Ryuu stood in silence for a moment, staring down at the unconscious Governor, his fingers tapping lightly against the polished wooden desk. He could detect the faint aroma of the drugged wine lingering in the air, mixing unpleasantly with the heavy perfume that clung to the room.
"Prime Minister, the Emperor", he murmured under his breath, his lips curling into a faint, dangerous smile. "So a bunch of plump rats squeaking in the dark."
Ryuu turned away from the Governor and began pacing slowly, each step measured, deliberate. His mind was already racing ahead, stitching together fragments of information into a clearer picture, but the more pieces he fit, the more unsettling the image became.
The Emperor demands strange ore, and the Governors are panicking under pressure. Villages stripped of women and children, a metallic poison spreading through the miners courtesy of the strange ore.
"Too many coincidences," Ryuu muttered. "And I don't believe in coincidences."
