So... Let's see what do we have. On one hand, dad and Abe and van der Klaases who probably have some idea who Klaus is, but not about our personal altercations. On the other, Hiram, Alphonse and Klaus himself are aware that I ripped his head off, but all of them are keenly aware the circumstances of this incident are not in their favor. Admittedly, I have no idea which way Alphonse will jump. Hiram had not been aware of Klaus being back among the living - he acts well, but the physiological expressions of surprise are a wholly different thing. Why would crownprince be kept in dark about their own spymaster? Hiram's loyalty is in question? Or there was some sort of miscommunication?
Hm. I wonder if Klaus himself wants to make things public. On one hand, he could arouse sufficient suspicion about me if he were to claim I'm a monster. On the other, I've already been cleared by sir Zade before, did plenty of light magic in the Temple with literally hundreds of witnesses and shown a propensity for using body morphing in combat. Which is all public knowledge, so Klaus knows it as well. Which, in turn, means he is aware I can laugh off his accusation fairly easily. He might make things stick if he pushes on with "I've been murdered", but he was caught trespassing with a slave collar. That's pretty much a guaranteed death if caught by the house owner.
"Good day, your highness, your highness, your excellency, your grace, your grace, monsieur van der Klaas, monsieur van der Klaas." - he begins, his Albish impeccable this time around - "I have to admit, much to my chagrin, that lady Gillespie is not entirely wrong. The incidents she mentioned had occurred." Alphonse quirks his brow at this ... less than diplomatic admission, but motions him to continue. "However, they are not connected." - he does so, bowing - "Impertinent servant had been paid off by Merchant Guild to try and snoop around in lady Gillespie's papers while she's indisposed. Nothing unexpected, really, any merchant worth their salt would want to know the deal before it happens. Guards are, well... an oversight. They have been told to expect lord and lady Gillespie and presumed that means a lord and his wife, not a lord and his daughter. As for jungherr Falstaff, well... My condolences, lady Gillespie. He is quite an infamous womanizer. Vexing, I readily agree, but hardly malicious."
I peer at him curiously. "You know, I've been told that the reason for mistake among guards was that someone misspelled my name and they interpreted it as someone well known in the court... and consequently, clearly not me." - I offer.
Klaus shakes his head. "A plausible explanation, but I'm afraid a fiction. Captains of the guard are more than a little apt at concocting mollifying stories at the drop of the hat whenever their subordinates fail to exhibit proper manners." - he rebuffs - "Back to the topic at hand, do those explanations satisfy your curiosity, lady Gillespie? Yes, there were several minor faults that ended up coinciding. I can see how you might consider this to be the signs of an overarching plan, but honestly, each of them is an entirely independent mishap."
"So your advice is not to attribute to malice what could be sufficiently explained by ineptitude and ignorance?" - I drawl. He grins.
"Aptly said, lady Gillespie! Aptly said." - he agrees with a shiteating grin I want to punch in. I don't, but it's sorely sorely tempting. And then he continues - "I have already spoken with the guildmaster about the servant, and there should be no more attempts of the sort. They've been properly remonstrated and will present a delegation to tender their apologies after this meeting. Guards had been sent out to patrol the city walls as a reminder to the rest of the corps to pay proper attention. As for jungherr Falstaff, my apologies, but there is preciously little that can be done, at least by me."
Hm. Pretty standard politician's fare so far. Pin a part of the blame on people I'd be expecting the most from, hide the other part in an inconvenient place and phrase it as a punishment being done and flatly disavow the rest while making it look too toxic to touch. I have to admit, Klaus is a dab hand at court politics. Oh well. Nothing left for me but to accept graciously and move on. Maybe with a little zinger that reminds Klaus I'm not actually duped by the act one bit. While I mull this over, Alphonse scoffs - "Falstaff? That lech? By all means, lady Gillespie, if you want a duel, I'll sanction one. Boy's long overdue some educational spanking."
"As amusing as it would be, your highness, I did already promise him to leave him be if he returns the favor." - I demur - "Though I give no guarantees for the outcomes if he decides to renege on that. Ah well, I suppose we can consider the matter closed. For good, hopefully, for now if there is another incident in the brewing." Klaus makes no expression as I say that, but something about him shifts at the mention of the fourth cockup. Good to see, that. Exchanging glances with Abe and dad, I can see both of them nodding. Next phase. For a reason I'm not entirely sure of, Abraham insisted I should be the one who formally announces the initial gifting. At my request, the footmen bring in the crates unloaded from the ship just a little while ago. I didn't want Klaus or someone else getting too curious about the contents and left them on the ship until the last possible minute.
"Finally." - Alphonse offers with a grin - "I've been trying to guess just what is that you brought the whole time." He leans forward... and then blinks when I rip the lid off the closest lid. As it so happens, this is the crate containing a hundred spearheads. It takes him and Klaus but a moment to peer in. Klaus tilts his head, looking like a stork that was fishing for a bug and caught a whole eel by accident. Alphonse merely looks surprised and giddy.
"A hundred spearheads forged out of ripple steel. A present." - I offer simply, as I rip the lid off the second crate - "Two thousands of arrowheads forged out of ripple steel. Also a present. Along with four more crates of the same. That should serve well as a strategic reserve." Alphonse nods quickly, his hands rubbing together in barely restrained glee. Ok, this is... a little more expressive than I expected. A show? Or he genuinely is that pleased about having a little something-something stashed away in case of neighbors getting cute? Hmmm.
"That's... more than a little generous, lady Gillespie." - Klaus offers dubiously from his spot behind the chair Alphonse is sitting on - "You must have emptied the storehouses of your county entirely to prepare this many."
Rory scoffs at the very idea, retorting - "Think again, lad. This here is but a three weeks effort." I.. would have shushed him if I had an idea he would pipe up so suddenly. Oh well. Given the moment of startlement on dad's and Abe's faces, they also had this very thought. Really, we kinda dropped the ball here. Abe, dad, Mihel? All quite used to negotiations by the dint of experience. Me and Marceu? Had a lot of education and some experience of our own. Rory, on the other hand, has only his lifetime of being a blacksmith to call upon. Obviously he had no idea what should be put forth and what should be held back.
Klaus smirks. That's a point to him, yes. I wonder just how far he can press this advantage, though. "Truly? Only three weeks? Well, be that as it may, it is hard to imagine such a pace to be sustainable." - he ripostes - "Even the most dedicated dwarf can not work around the clock, after all."
"Ye'd think so, lad." - Rory rasps back at him - "Fortunately fer us, lady Gillespie is just as brilliant at organizin' things as she is in makin' new 'uns." Oh. Wow. He did manage to leave the things as vague generalities this time. Way to go, Rory.
"We're pursuing a policy of labor divergence in this matter." - I step in quickly to prevent Klaus from baiting Rory into exposing anything actually valuable - "As the vast majority of dwarven survivors are apt at stonecutting, mining or forging, we have arranged things to let all of them do just that. Gillespie county has more than enough farms and farmers to produce enough food for dwarves in addition to other populace, and letting all of the dwarves concentrate on the crafts they are experts in permits to set a very generous production pace."
"Labor... divergence?" - Alphonse repeats slowly - "Oh, I see. Setting aside a food surplus so that craftsmen could buy their food for cheap?"
"Nnnnot quite, your highness." - I reply - "You underestimate the magnitude of decimation dwarves underwent. Eruption of Red Mountain was just the start of problems, fugitives have... diminished prospects at finding good life, let's put it like this. At the moment, if I expected of dwarves to sustain themselves with farming or buy at the market prices, we wouldn't be discussing any trade deals today, because there wouldn't be anything worth trading yet. We allocate the necessary food and textiles and assorted sundries in order to allow dwarves themselves to concentrate every effort on rebuilding. It is due to this policy there is a surplus of iron today sufficient to entertain trading agreements."
Rory coughs from his chair - "Aye. T'is not the usual ways, but lady Gillespie here had some good arguments fer doin' it this way. Iffen mah kin started with the gardens and legume plots, we'd not last the winter gathered laike this, far too many of us woulda be stuck in the cold with nuthin' but tents. Thankfully, it be not like this now, we have plenty of stone and metal ta sell and build. More'n'ough ta repay the support."
Alphonse is... ambivalent, I can see. He clearly thinks the returns on my method shouldn't be all that different from what he suggested. Whatever, there's a reason why Champagne got the dwarves, not Kraut. Not giving him time to start waxing poetics on this lest someone says something, ah.. unnecessary, I pass over the papers regarding the initial offer on metals. "This is the amount of iron ingots, regular steel and ripple steel that we feel confident about delivering, and the asking price for it." - I tell him - "The prices in the listing are calculated on the assumption the metal will be ferried on the ships through the Icy Ocean. Obviously, this is only viable in summer."
He frowns, looking over the paper. "It's... not as bad as we had feared, but.. still too much." - he muses - "We are interested in buying ripple steel obviously, but regular steel and iron are just not worth the effort of moving them through northern seas. But, I seem to remember there was a second part to this deal?"
Abe nods - "Indeed, and should we come to an agreement on this, the options for trading should expand significantly. But, first things first. I have requested of you to carry out the scouting of the western end of Ashenvale, while we ourselves surveyed the eastern half. What news? On our end, the situation looks promising. The old tract is buried under the ash, but the layer is only knee-deep or less across the whole length of the road up to the Well-met Hill. It should be feasible to clear off the ash and repave the road using tar up to that hill. Past it..."
Klaus steps up again. "The situation is a little worse on our end, I'm afraid." - he offers smoothly - "While for the most part the old tract is barely dusted, the pass at Great Gate is entirely buried in ash. My scouts were able to circumvent the area by using mountain trails across the southern cliffs, but that path is not feasible for wagons. With some effort, it might be made passable to the horseback caravans, but it would still be a treacherous and complicated road to take. Certainly not good for masses of goods like iron ingots or grain. The pass itself can not be crossed - ash is not unlike quicksands out there. I lost two men trying to feel out a path through with the poles and their findings were pitiful. Anyone descending into the pass will start coughing, then lose vision, then slip and sink into the ashes, if they were foolish enough not to turn back after the first or second misfortune. Once you are down in the ashes, it is the end. The second of my men had the foresight to tie a rope around his waist, but even so, while he was still alive when his comrades pulled him out of ash, he began coughing blood and expired overnight. A healer couldn't do anything useful for him."
"Healer wouldn't." - I interject absentmindedly, as I mull over the problem - "You need air magic for that. Ash's an abrasive, it scours the lungs from inside if you inhale it. The only way to cure that is to pull all the ash out of the lungs with air currents first, and only then try to heal."
...Why does EVERYONE look like they just had a "take a note, this is very important" moment? Nevermind, whatever.
"I think I might have an answer to this problem, but in order to say for sure, I will need to survey the area personally. There are certain measurements I would need to take to be sure." - I offer - "Other than Great Gate pass, the rest of tract is passable, right? Well, this is not as bad as I was worried about."
"And suppose you come out there and find there is no good way to deal with the situation?" - Alphonse offers wryly - "What then? The deal's off?"
Abe shakes his head - "No, we discussed this. Even if Ashenvale is not traversable right now, we still offer instruction and assistance in training your own road layers, provided you commit to repaving highways like I did."
"Oh? That's quite neighborly of you, cousin, but why would you go to such pains for us?" - Alphonse inquires, his brow quirked - "What's your gesheft in this?"
"The best outcome is reopening of Ashenvale tract, obviously. If it's not an option, then I will settle for sorting out the Southern Coastal tract. It might not be convenient enough to ensure the northern provinces can trade with each other, but at the very least the souths of our countries would have a route. I'm confident tar roads will improve the turnabout and profits, I'm already seeing a rise in trade between towns within Champagne along the highways." - Abe offers - "At the very least, if I can not buy Berlinger lager, I will have Zirich marzipan on the market."
Alphonse tilts his head. "Huh. So... The plan is to improve roads in any case, regardless of if Ashenvale can be passed or not?" - he drawls - "Very well. We the king of Kraut and the kingdom of Kraut do hereby accept this deal provisionally. We ask of lady Gillespie to examine the pass of Great Gate and report if it is feasible to reopen it in some way to permit wagon traffic through the area, and if not, if the mountain trails Klaus mentioned are suitable to be expanded for horseback caravans. Regardless of Ashenvale conditions, we do hereby commit a hundred laborers for the instruction and training on creating tar roads and accept the obligation to repave the highways connecting Berlinger, Lipzig, Nornburg and Zirich so that Kraut kingdom may enjoy the swift passage of goods and people from north to south and vice-versa. The Southern Coastal tract will be repaved jointly. Kraut kingdom shall oversee the western half of the tract till the half-way point between Nisa and Genia. Should Ashenvale be deemed passable, Kraut kingdom commits an additional hundred of laborers to the cause."
He pauses, draws breath and continues - "We would like to request that for the whole of Ashenvale construction, should it be undertaken, both Champagne and Kraut laborers are to be overseen by lady Gillespie as the instigator of this endeavor."
No pressure, huh?
I bet Klaus will leave the reunion with a mini version of our adorable abomination. Hehe.
Thanks for the chapter
Last chapter there was a reaction by Cytotoxin that surveillance of Klaus isn't that straightforward due to warding magic. Granted my suggestion was to basically peek over his shoulder and effectively hijack the Kraut intelligence service for Alyssas benefit.
Two of Klaus' explanations really don't make sense.
1. If the guards were expecting her mother, that is a much more reasonable and less offensive reason than getting her name wrong and expecting another Kraut noble, and there would be no reason for the guard captain to invent such a lie. That Klaus undermines the guard captain in such a way serves no purpose and makes the entire thing very unbelievable.
2. If that asshat noble boy is such a notorious womaniser, why seat him next to the wife of a foreign Duke here to negotiate trade directly between two kings for a legendary metal and revolutionary road technology? That's still a disaster waiting to happen and is still likely to have caused unnecessary friction between the two sides, even if he probably wouldn't have been so pushy with a married woman... Presumably. I mean, his own king wants a foreign girl to publicly beat the sh*t out of him, so he must have earned a *really* bad reputation.
I'm surprised and disappointed Alyssa felt she had no choice but to accept such obvious bullsh*t excuses and didn't try to press such flimsy nonsense, not even a tiny little bit.
Neither of explanations is actual truth. What REALLY happened is that Klaus ordered the guards to do a derp to needle Alyssa and see how she reacts to that. Him giving entirely different explanation is merely a continuation of this - he is intentionally making this barely believable lie to see just how easy it is to provoke Gillespies into rash action. So far, he`s not enthused.
Provocations were sadly a very common tactic in medieval courts.
@Cytotoxin oh I know, and I'm not saying she should be rash, I accept that she isn't going to attack Klaus or reveal anything about their last meeting right now. But to just accept such obvious lies so quickly without saying anything in return makes her look weak, like a pushover. If she just let's him get away with things so easily when she has been figuratively slapped in the face in public will just embolden Klaus to act more, and make Alphonse take her less seriously, no?
@Ultrabenosaurus Patience. It`s not going to be "smile and endure it" for long.
@Cytotoxin I look forward to seeing just how badly things go for Klaus, and I really hope some sh*t lands on Alphonse as well when the time comes. Please don't make us wait too long! Shoggoth's gotta Shoggoth! And yuri, they also gotta yuri.
@Ultrabenosaurus 10 years is not too long to wait for revenge.
@TheAngryNut That's an old Chinese saying and I personally call bullsh*t on it. Waiting 10 years for revenge is WAY too long, cause by that point, the situation would have long cooled off and your attack is no longer a revenge, but an unjustified offence...
@ARFitS Depends on what kind of offense was given to begin with.
@Cytotoxin Trust me, anything short of decimating the whole family would cool off after 10 years and even that won't cool only for the survivor...
@ARFitS Depends on what kind offense was given. To whom. In what circumstances. By whom. For what motivations.
Believe me on that, sometimes hatred lasts forever.
@Cytotoxin Basically what I said. The grudge remains ONLY within the victim and that's also only if the offence is extremely heavy, like massacring your family or a loved one, for example, but for everyone else, it'd be amazing if they still remember it after 10 years...
And even in that situation, it'd be way too strange if the murderer walked away scot free. The only way he'd be unpunished for his actions is if he remained the next ten years in hiding or on the run, or if they committed the perfect crime and actually got away with it.
If it's not the perfect crime, then he or she would essentially be a wanted fugitive and in either case, the only one who'd feel that they've had their revenge against them would be the victim and only them and even in their case, after 10 years, they won't feel like "I've finally had my revenge!" but more like "I can finally put this grudge to rest.". To the rest of the world, however, if all evidence pointed away from the perpetrator, then the ex-victim is committing murder, otherwise, it'd be a form of justice, albeit an extreme one...
@ARFitS Ok, no. I meant when I said it depends.
Understand that physical offenses are far from the only ones that could develop. Neglect, disrespect, incompatibility of worldview - all of those could create deep and lasting grudges.
To give you an example - I know a guy (codename: Nerd) who has a grudge lasting like... twenty five years by now. The initial problem? He came up with a bouquet of flowers to ask a girl out, and a guy (codename: Jock) who was nearby snatched them out of his hand and presented to his own girlfriend. To Jock, it was just a joke. Mean-spirited one, granted, because his justification was essentially "the f*ck that Nerd needs flowers for, anyway, he`s only gonna get rejected", but all in all it was extremely petty thing. It spawned a grudge that lasted through college and is still going strong. And by grudge, I mean serious business - sabotage, frame-ups, lies. Jock had been fired from three jobs, took three years in prison and still has huge issues, which are daily exacerbated by Nerd, who is by comparison rich and successful. Nerd STILL hates him and, to quote, "I will not leave him alone until he`s dead in a ditch." Jock has no f*cking idea why his life is in the toilet. He never paid Nerd second thought after the high school. He still probably does not know why.
@Ultrabenosaurus @Cytotoxin Actually how is "We were expecting a count's wife" kind of explanation going to work? Okay let's pretend it is the truth. Guards likely had a guest list, where, at least, a full name of the expected visitors should have been written, something like "lady Alyssa Gilespie". So, believing they were expecting count's wife, what made them think Alyssa is not the one? Her name matches with that on the list, nobody had passed using that name before. This version seems very flimsy. And just asks for further inquiries.
Another point is with that spy girl. Between the time Alyssa sent her off and the time of dinner a few hours had apparently passed. Alyssa had told the guards to ban the girl from entering, she didn't talk about her being a spy. So how did Klaus, supposedly, manage to investigate everything about her in such a short amount of time, without even being notified of servant's misdeeds? I know it can be passed as guards having told him and him then deciding to interrogate the girl, but it surely sounds suspicious, not that anything he said was any less suspicious. It also brings up some questions like "Why did the guards report to the spymaster, are they his subordinates?".
All in all, the whole situation can be seen as a huge fault of staff management and general security(especially the spy's case), which warrants punishments for those higher-ups responsible.
@MioDio It`s a lie, and everyone knows it. But it`s a lie with just enough "maybe possible" to it that even if Alyssa chooses to make an issue for it, the ones who will get punished are lowly servants.
But you have misconceptions about a couple points. First of all, guards were not given any written lists. For simple reason that ordinary servants at that age were unlikely to actually be literate. They had to keep everything in mind, and were essentially told Lord and Lady Gillespie. They expected, thus, to see Girard come in with a woman. When he came in alone, they simply assumed Lady Gillespie is too tired after the journey to actually attend dinner, which is plausible enough.
Second... Why would you think that Klaus wouldn`t be notified? If a servant somehow ended up being discourteous enough to a visiting noble from other country to be kicked out bodily? That`s huge deal and Klaus would definitely be told to investigate it. In fact, guards likely immediately detained the servant for interrogation. By contemporary sensibilities, this kind of behavior from servants is abnormal, so either she was a spy from someone, making it Klaus` business, or she dared to act boorishly to a visiting high noble, in which case Alyssa would be entirely justified to expect being told that servant was whipped for impertinence.
By modern sensibilities it is, indeed, a failure. By contemporary norms, however, such petty provocations were essentially bread and butter of court diplomacy. It`s Morton`s fork - respond too little, and you signal the others that you are meek. Respond too much, and the host has a reason to consider you an inconsiderate guest.
@Cytotoxin So if Gerard walked in first, and then a girl claiming to be lady Gillespie arrived, shoudln't they just let her in, thinking that his wife decided to actually attend? I assumed they had a list because of that previous misspeling excuse guard captain gave. It just doesn't make sense for two similar last names(one of Gerard and one of Alyssa) to be spelled differently in this situation. Also, they have my pity for having to remember many names, i would imagine such a work would be assigned to some kind of palace secretary or herald, or at least some literate folks.
Maybe I'm having some wrong impressions of their hierarchy, i thought spymaster is responsible for gathering intelligence, assasinations etc., while other people were in charge of palace's security and problems with personnel, but i guess Klaus just has a ton of responsibilities. Do they pay him well or give any rewards? By the way how was Klaus able to investigate it all so fast?
I wouldn't consider them mere petty provocations. First case can be viewed as an attempted breach of privacy, including correspondence and private documents, which is a serious accusation, which usually won't be settled easily. Second case is potentially much less harmful, but still can be seen as a lack of hospitality and a bad manners on a host's side. And those, i believe, a victim of said acts has full right to forget about being very considerate, as they were not the one to start it. Especially so, if the victim is on the stronger side of the deal.
@MioDio Not really, no. Man and wife coming into formal dinner separately? That`s helluva message and there are no precursors to that present to make them think it`s an option.
You do know that spoken names are even easier to misspell then written ones, right? ^_^
Not really on the spymaster thing. Back at those ages, there was no concept of internal and external intelligence services, spymaster was in charge of all intelligence operations, including the security of castle from spies and infiltrators. Or more precisely, spymaster devised precautions and conducted investigations, while captain of the guard made the things happen via the guard.
Feudal sensibilities have different outlooks on privacy. Body privacy was ranked much lower then conversation privacy, for example. Servant seeing a noble disrobed probably wouldn`t even be commented on, unless servant in question had no actual business being there and ventured into the area for the express purpose of ogling. Servant eavesdropping? Whipped at the very minimum.
Remember that servant insisted on helping Alyssa bathe, not on handling her papers or some such.
Klaus goes overboard on provocations, yes. Alphonse plays it down in front of everyone for obvious reasons, but you can bet he yelled at Klaus later in privacy and told him in no uncertain terms to knock it off. In fact, the whole situation where he does summon Klaus to explain is him tacitly admitting that things went overboard and that responsible party (aka Klaus) will be told to pull his head in.
@Cytotoxin Dude, your example is horrible. What Jock did is indeed slightly beyond mean, but the depth of Nerd's grudge and the actions he took are unjustified. This is not revenge, it's just abuse and can actually get Nerd arrested, if found out. As for the grudge itself, no one sane would ever hold a grudge like that for that long just because he stole his bouquet. I'd understand it if that wasn't the only incident and Jock actually put all of his effort throughout all of college to make Nerd's entire college life a living hell. If that's not the case, however, then the grudge really doesn't make any sense...
@ARFitS First of all, not dude.
Second, whatever made you think that grudges are in any way rational?
And no, that was literally the only incident where they intersected directly. They were in different classes and had different friend circle. I`ve given you example specifically to showcase just how deeply irrational the grudge can be and how far a revenge for something inconsequential can go.
@Cytotoxin It just seems weird for me that two similar surnames would be spelled differently when there is obvious connection between two people. Like Gerard G-i-l-l-e-s-p-i-e, and then Alyssa G-i-l-l-e-trgdhgh. Asking guards to handle somewhat social and a bit wit-requiring duty is just asking for troubles, especially with high nobles involved.
By breach of privacy, i meant, that it can be somewhat inferred that by posing as a servant that girl may have targeted her documents and so on, which is bad. Klaus himself insinuated that girl wanted to look through the papers.
If Klaus handles external and internal investigations and intelligence, then does it mean Malachi also works as a spymaster(gathering external intelligence), or Chamapagne is different in that regard?
@MioDio Not every nation is the same, you know? Kraut just seems to prefer to have their spymaster be the head of internal and external security, while Champagne is less inclined to do the same. At least, as far as I can tell...
@MioDio To a degree, yes, but Malachi and Klaus have very different approaches to the problem.
Klaus prefers to establish wide network of agents which extends into all nations Kraut has dealings with, and throughout Kraut itself. Inquisition is a subset of this network, and consists of several squads of highly trained combat mages who specialize in extermination of malicious beings and nothing else.
Malachi has the bulk of his forces as Inquisition and trains them more as generalists and information gatherers along with malicious being extermination. He has much less emphasis on clandestine agents but considerably more extensive investigation apparatus. Malachi also puts much more emphasis on blind agents and collating information.
To put it in simpler terms - Klaus prefers professional spies who largely work alone or with their own little teams of handpicked henches. Malachi prefers to field Inquisition squads and relies much more on crowdsourcing the intel by collecting and collating rumors and news and analyzing the trends.
___
I feel we`re going in circles. YES, the reasons given for provocations were blatant lies. Klaus INTENDED it like this, his goal is to see how Alyssa reacts to such provocations. He keeps the fobs within "just barely plausible if you squint" area to give Alphonse the plausible deniability while in the same time trying to tweak Alyssa as much as possible.
The excuse given by guard captain is more of a "I must quickly lie something passably plausible to avoid scandal, let`s just blame it on guards not having much wit.".
@Cytotoxin Nah, I am not denying them being intended lies or anything, i am just thinking that it would be pretty natural for Alyssa to demand punishment for the one handling internal security and staff matters, which may include punishing Klaus( if his duty includes checking the background of palace's servants). Because even though those lies are enought to cover the overarching plot, they just serve to prove higher ups failure, and by higher ups i again mean internal security master and possibly majordomo/chamberlain(or whatever the one dealing with organization is called).
@ARFitS Yes, and that's why i've asked that. We didn't really see Malachi doing or mentioning any external actions, so i was wondering whether his job is solely based on internal security, and there is another person working on external matters, or if he is more or less a Champagne analogue of Klaus just with other work style.
@MioDio Champagne external politics are less aggressive then Kraut, given that Kraut itself is the only landbound nation Champagne has border with. Kraut has to contend with a spider jar called Confederacy on other end, they`re much more proactive about fiddling with things in their neighboring countries then Champagne is. That is not to say that Champagne has no external agents at all, but their agents are mostly focused on low-key information gathering, not on active espionage and sabotage.
Alyssa can demand punishments, and they would be swiftly handed out, but all the punished would be servants. Klaus himself has perfect alibi - "I gave clear orders, stupid servants twisted them around." He likely can even trot out witnesses to confirm he gave clear orders, if needs be, though pushing that far is going to incur Alphonse`s rumblings about lack of trust for Kraut.
@Cytotoxin It's just looked like "There was a spy among the servants? Who is responsible for finding and disabling spies? Huh, spymaster? And he let that spy blend in inside the castle? Nah, let's not punish him". He failed his job(well, he actually failed, but not in that way) and admitted it, so i would expect some kind of official repercussion for him. But oh well, politics are politics.
@MioDio Back then, people had different ideas about what constitutes as spying. Bribing a servant to eavesdrop? Very common and not really worth notice.
@ARFitS Hey, as long as you understand what I meant, do whatever you like. Isn't that the point of communication, language and sayings?