Redstone: Sanctuaries
Chapter 7: A Whisper

Despite having been rescued by Jose before, Hubbert Decker was not very familiar with the young man. But it was easy for him to guess that the invitation to stay at the Redstone manor clearly had motives other than hospitality. Everyone knows an Argent never does anything for free.

Hubbert arrived at the Redstone manor an hour before lunch. The manor is more like a palace than a house, even bigger than the Argent manor in Bjork. The distance from the main gate to the front of the house is quite far, with beautiful ornamental gardens filled with red tulips scattered. The front of the house is propped up by wide marble columns, with giant ornate bronze doors bearing the emblem of the Redstone lion.

A man looking like a butler greeted him at the door, introduced himself named Edwin—guess Hubbert was right, the man was indeed the butler—and guided him to the living room. His belongings were brought by another servant to his room on the second floor.

In the living room, Redstone's married couple was already waiting for him. Although he had seen it when he entered, Hubbert had thought the two men were some sort of statue or painting— until Jose smiled at him and approached with his hands outstretched to shake hands.

"Welcome Mr. Deckers! Howwasyourjourney?"

"Currently, my lord," Hubbert said clumsily. He nodded awkwardly at Maria who was standing beside Jose. The woman was as pretty as she was reportedly, though not the type that Hubbert liked. "Good day, my lady. Thank you for inviting me."

"There is no need to be too formal" said Maria kindly. His hands were shaking casually. "We've never met, but Jose told me about you. I read your writing often too."

Hubbert smiled politely and thanked him, knowing that it was just a pleasantries. She doubted that Maria actually read her article at the Daily Bjork.

"You must be tired of walking long distances." Jose turned his head, calling Edwin closer with just a single twitch of his head. "Your room is ready, Edwin will take you. If there's anything you need, just tell me."

Hubbert turned to Edwin who gave him a gesture ready to guide the way. He was about to follow the man, but then turned back to Jose. "Actually, I want to ask you something while you remember."

Jose nodded. His eyes looked curious. "Please."

Hubbert rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Do you allow hanging in Redstone?"

Jose shook his head in wonder. "No."

The law was regulated by the palace, but some areas that were granted autonomy such as Bjork or Redstone could indeed have their own laws, which is why Hubbert asked.

"But does that happen sometimes?" Hubbert tried to make sure. He knew there were some wild places that let their people hang others, especially slaves, although they were clearly forbidden by law.

"The punishment imposed here is prison confinement" Jose said. "His own harshest sentence is still the same as Aston's rule: a beheading. Redstone is in the jurisdiction of the executioner Hedley as executor, but so far there's no hard case until I need to call him." With each word, Jose's expression grew more serious. "Why, Mr. The decker? You see someone hanging?"

Hubbert nodded stiffly. "In the wheat field of the Golden Way. They're hanging someone—slave, like. There are a lot of people watching. I came by taxi, but the driver just passed it like it was a normal thing .. so I thought ..."

"You sure? Maybe they're doing something else and you just saw it wrong?"

"Did after the events of a year ago, you think I would fail to recognize the corpse?" Hubbert grimaced to remember the bodies walking in Bjork.

"Edwin, call Inspector Brooks, ask him to get ready and meet me at the end of Main Street. And Mr. Decker," Jose looked back at the journalist. "Sorry to interrupt your rest, but tell me more fully what you saw and where, all the way there."

Hubbert nodded. "If you don't mind, I'd like to take the camera out of the bag."

Jose doesn't mind. He asked the waiter to take Hubbert to his room to take what was necessary. As he exited the living room, Hubbert heard Jose talking to Maria, but his voice could not be captured clearly.

***

"I've never heard either. If Hubbert says he saw a man shot in the middle of the street, that's all I believe."

"But you called Brooks?"

"of course. It would be bad if Hubbert didn't see it wrong, right?" Jose smiled slightly looking at Maria's expression. Other women would be frightened to hear corpses and blood, but his wife listened attentively. "You wanna come?"

"And make all the men with you clumsy with my presence?" Maria chuckles. "No, thank you, they'll be forced to keep their manners in front of me, can't swearing or smoking at will, so they won't like it. I'm at home, waiting for you to tell me when I get home."

The matter of maintaining good manners is of course correct. The queen gave very strict rules on public etiquette, especially with regard to women. Most people obey him.

"If only they were being clumsy" said Jose. Still holding hands, the two stepped out towards the main hall. "By the way, I remember in Redstone hanging was quite common."

"When?"

"A century ago, I guess," Jose recalled. "I myself only heard from Graham when he rambled about the dilapidated city. Redstone is far less behind and poorer than it is now. The only entertainment of the people was to see the executioners torture the criminals or see the hanging carried out. So poor, they even begged or robbed the rest of the bodies to eat."

"That's terrible," commented Maria flatly. His emotions are limited to the people he likes. He knew if an event was sad or pleasant, but if it was not personally related to him, Mary could not feel happy or sad. Because of this oddity, his engagement had failed several times, which is now actually grateful to Maria because she could be with Jose. They were friends since childhood and Jose never thought it was strange.

"Do you know what's more terrible?"

"No" said Maria, knowing Jose would continue his story.

"The place where the punishment was carried out was in the wheat field of the Golden Way."

Maria stopped and looked at Jose. "In the same wheat field as Hubbert?"

"The same wheat field." Jose nodded, taking her back in step. "It used to be a barren land. Executions are carried out there to be practical. The executioner came from Aston, so they looked for a place as close as possible to Aston so that the executioner could come or go quickly. Since the execution was the entertainment of the people, so it required a spacious place that could contain many people in tails."

"Then the reason those people hang humans in the same place is to keep tradition?" Maria doesn't understand.

"We'll know later ..." Jose stopped his steps when he reached the center of the main hall. He turned towards the stairs leading to the second floor, at Hubbert who carefully went down the steps while carrying his camera bag. The man did not see them because he was too focused on the stairs. "... if what Hubbert sees is true."

"You mean?" Maria was suspicious of the choice, but the man did not respond.

"Maybe I'll have lunch outside" Jose said moments later. The distance between his manor and the wheat fields on the edge of the border would take forty-five minutes by car, so there was no way he could get home in time for lunch. But Jose remembered he had left Maria for too long. They rarely eat together. Even this morning their intimacy interrupted Blake. "Or we could just go after lunch" he said.

Maria gave a soft sigh with a sigh of surrender. He shook his head, making his brown hair flutter lightly on his back. "Don't push yourself, Jose. You want to quickly check in there, right? If what Hubbert sees is true, who knows you'll have time to catch the vigilante. Didn't they? How long do you think I've known you, hm?"

Inevitably, Jose smiled happily at the accuracy of Mary reading it.

***

¬autonomy rights: the privilege of a region to freely self-regulate its regional government independent from the center in accordance with applicable laws and regulations. If in Indonesia, for example is DIY and DIA.