Isekai: Princess Marquess Becomes Entrepreneur of Tempe

Chapter 63. Black Debris

"Elona, come on, calm yourself down! Let's see the condition! No, don't cry!"

Ten minutes had passed, and Stefan was still trying to calm down Elona, who had been crying ever since they left Locke's house. Upon hearing that Locke's soybean factory had a fire, Stefan, Ryndall and Elona boarded the horse-drawn carriage and headed to the scene. And Elona was crying incessantly because of it.

Arriving at the site, residents had crowded around the factory building that had become blackened debris. Residents have helped fetch water and water the fire, but still many things cannot be saved. There were even traces of smoke visible in the air.

The raw products partially smell charred due to burning charred gossacks, and the finished products are still stored upstairs and have not had time to be distributed to stores, spilling onto the floor.

Elona stared at it all, and her body immediately collapsed to the ground because it was not strong enough to accept reality. Silently with eyes pilar, he knelt lamenting the fate of his factory that had been destroyed.

"Girl!" Stefan screamed when he saw his sister crying.

"Sister..my factory, brother..."

Elona hugs Stefan with tears. Stefan replied with a close embrace while circulating his gaze around.

"You gohome! Ryndall, get Elona home!" tell Stefan.

"Come, Miss!" ryndall said, extending a hand.

"But, Brother Ryndall, I want to find out who did it..."

"That order leave it to me!" exciting Stefan. Then he turned his eyes to the soldiers who came to escort them.

"Guards!! Check this whole place, down to the nitty-gritty and even the smallest corners. Find out if anything could be a clue about the perpetrator. If anything suspicious, whatever it is, report it to me!"

"Good, Master! Ready to do!!"

"Come, Miss!" Ryndall led Elona who was walking limply while still looking around. The soybean field is still intact even though the processing plant has been destroyed. Elona continued to circulate the gaze until it stopped to a point.

"Sister Ryndall, I'll be there for a minute." said the girl as she wiped her tears. Ryndall nodded his head as he continued to accompany his master.

Elona walked to a point of the area, which should not have been worked on at all. But in fact, the area has finished being hijacked. Old crops belonging to residents who failed to harvest had been plucked, and the land had been neatly turned upside down. All that remains is not just a capuri, because in the warehouse there is no stock of agricultural lime stock left. Approximately, there is half an acre that has been completed by someone.

This...who did it?

Elona suddenly remembered Kiara's words, about Louis working day and night non-stop in his fields to atone for sin. Spontaneous Elona widened her eyes.

"Don't you. This is Louis doing it? He hijacked all this alone?!" muttered Elona in disbelief, who was overheard by Ryndall and told.

"I got a report from one of the workers, that Mr. Vandyke kept working late into the night, and started working again the next morning, Miss." said the secretary, making Elona so surprised.

"Then, where is he now?" ask the girl quickly.

"According to the workers, Mr. Louis's body fell and was injured, and he was sent back to the capital and taken to the hospital there 2 days ago."

"Oh my goodness..." Again Elona's feet went limp and knelt on the ground, looking at Louis' work in his field.

I'm really mean... I just want him to be a little deterrent for hurting Elona. I didn't know she turned out that bad...

*****

"Elona, from the results of the investigation, found no material that could trigger an explosion at the scene."

Stefan revealed the fact after he returned home to Locke's residence in Armelin and met his sister in the study.

Elona looked at Stefan lethargicly. His mind was full of all the losses he had to bear before he built another factory.

"Don't be lethargic! I still found a clue!"

Stefan took out a cloth bag from inside his suit, and took out what was inside. Two arrows, the other had very pointed iron eyes, and the other had eyes that had been clad in a flammable axis.

"It's..." Elona was in disbelief. Stefan nodded his head.

"There was someone who released these two arrows, and in the same direction, that was the sewage gas pipe tofu. According to the alleged results, the culprit perforated the pipe first with this pointed arrow, then after releasing a fiery arrow into the pipe hole, and there was an explosion."

"What?!"

Stefan realized that Elona seemed unable to accept the reality that had happened. He immediately put the two arrows back into the bag, then approached Elona.

"You better go back to the capital. For a while, calm yourself. Let me take care of everything here." said Stefan.

"But, Brother-"

Stefan paused for a moment, before finally proceeding with his wry words, "I've already lost one of my sisters to depression. I don't want to lose another one."

"Sister..." Elona looked at Stefan. Had this happened on earth, he would never have had an older brother as good as the man before him at this moment.

"All right, I'm going home to the capital. All I want to accompany Brother Iris and stroke her stomach, hehe!" elona smiled.

"Well, that's so cheerful, yeah! Yes, you prepared everything. I'll book a boat ticket for the early morning departure."

*****

The servants packed Elona's belongings as well as other necessities that the girl would use during the trip. Some servants were busy walking around in her room, and Elona was just looking at them in a doldrums.

The girl opened the window of her room, and it appeared right outside the window, a large tree whose branches protruded towards the window of the room. The branch that was always used as a perch by a man who recently filled the heart of Elona.

Art. I haven't heard from her since that day. Is he still mad at me, huh?

I'll be leaving Armelin soon. I'd better meet him for a farewell. Even if he's still angry and doesn't want to see me again, at least I've tried.

"Servant, please prepare the horse carriage, yes. I want to go to Rudiyart City."

Elona was getting ready to go to Rudiyart City which was completely adjacent to Armelin City. Elona never knew Art's true abode. The man only said that he lived in a village, and he was quite close to the family of Duke Eckart. So that's where Elona's going now.

However, it turned out that there was no one in the mansion. There were only a few servants and soldiers who were training not far from the front yard. The doors of the mansion were tightly closed as if there were no occupants at all.

"Ah, Miss Elona...?" greeting a soldier who was resting from his training was about to take a drink.

"You... Sam's? Art's friend who helped me out in the fields too, right?" elona asked while trying to remember. Sam is one of Art's friends who often comes to the farm with the man.

"You're a soldier here?" ask Elona again. His eyes probed the male soldier who was wearing a warrior training suit with the Eckart emblem, from top to bottom.

"Ah, uh. yes..." Sam was confused to answer. Because, if there is Elona in front of them, Art is the one who drives the conversation so that these soldiers do not talk wrong about the identity of their master. But now his young master was nowhere to be seen, so Sam was also at a loss as to what to do.

"Where's Art? I haven't seen him since yesterday!" ask Elona again.

"O-oh that... Gentlemen-er, I mean, Art, he's not here right now" replied Sam.

"Oh yeah? Where the hell is he?"

"Err.. He went to the capital, yes to the capital, just yesterday left!"

"Hmm so..." Elona spread her gaze for a moment around the house.

"The house is empty, huh? Duchess Nania is there?"

"Pulse... Ladies and gentlemen are also going to the capital, Miss."

"Ah, they went together? What's the show?" elona asked, getting curious.

"Eh, that's. I don't know, Miss!"

"Brah!!" another soldier called out to Sam from a distance, making the man sigh in great relief. He had a reason to run away from the young lady.

"Yes, miss! I still have to practice again!"

"Eh, wait!"

Without listening to Elona again, the soldier darted into the training booth on the side of the mansion, leaving the bewildered Elona alone.

Art went to the capital? Why didn't he tell me? Is she so angry with me that I wasn't told at all...?

But, he said he went with Mr and Mrs Eckart... What do they need to do there? Do the Master and Madam need Art's services and manpower, to the point that they invite him a horse-keeper's son to come along?

In the confusion and sadness of not being able to meet the man who filled her heart, Elona came home empty-handed. Then, he again prepared to head to the capital as well.

*****

...\=\= original writing by @author.ryby \=\=...

...\=\= cover art by @fuheechi_ \=\=...