"You mean that the edict has already breached three fortresses? How can it be so fast?"
On the way from the camp to the riverbank, Horn was in a dazed state, but the witch's first words upon meeting him made Horn restless.
He couldn't even sort out his previously chaotic thoughts about Jeanne and asked eagerly.
"How would I know?" The black-robed witch who came to make contact shrugged, "It can only be that the edict is too strong."
Horn took two steps back and sat down on the ground, could it really be so fast?
According to common sense, even if it's the three outermost fortresses, it's possible to take ten days to half a month, even one or two months to capture each.
Castles guarded by dozens of Extraordinary Knights should be able to withstand tens of thousands of ordinary people or thousands of Extraordinary Knights.
At this rate, in three to four days at most, they'll be attacking Joan of Arc Castle, how is this possible?
He took a deep breath and pushed his chaotic thoughts back down, and said to the black-robed witch, "I understand."
"You're just lucky. If it were four or five days later, you probably wouldn't be able to leave." The black-robed witch casually remarked and went to the river to wait for the boat.
Horn sat under the linden tree, gazing at the winding river, unsure of what to say.
But what does this have to do with me? Fast or slow, Horn would still have to leave.
Horn's chest heaved violently, why does he care so much?
"Your Grace, do you have some time now?" Armand approached, hesitantly, "I have something important to report."
Horn rubbed his cheeks and calmly said, "Go ahead."
"We've discovered that among the twelve abnormal accounts from 1425, four perfectly match the Blue Blood Orphans."
Armand's voice wasn't loud, but his words were shocking.
"Look, the place where the fur was produced is the Blue Blood Orphans' birthplace, the year matches their age, the time of stock entry is..."
"Is someone at Joan of Arc Castle manipulating and selling Blue Blood wine?" Horn seemed to be hit by a hammer and his mind was a bit unclear, "Are those crooked accounts laundering money?"
The Blue Blood Orphanage is indeed near Joan of Arc Castle, and right beside Jeanne Castle is a canal!
But the key is, whose hands is this money being laundered into?
Could it reach that level... no no no, it's not necessarily Dane, it might be the local Church?
But the local Church's Buerwelf is clearly Dane's dog, isn't he?
Armand continued to explain:
"Then after our verification, we found that the income from these four transactions was just lost in futures trading.
But we found that the entity they were hedging against in futures was the same commerce association, called Luge Commerce Association.
Although we haven't found specific details about Luge Commerce Association, we found one of Luge Commerce Association's shareholders called Mr. G."
At this, Armand suddenly diverted the topic: "Your Grace, do you remember the locksmith thief called Haimodin?"
"I remember, what are you asking that for?"
"While discussing this matter with Boned, she happened to be nearby, and she told me she might know who Mr. G is."
"How would she know?"
"Her attempt to flee Joan of Arc Castle was not for merely anything else, it was because while hiding and stealing during the riot, she saw Casti escaping from the courtyard and being killed by some robbers. They called Casti 'Mr. G'."
At this, Duvalon piped up beside them, boasting, "Your Grace, at that time I laughed at Casti's obituary because his middle name is [Gee]."
"So, we speculate there's a high likelihood that Casti is that shareholder of Luge Commerce Association, as for the real owner of the association..."
Armand dared not continue the thought.
As if struck by lightning, Horn felt like he'd connected all the dots.
Casti's status couldn't possibly manipulate these things.
In 1425, Dane ascended to power, and the Pope always favored Johnny VIII in the north, how could he assist Dane?
Is there a possibility that Dane, young and impulsive, threatened with Blue Blood wine to explode with the Church?
Otherwise, why would he grandly close the canal and land checkpoints? Isn't it to prevent Blue Blood Orphanage from secretly moving?
But why wasn't he afraid of exploding back then?
Wait, couldn't it have started with Duke Kush's father?
He just ascended, his hands weren't dirty yet, so he wasn't afraid!
No no no, without concrete evidence, all of this is just speculation.
But what if, just what if, it's true?
Horn sat there dumbfounded, as a former king of the Thousand River Valley People, he was actually brewing wine with his own people to sell for profit.
Wait, if the Duke had known about the Blue Blood wine long ago, why would he have acted like that earlier?
Thinking about it now, his demeanor wasn't surprise, but fear.
Built on this, if he helps the Church sell wine, bound so deeply, would Dane dare to rebel?
If the Duke rebels and the Church reveals this matter, the local Church in Thousand River Valley might collapse, but wouldn't the Duke also lose his position?
Horn had a flash of insight and pulled out the ring from his pocket, could this be the "S" ring missing from the Duke?
The family ring representing the Duke is [K.i.a.b.s], on that day the Duke only had [Kiab] in his hand.
No wonder that afternoon, the village guard at the stream walked away as soon as he saw this ring.
He recognized it as the Duke's ring.
According to Harbin, the Count of Jibashan inherited a large fortune from his ancestors, intending to immigrate from Norn to Falan and was constantly transferring wealth.