunity to send Karsten to kill him. That was one way to read it.
But that wasn’t the only thing bothering me.
"I’ll need to look into Eldenmark."
I was curious about the current state of Karsten’s birth family.
I might turn up a clue I never expected to find.
"If you’re satisfied with the results of this interrogation, please grant me a request."
"A request? Do you think you’re in any position to be making requests of me?"
"I have answered faithfully. So I ask that you grant me one final request."
"I can’t just grant requests blindly. Tell me what it is first."
"...Allow me to take my own life."
"Afraid of the executioner’s blade, I see."
His life was pitiful, I’ll admit.
But the people dragged into his schemes had ended up far more miserable.
I looked into the mindset of Mort, who was so desperate to end his own life. And I realized this bastard truly was a schemer to the bone. Contrary to his desperate plea, his mindset pointed to deceit.
If I allowed Mort’s suicide, things could get more complicated than I expected. First of all, punishing Mort’s crimes was not mine to decide; it fell to the Judicial Department, and ultimately to the grand duke’s verdict.
If word got out that I had permitted his suicide, then setting the Judicial Department aside, from the grand duke’s perspective it would look like a subordinate taking matters into his own hands without permission.
A very unpleasant business.
I had to remember to put myself in his shoes.
If it had happened in the middle of battle there would have been room for leniency, but the interrogation had clearly already taken place. It would be no different from my subordinate Beort capturing Mort and then killing him without permission.
The reason I had arrested the lord of Schafen and Count Heinlein and delivered them to the grand duke was precisely because I valued this kind of procedure. It was one of the reasons the grand duke thought so highly of me.
"So even getting me to permit your suicide was meant to drive a wedge between me and His Highness the grand duke? You really can’t be trusted an inch, right to the very end, can you? But I have no intention whatsoever of dancing to your tune."
I called in some of the knights and had Mort bound so that he couldn’t harm himself. Gagged, Mort glared at me fiercely with wide, bulging eyes. His final attempt at scheming had ended in failure.
That concluded Mort’s interrogation.
I stationed dozens of men to watch him in overlapping shifts.
[Child of the Magnolia II Quest Complete]
[3,000 points, 30 silver coins awarded]
[Item Reward: Mort’s Map awarded]
With the quest complete, another map came into my possession.
Hmm, it seemed to depict a log cabin in the mountains, but how on earth was I supposed to find it? Judging by the rough location marker, it appeared to be somewhere in the undeveloped mountain country south of Breisburg.
I found myself curious how Mort would react if I showed him this map. But before I could enjoy that little reaction, there was still work to be done. The refugees had to make it safely through this freezing night.
Most of them had fled the sudden fire without managing to grab their belongings. So for a start, I handed out the spare blankets we carried with us. But they were nowhere near enough.
For the record, the other citizens of Breisach flatly refused to take refugees into their homes. They treated the refugees like bandits or thieves, and that couldn’t be helped. Some of them really had committed robbery.
They were pitiable and wretched, but not all of them were good people.
So there was no choice but to move most of the refugees out past the edge of the city.