The Duchy's Big Shot

With the truth of Mine No. 1 exposed, the identity of the duchy's "big shot" is revealed as well: an inspection commissioner sent by the Duchy of Byrnhald.

The mine's recent lockdown was arranged to receive this VIP, who came to check extraction progress. Yet a notebook found in Mine No. 1 suggests something may have happened to them...
The diary records even darker secrets: "The Crimson Marrow yield plummeted by at least 30% compared to last year. The Drava Royal Institute is barely operational. The duke is furious."

Taken together, it appears the Crimson Marrow mining has long been backed by the Grand Duke of Byrnhald. Bound by the Creed's mining ban, he chose to hide it all in sealed underground operations.

The person in black may have been drawn here by the thick Hruga taint within the ore. Sislesa Mine is now a tangled mess of power, greed, and chaos, and has become a full-fledged breeding ground for evil.