When the Interstellar Peace Company contacted the Inquisition again, Duanmu Huai remained remarkably calm. He once more sent True Clever to negotiate with them, giving her only one instruction.
"Remember, we have no personal grudge against the Interstellar Peace Company, so we'll see how sincere they are. If they aren't sincere enough, I'll let them see with their own eyes how I beat the crap out of Kriper... Of course, they're welcome to refuse. Maybe I can't beat him."
Duanmu Huai had specifically emphasized that there was no personal grudge to prevent the Interstellar Peace Company from finding someone to take the blame, dealing with them, and then considering the matter settled. Many factions liked to pull this trick. Players encountered it all the time in games. Some faction would cause trouble for you, and then when you went knocking on their door, they would say, "I didn't know! It wasn't me! Oh, right, it was my Second Prince! Yes, he wanted to inherit the throne, so he forged an imperial edict and damaged the relationship between our two sides! Guards, drag him out and execute him!"
And then... "Inquisitor Lord, you see, I've already executed my son, and I've shown plenty of sincerity. I'll compensate you with some more things, and we can let this matter pass."
When players encountered this sort of situation, pursuing the matter felt wrong, but letting it go felt wrong too. It was enough to disgust anyone to death.
However, players weren't fools. After they encountered this kind of thing a few more times, they stopped looking for the alleged mastermind and simply beat their way through, making it clear that there was no personal grudge between the two sides. *I don't care what's going on inside your faction. Your faction provoked the Inquisition,