Chapter 476: Missed
The countryside in the northern part of Tachia Territory is more decent than the central and southern parts. Although there are various problems, at least there are no such ridiculous situations as cult members openly setting up bases in the market towns or even replacing the local tax farmers.
This vast plain, blessed with unique natural conditions and dense water networks, is suitable for both farming and animal husbandry, and has relatively rich mineral reserves. The civilians here are relatively wealthy compared to other areas of the Rhine Kingdom, and it is a stable source of tax revenue for the Territory of Tachia. For the sake of money, the feudal nobles in this area have to be more or less "dedicated".
Of course... this does not mean that the noble lords in the north will be more merciful when they wield the knives to harvest the common people than the wild sects in the south and central parts.
In the home of Vic, a villager of Blackrock Village and a coachman.
Captain Miles, who was quickly taking notes in his notebook, suppressed his anger and asked casually, "...In other words, debtors who can't even pay the interest will be taken to the eastern coal mines to work and pay off their debts?"
"Yes, sir." The driver Vic swallowed and said, "As far as I remember, several families in our village have been taken away over the years, and one of them is a relative of my uncle."
"They were much more unfortunate than the Whites. They owed too much money, and they didn't have a capable son who could make a lot of money outside... Master Bud tolerated their family's delay for half a year, and he didn't even collect the interest. One night, he called the people from the mine and took the whole family away."
At this point, the driver Vic showed a look of fear: "There are always accidents at the mine, and almost no one who is sent to work can come back alive... It's really terrible."
"Speaking of which, I heard last year that a family in the neighboring village was also taken away... The son of that family owed a huge gambling debt when he worked on the farm. He wrote an IOU and ran away, leaving his family behind. The family already owed Master Bud money for seeds, and they simply couldn't afford another debt..."
Captain Miles' hand holding the pen trembled slightly. After learning this, he finally understood why a mere butler of a country noble dared to lend money so unscrupulously in the countryside.
Accidents are indeed frequent in the coal mines in the eastern part of Tachia Territory, with one or two mining accidents reported in the newspapers every few years.
Coincidentally, this coal mine had just been investigated by the night watchman.
There is no reason why accidents happen so frequently in open-pit coal mines on the plains. The frequent news of mining accidents in the eastern coal mines has long attracted the attention of the night watchmen, and the previous captain had investigated it.
The result of the investigation was that the coal mine had serious safety hazards and the mine owner was suspected of condoning frequent accidents; the previous captain believed that it was very suspicious and sent several reports to the Holy Land requesting support and in-depth investigation.
These reports fell on deaf ears.
Combined with the information provided by the driver Vic, it is self-evident what this means.
Captain Miles tried hard to suppress his anger and forced himself to calmly and quietly continue to ask the driver Vic whether he remembered the names, ages, family members and other information of the people who were sent to the mine.
Soon after, Captain Miles recorded all the information provided by the driver in the notebook he carried with him, and told the driver and his son to keep the secret for the time being and not to tell anyone else about today's conversation before the new city hall thoroughly investigated Wilkie Town, and then quietly left Black Stone Village.
"If we just force rural farmers to borrow money at high interest rates, we won't be able to severely punish these bastards. But since they are involved with the cult, don't blame the Night Watch for being ruthless."
Captain Miles was filled with murderous intent as he took the path around to Budd Manor.
"Master Bud" is just a puppet, obeying his master's dirty plan to develop several villages east of Wilkie Town into a place for obtaining sacrifices.
These cunning and despicable bastards even disguised a loan relationship to deceive people - the sacrificed people who disappeared from under the noses of their neighbors were either gamblers or debtors with heavy debts.
The disappearance or forcible removal of such stigmatized people from their place of residence will cause the villagers to feel regret, sympathy, or even contempt, disgust, and gloating, but it will not cause panic among them.
The despicable tactic of using stigmatization to separate a small group of people from the majority and then using these stigmatized people as victims is undoubtedly more harmful The majority of people who are lucky enough not to be selected and have escaped the disaster often find it difficult to be vigilant about this, let alone guard against it or escape.
Obviously, there are a large number of victims in several villages around Bad’s farm, but the residents of these villages are still unaware, and may even cover up Bad’s crimes intentionally or unintentionally, actively or passively!
The more Captain Miles thought about it, the more difficult it was to control the veins on his forehead.
He understood human nature very well. Coachman Vic might be intimidated by the identity of the night watchman for a short period of time, but no one could tell whether this man would take the initiative to inform "Master Bud" out of panic and fear or other reasons after he came to his senses - the lower-class civilians were short-sighted, and compared to the night watchmen far away in the city, the "master" who was right in front of them and who directly controlled their lives was obviously more worthy of submission and flattery.
In other words... he had to obtain the ironclad evidence that could nail "Master Bud" to death as soon as possible before the coachman Vic started to hesitate.
The territory of Tachia used to be the domain of cultists, but now - even Count Geketian has been killed by the Nightmare Butcher, and even the Archon of the City Hall has become an undead, Captain Miles no longer needs to be restrained!
Seeing the roof of the farm building on the other side of the pasture in the distance, Captain Miles bent down and pulled out the sharp blade hidden in his boot, turned his wrist, and hid the dagger in his sleeve.
It is not the style of the Night Watch to use force against ordinary people, but since "Master Bud" has done such a bad thing, in Captain Miles' opinion, he has lost the qualification to be protected.
The murderous captain of the Night Watch quickly approached Budd's Farm...
Then he froze.
The fenced yard was in a mess, as if it had just been trampled by a herd of wild boars.
Dozens of farm workers were standing scattered in the open space in front of the stable and inside and outside the gate.
Some workers looked panic-stricken, as if they had just suffered a serious fright; some workers turned pale and looked anxiously towards the northwest (towards the town of Wilkie); more people gathered around the fence gate, talking to each other nervously, and seemed to want to leave the farm immediately, but seemed to be afraid of something and dared not leave.
When Captain Miles went around the fence and headed for the gate, the workers all looked at him in fear, and then all breathed a sigh of relief...
"Good day, what happened?" Captain Miles adjusted his lower facial muscles to make his expression look less ferocious, and strode forward.
Captain Miles's neat and tidy dress and upright appearance made him look like a city dweller with a respectable job. Having lived in Creek City for a long time, his accent had become indistinguishable from that of the locals. Although the frightened farm workers did not know who he was, they were obviously happy to confide their experiences to such a city gentleman.
"Oh, good day, sir, you can't guess what a terrible thing has happened here—" a milking woman wearing sleeves and a waist cloth with a lot of old milk stains said in panic, "Our farm has just been attacked by the undead! Those terrible undead looted Master Bud's property and kidnapped Master Bud's family! Even the nine-year-old little master was not spared!"
Captain Miles: "(゜ロ゜) ???"
Captain Miles: "What did you say?? The undead have been here??"
"Yes, sir, this is true." Another old shepherd said incoherently, "It's terrible, it's really terrible, there is such a thing, Ms. Gold Coin, what is wrong with this world, it's broad daylight——"
More workers began to talk at once, trying to describe to the strange gentleman from the city the horrible and bizarre scenes they had seen.
Captain Miles had no interest in finding out how - to be honest, he had seen this many times in the city - and when he learned that the undead had indeed been there, he hurriedly pushed aside the workers who were blocking his way and strode into the farm.
The big house where Bud's family lived was the scene of a large-scale theft... no, a gang robbery: all the boxes and cabinets that could be opened were pulled open, and nothing of value was left.
Even the candlesticks welded to the walls of the corridor in the room were pried off cleanly.
Captain Miles searched the house inside and out with a numb look on his face, but he didn't see any house that could be occupied, nor did he see any member who looked like the Bud family.
When he found the master bedroom, Captain Miles discovered a secret room hidden in the bedroom closet.
It was said to be a secret room, but now it seems not secret at all... The locked wardrobe door was directly removed, and the clothes inside were taken out and thrown aside. You can see the big black hole as soon as you enter the door.
Captain Miles silently took out a kerosene lighter, lit it, stepped over the clothes on the ground, and went into the secret room.
Soon, Captain Miles rushed out of the secret room like crazy, holding the "treasure chest with only waste paper" that almost made the treasure hunters vomit to death...
There were a large number of land deeds and house deeds from several nearby villages, as well as IOUs and promissory notes with the fingerprints of thousands of people - the more Captain Miles sorted them out, the uglier his expression became.
Apart from that, there were no account books or lists used for handover.
"That's weird... Could it be that the people above Bud have already prepared to abandon him if he is exposed, and never left any evidence?" Captain Miles frowned and thought, "No, a scum like Bud who is good at playing tricks on people may not have prepared a way out for himself."
"Wait, could it be that the evidence was taken away by the undead?"
This is very possible. Those rude and barbaric undead are actually very good at investigation (doing night watch tasks). Although the case reports are written in a mess, they can always find out the truth.
Think about it carefully... Although the Tarantan Undead are very chaotic... they will not attack innocent people at will (in fact, they are mainly for reputation deduction and warning).
Since Bud's entire family was kidnapped by the undead, it is obvious that these undead have enough evidence to convict him.
Thinking of this, Captain Miles couldn't help but fall silent.
So... so, he didn’t catch up... ?
