Within the manor, Lord Theus slowly raised his head.
After glancing around and finding nothing unusual, he casually closed his notebook and walked toward the door.
"Connor?"
When he opened the door, Zoe was standing not far away.
"Zoe? Didn't you go teach...?"
Remembering that this was the manor, Theus did not say the Banshee's name aloud.
Zoe pointed toward the study behind him. Theus had kept himself shut inside all this time, so she had no way to go down through the secret passage.
"...Never mind, that isn't important. Are the things Alexei brought back still there?"
"They are, but for safety reasons, they weren't brought into the manor. They're being kept at the chemistry laboratory."
"I'll head over right away."
By the time Connor and Alexei hurried to the laboratory after receiving the news, they found Theus recording something.
"My lord?"
"Young master."
"Alexei, you came at just the right time. Organize a report on these past two incidents for me. Pay particular attention to marking when they made these things."
"Huh? Are these things still valuable?"
"They're incredibly valuable. Think about it—nitroglycerin that can be safely stored and transported... But I doubt it's that simple. Otherwise, the major powers wouldn't all be working together to suppress it."
Alexei and Connor exchanged a glance and let out a sigh of relief. They had both thought Theus had been dealt too great a blow and would not recover from it.
"All right, I'll organize the report immediately!"
"Keep the soap workshop in operation. The craftsmen don't know about this, do they?"
"They don't. The moment I discovered it, I came straight here. The workshop has remained as it was—I only told the workers to temporarily stop working. No one else was alerted."
"Good. I'll find a way to