Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

"Come on, come on, look at what this is."

An investigator suddenly raised his voice and pulled back the linen cloth, so violently that several colleagues nearby came over.

He held an old crossbow in his hand. There was still some dust on the metal parts, but the year mark engraved on it could be vaguely seen.

The wooden handle of this crossbow is a bit worn, and the knuckles are polished to a shine, obviously having been held and used for a long time.

The investigator pointed at the faint markings on the crossbow and said:

"Looking at the year engraved on it, this crossbow was made during the war a few years ago, and there are several of them."

"It's not just you."

The investigator on the other side also made a new discovery. He opened the lid of another large box. The moment the lid was opened, a smell mixed with the smell of rusty metal and old leather hit him in the face.

The contents inside made everyone present gasp. The box was filled with various armors and protective gear, including helmets, breastplates, shoulder pads, and even a few short swords. These equipment were discarded by the army. Although they were covered in dust, they were still in good condition.

There was no need to think too much, the investigators immediately realized the seriousness of the matter.

They looked at each other, nodded in tacit understanding, and then began to direct the scene in an orderly manner.

An investigator came to the deck, quickly took out a whistle, and blew a sharp signal. The crisp whistle echoed in the port, attracting the soldiers on standby nearby.

Soon, dozens of fully armed soldiers ran into the cargo hold and transported the goods to the carriages. Other soldiers were responsible for controlling the scene and gathering all the people on the ship, from the captain to the sailors, without exception, and detained them all and took them back for interrogation.

The captain was sandwiched between two soldiers, one on each side, his face pale and beads of sweat oozing from his forehead; the sailors looked at each other, some were terrified, some tried to argue, but were stopped by the soldiers' stern gazes.

The investigators began to carefully examine each box and record the items inside.

An investigator picked up a helmet, carefully examined the marks on it, and whispered:

"These pieces of equipment were discarded by the military. How did they end up here? And the quantity is so large, it's obviously not the work of an individual."

In the interrogation room, three experienced interrogators sat around a wooden table. Sitting on the chair opposite was a middle-aged man, who was the captain of the merchant ship.

He looked to be about fifty years old, wearing a dusty dark blue coat. He was rubbing his hands nervously, his eyes wandering.

"Tell me, where did you get these things?"

An interrogator slammed the table and asked in a stern voice.

"I, how would I know?"

The captain replied tremblingly, fear evident in his voice.

"I'm just a pickup guy. They paid me a deposit and asked me to come to Beigang to pick up the goods. I'll get the goods at the destination, load them on the ship, and leave."

"Then let me ask you, who asked you to come here to receive these goods, and who gave you the goods?"

The other interrogator continued, staring at the captain with a sharp gaze.

"The person who delivered the goods to me said his name was Del, and he was from Helderland. He was a middle-aged man with brown hair and a big beard. His accent sounded like someone from Yoda's side."

The captain answered hastily, as if trying to lessen his guilt by confessing.

"As for receiving the goods, he told me to go directly to the post office to pick them up. The post office received my pick-up documents and then gave me the goods."

"what?"

One of the interrogators suddenly stood up and asked in disbelief.

"So much military cargo, and the post office said it's okay?"

"Yes, not only the post office, but also the customs officials checked and said there was no problem."

The captain quickly explained, his face full of helplessness.

"I thought it was strange at the time, but the post office and customs had checked and said the goods were in compliance with regulations, so I didn't think much of it."

The three interrogators looked at each other and saw confusion in each other's eyes.

This was the first time they had encountered such a situation. With so many weapons and equipment, the post office and customs did not even notice any problems.

Soon, this detailed interrogation report was delivered to the desk of the head of the intelligence department.

The minister was an experienced middle-aged man. He picked up the report, glanced through it, and frowned.

"How's that shipment?"

The minister put down the report and turned to ask his deputy standing beside him.

"We're still counting the details," the deputy replied respectfully, "but we've already found a lot of replaced weapons and equipment, including helmets, breastplates, and some cold weapons."

"Then tell the director of the post office and the highest official of the customs office to come to me."

The minister said after a moment's thought.

Soon, the postmaster and the customs director arrived at the minister's office. The minister went straight to the point and explained the situation. Then he asked seriously:

"So, are you aware of this?"

The first person to answer was the postmaster. He pushed his glasses and said with an embarrassed look:

"How can I put it, this matter is on the edge of legality and illegality."

"For example, many of these weapons and equipment were manufactured during the war. To ensure production, in addition to some being manufactured by the armory, some were forged or repaired by civilian blacksmiths and then distributed to soldiers participating in the war and militias in the rear."

The postmaster explained.

"After the war, almost every household had some armor or weapons. There was no law restricting citizens from owning weapons, and even if they did, they only collected those left behind on the battlefield."

He continued.

"This led to some people wanting to sell off their armor and weapons, and many relied on the postal service for transportation. As for weapons and equipment, as long as they weren't currently in service or involved gunpowder and gunpowder weapons, it was generally no problem to transport a few suits of armor or a few crossbows."

"I'm done."

After the postmaster finished speaking, he looked at the minister's face.

The minister nodded, then looked at the customs chief next to him and asked:

"Where are you?"

The Customs Director said:

"Same as above. Customs is only responsible for checking the legality of import and export of goods. I haven't seen the flag you mentioned, but weapons can be exported. As far as I know, Forest Territory's bows and crossbows are considered top-quality goods abroad."

After listening to what the two said, the minister was silent for a while, then said:

"Okay, I'll record everything you said. I'll let you know if anything happens. Now I need the help of the customs and post office to find out the source of these goods for me."

After seeing the two off, the minister sat in a chair and fell into deep thought.

Because this matter has been investigated abroad and does not seem to have any impact on the country at present, but he really can't understand why someone would imitate the national flag and military flag.

The next day the Minister received a detailed report from the Post Office and Customs on the origin of the goods.

As expected, these goods came from hundreds of different addresses, and the minister realized that there was a high probability that a large gang had purchased them from the public.

He carefully read the report, his brow furrowed. These addresses were widely distributed, some even in remote rural areas.

He really couldn't understand why someone would collect obsolete weapons and equipment from so many places, and why they would imitate national and military flags, and even ship these obsolete weapons and equipment abroad.

After much deliberation, he decided to continue reporting it. He always felt that this matter might be related to the country and there might be a bigger conspiracy behind it.

He immediately summarized all the known information and wrote it in a report, then packed the report and some evidence together and ordered it to be sent to the intelligence headquarters in Helmingen.

A few days later, at the intelligence headquarters in Helmingen, Wesker sat at his desk, carefully reading the thick report in front of him.

"The flag was tampered with, it involved foreign countries, the investigation was complex... and there was a large gang involved. I like this case."