Chapter 52: Tumultuous Investigation (Part 3)

It was the next day after the discussion between Jogrin and Kapel. Jogrin, who was invited to the central cantonment at the campsite by Kapel after the last dinner, was going to accept and head out. After he exited the house via the back door and went around the house, he witnessed Proxer at the side of the front yard, busy sawing the pieces of log he procured yesterday.

"Whew... Oh hey Jogrin, heading to see Father?"

Proxer wiped the sweat on his forehead with his forearms as he spoke to Jogrin after noticing him coming closer. He was putting on the usual smile.

"Yeah." A short reply of affirmation came from Jogrin.

"Well, whatever you guys are doing, good luck... Please let me know if you two need any assistance."

"Alright."

With that, Jogrin turned away from Proxer and exited through the gate... or that should've been the case.

"Um, Proxer... Can you open it for me?"

"Ah, right... I gotchu."

...

"You have come. You are late for 36 seconds. Do you have any valid reason for that?"

As soon as Jogrin entered the tent where Kapel was waiting, Kapel immediately reprimanded his tardiness, albeit insignificant.

"How finicky... Will accept if I tell it's because I can't open doors?"

"Then you should have embarked earlier to account for your inability to open doors."

"Can we not dwell on this anymore?"

Quickly grew impatient and craved to move on to the main topic they were here for, Jogrin urged Kapel to shut it.

"So, to continue where we left off yesterday... Since you wouldn't change your mind about coming with me on the reconnaissance, I guess I have no choice. I have something else I want to know though."

"What would it be?"

"The king's daily schedule."

"We have inquired the queen about that, she had expressed that she was also kept in the dark about his daily schedule. However, upon further inquiry, we found that there have always been a specific time frame in which His Majesty could not be found at any location, within the palace." Kapel replied briefly yet the reply contained essential information.

"Time frame?" Jogrin queried further.

"Yes. During this time every day, no one, including the queen, could find His Majesty." Kapel showed a weekly schedule on a tablet that was already on the table. Apparently, he compiled all the information he had received and made this himself. Every day within the week was pretty much identical.

Jogrin took a brief look at the schedule and screened for any abnormalities. There didn't seem to be any other than the time frame mentioned by Kapel.

"And this is where he usually goes before this time frame, huh..."

It was his own bedroom where he resided with the queen. He always went back to rest after meetings, which wasn't out of the norm at all. Therefore, despite having compiled the general schedule of the king, it didn't actually give neither Jogrin nor Kapel any clues.

"Hm... Have you asked whether the others who work there saw the king during that time frame?"

"No one did, unfortunately."

If it was otherwise, Kapel would've been able to surmise the course the king took by compiling all the reported locations and times that the king was seen at. That then would lead Kapel to where the king could've actually been to before he vanished from everyone's sights. However, because he couldn't get any of such reports from anyone, he was completely stuck, like a car with a broken tie.

"That's a big enough clue though, isn't it?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Kapel was perplexed by the fact that Jogrin seemed to have figured out something from not being able to find the course the king took.

"Just think of it from another perspective. Let me ask you one more thing: did you ask the queen whether he actually left the room?"

"... Not that I am aware of."

"Then you must've assumed that the king left the room and went somewhere else. That's why you're stuck."

"... I certainly have not thought of such a possibility..."

"So, with this, we've got a lead. Of course, I can't guarantee that it's a correct one, but it's definitely worth a shot."

"Indeed... Thank you."

"... Huh?"

Jogrin shot a weird look at Kapel, apparently surprised by Kapel's behavior again.

"Is something the matter?" Kapel returned Jogrin the same look and questioned.

"No... It's just that... Well, you being grateful is one thing, but actually expressing it directly like that is certainly what I anticipated."

"I express my gratitude if I believe it is appropriate. Is there a problem with that?"

"No... You know what, nevermind."

Jogrin simply let it be and didn't give it anymore thought. He shouldn't be dwelling on these minor, unimportant things after all.

"Shall we reconvene at another time and conduct an investigation inside the room?"

"After the more perilous investigation that is."

As searching for the king beyond the walls was a more pressing matter, it was a better idea to prioritize that over searching in the room, even though it could potentially help solve the case. Therefore, they should reconvene for that investigation first. However, even though the both of them consented to form a reconnaissance team, it didn't necessarily mean that they could actually do it yet, as they needed the approval the the entire contingency committee. Jogrin wasn't sure if the other members would accept that.

Regardless, he should still prepare himself to explore the unknown lands in the foreseeable future. Should he be rejected though, he'd have to come up with another way to gain access to the outside of the wall... Not that there were any known methods to do so, even officially.

"Now that we've found a possible lead, I guess I'll leave it at that for now. I await any news about if our pairing is accepted by those other members. Or if anyone else will be joining us... Though I think you'll just find some way to reject them."

"If the majority of the committee agrees to have more people join us, I have no right to refuse."

"Fair enough, but I'm sure you can handle it. You don't want others to experience what you did just now when I showed you another part of my abilities after all."

In the next moment, Jogrin turned to leave the tent. It was lucky that the tent entrance wasn't a door, but just a pair of cloths pinned together, so he had no difficulty in exiting as he pleased.

On the other hand, Kapel watched Jogrin leave the tent, before he took out his phone out of the pocket of his military uniform, and dialed someone.