Sometimes, the truth was far simpler than people expected. In truth, General Fansnik had made Claude the prime suspect in his attempt to find the missing Shiksan military expenditure. He was looking for the wrong person.
Just like the evidence Claude presented, he was so busy that he didn't even have time to pee. Everything he did was under the watchful eyes of the public and he didn't have much private time at all.
Claude wasn't the only one. His five battalion commanders, aide-de-camp, and trusted guards were all busy supervising the captives as they loaded the supplies into the carriages. They also had to arrange the distribution of the supplies and the sequence of their departure.
Everyone was so busy that no matter how much General Fansnik questioned the soldiers of Line 131, he couldn't find any evidence that Claude and his trusted subordinates didn't pay attention to or even go to the ammunition, firearms, and ordnance storage area.
In fact, Claude really didn't know about the existence of the Shiksan military expenditure worth more than 500,000 crowns. By the time he found out about it, he had already left Wickhamsburg and set up camp on the hill.
Had it not been for Bloweyk's confession, Claude wouldn't have thought he would be so lucky as to receive such a windfall.
But by then, it would no longer be appropriate to record it as a spoil on the battlefield. All Claude could do was keep it a secret.
It could be said that all the skeptics, led by Fansnik, overlooked Bloweyk's existence because he was currently participating in the officer training organized by Ranger's headquarters.
Only a few people knew about the huge military expenditure he took out from the ammunition, firearms and ammunition storage area. Apart from Moriad, Dyavid and Gum, even Claude, Berklin and Myjack were kept in the dark.
Of the five thousand soldiers of Line 131, Bloweyk was the only one who went through the entire storage area and checked all the supplies stored there. Naturally, he noticed the huge military expenditure.
He then used the Magician's Hand to move the boxes filled with gold, silver, and copper coins to the corner of the warehouse. Then, he casually greeted the sentries and left the cordoned area empty-handed.
Bloweyk then went to Moriad to arrange for a four-wheeled carriage and drove it to the wall of the storage area where the boxes were stacked.
He then used Magus's Hands to move the boxes onto the carriage and covered them with some miscellaneous items before driving out of the castle.
In the end, he told Dyavid who was guarding the castle gates not to check or register the money, before driving the carriage out to find a place to bury the box.
That day, Bloweyk made a total of five trips.
Bloweyk was a very special existence in Line 131.
He was only a corporal and an orderly, but he was Claude's younger brother.
He was also on good terms with Berklin, Moriad and Dyavid, the three powerful battalion commanders. Even Claude's most trusted aide, Myjack, was his brother-in-law.
Even though he was under the command of the guard platoon, the platoon jarl, Gum, was very obedient and would discuss everything with him.
That was why he was quite popular in the line. Even Vice Jarl Schnake and Siegfeld, the head of logistics, gave him face and would grant his every request.
However, due to Claude's strict management and the fact that Bloweyk had always kept a low profile, the soldiers of Line 131 didn't have a deep impression of him.
Those who knew of his identity would give him some leeway, but those who didn't didn't have to give in to him. Bloweyk wouldn't get angry and use his identity to bully others, anyway.
There was basically no need for Claude to show up. Either Moriad or Berklin would be enough to give him a headache.
Bloweyk was similar to Claude in that he mastered military skills very quickly. In fact, he was even better than Claude.
Back when Claude first joined the army, he was bullied by the veterans and got into a fight that ended with both sides heavily injured. Bloweyk, on the other hand, challenged all the veterans in the line and was able to fight them to a draw.
Even his accuracy within a hundred meters was within the top twenty in the line. It could be said that he was more of a natural soldier than Claude.
After taking over Wickhamsburg, Bloweyk heard that Shiksan's honorary sabers were found in the ammunition, firearms and ordnance storage area, so he went to watch the show.
However, given his status as a corporal, he didn't get a share of the honorary saber. At most, he could only take the one given to Claude for fun.
However, Bloweyk recalled Berklin saying that if they were lucky on the battlefield, they would be able to get their hands on the exquisite weapons custom-made by high-ranking officers.
For example, the gold-inlaid sabers and swords were more valuable and could be considered works of art. They weren't military equipment and didn't have to be handed in.
So, Bloweyk had a sudden thought. Could there be a storage in the ammunition, firearms and ordnance storage area that stored the exquisite weapons custom-made by high-ranking Shiksan officers?
So, he checked the storage area one by one and soon found the one with a lock that was twice as large as the others.
That wasn't a problem for Bloweyk. With the help of Magus's Hands and Precise Control, the lock was easily unlocked.
Bloweyk then saw the boxes filled with gold, silver and copper coins.
Claude asked Bloweyk why he had to hide the existence of such a huge sum of money.
Bloweyk said that he didn't think it was worth it to report it to the higher-ups. Seventy percent of it would be handed over to Line 131 and the remaining thirty percent would be split among Line 131. Every soldier would only get around a hundred crowns.
That would be an unexpected fortune for other soldiers, but for Bloweyk and Claude, that amount of money wouldn't be able to help their family much.
Claude was now a poor man who only survived on his salary and wartime benefits.
Of course, he lived and ate in the regiment and didn't need to spend much money.
Bloweyk, on the other hand, was different. He was the current head of House Ferd and understood the predicament his family was in, especially since they still owed Whitestag's national bank a loan worth thousands of crowns. That was a loan made in his name as the head of the family.
The root of it all was the lumber business Angelina bought for the family.
Buying that five thousand mu of wood had pretty much drained all of their savings. Even the thousand crowns in Claude's personal account had to be contributed.
But buying the wood was only the first step. According to Claude's plans, they still had to invest more in it to get it on the right path.
The road planning, the construction of houses, and the medicinal field that Anna was planning to develop, all of these required more investment.
So, Bloweyk was pressured by Angelina to take a loan of 6,500 crowns from the national bank for the development of the wood.
Even though the loan for the development of the wood was greatly discounted thanks to Claude, the monthly rent from the red-bricked mansion was barely enough to cover the interest on the loan.
The production of the wood, on the other hand, wouldn't be able to see results so quickly. For the next five to six years, the wood would only be able to invest in it without any production.
From a certain point of view, Bloweyk was even more daring and unbridled than Claude.
When he saw the crates filled with gold, silver and copper coins in the warehouse, he had his eye on the money.
He told Claude that even with his current status as an honorary baron and colonel, he wouldn't be able to earn more than 300 crowns a year.
It would be enough for him to live a decent life after he retired. But if something happened, he would have to use his retirement funds.
Other things aside, the social interaction between the nobles alone was enough to make him feel like he was in dire straits.
Not to mention, he already had a son. His sister-in-law, mother and sister Angelina would be coming to Nubissia soon. Arranging for their lodgings would require quite a bit of money.
Claude was quickly convinced by Bloweyk. He had no other choice. His trusted subordinates all found out about it and were of the same mind as Bloweyk to keep the huge sum of money a secret.
While he wasn't greedy, there was no need for him to go against everyone's wishes.
Not to mention, half a month had already passed. If he were to report the Shiksan military expenditure now, it would only raise suspicions. He might even have to hand over the person responsible for concealing the expenditure. Claude didn't have the courage to do such a thing.
However, nobody expected that the newly dispatched logistics officer, General Fansnik, would be a mad dog. After learning about the huge sum of money from the captured Shiksan logistics officer, he refused to let Claude go.
His reasoning was simple. Since Line 131 had taken over Wickhamsburg, Claude had to give an explanation. Even though Claude had proven that he didn't know about the Shiksan military expenditure, General Fansnik wasn't willing to let it go.
So, when Claude announced that he was going to lead Line 131 to Wickhamsburg to search for the missing Shiksan military expenditure, many of them thought it was a farce and a joke.
General Fansnik had once sent his logisticians to search the ruins of Wickhamsburg for more than a week, but they only managed to find a small amount of Shiksan copper Feenies.
However, Line 131 dug through the ruins for half a month and quickly found something. They found deformed gold keptons, silver triumphs, and copper Feenies mixed in the mud. There were also many pieces of metal that had been blasted to smithereens. A rough estimate put the total value at around ten thousand crowns.
That result shocked the onlookers. It was obvious that Claude and Line 131 weren't lying. They had indeed missed out on such a huge sum of money.
The rest of Lower Ranger couldn't sit still any longer. They all rushed to the ruins of Wickhamsburg and occupied a spot to start digging. All the ashes were washed with water as if they were panning for gold so as to not miss out on any of the coins.
Needless to say, everyone had their own gains. Some found gold, silver, and copper coins worth hundreds of crowns in a day, while the least were worth dozens of crowns.
Fansnik soon received the report and personally went to the ruins to check it out. Claude didn't say much and only ordered his men to bring the deformed coins and metal fragments found by Band 131 to him. He estimated the value of those items to be more than ten thousand crowns.
The commanding officers of the other units that split up Wickhamsburg also brought out some deformed coins and metal shards that added up to a value of ten thousand crowns.
It was now clear that the so-called Shiksan military expenditure worth more than five hundred thousand crowns hadn't gone missing. It was just that the explosion at the ammunition depot had either blown the coins to bits or blasted them to other areas and mixed them with the ash and trash. Anyone who looked carefully would be able to find them.
General Fansnik sent the supply camp to search for the military expenditure in the first place and didn't pay attention to the ash and trash in the ruins at all.
However, the astute General Fansnik soon noticed a flaw. Why weren't there any intact coins among the items that were handed over?
Claude and the other commanding officers smiled without saying a word or pretended not to understand what General Fansnik was saying.
They argued that the items were only taken out for General Fansnik's inspection and had no intention of handing them over.
This was the hard work of the officers and soldiers in the army during this period of time. They could exchange it for some money and give the officers and soldiers some benefits and subsidies.
Claude and the others were right. The deformed coins and metal fragments from the explosion didn't have to be handed over.
First of all, they weren't the kingdom's property but Shiksan's military expenditure.
After the explosion, it was scattered in the ruins. It had already become an ownerless item, and whoever found it would be able to obtain it.
Secondly, it had been half a year since the end of the war. What they had excavated from the ruins couldn't be considered as spoils of war. General Fansnik had no reason to ask them to hand it over to him.
General Fansnik, who was frustrated by Claude and the others, looked angrily at the bustling scene of people digging up the ruins. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a soldier dig out a shiny gold kepton from a pile of trash and wipe it on his clothes before stuffing it into his pocket with a satisfied smile.
General Fansnik immediately understood why he didn't see the intact gold keptons, silver kettles and bronze feenies. Claude and the others were right. They belonged to whoever found them.
He couldn't stay there any longer and hurried back to HQ. Somehow, he managed to get General Michek's approval and came up with a plan to reform military discipline.
All the troops working hard in the ruins of Wickhamshire Castle were called back to their respective camps for so-called military discipline. Then, he personally brought the logistics camp to the ruins of Wickhamshire Castle and set it as a guarded area to begin excavating.
However, General Fansnik's luck wasn't very good. After a month of hard work, he only managed to find around ten thousand crowns worth of gold, silver and copper coins.
He felt that it was the troops who dug up the ruins that got the bulk of the loot and he was the one who suffered a loss. It was a shame that he had the face to ask for a share of the loot from the officers in charge.
After all, it was a huge sum of five hundred thousand crowns worth of military expenditure. Ten thousand crowns was a little too little for him.
The officers led by Claude naturally weren't willing to suffer a loss. They had been digging well, only to be called back to camp for some sort of reform. General Fansnik and the supply camp then occupied the entire ruins of Wickhamsburg.
Yet, after digging for more than a month, he came back to say that he didn't find much and asked for a share of the loot. How did he come up with something so shameless?
Claude and the others even suspected that General Fansnik was hiding the bulk of the loot and pretending to be poor.
So, the entire Ranger Corps was thrown into a huge mess over the matter. Strangely enough, General Michek didn't seem to care.
Claude, on the other hand, was successfully rid of all suspicion and could watch the officers and General Fansnik continue to argue.