"Alright, how much did we get from selling those shares?" Vanderbilt questioned.

"We got enough for roughly 40% of the costs, less than the amount the mayor asked of us but far more than the amount anyone initially planned to get from sponsors." Eleanor replied.

"You could invest in it personally-" Jacob started to speak.

"I will have to interrupt you, nobody among us is to invest in this project, it calls unneeded risk upon yourself. I might scrape by with the vastly reduced labor costs, it could add up to half of the estimated cost for the project. Send somebody to inform the mayor, we will see what he thinks. Meanwhile, I need to create some plans for reform during and after the sewer is constructed. Which means I do not actually have anything for you lot to do, consider it a short vacation."

"Wait, we are getting a vacation?" Eleanor was shocked to hear such news. "When things are heating up so much?"

"There is nothing the Ministry can do until this sewer project starts in earnest. We are already eating up a lot of funding, taking any more is too much for the city to handle right now. So go take a vacation."

"Yes sir."

------------

Meanwhile

Adrigga Vanderbilt was frustrated, her husband's boss saved their family a few days ago, straling all of her fun, and she had not gotten word back from Bertold for the entire time he left for New Winstam except for a request to investigate some sponsor of the crown who wants to hinder him. She knew he could be obsessive about his work but this was too much, she lost a damn finger to startle her husband but he doesn't say a damn word about it! Ah well, she knows the man she married, he did pull a knife on her when she tried to impede his work all those years ago.

Alright...so investigating a mysterious backer of the government, likely a far cry from a gunfight but it is still pretty similar. The first move would be to sinply ask the government about their investors, she should at least get an answer due to her military background.

That is exactly what she did, she donned her old military uniform and requested to see the list of donations made to the government. The list was quite extensive oweing to the preferential treatment the crown gives to groups of people who donate, so she was forced to gather a few friends and slowly go through the list.

They first removed groups who were nearly guaranteed to not be involved, agricultural and resource extraction groups for example. Then they hired private investogators to look at the spending and actual policy of the remainder and started crossing them out one by one. An example of this proxess would be that while the Rodscraper corporation is actively seeking more cleanliness to calm paranoia of unclean whores, the Barthelem hospital is actively benefitting from keeping the city dirty as it brings more paying patients to their doors. In the end, Adrigga discovered that the people trying to stop the cleanliness movements were the people most closely involved in healthcare, including those who vocally support the cleanliness movement. Hospitals, Pharmacies, doctors in the private sector, Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, the list goes on. It was hard to find a medical institution that did not secretely oppose the cleanliness movement.

This was big, and she needed to send word to Bertold immediately. She quickly made her way to a telegraph station and sent a coded message. And then it shot off through the wires, making it's way towards New Winstam.

Meanwhile, Adrigga needed to make herself scarce, a few weeks of intense scrutiny towards government donors rubs many in power the wrong way.