Chapter 52: Bear Traps
After a moment, Roderic pulled back the chair and sat down with a sigh.
’’They’re exactly what they sound like,’’ he replied casually. ’’Metal traps.’’
’’Except, as the name describes, these are strong enough to trap a bear’s legs.’’
Arthur stared at him for a few seconds.
’’I’m aware of that,’’ he said. ’’I’ve already seen them.’’
Roderic couldn’t help but raise his brows slightly.
The last time he’d visited the blacksmiths, they hadn’t produced a working product yet.
’’You have?’’ he asked slowly.
Arthur nodded right away.
’’The blacksmiths have only just managed to produce two. Apparently, your design required quite a bit of experimentation before they could make something reliable.’’
He leaned back in his chair.
’’But I had one demonstrated for me yesterday.’’
Roderic remained silent, simply waiting for Arthur to finish.
And by the strange look on his face, Roderic could tell he was far from done talking.
’’I’ll admit, I was impressed,’’ Arthur continued. ’’Something so simple, yet the force behind it is ridiculous. The teeth nearly went straight through the piece of wood they used for the demonstration.’’
Roderic nodded slowly.
’Sounds like they have indeed gotten it right then,’ he thought, satisfied. ’Saves me the trouble of having to check up on them.’
Just then, Arthur lightly tapped his finger on the table.
’’This brings me to my first question,’’ he said, eyes narrowing slightly. ’’Where did you come up with something like this?’’
Roderic smiled slightly.
He’d long prepared answers for these questions.
’’Found it in one of the bandit dens,’’ he replied casually. ’’And from what I could tell, it looked worth the money and effort.’’
Arthur’s brows furrowed right away.
’’A bandit den?’’ he muttered to himself. ’’They’ve got such dangerous ideas there?’’
’’Well, it wasn’t as simple as that,’’ Roderic replied instantly. ’’They had a smaller version, but I thought the idea was interesting. So I had the blacksmiths make a larger and stronger version.’’
Arthur stared at him for a moment before slowly nodding.
It wasn’t exactly an unbelievable explanation.
With how many illegal hideouts Roderic had raided over the past month, he’d come across all kinds of strange things.
But Arthur clearly still wasn’t finished.
’’Then what are you planning to do with them?’’ he asked. ’’More importantly, why have you ordered so many?’’
’There it is.’
Roderic leaned back slightly.
’’For now, they’re just experiments,’’ he replied slowly. ’’I hope they’ll end up useful for our hunters, though.’’
’’Experiments?’’
Roderic nodded right away.
’’I want to see what else they could be useful for,’’ he said, voice lowering. ’’Who knows, they might even be good at trapping other things besides beasts...’’
For a moment, silence fell throughout the room.
Arthur’s eyes were narrowed, clearly deep in thought.
Roderic could easily see the skepticism and calculations running through Arthur.
’It’s obvious that they’ll be useful for humans too,’ he thought. ’And Arthur knows that, which is why he’s skeptical about my answers.’
Unfortunately for Arthur, Roderic wasn’t planning on telling him their real purpose any time soon.
Well... unless he was forced to by a certain outside situation.
But that was highly unlikely.
Regardless, Arthur still seemed to have a decent opinion of Margaret. Revealing that he was preparing for a possible conflict with her family would only create questions Roderic couldn’t answer.
’Later,’ he thought. ’I need some conclusive proof on her first.’
Arthur eventually let out a sigh.
’’Very well, do as you wish,’’ he said, waving him off. ’’They’re being paid for with your own money anyway.’’
Roderic nodded once with a small smile on his face.
Deep inside, he couldn’t help but feel glad that Arthur hadn’t been dead set on prying deeper into his actions.
Just then, Arthur loudly cleared his throat.
’’Now, about what you’ve been doing for the past month,’’ he started loudly. ’’I want you to tell me all about it.’’
Roderic’s smile grew slightly wider right away.
’’Where do you want me to begin?’’
’’From the beginning.’’
And so, for the next half hour, Roderic went over everything that’d happened during his journey.
From the first bandit group they’d wiped out to the smuggling group and even the time they’d cleaned up a corrupt mayor.
By the time he finished explaining the final bandit hideout, Arthur had leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed.
’’You managed to find eight of those situations?’’ he muttered in disbelief. ’’In a month?’’
’’Well, they really aren’t that hard to find,’’ Roderic said sharply. ’’Just a few walks around a city usually tell you more than enough.’’
Arthur’s expression stiffened slightly.
He clearly understood what Roderic was implying.
Clearing his throat lightly, Arthur spoke up again.
’’I’ll look into why that hasn’t been happening,’’ he said, still slightly embarrassed.
Roderic nodded casually.
’’Probably a good idea, yeah.’’
Arthur’s eye twitched slightly, but he didn’t respond.
Instead, he glanced down at several of the documents scattered across his desk.
’’Regardless, you’ve done well,’’ he said after a moment. ’’The reports I’ve received from the villages have been overwhelmingly positive.’’
Roderic smiled slightly.
After what he’d witnessed while entering the city, that wasn’t exactly surprising.
’’I’m glad,’’ he replied.
The two continued talking for several more minutes.
Arthur asked a few more questions about the state of the different towns Roderic had visited, while Roderic explained anything he thought was important.
Eventually, there wasn’t much left to discuss.
Roderic pushed himself out of the chair.
’’If that’s everything, I desperately need a bath,’’ he said, scowling as he smelled himself.
Arthur chuckled softly as he shook his head.
’’Go ahead.’’
Roderic turned toward the door.
However, before he could reach it, Arthur’s voice rang out behind him again.
’’And Roderic.’’
’’Hm?’’
Roderic glanced over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow.
’’Do be careful at the Young Noble Gathering,’’ Arthur said in a low tone. ’’They’re a prideful bunch, and I’d rather not have even more enemies after the marriage you broke off.’’
Roderic stared at him for a moment before nodding once.
’’I’ll keep that in mind.’’
But just as Roderic was about to turn to the door, he froze.
’’Actually, I’d like to ask you something too,’’ he said slowly.
Arthur had just barely picked up a document before he had to look up at Roderic again.
’’What?’’
’’Can you keep the bear traps hidden for a while?’’ Roderic asked. ’’And I mean completely hidden. I don’t want anyone finding out about them. Not even the rest of the family.’’
Arthur’s eyes narrowed slightly.
For a moment, he simply stared at Roderic.
’’You really are planning something with those traps, aren’t you?’’
Roderic flashed an innocent smile right away.
’’Experiments,’’ he replied casually.
After letting out a long sigh, Arthur nodded once.
’’Fine,’’ he muttered. ’’I’ll make sure the blacksmiths keep their mouths shut.’’
’’Perfect.’’
Arthur immediately waved his hand dismissively.
’’Now get out,’’ he said. ’’I don’t want to see you and your secrets for a second longer.’’
Chuckling, Roderic opened the door and stepped into the corridor.
The moment the door closed behind him, the smile on his face widened even further.
’That went well,’ he thought. ’And it seems like the blacksmiths got through the difficult parts too...’
Now that they’d figured out how to make the traps... all they needed was time.
With enough time, Roderic had no doubt he’d be able to fill entire forests with traps.
’At this rate, we’ll have a few hundred bear traps within two months,’ Roderic thought as he walked down the corridor. ’Then it’s time to make something else alongside it.’