Chapter 41 CASEFILE·4: Night Bandits (8)

Although the letters were thick, Andre did not spend too much time reading the whole stack of letters because the writer was clear and logical and the handwriting was easy to recognize.

Reminded by the letter, he also dug out the part about the Drodana Chamber of Commerce from his memory.

Drodana is a small business, operating for over twenty years. Since its founding in the capital and opening its first storefront, it has gradually expanded to branches across the country.

The operating style of this chamber of commerce is quite different from other chambers of commerce. Other chambers of commerce are the abbreviations of forces formed by big businessmen joining together, while the Drodana Chamber of Commerce is more like a public store.

After joining the Drodara Chamber of Commerce, merchants could list their wares directly in the Chamber's shops as "members," saving them the trouble of renting a storefront and hiring salespeople. When merchants successfully negotiated deals and sold goods through the Chamber, the Chamber would collect a "membership fee."

The amount of membership dues collected is directly related to the businesses run and the risks assumed by merchants. However, overall, membership dues are still lower than the costs of operating a business on their own. Furthermore, once a merchant joins a Chamber of Commerce shop, they no longer have to worry about being ripped off by powerful individuals or local tyrants; the Chamber of Commerce will take full responsibility for everything.

As a result, the Drodana Chamber of Commerce has become popular among many small and medium-sized businessmen who have no power or influence.

With so many different merchants joining, the Drodana Chamber of Commerce naturally boasted a wide variety of rare and unique merchandise. Andrei knew several friends who were keen on browsing the Chamber of Commerce stores and looking for bargains.

Such a chamber of commerce naturally possesses a considerable amount of real estate in West Eston. Besides the storefronts used for sales, it also possesses numerous warehouses for merchants to store goods, as well as its own exclusive transportation channels. One of these shops, circled in red ink on the map, is located just one street away from the site of the convoy's attack last night!

The writer of this letter claimed to be a merchant near the Drodana Chamber of Commerce's headquarters in Eston West City. As luck would have it, at a reception, he met a minor nobleman whose home had been robbed by bandits. He was caught by the drunken nobleman and forced to listen to his nagging complaints for an entire evening.

The noble complained all night long about the stolen goods—the precious spices he had painstakingly procured from Southeast Asia—to the merchant's ears, nearly becoming callused. But three days later, the merchant spotted a batch of spices at the Droghana Chamber of Commerce's main store that matched the noble's description perfectly. Aside from the packaging being changed and broken down into smaller packages, the spices' age, texture, aroma, and origin were all perfectly matched.

From then on, the merchant became wary of the Drodana Chamber of Commerce. He later learned about the lost goods of several merchants who had been robbed by bandits. Although he didn't always find the corresponding goods in the Drodana Chamber of Commerce, he could see modified versions of the items in the Chamber of Commerce's stores twice out of five times.

Given the Drodana Chamber of Commerce's business model, the mix of merchants involved makes it natural for them to resell stolen goods. This person, fearing retaliation from both the robbers and the Drodana Chamber of Commerce, had kept the matter to himself. It was only when he saw the brewery allowed anonymous submissions that he finally spoke out.

"This Chamber of Commerce... is very suspicious!" Andre picked out this letter. "Either some of its members are connected to the robbers, or the entire Chamber of Commerce is a distribution point for Evil Eye Moon's stolen goods! The goods stolen by Evil Eye Moon are stored nearby in the Chamber of Commerce's warehouse. The next day, they can rebrand the horses, vehicles, and goods and distribute them under the Chamber of Commerce's name and channels!"

Andre pondered for a moment, took out the contact book for his private contact with the current Winchester clerk, and sent him a message, asking him to take the Shadow Army's personnel in the west city of Eston to investigate the stores and shops of the Drodana Chamber of Commerce in the city.

This matter involved Baron Neumann's secret accounts, so he had to proceed with caution. Now was not the time to completely break off relations with Baron Neumann, and he certainly couldn't just lead the men Baron Neumann had assigned him to search for the stolen goods. If Baron Neumann's men tampered with the evidence and hid important evidence, the next opportunity to encounter Baron Neumann and Evil Eye Moon's internal conflict would be unknown.

As for himself, he still had to go to the City Lord's Mansion to collect intelligence and test Baron Neumann's attitude according to the original plan.

Andrei made a plan in a strategic manner, hid the important letter in the room, and went downstairs in two steps. When he was halfway down, he heard the guests in the restaurant talking about the case last night.

"I heard that the eldest daughter of the jeweler Chena family disappeared, and there's still no news!"

"Wait, his daughter, isn't she the one who was said a few days ago to be very close to the Baron's son and almost became the Baron's daughter-in-law?"

"That's her! Chirsina Ho Chirsina! Like her father, she has a deep obsession with becoming a noble! Didn't the Baron invite many princes and nobles to the hunting grounds before? I heard that Victor was given the cold shoulder by the Marquis's wife at that party, and he turned around and got together with Chirsina! Although Victor is now dead, the Baroness probably felt nostalgic for him and wants to take Chirsina in as her goddaughter!"

"Goddaughter?" Jiang You repeated subconsciously.

"Oh, Mr. Skeleton, you're not very familiar with this custom, right? You're an undead creature, after all!" The diner self-consciously filled in the blanks for Jiang You. "It's like this. The Principality of Huntington has a custom where blood parents give their children their bodies, while religious parents are responsible for educating the children's souls and guiding them to listen to the teachings of the Moon Goddess!

"If a child's parents encounter misfortune, the godfather and godmother will assume the responsibility of caring for the child. Even if the two parties are not related by blood, this is still a very close relationship! As the daughter of a nouveau riche, becoming the goddaughter of a baroness is a truly remarkable event!"

"Wow! What kind of good fortune did the Chena family have? Suddenly becoming rich overnight is one thing, but their daughter even caught the eye of the lord and his wife!" another diner said. "Hmm, the Baron's family must be terribly worried about her kidnapping this time. The Baron's son just died, and now his goddaughter is in trouble. This is really a constant turmoil!"

"Hey, that's not certain. Our lord is not a soft-hearted person. It's hard to say whether he is sincere to this goddaughter or just collaborating for profit!"