novel(7)
| ← Ch.026 | Ch.028 → |
"Oh, I'm having a headache."
Arcanta was literally buried in documents. The endless stream of paperwork would not diminish at all even as he processed them one by one. His work had not been piled up initially, but as the examination period for the selection of civil servants drew near, various ministries started fighting each other to take in the top talent.
It was around this time that the trainees from the previous examination completed their training and got assigned to the ministries. It was understandable that the ministries would fight for the best talent because they could suffer for years if they ended up with an incompetent member.
However, things really happened at once when events started erupting. The sudden movement of demons was also becoming a problem. But the most troubling news for Arcanta now was the runaway nephew of Bloody's, the next tribal chief of the Crow Tribe, Denburg Blade.
When he thought about the incidents Doomstone, the current head of the Crows, had caused 25 years ago when he had yet to be chosen as the successor of the village, it made his healthy stomach suddenly twitch in pain.
Back then, Arcanta had only been a seven-year-old child that sniffed his nose and had no idea of what was happening outside the world. But records of that incident had still been kept over the years and tormented the current Arcanta who had gone on to become a prime minister.
In fact, up until a few days ago, these records had merely been records. They were meaningless and did not affect his stomach that had been weakened by the work stress. However, these records had now turned into something that could completely destroy his stomach.
If the most minor of incidents in the record were to be taken as a precedent, there was one incident where a 15 meters dam had been destroyed and submerged an entire farmland, all due to the gibberish of an old man with dementia.
Another incident spoke of a count who had hit a child walking on the street for splashing dirt on the road. In return, he had gotten beat up until almost all the bones in his body were reduced to powder, and the 300 knights accompanying him had become bedridden to the point of not being able to lift a finger.
There was another that spoke of a road being blocked from a landslide, and an entire mountain being destroyed as a person tried to penetrate the road.
These were the very light cases in the record.
In another country outside the empire, their royal palace was utterly destroyed, 50, 000 soldiers including 3, 000 knights were crippled, and the territories of seven high-ranking nobles from the ranks of a count or higher were completely destroyed. The damage had been so great that a moratorium had been declared.
The records had been a part of history when they had been read, but now it had turned into an event that could happen at any moment in the empire.
"Ah, where is my gastrointestinal medicine!"
Arcanta found the medicine under some piles of documents and started focusing on his work again. No matter how much he racked his brain, there were no solutions over the runaway incident. If so, the best method was to make the utmost preparation and then forget about it.
Knock, knock!
Arcanta muttered a "come in" without taking his eyes off the documents. Soon, his deputy walked in and handed over some documents along with photos.
"This is... oh. Is it today when they said the children of the viscount are coming to visit?"
The documents handed over by the deputy were personal details of the new tenants who were boarding at the house run as a hobby by Arscilla, Arcanta's mother.
Lisbon and Alice were the children of Arcanta's nanny, so he thought of them as a brother and sister of a distant relative.
Five generations ago, a daughter of the Arthemius family married into that viscount's family, so it was safe to say that they were distant relatives.
"Why are there three documents?"
I'm sure there were two children who were supposed to come from the viscount.
"One of them is a boarding student who came through the real estate agency."
"Real estate?"
At Arscilla's firm insistence, they had put up a notice at a real estate agency on Wellcon Street seeking a boarding student. It was definitely not a good idea considering her safety, but Arcanta had been forced to comply as he couldn't go against his mother's wish. As such, boarding students would occasionally come from the real estate agency.
But who planted him this time?
Arcanta was well-aware of his current position. His mother, perched high above the empire's brightest sun, was a very appetizing platter for his political opponents or those who wished to take advantage of him. In fact, there had already been multiple occasions when people had come to board for that very purpose.
"I don't think that is the case this time—"
When the deputy disagreed, Arcanta glanced at his subordinate and asked, "What is your basis on?"
"He's very close to the viscount's children, Mr. Lisbon, and Miss Alice. As shown in the photos and documents, he's also way too young. It's very difficult to find someone of that age who can defeat the bodyguards unless he's from one of the battle races."
Arcanta closely examined the documents and photos. He certainly did look young. Those that knew about Arscilla would also know that there were people secretly guarding her and that those people were all at least high-ranking knights.
"This guy called Den von Mark comes from a remote area that even I'm not familiar with. You did a good job coming up with this information in a short period of time."
"He stopped by a bank in the capital to open an account. It was quick to get the details on his identification card from them."
Although they acted like they weren't, the bank was also an organization under the Treasury Office helmed by Arcanta's family. However, even if the bank wasn't an organization under the family, there wasn't any organization that would refuse when a prime minister such as himself asked for information. Still, the information from the bank was highly reliable as they were under him.
"It's good news that he at least did not try to fake his identity to approach Mother."
Although it was actually a forged ID, Arcanta fully trusted the identification cards that were jointly protected by the magic of the Butterfly Tribe and the imperial magicians.
"Haha, who would try to forge the ID of a noble? It's extremely difficult to forge IDs of that complexity."
"That's true. Is Warrant the last city where the ID was issued?"
Since being the closest city to the Olympus Forest and located right at the border of Demon's Territory, Warrant City was also known as the last city. It was filled with fallen noble families and knights defending the empire from Demon's Territory. Therefore, it was the only city that could make its own identification cards without being part of a high-ranking noble's territory.
Also, this city was famous for making ID cards in a rather unique way. To make an ID card there, before proving one's identity, one had to go through the resident knights and warriors there and get to the place where one issued the ID.
Arcanta thought it was an incomprehensible way, but it was because he thought that a man without power was not a nobleman. To be exact, it was an argument that "no one can protect anyone without power, and no one can protect it if not a nobleman", but he wondered what it had to do with getting that theory and ID card issued.
So, it was usually said that the nobilities who became new adults living there were still weak in force, so their parents directly broke through the knights and warriors and made ID cards instead. It was a violation of the imperial law and the purpose of making the ID card, but Warrant was a special city, so the center turned a blind eye to it.
This was because if they captured each and every one of them, Warrant, that acted as a shield from the demon's territory, might end up falling apart.
"Usually when one gets an ID card issued at Warrant, they end up settling there. How interesting. Is there someone who can go there and do some investigating?"
When Arcanta asked, the adjutant replied with a bitter smile, "Even if it is your order, Prime Minister, they would probably resign rather than go to a city where it is said to be swarming with those from the battle races."
No matter how harsh the city was, and no matter how strong someone was, they still couldn't even measure up to the toes of the Crow Tribe living in the nearby Olympus Forest.
When they hailed the battle races as the `shield that protects the empire from the demons`, it was full of pride. But Arcanta didn't plan on ignoring them. In reality, the knights and warriors residing in Warrant were strong, and without them, the empire would not be as safe as it was now.
"Hmm, this guy named Den is close with the viscount's kids?"
The deputy fervently nodded."Yes, they seem really, really close."
The moment he said they didn't seem close, someone from the Treasury Office would be sent off on a business trip to Warrant, also known as Valhalla -- the heaven of endless fighting. The deputy didn't want to hear words of resentment from his subordinates about how he himself wasn't taking on the task.
"I don't like the fact that there are blanks everywhere in his personal information, but it doesn't seem like there are any issues. Just start by intensively monitoring him for a month."
"Understood!"
The deputy breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.
-o-
It's been three days since I started boarding here. I was alone in this room that was located on the second floor; it was wider and more comfortable than my room back home.
Three days should have been enough time for the Prime Minister to investigate me. Nevertheless, nothing happened except for the surveillance that was stationed as soon as I entered the boarding house.
Based on that, it was safe to say that my forged identity had not been discovered, and the fact that I was close to Lisbon and Alice seemed to have gone well into the ears of the Prime Minister. It might also have been due to my plan of tagging along with the siblings whose identities were well known.
However, it was better to restrain from making a hasty decision for there was a possibility that my fake identity had been discovered.
If so, was there a certain reason he was simply observing from a distance and not dealing with me?
Thinking about it, he might just be leaving me alone so he can try to dig into my non-existent background. If that was the case, the Prime Minister was really cold-blooded. He was leaving his mother alone with a person of unknown identity and background like it was nothing.
Or, perhaps it was just me who thought there was an observer?
On second thoughts, wasn't being observed enough of a problem? I created an illusion of myself heading towards the bed, and at the same time, I cast invisibility magic on my body.
"Akarin~!" [1]
The illusion naturally went to bed and fell asleep.
Having turned invisible, I exited through the window, being careful not to make a sound. I could roughly feel the presence of 23 people patrolling around the mansion, and considering they seemed to be quite full of energy, they felt like elites compared to ordinary people.
But for the purposes of protection, they were too weak, so it was clear that if there were an attack, their role was to stall for time to evacuate Mrs. Arscilla and at the same time send for combatants.
I calmly monitored the movements of the observers. After about half an hour, some people showed signs of changing shifts. I headed for the place where I noticed the movements. As I expected, some of the guards changed shifts, scattered, and headed somewhere.
I snuck up and ambushed one of the guards who had scattered off somewhere and dazed him with a medicine made from mandrago roots. After that, I hypnotized him with magic and asked him if he had received any orders.
"Have you been keeping watch over me this whole time?"
"Of course."
The gut instinct that I was being watched turned out to be true. I wasn't in the mood for a joke.
𝐟𝚛𝚎𝐞𝙬𝗲𝒃𝗻o𝘃e𝒍 - 🅽🅽novel
"Fine, how much did you investigate about me?"
"Name, age, origin."
"Be exact."
"Na-me, Den von Mark. 16 years old. Ori-gin, War-rant, East, Olym-pus. Bor-der region."
When I tried to make him speak more his words slurred and stiffened. He must have a strong mind because he was resisting the hypnosis. I could make him sound more fluent, but I was reluctant to do so because I would have to really contort his mind.
"How did you find out?"
"At the... Bank. ID card... Information."
Could the bank have turned over my information?
No matter how tight the security of the bank was, it would have been strange if they didn't hand it over when someone at the level of the Prime Minister was the one requesting it. It was probably easy as the empire's banks were not private companies but national organizations under the Treasury Office. Since that was the case, I should hold off on exchanging the platinum coins in my pocket space for a while.
1. Akari is a character from Yuru Yuri that can turn invisible and has the nickname of Akarin.
| ← Ch. 026 | Ch. 028 → |