Reason with them and move them with profit

After thinking it over, Duke Falla felt it was most likely the former.

Marquis Moses had deliberately dragged his feet and failed to conduct a thorough, meticulous investigation into the Nika Tribe. He had found the barest scraps of information and reported them straight back to him.

He might even have never gone to Crimson Planet to investigate at all, instead making something up and submitting it.

The reason, naturally, was still to protest against him.

The marquises and counts under him were deeply dissatisfied with him. This was no longer anything new, but something laid plainly out in the open.

He had simply been deliberately playing dumb or making empty promises all along.

In his view, the possibility that Marquis Moses had been bought off was not high.

For one thing, Marquis Moses was extremely powerful. In the entire Heavenly Spirit Star System, he was almost someone who could go wherever he pleased.

There was no possibility of him being captured and forced to surrender.

As for being bought off...

No matter how dissatisfied Marquis Moses was with him, a duke, he would never betray the interests of the Undying Race.

No matter how tempting the terms offered by the Nika Tribe were, he could simply make a move and seize them.

Even if he could not seize them alone, he could absolutely find a few other marquises to act with him.

Being dissatisfied with him, a duke, and perfunctorily carrying out his orders was one thing. If he punished Marquis Moses for that, it would inevitably provoke a large number of marquises and counts into resisting him.

But betraying the interests of the Undying Race was an act of courting death. Its nature was entirely different.

Duke Falla could not help rubbing his faintly aching head.

It was