Chapter 23
Chapter 23. The Undertaker (1)
Penelope's steps were as majestic as a triumphant general.
"Good, well done. As expected of me."
Reviewing the day's events, Penelope hadn't thoughtlessly charged at Blyton.
There were two purposes.
Information gathering and bluffing.
Blyton being the mastermind was already half-confirmed anyway.
Now then, let's examine this step by step.
Q. What happened before this incident?
A. Blyton tried to incite Jurgen's betrayal to steal Cola.
Q. If Jurgen got scared and handed over the certificates from this incident, who gains the most?
A. Blyton, who wanted to obtain Cola.
Q. Could Blyton really be that bad of a person?
A. He's a mafia boss.
With this much circumstantial evidence, it's hard to even call it a presumption of guilt.
In reality, the attitude Blyton showed wasn't that of an innocent suspect either.
It was closer to 'So what are you going to do about it'.
Honestly, if the cunning Blyton had acted out blood-vomiting innocence, Penelope might have been confused too.
However, he didn't do that.
He even demonstrated teabagging like flower arranging, actively harassing Penelope.
Though it was meaningless behavior, this was closer to Blyton's true nature rather than arrogance.
Blyton was the representative of the mafia company Polar Suns.
In the underworld, displays of power were directly connected to political power.
Penelope willingly played along with that nature and obtained 'reliable information' in return.
And most importantly.
"Now you're safe. At least as long as you're in this hotel."
Penelope headed straight to The Richfield Hotel, maintaining her majestic gait.
After opening Jurgen's assigned suite with a master key and entering, she boasted with excitement that hadn't faded.
"Miss Penelope, I'm glad you're happy, but please knock next time. What if I had been showering?"
"Ugh, that's a situation I'd totally hate too."
"By the way, what do you mean by my safety?"
Penelope, sitting on the bed, continued her explanation.
"Strictly speaking, my power is nothing special compared to Blyton's."
The political influence of Penelope and Blyton was laughably incomparable.
All Penelope had was just Cola.
On the other hand, Blyton was a key player in the city's political games.
Unless he made a mistake and gave her justification or evidence, Penelope was in a position where she had to be attacked one-sidedly.
Even a high-flying member of the 'Gray Council' directly touching Rosemore would be a suicidal act...
Probably next time the target would have been Jurgen too.
But now?
"That balding nouveau riche uncle's forehead must be heating up, right?"
"What on earth did you do?"
Even after being expelled from the social circles, Penelope had persistently clung on.
What she gained during that time wasn't just the shamelessness to pretend not to hear gossip and the bravado to fake composure.
She had picked up information about various noble families, companies, and how this world worked.
"I moved unpredictably."
Nothing about Penelope's actions would have gone according to Blyton's expectations.
She sought out Blyton immediately after the fire without a moment's hesitation.
She broke through his flower arranging head-on with thorough savage customer behavior as if it were nothing.
After meeting him, she left an absurd warning.
The most important point was that all these actions exceeded Penelope's 'capacity.'
"Blyton isn't nobility. A businessman with a precarious position is bound to be wary of the unpredictable, right?"
"He'd certainly think 'What does she have?'"
Jurgen was impressed by the unexpected side Penelope showed.
She was quite capable.
Penelope knew she had nothing in her hands and used that in reverse.
She left 'doubt' in Blyton's heart, where a head-on confrontation would have had no chance of winning.
She bought time until the shadow of doubt faded.
Should he say she was born with political sense?
Of course, objectively evaluating, she was impressive for a young lady.
Right now Penelope was certain her bluffing succeeded, but that alone was slightly insufficient.
In the end, bluffing was just bluffing.
If Blyton took the risk and called 'call,' Penelope's hand would be revealed immediately.
However, coincidentally, the situation aligned well.
Jurgen had backtracked the Blyton subordinates who came to steal the patent certificate and burned down one of Polar Suns's factories.
Blyton's minions who had participated in the threat were sent to a 'good place.'
Since that meshed with Penelope's bravado, from Blyton's perspective his hair would stand on end quite a bit.
It was like taking an unexpected blade.
But he didn't need to tell Penelope that much.
For now, let's praise her.
"Very impressive. I see you in a new light."
"Well, of course. More importantly, how's the hotel? Quite a luxury you rarely get to enjoy, right?"
"The suite is very nice."
"Be grateful. If not for me, when would you ever get to come to a place like this?"
After some small talk with a bit of boasting mixed in.
Penelope said goodnight and left the suite.
"Phew..."
Only then did the suppressed sigh leak out.
She hadn't realized it earlier, but she was extremely weary.
Come to think of it, she had been up all day and night since last night.
"What an eventful day."
It was too early to feel relieved.
She didn't particularly show it in case she infected Jurgen with anxiety, but Penelope knew too.
Bluffing was just bluffing.
The greedy businessman Blyton would reach his hand toward Cola again.
The task given to Penelope was to prepare a way to respond to it as much as possible while buying time with bluffing.
Manager Ritz came to Penelope as she pondered to find a way forward.
"Miss Penelope, do you have a moment?"
"What is it?"
"You asked me to gather information on Polar Suns's movements, and something just happened."
"What happened?"
"They say a fire broke out at the Polar Suns lemonade factory."
Penelope, whose senses had sharpened at the mention of Polar Suns, was stunned after hearing Manager Ritz's report.
"When did that happen?"
"Almost immediately after you returned to the hotel, miss."
"......?"
What on earth is this?
Penelope, who had been dumbfounded by the sudden news, soon reflected on the meaning this fire held.
"Hehe, how does it align so perfectly?"
To think such a thing would happen right after she came back from bluffing Blyton.
"Um... what do you mean..."
"Well, that people should live virtuously normally."
Before the bewildered Manager Ritz, Penelope giggled like a little devil.
***
"Ssssh..."
Smoke spreading from the pipe in his mouth stung his eyes.
Blyton inhaled the smoke while looking at the lemonade factory that had become a lump of coal.
"Whooo..."
Blyton recalled Penelope's warning from last night.
"Try touching my people one more time."
"Then you'll also learn. How far a person with nothing to lose can go."
Immediately after that, one entire factory built on a suburban factory site burned down.
The five action team members he had ordered to steal the patent and trademark certificates vanished without a trace.
To view this as merely a coincidence would make one an idiot.
However, it was hard to believe.
Exactly when? How?
Wasn't Penelope barely back in the social circles?
How could she, who only had her family name and the hollow hotel president position?
Her threat wasn't just bluffing?
Had she made new friends in the meantime?
No, she was a 4th Rank Alchemist.
She might have gone out herself and committed arson.
"Representative Blyton, the investigation results are out."
As he was organizing his head that felt like it would burst, an old man with stubborn-looking red hair approached.
The old man's name, who looked difficult even from his appearance, was Basil Hargreaves.
An 8th Rank Alchemist, Baron, senior professor of the northern Alchemy Guild, the 'Red Sage' who had no equal in Nortaris when it came to handling flames.
Strictly speaking, he was a big shot with enough status and power that Blyton couldn't order him around.
However, Blyton judged it was better to spend money and confirm than leave an unknown threat alone.
He poured in quite a bit of money and summoned Basil to find evidence of arson and clues about the culprit.
"You got results already?"
"Natural fire. No traces of artificial intervention are visible. My assistant will send you the investigation report."
"Are you certain you examined it thoroughly?"
"Certain?"
"There are many suspicious circumstances in various ways. If you could just investigate a bit more thoroughly..."
At Blyton's plea, Basil's angry roar burst out.
"You don't know your place. Coming all the way here personally to investigate was because of the guild master's earnest request. Just because you poured in some petty cash, do you think you're my master?"
Damn bastard.
And it's not like he came for free either.
Blyton calmed his trembling eyes and humored him.
"Oh my! I know, I know! It's just that with my lowly insight, how could I fathom Sir Basil's wisdom? I'm just asking you to explain a bit more thoroughly."
"Hmm, I don't know how it looks to you, but I didn't just casually look over it either. Fires caused by arson inevitably leave traces."
"Are you saying there really are no traces in this fire? Perhaps if alchemy was used..."
"If that were the case, it wouldn't have been able to avoid my eyes even more. Or do you doubt my skills?"
"Not at all. How could I? If not that, then perhaps."
If even the Red Sage, who was reliable in ability despite his terrible personality, didn't know...
"...Could it be the work of dark mages..."
Could it be the work of those devils wearing human skin?
"Hehe, dark mages."
At Blyton's guess as he broke out in cold sweat, Basil burst into laughter.
Even the anger that came from absurdity subsided.
"If you think that's the case, why not contact the church?"
"No. That can't be it."
"Don't worry too much. If this is arson, there'd be no point in finding out anyway."
"Why is that?"
"Isn't it obvious? It means you've made an enemy of an alchemist who perfectly fooled me. Or you've made an enemy of someone high enough to use an alchemist of that level as a tool."
"......"
"So pray that my judgment wasn't wrong."
Basil, who received payment and added mocking service on top, left with his cloak fluttering as if he didn't want to delay a single moment.
Blyton stared blankly at his retreating figure, then kicked a pile of dirt at his feet.
"Damn it...! That damned old bastard!"
Aside from being angry, Blyton was feeling fear.
It would be more comfortable if it were a coincidence as that old man said.
However, no matter how much he thought about it, this was Penelope's 'warning.'
"President, if it's a warning anyway, doesn't it not matter now?"
"Who's spouting such comfortable nonsense!"
"No, isn't that right? We'll have to bear some damage, but Polar Suns didn't collapse just because one factory burned. If we just pull out of the Cola business from now on..."
Blyton's lightning-fast fist struck the lawyer's nose again.
"Argh! President! Use words, use words!"
"You bastard! What about Clarisse!"
"Th-that's... ah, nosebleed..."
"If I say that, do you think Clarisse will say 'Oh my, I see. I understand the situation, so take it easy'?"
Until now, Clarisse had been like a joker in poker.
Because Blyton held the joker, he could make better combinations than the hand he had.
But the moment Blyton's usefulness ended.
The genre of the game would change.
From poker to Old Maid.
Clarisse would never let Blyton live, who was useless and even held her weaknesses.
"I'll die. Without anyone knowing."
He had resolved himself to that extent when he took her hand in the first place.
Blyton, who had been mulling over this, reached the worst possibility.
"Wait..."
What if Clarisse and Penelope had joined hands again?
No matter what anyone said, the two were real sisters.
Though Clarisse had emotionally abused Penelope until now, creating sisterly affection that didn't exist based on gains and losses was the true face of nobility.
If it were the Clarisse he had observed until now, her next move would be...
Putting Blyton's head on a plate as a reconciliation gift to her younger sister, the one who had made things uncomfortable between them.
"No. No."
Blyton wiped his cold sweat and gasped for breath.
Wild speculation.
Confirmation bias was occurring in an unfavorable direction due to anxiety.
He was wavering.
The moment he realized that, Blyton regained his composure.
"I must have been too comfortable lately."
He'd overcome crises like this several times.
He started from the bottom and crawled up desperately.
The man named Blyton was someone who made the most cold-hearted judgments the more adversity and crisis came.
Exclude all uncertain variables.
"This is a coincidence. At least it has no connection to Penelope. She hasn't had time to gain this much power yet."
"Clarisse wouldn't have moved either."
"There's no reason anywhere for her to pursue reconciliation with her younger sister now. No reason to offer up my head either."
"The missing subordinates... it's not like I have just one or two enemies?"
"Maybe they took the Cola and just ran. That bastard Liam was always aiming for big money."
He drew a picture by adopting only the hypothesis with the highest possibility.
'Try touching my people one more time.'
Suddenly yesterday's scene came to mind again.
"My people... huh."
Jurgen, whom Penelope called my people.
A commoner who was merely a small business owner.
However, the Cola patent and trademark certificates were under 'Jurgen's' name.
Why?
Before, he thought Penelope noticed her sister's checks and put up a figurehead president.
But now he knew.
She still didn't know that the social circles' rejection was guided by Clarisse.
Then why would she entrust an important part of her business to a commoner?
"Kekeke."
"Did you suddenly go crazy?"
"How interesting, how interesting. To think she was such an innocent young lady."
Blyton roared with laughter.
The reason Blyton was wary of Penelope was because she showed noble-like behavior.
But if the premise changed, the story changed too.
She still wasn't 'noble'-like.
Penelope moved not for business but to protect a person.
By the time he stopped laughing, doubt and hesitation had already disappeared.
"Call the Undertaker."
"P-president, have you gone mad? S-surely not Penelope...!"
The lawyer's complexion turned black in an instant.
If there were mafias in the city, there were outlaws in the Demon Realm.
Unlike mafias who wore the guise of companies at least superficially, they were all cruel and insane vicious criminals.
The outlaw 'Undertaker' was the dirtiest and sharpest blade Polar Suns had stuck in the Demon Realm.
"No, the target is the commoner bastard."
He would surely handle the job reliably and quietly as he had until now.
"Let's teach the immature young lady how scary gambling is."
He could already picture Penelope screaming before the death brought on by foolish bluffing.