The guards there did not seem to recognize Xiao Lin, but when he showed the seal issued by the royal family, the soldiers quickly stepped aside, and they brought Xiao Lin to the warehouses at his request.
“Since the attack yesterday, we’ve been in charge of guarding this place. We have not noticed any suspicious infiltrations or damages,” the soldier said in broken Mandarin. The result of Dawn Academy’s decades of influence on this place was that Mandarin had turned into a second language here. Even the kids on the streets spoke a bit of it.
Xiao Lin was somewhat put at ease. It might really be like what Luo Jianhui said; he was only thinking too much because he was unused to being a commander.
The energy stone warehouses had basically taken up half of the city. It looked like private research. The energy stones that the Rosa Kingdom stored were all mid-level. They were more reliable than low-grade energy stones. When the guard took out the keys to the warehouse, Xiao Lin furrowed his eyebrows.
An ordinary soldier was in charge of such an important warehouse. The soldier explained that it was because they were using the defense towers as of late, and there were more and more people who needed to transport the energy stones. That was why he held the keys–to make it more convenient to open the warehouses and to not affect the battle.
The magical lights in the warehouse were lit, but it was still very dark inside. In the end, magical lights were not as bright as electrical lights.
Xiao Lin’s heart stopped, his thoughts from earlier once again surfacing. He hurried over and opened a storage box nearby. All the boxes had been made by smiths because energy stones needed to be kept in specific temperatures and stable environments, or they would easily lose their power.
However, the boxes were all haphazardly thrown about, and the inside of the boxes were pitch-black. The stones themselves shone, and the boxes were all half-transparent. A warehouse full of energy stones was like one full of gold; there was no way it was that dark.
The soldiers who followed behind quickly panicked. At Xiao Lin’s shout, they frantically began to open up all the boxes. What shocked them was that all the boxes were empty!
Walking out of the warehouse with heavy footsteps, Xiao Lin’s face was absolutely dark. An alert and suspicious gaze fell on the soldiers that were in charge of guarding the warehouse, and his hand slowly pressed against his Holy Sword.
“No, it’s not us!” the soldiers quickly explained in panic.
“We did not steal the energy stones!”
“I have a wife and kid at home. How could I betray Rosa! How could I join those despicable undead!”
...
Xiao Lin’s gaze shifted, asking, “Other than this warehouse, are there any others in the royal city.”
“There are none. No, hold on. There is one in the royal chambers. But that is just an emergency warehouse, and it’s very small. We’re not sure if there are energy stones inside.”
Xiao Lin fell silent. It was no longer important to find out whose fault it was. Without energy stones, those defensive towers were basically scrap metal. They had to find the missing energy stones.
Xiao Lin looked at the soldiers once again, his gaze frightening them. In truth, Xiao Lin did not think they did it, or they would have fled after emptying the warehouse instead of waiting for it to be noticed.
Xiao Lin quickly found the point of suspicion, and asked, “You said earlier that a lot of people came to retrieve the energy stones? Can I look at the name list?”
The few soldiers trembled, crying as they explained. Other than having records from last night, they did not have records from the last few times. That was because a Rosa military official had come for the stones, and they were only met with anger and even whipping when they asked for verification, blaming them for endangering the battle. That was why they did not dare ask too many questions, and had left it as it is.
“A military minister? Which minister?” Xiao Lin asked, full of killing intent.
“It’s-it’s the guard general of the royal city. No, it was the former defense general, the old commander of the royal city’s guards.”
So it was the one who had his job taken away by Xiao Lin. Of course, that was no reason or excuse; the man’s actions could very well destroy the entire royal city.
Xiao Lin no longer wanted to bother with the soldiers there, and had gotten the officer to capture them. As for how they were dealt with, it had nothing to do with him. Xiao Lin then immediately headed to the embassy, but Liang Taibai was not there. Ambassador Liang was in discussions with the merchants at that moment.
Xiao Lin knew he did not have time to wait, so he headed to the palace himself, immediately getting someone to wake the king up. Even though the servants were extremely scared of waking the king up from his sleep, they also knew that the current one in power in the royal city was Dawn Academy.
The king immediately appeared in the guest area in his sleeping robes. Ignoring all pleasantries, Xiao Lin immediately asked, “Where is your military minister? Get him to see me!”
Because of Ibeiya, Xiao Lin did not have a good impression of the king. Even though Liang Taibai said that the king was someone who pushed good governance and reforms, it still did not change Xiao Lin’s views of him.
“I’ve already handed over the military matters of the city to you as Ambassador Liang wished. What else do you want to do?” The king’s voice was steady. He was more or less a puppet at this point, but he had never made any motion to flatter or get close to Xiao Lin or Liang Taibai.
“The energy stone warehouse has been emptied. Of course I need your military minister to ask about the energy stones! The defense towers at the gates need them!” Xiao Lin stared at the king, trying to tell if the man was part of it. In terms of politics, a figurehead king giving up and working with the rebels to attack the royal city was not impossible.
On the king’s face was first astonishment and disbelief, followed by anger, an unimaginable fury. In his rage, he threw a few valuable ornaments to the floor.
With the floor filled with shattered remains, the king’s rage suddenly disappeared as he powerlessly sat on the throne. His face seemed to have aged another ten years. After a long time, he sighed and said, “I really don’t believe it. In the end, he still betrayed me and this kingdom!”
Xiao Lin looked on coldly. After the king’s tantrum, he said, “Now, he’s a traitor. I don’t think you would harbor a traitor, so just hand him over.”
The king shook his head. “Regretfully, I don’t know where he is. He hasn’t been in the palace since he was stripped of his rank.”
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