Road to the Crown

Chapter 283: Elia's scheme

25th August 1574

"What the hell have happened here!"

As soon as the two of us along with ten soldiers of the escort have arrived on the scene of the failed bombing, I simply stood back. Since Elia wanted to deal with this case, then there was no point in me interfering as long as her actions wouldn't cause some longlasting repercussions.

"My lady, we learned from the local workers that one of the visitors was acting quite strange while in the area. According to their words, he attempted to throw some kind of package into the mouth of the operating Bessmer furnace, but due to how he was acting previously, one of the workers managed to deflect the projectile. Sadly, because of how close he had to jump towards the mouth of the furnace, his arm is now badly burnt."

With this quick recount of the situation given by one of the present militia, we were now almost entirely up to speed. And with just a single look around the place, the two of us could gather the rest of the necessary information.

In a place a bit away from the commotion, medics were trying to help the badly burnt man, while on the opposite end of the area, a row of four men were kneeling on the ground. While all of them were nobles, it didn't matter at all to anyone in the area, as a group of my soldiers kept their heads right at the end of the muzzles of their rifles.

"Take that man to the infirmary. Give him the best possible attention and do not skimp on the medicine. All the costs will be covered by the city. All those who took part in handling the assailiants, step up."

Rather than shouting or even speaking in a loud voice, the instant respect that my wife somehow managed to command made the entire area silent enough for everyone to clearly hear her voice. Heck, even standing a fair ten steps away from her, a distance that in a normal crowd would make it nearly impossible to communicate, I could hear every single tone that left her lips!

"As per order, my lady!"

Without even a moment of hesitation, a group of three men stepped forth to the front.

"With all due respect, lady, but two of our friends who helped to restrain those men already went back to work. They claimed that since the situation was dealt with, there was no point in allowing any further stalls in the production, especially with how we are pressing the targets right now!"

Rather than just calmly waiting for the expected reward, one of the workers that looked as if he left his farm just a few days ago with pieces of grain still shining in his hair, kneeled down in front of Elia before adding a few words from himself.

"Good, thanks for your input. Go and bring them here now."

Nodding her head in an acknowledgement of his words, this crafty wife of mine clearly couldn't care less about the daily decrease of production of the raw metals. After all, she was one of the few people in the entire place that knew how this entire rush to produce as much of iron and steel as possible was nothing more but smoke in the eyes of our opponents. 

At the same time, she knew that with how I was the one to order the increase of the output, she wouldn't appear as contradicting herself with the order to ignore the backlash for the sake of bringing the workers for an additional break. Even if most of the people would instantly understand that rewarding the people who voluntarily did their best to protect their workplace from the attack would have a far greater effect than the worth of even an entire cycle worth of Bessmer's furnace steel output, Elia had to realise that when it came to managing a huge crowd, relying on each individual's intelligence was nothing but a clear hint of either idiocy or just plain out madness.

"Meanwhile, bring the perpetrators here."

Elia's silent voice was knocking against my eardrums as if she was some kind of general giving the orders in the midst of the battle. For some reason, even when I interacted with those subjects of mine, this kind of respect that people were showing for her was rather unimaginable!

On the other hand, as soon as this wife of mine gave the order, the soldiers that so far were only making sure that none of the assailants would escape, lowered their weapons before grabbing them by the bounds that held their hands together and dragging them to Elia's foot.

At this point, I couldn't help but approach my wife a little bit closer. Dealing with this matter could be tricky, as it still involved a descendant in a direct line from one of the most strategically important partners for my plans in the near future. While I knew that she would like to send an important message with her actions, at the same time, I had to make sure it wouldn't be way over the top!

"Him and him, release them."

With just a single look, Elia proved that I had absolutely nothing to worry about. Releasing Constanty and the only elder from the diplomatic group she made sure that no hard repercussion would hit my lands for treating Cheerio's blood to harshly. On the other side, I could guess where her way of the thinking was coming from in regards to the elder. 

From what we heard on our way here, the package that the spy attempted to throw into the furnace, was quite heavy. And to top it all off, the mouth of the furnace in its operating position was located nearly ten eight meters above the ground! Those two things combined made it clear that no matter how crafty that elder would be, his physique made it simply impossible for him to be the one responsible for the throw!

"Now, can anyone tell me who threw the explosive?"

Seeing how Elia was attempting to tackle the situation, I realised that she might be making a mistake. After all, the letter we received from Michael didn't specify that there was just a single spy in the ranks of the diplomatic expedition! Keeping that in mind, I made sure that even the elder that Elia ordered to be released, was still kept under a strict watch of my personal guards.

"It was Robert!"

Suddenly, a shout resounded in the area. But surprisingly, it didn't came from the direction that I expected!

Turning myself around, I saw Constanty attempting to wrestle his way out of my guard's hands, with a full dose of hate filling his face.

"I knew he came from Ostros lands before entering our service, but his work was so far impeccable. Mike, forgive me this oversight, please!"

Acting as if he lost his mind and didn't care about the dignity of his name, Constantly actually managed to instantly convince me that he was telling the truth. After all, only during the great emotional turmoil would people like him lose their composure. That alone was enough for me to understand how much his father valued the potential deal of setting one of the future train stations in their lands!

But on the other hand, Elia clearly ignored his pleas, not even turning her head to look at the Cheerio descendant. Rather than that, she only stared at the guards, conveying that her previous order still stood.

"It was the man on the left."

Finally, the two workers that initially went back to work, arrived at the scene. Without even a moment of hesitation, one of them pointed at the middle-aged man lying on the right. To be honest, just by looking at how beaten up he was, one could guess that he was the true perpetrator, but due to how all four of them were bound to be treated rather roughly, it wasn't a criterium that one could use to judge their actions.

"Lift him up."

A single swing of her hand was enough to once again, prompt my soldiers into action. One of them even went out of his way to grab his hand and forcefully pull his face upwards!

"Listen up. You have two choices. Either you spit everything you know now, or you do so when I will be done with you. It's up to you whether you will take the easy or the hard way."

Not even for a moment did Elia lose her composure. Her face remained completely emotionless during the entire situation as if she was entirely detached from the entire event.

Sadly, rather than complying with her wishes, the spy attempted to spit in her face, only for his body to disappoint him, resulting in his saliva landing between the two of them.

"I guess you prefer the hard way. That's okay with me!"

Suddenly putting a bright smile on her face, Elia nearly danced around on the spot. It seemed as if this man refusal to speak was the greatest gift that one could ever present to her!

"Men, put that man into the pillory. He is to be guarded through both the day and night, and every citizen is encouraged to spit back at him. Give him as much clean water as he requires, but keep him starved for as long as it will take for his guts to meld down due to his own hunger."

Sweeping her long skirt as she turned around, Elia paced her way back to me with that bright smile from before still brimming on her lips. Yet, in this situation, seeing my wife shining like that just a moment after she condemned this man to one of the worst torture's one could experience, I couldn't help but start to worry a bit.

"Come on dear! Isn't it cheaper than hiring a lasher? This way, we will wait for a few days and he will tell us everything we need to know!"

Those two sentences by itself would be enough to make any husband worried about the mental state of their wife, if not for a wink that Elia used to signal that it was by no means an end to her scheme!