Re-Awakening: I Became a Pay To Win Boss Monster-Chapter 333: Interrogating the Chief Postmaster

"What is your position in the postal sector?" Rael asked plainly.

"I-I’m the Chief Postmaster, Mostyn," the man replied, bringing his gaze down. "I... I oversee the letters entering and leaving Varnak. I am also in charge of distributing them to the rightful parties..."

"Okay, when you mentioned your family earlier, what did you mean?" Rael pressed, frowning. "Aren’t you a noble? What are you doing working as a letter boy?"

Mostyn’s cheeks slightly reddened. "I..."

He coughed once. "I heard the nobles threatening commoners with similar phrases... and they worked, so I thought I’d try it out as well."

"..." Rael let out a sigh. "Nice try. But let’s move on..."

"Were you or were you not the person responsible for getting rid of the letters sent from Celestara, which were addressed to the royal family of Yrgon?"

Mostyn flinched, bringing his blindfolded gaze over to Rael. "H-How do you know?"

"I have my ways." Rael brushed it off. "You said you oversee the letters entering and leaving Varnak, right? Doesn’t the royal family have a special letter-sending network?"

"They used to... but over the last few years, they realized their discreet letter-sending methods had been compromised. Someone from the inside managed to get the information across to the rulers of the other countries, and they used that information to wring Yrgon dry," Mostyn replied. "O-Or so I’ve been told."

Rael nodded. "Continue."

Mostyn sighed. "So... because their discreet methods didn’t work, and since the former ruler of Yrgon stopped trusting his own people, he came up with the idea of mixing their important letters into the regular post sector so the interested parties would get confused."

The moment Rael heard that, his brows twitched.

Former ruler... that old man who taught me the Violin Blade? Is he an idiot? Rael mused. Just because he couldn’t find one errand boy, he effectively fucked over his own system... this is just embarrassing.

Noticing the silence, Mostyn decided to try and save himself.

"I got rid of the letters. I can admit that much, but I was manipulated, I swear," Mostyn pleaded. "There’s a person whom I’ve been getting instructions from for the last month. They had explicitly told me to scramble the connection between Yrgon and Celestara. Aside from that, there’s nothing, I swear!"

"What does that person look like?" Rael asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Um... there were no meetings. Just notes," Mostyn said. "Every week, I’d find one on my windowsill. Same instructions each time, which are to burn the letters from both sides. And in return, my family would be safe."

"Hmm..." Rael tilted his head, his eyes drifting toward the lavish golden necklace around Mostyn’s neck.

"Say... does a Chief Postmaster’s salary really warrant such luxurious jewelry?" Rael asked with a faint smile. "Because if I was that rich, I for sure wouldn’t be working as a letter boy."

That comment seemed to hit deep as Mostyn flinched once more.

"I... It pays well enough. My wife tells me gold suits me, so I buy as much as possible. It’s a silly reason, I know, but—"

"Yeah yeah," Rael cut him off and stood up, slowly approaching him.

He crouched down and removed the man’s blindfold, causing his green eyes to widen in shock.

It was dark, but when he was so close, it was hard not to recognize who Rael was.

"Y-Your Majesty, Rael Sutekh!"

"That’s me." Rael nodded. "I suppose you are tasked with keeping up to date with my appearance. Pretty diligent of you."

He tilted his head. "But for your information, I have this little skill that tells me when someone is bullshitting me. And in this case, you are bullshitting me. So, would you like to take a guess at what the consequences of offending a king could be, or would you like to tell me a straight answer?"

Mostyn’s gaze sharpened in fear. "A-Alright... I get money! Is it that shameful to get money for doing somethin’ so dangerous? How else would I feed my family on a salary of 15,000 Trell per month!?"

Rael’s brows twitched. "A single piece of bread costs 1 Trell, and you’re crying about 15,000 Trell? Never mind that... tell me more. Anything you might’ve noticed about the person giving you these instructions. Perhaps the way they write. The parchment. Or maybe the type of lettering they use? Ink, typewriter—"

"Your Majesty," Mostyn interjected, slightly dazed. "They use regular paper one might find at any ordinary shop and they write using regular ink and quill..."

The pause made Rael’s brow rise as he waited for Mostyn to gather his thoughts until eventually, he spat out something useful.

"The way they write... yes... that person writes the letter ’S’ differently. The line at the very top is usually a few millimeters longer than normal. S-Sorry if that’s not much help, it’s a bit vague, isn’t it?"

"It’s vague, but it’s a start," Rael replied with a faint smile. "Hey, you don’t happen to have one of those letters lying around in your inventory, do you?"

Mostyn shook his head. "No sir. After getting the money attached to the note and reading the instructions, I toss the note into the fireplace."

"When’s the next note coming?" Rael asked. "Since it’s Tuesday, I assume you get it every Monday, yes?"

"Sunday," Mostyn corrected. "I get my notes every Sunday right before my work shift starts. So 8 in the morning."

Rael rolled his eyes and tapped the air a few times.

<Friend Request Sent!>

"Accept it," Rael said. "I want you to send me a message when that note arrives on Sunday."

"Y-You’re keeping me alive?" Mostyn asked with wide eyes. "I mean, of course. Yes, Your Majesty, I shall do as I’m told if it means you can find the scumbag who’s burning those letters—"

He faked a cough. "I mean... the scumbag who’s forcing an innocent married man to burn those letters."

This guy really has a screw loose, doesn’t he? Rael mused, and soon, Mostyn accepted the friend request.

<Friend Request Accepted! New Friend: Mostyn Shankar>

<Total Friends: 13>

Rael untied him and walked over to one of the other two barrels. He reached inside and pulled out a luxurious set of clothes before tossing them over to Mostyn.

He put them on swiftly, but just as he stepped toward the door, Rael appeared in front of him and grabbed his neck, lifting him into the air.

"I might come off as a bit tolerant and laid back, but by no means am I a pushover," Rael said slowly. "If you so much as tell a peep to anyone about what happened here, I will kill you and your entire family. Understood?"

Mostyn’s eyes widened as he began nodding aggressively.

"Good." Rael let him go. "Be on your way. You’re still on duty, yes? Go back to work and act like nothing ever happened."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Mostyn replied hurriedly, sprinting out of the backroom and then out of the inn a moment later.

Rael stepped outside the backroom too and shot Zareth a quick nod, which he returned.

"I take it everything went well?" Zareth asked.

Rael shrugged. "For the most part. Though I’m sure you heard what happened, so keep an eye on that guy and, if possible, try to do some research of your own into who this mysterious instructor could be, alright?"

"After my shift is done," Zareth said seriously, making Rael halt.

But soon after, Zareth let out a chuckle. "Apologies, I thought that was the perfect time for a joke."

Rael didn’t even entertain his comment as he walked out of the inn and glanced around.

He was mostly done here, but since the day had only recently started, there was one more thing he wanted to do before he went toward the next country.

And that was, of course, to have a talk with the dwarves.

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