novel(8)
| ← Ch.027 | Ch.029 → |
If the prime minister could easily obtain information from the bank without any problems, then it was likely that he would be able to immediately identify my location if I were to use the identification I had received from Hestia. I thought again about how lucky I was to have received so many changes from the information agency.
"How much longer are you going to be monitoring?"
"Around a month."
It was apparent that the one-month grace period on the contract had been written by Prime Minister Arcanta, not Mrs. Arscilla.
The guard's resistance against my hypnosis started to intensify.
"You're... not free—"
This was the limit of information I could obtain from the hypnosis. I dehypnostized him and quickly ran away.
"What? What just happened?"
Waking up from the hypnosis, the guard confusedly looked about his surroundings. He then started muttering, "Am I tired?" and went off unaware of what had happened.
Fortunately, he didn't feel anything drastic. More than that, he said that I was not a free person?
What a funny joke! I couldn't help but start laughing at what the guard said.
Crack! I cracked my knuckles. Wait a minute, I think I could utilize this to my advantage. I calmed down my anger and started to think.
The guards could be my alibi when I went to raid the Department of Treasury later. The best scenario would be to not get caught, but you could never know what would happen. Thinking about it again, it was also unknown whether the prime minister would do another background check on me again. Keeping him immersed in his work to make time was a solution.
It wasn't because I felt unpleasant at the fact that I was being watched. This was just for my own safety.
Yes, yes! It was for my safety.
Come to think of it, there was something I hadn't received yet.
Should I use the name 1412 or Angel Girl?
-o-
It was a bright morning the next day. I found it hard to open my eyes as I slept late last night. Nonetheless, I still managed to get up from the bed and go down the stairs for breakfast.
"Den, did you read the newspaper this morning?"
Lisbon made a big fuss while holding the newspaper.
Why are you asking someone who just woke up if they read the morning newspaper?
"No, I just woke up. What's the matter?"
"Last night, one of the powerful nobles, Marquis Balthain, got his entire fortune stolen including a piece of jewel called the Goddess' Blessing."
There was an emblem with a silver wolf and a laurel leaf drawn on the newspaper. I wanted to thank the Marquis for paying for my laundry fee with his entire fortune.
"Oh, really?"
So the name of the jewel was Goddess' Blessing. I hadn't known that.
"What! The Goddess' Blessing was stolen?"
Alice exclaimed loudly as she came out of the bathhouse with a towel wrapped around her head. She was shocked as she read the newspaper she snatched out of Lisbon's hand.
"Oh my god! The Goddess' Blessing is that precious star sapphire! I wouldn't have any regrets if I got to see it even once, but now there won't be a chance ever again."
No wonder that sapphire was heavily guarded. I had been wondering what was so great about a scratched sapphire.
Alice made quite a fuss, she looked as if she was about to cry.
I didn't think it was really a big deal since a viscount would probably have no chance of seeing such a precious jewel, but Alice seemed really disappointed.
"I was planning on asking Mrs. Arscilla for a favor to go take a look."
Ah, I see. It was definitely possible to see the jewel using such methods.
Although it was now destined to sleep inside my pocket space forever.
"What's more astonishing is that the culprit called himself 'Lupin' and has revealed his next move."
Getting ideas from classics seemed to be a good idea. Their copyrights were almost expired too.
Alice read through the newspaper again.
"Oh, you're right. It says that he left a card saying "I'll come and greet Count Druval tomorrow at 2 a. m."
"Is there some jewel at Count Druval's mansion?" Lisbon questioned.
Alice folded the newspaper in response and said, "Of course there is! There's a necklace called The Crystal of Perfection. Lupin is almost certainly aiming for it."
All I did was pick a name from the list of nobles I bought from the information agency. I just chose the owner of a name who had a status of count or higher. It was nice since I could steal their money even if they didn't have any jewelry.
"It looks like the Order of the Knights and the Department of Treasury will be busy."
Lisbon became puzzled and asked, "I understand that the knight divisions will become busy, but why the Department of Treasury?"
Alice sighed and answered, "Oppa, I know you invest all your energy into training your body, but try to use your brain once in a while. The thief will obviously need to sell the jewel he stole. Since he can't sell it at the market, he'll try to sell it through a third party or at the black market. Since it's under the jurisdiction of the Department of Treasury to monitor the movement of money, they'll be trying their best now to listen for any news at the black market."
"Aha. I see!"
"It wouldn't matter too much if it were just a small thief, but this guy called Lupin made a scratch on the Marquis and Count's pride by even announcing his next target. They'll definitely try to catch Lupin no matter what."
Alice was completely correct. The Department of Treasury was now going to try to search for a jewel that wasn't being sold. Of course, I was still planning on selling one or two since they could end up thinking that all the stolen goods may have been smuggled somewhere else if none were found.
"Don't just stand there. Come here and have breakfast."
Mrs. Arscilla's voice came from the kitchen. We quickly sat down at the table and ate breakfast. We finished a lavish meal that would cost two refined bronze coins to eat in a restaurant.
Forty refined bronze coins seemed really cheap if I took into account the fact that I would eat such a meal two times a day. The 40 refined bronze coins were only worth 10 days of meals. It wasn't a joke when they said that Mrs. Arscilla was running a boarding house as her hobby.
"Thank you for the meal."
When I was about to get up after saying my heartfelt thank you, Lisbon said, "Thank you for the meal. Den, let's go look around the Archipelago together."
"I'm sorry, but I have to go meet a real estate agent on Wellcon Street to pick up notes her son made while preparing for the civil service examination. I also have to hand in my application for the test."
"Okay—"
When Lisbon started to look disappointed, Alice said, "I only have a few days left before the entrance exam too. Leave me out as well since I have to study from now on."
"What? Then am I by myself?"
"Oppa should go train. The entrance exam for the knights' school isn't that far off either. You won't be able to pass at this rate."
Alice's goal was to graduate from the magic school and enter a tower or become a court magician. Meanwhile, Lisbon's goal was to become a knight serving the imperial family by transferring to an intermediate knights' school.
According to Lisbon's original plan, he would have entered a beginner-rank knights' school when he turned sixteen, advanced into a middle-rank knights' school, and then worked as a page for an advanced knight. However, as a second son of the family, he was treated as a backup for his eldest brother and ended up being transferred to the middle-rank knights' school.
The peculiar thing about schools located in the empire was that the terms started in the fall. In other words, if the brother and sister were to pass the entrance exam in the summer, they would start studying in the fall.
"Okay, all right." Lisbon answered in a feeble voice.
"Cheer up! We can go hang out after the exam." I offered him some consolation since I received quite a bit of help from the sucker.
"Really?"
Lisbon's eyes quickly lit up at my words. Those orbs made me regret what I just said.
"What about Alice?"
Lisbon looked at Alice with a hopeful look, and her face gradually became darker until she couldn't stand it anymore and shouted, "Okay, I'll come! Stop looking at me like that. But I'll kill you if you bother me before the exam."
"Okay!"
Lisbon energetically replied, and Mrs. Arscilla smiled as she watched from the side.
"Hohoho."
Her face said she was operating a boarding house for scenes such as this. I couldn't understand her.
It was already past 8 a. m. now.
"There's a bit of distance to where I'm going, so I'll get up first."
"Yes, please do."
Mrs. Arscilla saw me off to the front door, and my first stop was the branch of the Department of Treasury to register for the exam.
-o-
Inside the premises of the imperial palace, the Department of Treasury located among one of the outer palaces was having a busy time. The department was currently in a state of emergency due to the burglary that took place last night. Marquis Balthain was constantly pressuring the Department of Treasury and the Order of the Knights to somehow catch the thief.
Technically speaking, the burglary was the responsibility of the knights and had nothing to do with the treasury. However, the marquis kept on pressuring the treasury, saying that the thief would try to sell the jewel in the black market.
Handling the black market was the responsibility of the knights, but it wasn't completely wrong to say that the treasury also had a responsibility too since they were responsible for all the money in the empire. Due to this fact, employees of this department were currently experiencing hell.
To make matters worse, the theft had happened just when the civil servant exam and the assignment of new civil servants were in progress. Had the theft happened at a low-ranking noble's or had only money been stolen from the Balthain mansion, the treasury could have stepped out from the situation. It wouldn't have been this busy if that had been the case, but now the civil servants of the treasury office had no choice but to be resentful of a thief who called himself Lupin.
Even though it was already past time to come to work, the treasury office was empty because most of the civil servants had left to monitor the black market after signing in. Thanks to this, the remaining civil servants had no choice but to handle the workload meant for the entire office. They did not even realize when the bell started ringing at the entrance.
The young man who entered the office looked around before going to the nearest civil servant.
"Hello, I'm here to apply for the civil service exam."
"What?"
The civil servant working for the treasury office looked up with a face of annoyance at the person interrupting his work. He then pointed at the pile of documents scattered atop a table and instructed, "Please fill out the form over there and hand in your ID."
The treasury civil servant sighed. Originally, this work was meant for Finance Team Four, but they went out to raid the black market. The treasury civil servant proceeded to check the man's document and ID after he had quickly filled out the document.
"Is your name Den von Mark?"
"Yes."
"Are you sixteen?"
"Yes."
"Do you have a photo?"
"No."
"Then please stand over there for a moment."
The civil servant from the treasury office pointed at the white wall. After Den stood there, he brought out a camera from Team Four's desk that was several times larger than a human face. He then set up a tripod and put the camera on it.
"This photo will be attached to your application, so please raise your head. No, you raised it up too much. Yes, that's great. I'm taking the photo now. One, two, three."
Snap! Snap! Snap!
The photo was taken as the flash fired. After three clicks, three pictures came out in a row just like a polaroid camera.
The treasury civil servant shook the photos until the outlines started to appear. He then attached them to the application and the exam identification slip.
"One is for the application, one is for the exam identification slip, and the last one is for the civil service card that comes out when you pass. All your information will be erased if you fail the exam. It will be one refined bronze coin for each photo and another for the exam fee."
When Den handed over four refined bronze coins with a puzzled face, the treasury civil servant handed over the exam identification slip. It was actually one refined bronze coin for the three photos, so he looked happy at the fact that he had earned two extra refined bronze coins.
"Your application has been accepted. You can go to take the exam at the Imperial Central Training Center on July 12th, 10 a. m. Make sure to bring your ID, exam identification slip, and something to write with when you come. Most importantly, don't forget your ID card and test ID card since you won't be able to take the exam without them."
The civil servant indifferently meted out the instructions and went back to work.
Den felt unpleasant and thought about raiding another place on top of the viscount he had plans for.
The treasury civil servant thought about drinking cold beer tonight with the extra money he had made while having no idea that today's incident had caused the treasury department to suffer pressure from two more households. Unfortunately, the civil servant's small wish could not be fulfilled tonight due to the overtime work that was about to come.
| ← Ch. 027 | Ch. 029 → |