Chapter 488 - Train

Either way, he had to see it for himself.

Two days later, he took a band of guards to the train station. The readied train was still at the platform. The passengers were already boarded, watching Claude and his cohort disembarking from their carriages.

Claude entered the last carriage at the end of the train. It was equipped with its own mini toilet, kitchen, bedroom, lounge and a study. At the very front was the guard’s room that was connected to the normal passenger and cargo carriages. They took the carriage next to the special carriage to take their 15 war horses along just in case they should need it due to some problem midway.

The stationmaster, a fat, middle-aged man, ran over and handed Claude all the newest newspapers he could find for him to kill time during his ride. Claude thanked him and soon, the train whistle blew to signal departure.

If they marched from Lanu to Dorinibla River on horseback, it would take a day and night if they were fast and another day more if they were slow. That was mainly because they had to care for their mounts and not ride them for longer than 40 minutes a time. Sometimes, riding on horseback was even worse than travelling by long-distance horse carriage. Workhorses could run for two hours a time with half-hour breaks in between, being much more endurant than war horses.

Yet, it now it only took a short six hours for them to travel the same distance. Once they disembarked and crossed the river, there was another train waiting. The current railway was split in half by the river. There were three states northside of the river and five south. As Loki Mountains was a mountainous state, there was difficulty building railroads there, so it was not included in the plans.

Claude picked up one of the papers by the name ‘Lanu Daily’. The headline was about a murder where the culprit had escaped. It piqued his interest. Lanu’s security was said to be improving. There had been no foul play since half a year back. How did one suddenly happen just two days after he stopped reading the papers?

He read it from beginning to end. Two non-local smugglers had been killed in the southwestern residential sector of Lanu. It was said that a female herbalist came here half a month ago and rented the house where the murder happened to sell her super-effective medicinal paste.

One of the two murdered smugglers was a Lesnian that came from the colony of Krusuya. There were 20 of them in total and they were probably there to stock up on goods. According to the investigations, the smugglers immediately poked around for the herbalist’s whereabouts the moment they arrived in Ankanor, allegedly to ask about the medicinal paste they sold to a restaurant owner.

One of the smugglers was said to have a father that suffered from serious joint pain and couldn’t get out of bed. That was why he was intent on looking for the herbalist to buy her ointment. But now, it appeared that the smugglers were trying to get the recipe for the ointment instead. After all, sailors eventually succumbed to joint pain and sensitivity. Managing to get that recipe was akin to finding a gold mine that could be passed down through the family for generations to come.

The constables had that suspicion because the two smugglers that died in the herbalist’s quarters were fully armed with custom-made muskets, many poisoned arrows and crossbows. They approached the residence at midnight, obviously intent on causing trouble. Some neighbours said that they heard a few gunshots and the harsh bark of a dog.

Now, the whereabouts of the herbalist was unknown, whether she had managed to escape or she was captured by the accomplices of the two dead smugglers. The two smugglers also left their lodging, Mona Inn in the western sector, and were nowhere to be found. The constables noticed that they left in a hurry due to the amount of luggage they left behind, so they made an announcement throughout the region to keep an eye out for those smugglers.

Claude didn’t really mind, since there were all too many smugglers from the western coast. The region only managed to sell the goods they produced to other colonies through them. Usually, as long as smugglers didn’t infringe on the region’s interests, the constables would turn a blind eye to their little conflicts. However, endangering the lives of other inhabitants was a different story.

The newspaper also reported that the herbalist was not a local. It was likely that the case would soon be buried under many others. While the newspaper reported that wanted notices were posted for those smugglers, Claude believed the constables of Lanu wouldn’t do more than pasting a few notices at the train station and port before calling it a day. They wouldn’t bother posting the notices in other towns.

At three in the afternoon, they arrived at the bank of Dorinibla River. There was a special floating bridge made for passengers of the train to cross. The small station was surrounded by tall fences and brick walls to prevent anyone outside from getting in. Once the passengers got off, they went to the next station on the other side of the bank for the next train that had the same number of carriages. The passengers would assume their same seats with the tickets they bought.

Claude waited for the passengers to cross before taking his guards along. There was also another additional carriage at the end of the train. Once he got in, Masonhughes came to report to him that the train would take another half an hour before it departed as there were some who crossed the bridge and were lining up for tickets.

The train only started rumbling along after six when the passengers were served dinner.