ELIZABETH SWAN'S

Chapter 27 - Investigating Serpens Umbra (2)

Tristan sat in the middle of the thugs who were gambling. Instantly her cold demeanor turned jolly and spoke a lot.

"Gee, I haven't gambled in a long time. Can I join you?" his word to those people.

"We will not be held responsible if you lose" said one of them.

"Eiyy, losing a win is common. I wouldn't cry if I lost just once" Tristan said.

He sat down and played. In the first half he deliberately gave up but in the second game and so on he continued to win.

His subordinate could only be dumbfounded, he had no idea the expressionless man was good at gambling and could smile. That night was a dream.

"You must be cheating, right?! This is very suspicious!" said one of those who did not receive consecutive defeats.

"Really! You better confess right now before we do anything bad to you and your friend!" threaten one more.

"Because my feelings are good, I will return your art and add some gold coins as well for someone who can help me" Tristan said.

The faces of the people who were stiffened from the annoyance became slackened. Their eyes twinkled after hearing the words gold coin puck.

From the beginning it was not Tristan who followed their game but instead Tristan who invited them into his game.

As expected Tristan only in exchange for a few gold coins the thugs Serpens Umbra gave him information that was quite helpful.

They tell anyone the names and places of residence of Serpens Umbra members who destroy Lady Elizabeth's property.

That night, Tristan and his men headed to one of the abductors' residences in the incident. It was not far away so Tristan decided to start from this man.

Geck! Geck!

Kriet~

A young girl opened the door for the two of them, "Sorry, who are you two? And what does it take to our house late at night like this?" ask the girl with a tired-looking face.

"The two of us are friends of your brother, he told us to give you some gold pieces" Tristan told a lie but he was sure that humans would never refuse to be given art.

"Ah, brother friend. I can't let you in because our house is small and mom just went to bed. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up, she's sick and needs a lot of rest" she said.

"Yes, it's okay. We can talk in front here." said Tristan.

Kriet~

After closing the door of his house the girl approached the two men who claimed to be friends of the brother.

"Take off your coat" Tristan said to his subordinates.

"The air is cold because it's late" Tristan said.

"Thank you." said the girl.

"So your mother is sick? If you could know what he was sick? Because your sister never told us about her family situation" said Tristan, the liar.

The girl said that her mother had been very sick for a long time and since the father died, the spine automatically moved out to the only man in the house.

And it's been almost a week that her sister hasn't come home, while the damage incident just happened three days ago.

"It seems he also does not know if his brother is a member of Serpens Umbra." muttered Tristan in his heart.

He then gave a bag full of gold pieces to the young girl as if it was his sister's gift. The girl was very grateful because Tristan had been kind enough to deliver the brother's custody.

He also left a message for his brother, he asked his brother to go home more often because their mother always asked him.

...****************...

The next day at Duke Meyer's residence.

"So, how was your investigation last night, Tristan?" asked Raymond with his serious face.

"I'm sorry, it's a dead end, my lord" Tristan said, bowing his head.

Brak!

Raymond hit the table very hard, he was angry at the man before him who had not even had time to rest it.

"You know this is an important matter for me, but you're saying it's a dead end?! Does it seem like you should be beheading your empty head right now!" said Raymond, taking out his sword.

Tristan was not at all afraid, he just put on his flat face as usual, "Before master slashed my head let me report the results of his investigation more clearly" Tristan said.

"You're five minutes" replied Raymond brandishing the tip of his sword right at Tristan's neck.

"It is true that the mastermind of this incident was a noble, but the leader of Serpens Umbra did not provide detailed information about who the person was or even his gender. I tried to find information from the Serpens Umbra thugs, they gave a list of names and places of residence of the perpetrators who participated in the incident" said Tristan.

"3 minutes" said Raymond, recalling the rest of the time Tristan had to report.

Tristan did not seem panicked at all, he remained and always calmed down, "After I went to all the abusers' residences, the results were the same. The perpetrators have not been home since about a week. And the family background of the perpetrators is also almost similar. The perpetrators of the poor people who became the backbone of the family and either coincidentally or deliberately one of their family members is seriously ill." added Tristan.

Raymond lowered his sword, "So most likely they are now dead? Or even they are willing to die for the sake of carrying out the task because they are lured with great rewards" said Raymond while saving his sword back.

His neck muscles that were originally tightened began to relax slowly.

"I think so too. Our enemy is a cunning and ingenious nobleman, he seems to have calculated everything that will happen after this incident. So there is no reproach for Lady Elizabeth to know who is behind this incident because she has closed all access to information about her" Tristan said still with his original expression.

He knew Raymond would not actually slash a sword into his neck. Raymond did often lose control when it came to Elizabeth so Tristan was not surprised if the owner suddenly did something like brandishing a sword at his confidant.