Chapter 32 : Chapter 32
Chapter 32
If you were to ask who the busiest person in the Moner domain usually was, everyone would have picked the Regent, but since Roberto was tied up alive in the middle of the marketplace, the busiest person in the Lord's Castle was, without a doubt, the Head of the Auditor's Department, Bain.
“Ugh… hey, I'm going to take an early leave.”
As he shivered continuously from a sudden chill while reviewing documents, he spoke to his adjutant.
The surprised adjutant stared at Bain with wide-open eyes.
“Sir?”
The geezer of all geezers.
Bain, whom he thought lived by the principle of dying at work if he had to, was taking an early leave.
At the words of the man called ‘Golem’ for being so thorough and tireless, the adjutant spoke with astonished eyes.
“Ah… but we have a huge backlog of work today too.
The investigation into the Security Department is almost finished, so we need to decide on the extent of the punishments.”
“Ha……”
Discouraged by his subordinate's words, a disheartened Bain ruffled his hair and grumbled out his inner thoughts.
“Fuck, if they broke the law, they should be punished according to the law.
Can't we just throw them all in prison and leave it to the court?”
“The number of crimes reported this year is more than the number of cases recorded in the past 20 years, so the court is booked until next year.
They asked us to send only the major cases and handle the minor ones with fines here.”
“Even so, that’s not right!
Hey!
Most of those bastards are guys who took money from other domains, if we tell them to pay the fine with that money, is that even a country!
We should at least throw them in prison!”
At the department head's strong assertion, the team leader scratched his head in embarrassment.
“The, the prisons are also at full capacity right now… I heard two people are using a solitary cell.”
“Ha, shit.
This domain is really going to the dogs.”
Hearing the forbidden word, the team leader jumped in surprise and pointed to the notice written on a large wooden board hanging on one side of the Head of the Auditor's Department's office.
[Saying ‘This domain is going to the dogs’ is forbidden.]
Warning: The Young Lord may be summoned.
After rolling his eyes and checking his surroundings, Bain confirmed Ian was not there and let out a sigh of relief.
“Ha… I really need to quit or something.
The work is tough, the Regent is a pain in the ass, and the young lord is a madman……”
The memory of the young lord's crazed eyes from before sent another chill through his body.
“I think I've been feeling feverish since that day.
The day I met that madman.”
Thinking about it, it seemed plausible.
Was it because he remained silent even after seeing the clerics die?
“No way!”
Could he have been cursed by God?
“Aish!”
At the sudden unsettling thought, he shook his head to calm his mind and spat out the thoughts in his head as if to throw them away.
“Let's be clear, did I go and kill the cleric?
The dead cleric probably doesn't even know my name.”
How could a mere commoner like him possibly know his name?
If the cleric who died there had become a vengeful spirit and cursed someone, it would have been that devil-like young lord or the knight who drew his sword at the young lord's command.
Just in case, he resolved to ask the Vice-bishop for a purification spell the next time he saw her.
Just then, the adjutant, who had been staring strangely at the muttering Bain, asked.
“Sir?
What are you talking about?
A madman?
A cleric died?”
Neither his subordinates nor the Auditor's Department knew what the young lord had done at the Grand Cathedral.
Thanks to some trick, the Holy Nation itself had stepped forward to claim the intervention of the demonic race, so everyone in the domain, except for himself and the Vice-bishop, believed that the demonic race had corrupted and killed the cleric.
“It's nothing.
Just thinking about the young lord brings bad luck.
I mean, I can feel the madness from a person who hasn't even had his coming-of-age ceremony yet.
You saw it too, right?
When that young brat's eyes flash, it sends shivers down my spine.”
A devil-like bastard.
Seeing how he killed those clerics, he might really be a devil.
“I got tangled up with a jinx.
Ah, shit!
I was trying not to think about it, but I thought of it again.
Hey!
Go and sprinkle some salt!”
Bain frowned at the face of Ian, which lingered in his mind like a coy first love, and shouted at his subordinate.
“Hurry up!
The thought of the young lord, that devil-like person, must mean today is going to be an unlucky day.”
While he was grumbling that the devil was surely the reason for his restless sleep last night, he saw his adjutant staring blankly at the wall.
“Hey!
Are you ignoring me too?!
I said sprinkle salt!
Before that devil-like bastard storms in here again!”
The last time he came, he brought the Bishop's head as a so-called gift.
To be honest, he did not want to see him again until he retired.
“Chi-Chief……”
At the strange, tense voice, Bain raised his head and looked at the adjutant sitting opposite him.
Flustered, disoriented, and trembling eyes, a slowly turning waist, legs stealthily moving back to escape the scene.
‘Son of a bitch.’
An ominous premonition intensely pierced his brain.
‘O Holy God of Light, please vanquish the evil and let my life not be tested…….’
He quickly recited the exorcism prayer, hoping for God's help, but as if mocking his desperate heart, Ian's sunken voice echoed clearly from behind him.
“He's a devil, you think salt will be enough?”
Giii-geek.
Forcing his trembling waist to turn, he saw the incarnation of the devil, smiling.
“Ah, ha, ha, Yo-Young Lord……”
Tap.
The devil slowly approached, placed a hand on his shoulder, and whispered in his ear.
“The methods of suicide these days have become really peculiar, I think.”
At the young lord's murderous voice, a dizzying chill enveloped his entire body.
“W-what are you talking about?
It's not that I really th-think that, it's just……”
No suitable excuse came to mind.
He had just called the noblest person in this domain a devil, how could he possibly think of an excuse?
In that moment, he thought of his fox-like child and his bear-like wife.
‘No.’
Even if he died, the charge of insulting a noble must not extend to his family.
Thud, kung!
Think short, act fast.
Just like his late mother's old advice, Bain quickly knelt and slammed his head on the floor.
“Please kill me!”
* * *
“Ha.”
Ian clicked his tongue as he looked at the prostrating Head of the Auditor's Department.
Even with the title, to think he'd assume I would kill him right away just for a little joke.
No, on second thought, for a noble in this world, that might be a perfectly reasonable assumption.
“Why would I kill you?
We're short-handed as it is.
Gather some people, we have work to do.”
At those words, Bain slightly lifted his head and asked.
Work?
And from the young lord's mouth, no less.
The tone, the atmosphere, and the feeling were not good.
“Work?
What……”
“I hear there are some sons of bitches in the market mixing sand into the wheat.
Old sayings go that you should cut off the tongue and hands of those who play with food.”
‘Where in the world is there such a radical old saying!
You psycho!’
The gazes of Bain, who was screaming internally, and Ian, who was smiling with a disturbingly pleasant grin, met in mid-air.
‘Hasn't it been a long time since sand was mixed with food?
No, more importantly, you're going to arrest all of them?
The total number of merchants in the market is…….’
A quick calculation suggested at least a hundred.
No, hundreds of merchants would be arrested.
They hadn't even finished 20% of the current investigation, and that many more subjects would be added.
“Just kill me, please!”
Think short.
Act fast.
Didn't the old sayings say that the scriptures of the church and one's mother are never wrong?
Realizing it was absolutely impossible, Bain prostrated himself again.
“Chief?
Chief, what's wrong with you?”
“Absolutely, absolutely impossible!
Our department doesn't have the manpower to investigate that many people!”
Was that all?
It was impossible for the Auditor's Department and the Security Department not to know about the sand-mixed wheat sacks.
They were just unable to punish them.
“What's happening in the market isn't something that can be solved by killing everyone like at the Grand Cathedral!”
Bain did not hold back what he had to say, even as he trembled in fear of opposing the mad young lord.
“If the merchants die, the Merchants’ Association will no longer supply food!
If the food supply stops for just one month, hundreds, thousands of the domain's people will die!”
The only things that could be obtained from this land were animals contaminated by cursed demonic energy and monster byproducts.
Even all the plants that grew from the ground were imbued with demonic energy, so ordinary people without mana could not eat the plants or animals that grew on this land.
“I-I will find a better way!”
For a moment, he remembered saying the exact same thing in the past, but Bain tried his best to ignore the unsettling feeling of déjà vu.
However, the irresistible whisper of the devil came first.
“I'm sorry.
I'd like to follow a better way if there was one, but right now, there are only two options.”
As Ian slightly turned his head, his gaze followed, and he saw 20 women clad in black robes.
“Tho-those……”
The young lord's mysterious maids who had blocked the clerics at the Grand Cathedral.
“One way is to go to the market with the Black Noble Troop and summarily execute the criminals.”
Bain's heart stopped for a moment with a thud.
The Bishop's head, which had looked at him from the desk with a resemblance to emptiness and hatred, had tormented him in his dreams every night since that day.
Would a man who killed a Bishop in the Grand Cathedral hesitate to kill a few people in the marketplace?
“No!
A summary execution!
Shouldn't all citizens be punished through a fair trial and investigation according to the domain's law?!”
Towards Bain, who had squeezed his eyes shut, Ian's low and gentle voice sounded like a temptation.
“There's a way for the Auditor's Department to do its job and prevent unnecessary blood from being shed.
The domain's people might not know, but I think the young children in the market would prefer the second method.”
Damn devil bastard.
The Auditor, with his eyes squeezed shut, shouted towards his back.
“All members of the Auditor's Department, stop what you're doing and assemble!
Summon everyone who's outside as well!”
The corner of Bain's eyes, whose fists were clenched, became moist.
‘I should have taken an early leave…….’
His regret echoed emptily in his heart.
* * *
Rick glared with displeasure at the guest who had arrived late in the evening.
“No, I know you might be busy, but do you have any idea what time it is?!”
It was not unheard of for customers to visit in the evening to get herbs, so he would normally have understood and let it go, but 11 PM was too much.
Just as he was about to tell the customer to come back tomorrow so it would not happen again and close the door in his face, the man in the robe spoke.
“Is this the Golden Goblin Merchant Guild?”
“Huh?!
You came here without even knowing where it is?
This robe… you look like a beggar… tsk.”
Looking at the customer's appearance again, he did not look to be in a good state.
The hand he held clenched was trembling as if in pain, and the robe he wore was made of the cheapest, most common cloth in the market.
Now that he thought of him as someone in need, he could not just turn him away.
How desperate must his situation be to have asked around and come all this way?
“Sigh, I'll go inside and get you some proper medicine and something to eat, so wait here for a moment.”
“N-no, I am not a beggar……”
“Ah, come on.
I know, I know.
I'll give you some of my food and a little of my stashed money, so just wait quietly.
Did you get hurt by a demonic beast?
I hear the clerics these days heal people without taking money.”
The commoners, who had been discriminated against for a long time, no longer visited the church or the clerics.
As a result, even though a major change had occurred throughout the Grand Cathedral due to the incident a few days ago, only a very small number of people knew about it.
“My boss and the Vice-bishop there know each other well.
I'll write you a letter, so don't worry……”
The sight of the man, who seemed to have come in search of a rumored kind merchant guild in a situation where he could not see an inch ahead, was like looking at his younger self, and Rick's voice became tinged with emotion.
“No, please listen to what I'm saying.
I am not a beggar, but……”
The manager of Gold Crow, Demded, looked at Rick with a fed-up expression, but Rick, already lost in his own world, repeatedly patted Demded's back and offered encouragement.
“I know because I've lived at the bottom too.
Right now, there might be no answer and no tomorrow in sight.
But you know, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel.
As you live, you meet an unlucky and cold-blooded boss and a devil-like young lo… no, a boss's acquaintance……”
While Rick chattered on for a long time, Demded, who had followed him into the building, continuously looked around the inside of the guild.
‘It's much larger than I thought.
From the outside, it looked like a nearly collapsing guild.’
All the miscellaneous goods placed around were high-quality items.
This meant there was someone behind them who could invest that much capital.
The moment he followed Rick into the warehouse, Demded's eyes widened.
“Good heavens, what in the world is all this……”
Demded's voice trembled as he looked around in all directions, as if he could not believe it.
“It wasn't just a small-to-medium-sized merchant guild……”
For a moment, Demded, with a desperate look on his face, stood blankly and muttered.
Before his eyes were endless piles of goods he never expected to see here.