The Firebird and Three Princes

Tsar Vyslav: Heavily tax the peasants to make yourself feel better.

Meanwhile...



"You, go and raise taxes on the peasants."
"Sire, taxes are already so high that we're on the brink of a rebellion! If we raise them any more..."
"Who cares? We need to show that apple thief who's boss!"
"We don't even know if the apple thief is from around here! He might not pay us taxes at all!"
"We're dealing with a tax evader, too? Better raise the taxes again to be sure!"
"...Yes, sire. Right away."



Tsar Vyslav's complete ignorance of economic policy has caused an all-out revolt.



However, due to the utter lack of a decent education program, the peasants have a terrible sense of direction and cannot find their way to the castle. Tsar Vyslav remains blissfully unaware of the situation.



So now back to this actual mystery we're supposed to be solving. Which is clearly much more important than whatever's going on outside the castle.

>Vasilii: Figure out how the heck anyone would ever even notice that a single apple is missing, anyway.

It's no mystery. Your dad's very thorough about that sort of thing. Ridiculously thorough.

>Vasilii: Search the other trees. Chances are some of those also have fruits missing.

You don't see how to tell. But you figure Dad would have checked those right after the apple. Again, very thorough.

Vasilii: Look for footprints around the tree.

These are your dad's footprints. The only other ones you see are your own. Well, that wasn't very helpful.

Ivan: Search and loot Dimitri's room.

Ivan decides to look through Dimitri's room.



However, rather than conducting an actual thorough investigation, he simply grabs anything that catches his eye.



Uh-oh! Dimitri is about to come in! You don't think he's realized you're here yet, though. What should you do?