The chapter opens with a description of the "sweet bite marks" found in the "account book" at the house of Merigina. It seems that there is an "unaccounted sum of money" in the book, and that the handwriting on the book is that of a "mond arca" . The narrator tells us that the "arca family" is the "most suspicious" of the suspects, and he suggests that they be confronted in person. He says that the trial has lasted for five hours, and all the evidence points to the "merigina family" as the guilty party. He adds that when he learned that the family wanted to destroy their account book, he asked people to "replace it" before the butler had done it, and this makes him worried. He decides to focus on "the most urgent issue" first, which is the war, and then he can use the "bargaining chip" that mond has named out. He also says that if the war breaks out, he'll be defeated, but that he's against it because he doesn't want to get defeated by "the bloods" if the conflict breaks out.