"Those are good questions, much better than 'how's the food?'" Carlo took his feet off the corner of the desk. "First, tell me, what kind of organization do you think the Joint Investigation Bureau is?"
Isaac sorted through what he'd heard. "An official organization that operates across churches. Broadly speaking, it handles anomalous incidents and fills the gaps where their spheres of faith overlap. Its authority is more flexible than that of any individual church's investigative body."
"Better than the people who think the Joint Investigation Bureau is just an upscale police station." Carlo nodded. "But that's an ordinary person's perspective. To the grand duke, the bureau's greatest value isn't in handling anomalous incidents or filling gaps. It's in taking over."
"Taking over..."
"Taking over the churches' leading role in handling anomalous incidents, as well as the City Police Force's authority to enforce the law." Carlo tapped the armrest. "In the past, whichever church held sway in a region had the right to define what was anomalous and how to deal with it. You've seen an example yourself: the Amorton Family."
"But after the Joint Investigation Bureau was established, it gained the right to intervene and investigate whenever anomalous incidents were involved, without being restricted by the churches or local jurisdictions."
"Would the churches accept that?" Isaac remembered that after the War of the Churches, each church's authority within its own territory had been virtually absolute. What the Joint Investigation Bureau was doing amounted to a challenge to the churches.
"Of course they wouldn't. They've resisted it plenty of times behind the scenes." Carlo waved a hand. "But the Church of the Golden Bough, as the foremost church in the Western Territory, has been highly cooperative with the grand duke's wishes. The other churches couldn't go up against a stronger power, so they had no choice but to hold their noses and accept it. They didn't dare go too far in public."
Isaac understood. The Joint Investigation Bureau had secured its footing not just thanks to Grand Duke Ogway's authority, but also to the Church of the Golden Bough's tacit consent and even its cooperation. Still, that was worth paying attention to...
"Boss, the relationship between the Church of the Golden Bough and the Ogway Family seems much closer than the usual relationship between nobles and churches."
"Mm-hmm."
"As far as I know, in Palmer, the Blackthorn Church reviews every decree issued by city hall before it can be implemented, to make sure it doesn't violate any religious precepts," Isaac said. "But in Vista, it feels like the Church of the Golden Bough hardly ever stands in the way of what the grand duke wants to do. It's quite cooperative instead."
"The fact that you noticed that shows you have some understanding of how power works. Looks like a university degree is useful after all," Carlo said.
Isaac's mouth twitched. "So how did things end up this way?"
"First, tell me how you understand it." Carlo tossed the question back to him again.
"When two powers work closely together, it's either because they have a common goal, like a shared enemy, or..."
Isaac stopped mid-sentence and hesitated.
Carlo raised an eyebrow. "What, have you figured it out already?"
"Or..." Isaac hesitated. "Going a step further, these two powers are essentially already one and the same."
"What do you think of that deduction?"
"I don't have any evidence for it. I just think that if it were only a cooperative relationship, there would always be times when their interests conflicted. But the Church of the Golden Bough's support for the Ogway Family feels like it goes a little beyond an ordinary alignment of interests." Isaac voiced his thoughts. "And the golden bough and the broom flower-the church and the nobility combined in a coat of arms-that would be unimaginable in Palmer."
He stopped there. If he pursued that deduction any further, it would touch on things he didn't yet understand well enough and couldn't confirm.
"An investigation requires a foundation of knowledge and intuitive judgment to form deductions, which, combined with evidence, ultimately lead to the truth. You've done a decent job of that," Carlo said, putting his hands back behind his head. "Now, since you've already reasoned this far, why don't you take another guess? Who's the key figure connecting the Ogway Family and the Church of the Golden Bough?"
Isaac was taken aback. Since Carlo was asking him to guess, that meant the person should have already come to his attention, or at least that the information he possessed was enough to work out the answer.
He ventured a name. "Vilka?"
"Your reasons."
"The first reason is that when you mentioned her at Amorton Manor, you called her 'young lady,'" Isaac said. "And when I met her today, she was wearing the habit of a nun of the Church of the Golden Bough."
"If she were just an ordinary nun, it would be strange for you to call her 'young lady.' After all, that term generally refers only to a noblewoman. Conversely, if she were purely a noble, impersonating a member of the clergy would be sacrilege. So she must be both a 'young lady' and a 'member of the clergy.'"
Carlo raised his chin, motioning for him to continue.
"The second reason is simpler." Isaac sounded helpless. "I barely know anyone in Vista. She's the only one I can think of who might fit that position."
"Tsk, fair enough. I should've let you meet more people before asking you to guess. It's not like you could've guessed Daisy, after all." Carlo shrugged. "The second reason sounds like padding, but the first is passable. Vilka really is the key figure connecting the Ogway Family and the Church of the Golden Bough."
"Since you've guessed that much, why not take another guess? What's the relationship between Vilka and Grand Duke Ogway?"
Isaac thought for a moment. "His daughter?"
The most straightforward explanation for someone who was both a noble and held a high position in the church was that she had been born into the Ogway Family and sent into the church hierarchy.
"I knew you'd guess that." Carlo wore an expression that said he'd expected as much. "Wrong."
"Then she's..."
"I'm not telling you."
Isaac: "..."
Carlo spread his hands. "Since the information you have right now isn't enough to support the right answer, it wouldn't be any fun if I just revealed it. You're an investigator. Once you've come across more information, you'll naturally be able to piece together the whole picture."
Isaac was briefly at a loss for words. Though he was a little dissatisfied, Carlo wasn't wrong. He knew too little about Vista's balance of power. He didn't even know how many people were in the Ogway Family. If he got an answer now without further investigation, all he'd be doing was memorizing a name.
"Anyway, all you need to know is that Vilka is a member of the Ogway Family and also a cardinal of the Church of the Golden Bough. In short, she's someone two old men are both polite to."
It was no surprise that she was a member of the Ogway Family. A cardinal was a senior member of the Church of the Golden Bough's clergy, second only to the pope. For Vilka to reach that position, she was either capable enough to silence everyone, had a background formidable enough that no one dared oppose her, or both.
But what was that third description about?
"The two old-" Isaac coughed, weighing his words. "You mean the grand duke and the pope?"
"Who else could I mean? Me and Patch?"
"...Patch?"
"An old cat the Joint Investigation Bureau keeps. He can meet your dog sometime, but it's best if they don't fight. He really is very old."