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Chapter Fifteen: Investigation

We walk in the direction of the castle again but this time we take a side road that leads us to a huge and beautiful building. The wooden door at the entrance has Muelstatt's emblem engraved on it.
Someone leaves the building just as we were about to enter and holds the door open for us.
On the inside are dozens of bookshelves that reach up to the ceiling. This library must be at least five times as big as the one in Vretefokl. Although I heard that Vretefokl's library has the rarest books of all libraries.
Hongjoong goes to the man at the reception.
"Good morning! What are you searching for? We have the newest books from all over the world, classical literature, books for every profession, books of Wolkmaar's history. Almost anything you could think of."
"We are looking for something very specific. Some things were stolen from the castle 300 years ago. Do have any reports on that incident."
"Oof. That is indeed very specific. I have to look. Please wait here for a bit. I'll be right back."

Ten minutes later the man from the reception is back.
"I only have some reports from the city guard. But I am not allowed to give them to you without permission. I am sorry. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
"No that is all I wanted to know. Thanks."
"What do we do now? Where do we get the permission to look at these reports?", I ask.
"From the chief of the city guard I guess.", Mingi responds.
"I have a better idea. We could just ask the king. He lives around the corner anyways.", Yeosang suggests.
"Do you think he will just give it to us so easily?", San asks.
"Well for a few informations about Nekra Kindom he will.", Wooyoung states.

We are back at the castle and meet the king at same room as yesterday.
"What can I do for you today?"
"We need your permission to look at the reports about the burglary from 300 years ago.", Hongjoong explains.
"What do I get in exchange?"
"Informations about the Nekra Kingdom.", Yeosang says
"Sounds good. Mr. Badler please bring me a pen and paper. Go ahead, tell me what you know."
"First of all, you should know that my father wants to take over all countrys one by one. His first target is actually Wajasi. He is still building an army, at the moment he has around 2500 soldiers which doesn't sound like a lot but they are all specially trained in all sorts of fighting methods which makes every one of them count as three soldiers. As you know he is trying to conquer islands that have the resources that he needs at the moment. He is trying to build ships that are specifically made for war. A lot of them. He is not ready for bigger battles yet. Unfortunately that is all I know. He never let me in on any specific plans."
While I talked the king has already finished writing his permission letter.
"That gives me a good overview though. Thanks. Mr. Badler, please put a seal on this."

Fifteen minutes later we are back at the library with the letter.
The receptionist opens and reads it.
"I didn't know that you are acquainted with the king. I am sorry. Please follow me."
The man brings us to the basement of the building where more bookshelves that are filled with books are. I read a sign at the side of one of the bookshelves. "City Guard Reports, Year 1650-1699"
So here they store all reports of the city guard.
We stop in front of the bookshelf that has year 1400-1449 written on it. The man goes through a shelf that has written year 1420-29 written on it until he reaches for a book with the title: "City Guard Reports, Summer 1425"
"Here it is. Please be careful with it.", the man says.
Hongjoong opens the book and searches for the day of the burglary.
"I found it! Let's see... Apparently the lead led them northwards but they weren't able to find anything...
Oh here is a list of the things that were stolen."
I look over Hongjoong's shoulder.
"A triangular piece of a stone plate with an engraving on it. Sounds like what we are looking for.", I comment.
"There is a comment at the end of the page. The puplic was informed about the missing items. Investigation was halted in August. Investigation was resumed in October. Sir, can we have a look at the reports from Autumn?", Yunho asks.
"Of course.", the receptionist says. He gets the book from the shelf and gives it to Yunho.
Yunho finds some important clues in the reports from October.
"A vase and a silver plate that were stolen from the castle, investigation report found in City guard reports, Summer 1425, were returned by a resident of Aplbom. According to the resident the man paid for his debt at the inn with the items before he ran away. The suspect has brown hair, is around 1,82m tall, very pale and has a small ship with which he travels.", he reads aloud.
We find a few other, similar reports from Pirnpluum, Schaepli, Faidehoi and Kuelaevild.
"The person from Kuelaevild said that he heard the suspect say that he wants to fly to Wajasi.", Mingi reads aloud.
"That could be another important hint.", Seonghwa states.
"Maybe it would be good if we ask about the key in the places he visited and places that he might have visited on his route.", San suggests.
"Yes I think so, too. If we don't find anything there we can move on to Wajasi.", Hongjoong says.
"What exactly are you searching for?", the man from the reception asks.
"A key for a treasure chest. It was broken into several parts and we think one of them was stolen from the castle 300 years ago.", Wooyoung tells.
"Don't tell him too much. You never know what could happen.", Seonghwa whispers into Wooyoung's ear but loud enough for me to hear it.
"Oh, I understand. You are treasure hunters. But how do you know the king then?"
"We are done hear. Thank you for your service.", Yunho says and gives the books back to the man before anyone could answer.
"No problem. Do you know the way back?"
"Yes, thank you."
"Have a nice evening."