As evening approached, the ship arrived at the Longsong District's inland river wharf.
Pero, having received the news, had already arrived with his men to await them. Back at the castle, a grand welcome banquet was held in the main hall on the first floor. Ever since completely taking control of Longsong Stronghold, Roland's mentality had also changed. Looking at the nobles clinking glasses during the banquet, he couldn't help but feel that Pero was using his own money to host him.
After exchanging a few pleasantries with the eldest son of the Goldensilk family, he got straight to the point, "Have those rats started crawling out again?"
"According to the reports we've received, it seems so," Pero gestured, leading the prince to a corner of the hall, "But compared to the previously organized Black Street gangs, the criminals we've caught now are all acting individually, such as theft, robbery, murder, and so on. All those caught have been dragged to the square and sentenced to hanging. However, you require us to have solid evidence, so we've only dealt with a small fraction of the reported cases. Just verifying these messages takes up a lot of time, and..." The eldest son of the Goldensilk family paused, "Recently, we've encountered a big problem."
"What problem?"
"Someone is openly resisting your policies, Your Highness," Pero said with concern, "Earl Mede knows more about the specifics. I'll have him explain it to you in detail."
"Your Highness, Elk pays his respects to you," Rein bowed to the prince after being called over, before beginning to explain the situation, "Recently, a major incident occurred in North Street outside the city... Well, according to Sheriff Wade, it should be called a series of murders."
Uh, that was my saying, Roland thought with interest, "Go on."
"Yes," Rein. Mede said in a solemn voice, "Starting three days ago, a household has been killed every night. Their common point is that they are all male, living alone, without family, and most importantly, they have all applied for jobs with the city hall."
The prince frowned, "They are all officially employed?"
"If a handyman counts as official work," the Earl of Elk nodded, "Each victim's room also had a painting left behind: a crown and a red cross, painted with blood. It was because of this mark that I asked the city hall for confirmation, and learned that their names were on the list of people who would soon be going to Redwater District to build houses."
"So you think their purpose is..."
"To sabotage your recruitment plan, Your Highness," he replied, "This matter has already spread in North Street, saying that as long as you apply for a job with the city hall, you will be targeted by killers."
"I think so too," Pero added, "The number of recruits was already lower than expected, and now almost no one in North Street dares to sign up. Now the city hall also has a group of citizens who are going back on their word, saying that they are unwell and temporarily unable to leave the city, hoping that officials can remove their names. Now that the news is only circulating in North Street, if it spreads to other districts, it may have an adverse effect on your construction plan."
Roland pondered for a moment, "Have you found any clues to the killer?"
"This..." Rein opened his mouth, and after a long time said, "No one saw the killing scene, and we don't know where to start searching."
"Is that so," he couldn't help but be surprised, "Then how did you solve this kind of thing before?"
"Are you talking about the patrol team?" The young Earl of Elk hesitated, "As far as I know, they don't have a fixed method. If the impact is great, the victim's family appeals to the lord, and if the lord decides to give his people justice, they will put pressure on the Black Street gangs to make the rats hand over the criminals themselves – as for whether they are scapegoats, the patrol team doesn't care. If they are outsiders or loners, they generally choose to turn a blind eye."
This is simply too lawless, Roland secretly clicked his tongue, in this way, judicial power is almost equal to handing it over to the rats, no wonder some people say that rats are the other side of governing the city. In addition, there seems to be no such thing as criminal investigation in this era, once a murder is not witnessed, it is most likely a cold case - of course, only for civilians.
The town has Nightingale sitting in charge, plus the simple composition of personnel, all kinds of crimes are solved as soon as they occur, which made him ignore this problem. Rein didn't say it, but he may think that
His requirement that evidence be conclusive before sentencing is probably a difficult thing to do.
But no matter what, Roland would not allow the scapegoat thing to be played in his territory.
"I see, starting tomorrow, the Security Bureau will take over this case, just cooperate fully."
"Yes, thank you, Your Highness," Rein said with great joy.
...
After the banquet, Roland returned to the room on the top floor of the castle - now it has changed greatly, the surrounding shelves have been removed, replaced with soft lounge chairs, coffee tables and cushions. Two large holes were knocked out of the wall behind the table, and transparent floor-to-ceiling windows were installed. Although it is not flawless crystal glass, the sense of openness has instantly improved by a level. Through the slightly mottled glass, Roland overlooked the fortress shrouded in the night, and nodded with satisfaction.
It seems that Pero is quite attentive to his orders, and he was right to choose him as an agent at the beginning.
"What are you going to do about this?" Nightingale came out of the mist and sat cross-legged on the table.
"I won't handle this matter," the prince shook his head with a smile, "Now the nobles have returned to Longsong, and the main task tomorrow is to arrange for them to establish a new secondary city hall, divide departments and some heads of departments according to the Border Town model. The sooner this set of teams is set up, the sooner Soraya can draw up identity cards. The matter of cracking down on crime is up to you."
"Me?"
"You are the head of the Security Bureau, and you will decide how to solve the case... You can freely use the entire Neverwinter City police force, whether it's Wade or Rein, they can all be regarded as your subordinates."
"But didn't you often say that departmental powers should be separated and administrative status should be equal," Nightingale said in confusion, "I don't quite understand how the city hall works, but wouldn't this be putting the Security Bureau above it?"
"The safety of the territory is above all else, which is why you are directly responsible to me," Roland said with appreciation, "Not only the police department, but also the review of the city hall and the army will be carried out by you in the future. The various departments are indeed separate and do not interfere with each other, but they also need a net to bind them, to prevent the personnel inside from abusing their power and corruption, and to prevent the collapse of the new system from within. You should have heard a saying - the most solid defense is often first disintegrated from within." He paused slightly, looking into Nightingale's eyes, "And you are the strong shield to prevent all this from happening, whether it's my safety or the security of the territory, it's all entrusted to you."(。)