The following day, which was the second day of inspection of the town of Carlin, although they were worked to death with the guidance and explanation of each place in the city, no problems occurred on the tour.
But on the third day, on the verge of inspection of the suburbs, an anomaly occurred.
“What does this mean?”
In the warehouse where grains collected to serve as tax payment is stored, Elise is standing in front of the personnel in charge of management.
“Y-your highness, the error on the records is just a coincidence”
Unable to withstand the pressure of the princess’ gaze, Third Class Aspir, who is currently in charge of the management, looked down as he answered.
“Is that so? Then, the issue of which half of the grains collected as land tax are missing, are just also a coincidence?”
“N-no your highness. Although it was the case, I don’t know the cause of it”
To the unexpected pursuit of the princess in front of him, the officer on duty was not able to emit words any further.
All of it began when Aspir went to the grain warehouse to work, and as usual he passed time by playing chess with his co-workers. All of a sudden the door at the entrance was opened with great momentum, and a party including the princess came into the office.
“As a member of the royal family, I would like to confirm with my own eyes what the people have contributed.”
Elise who began to talk suddenly made the royal guards restrain Aspir, then made the chamberlains search for the records of the tax payments, while she walked towards the grains storage as it is.
Aspir who didn’t even know what happened was dumbstruck, but when he was held down and the search for the tax records began, he just began to realize the seriousness of the situation.
“Please wait! We haven’t received any search warrant to this facility. On what legal basis would you conduct this inspection?”
Wanting to stop the actions of the princess, Aspir desperately struggled and cried out, but before the strong prowess of the royal guards, he wasn’t able to do anything.
And when one of the chamberlains found the tax payment records from Aspir’s desk drawer, he realized the end of his own fate. After that, by comparing the contents of the records with the goods in the warehouse which were certainly less, while wearing a smile, Elise looked down at him.
“Your highness, we have finished auditing all the contents of the records with granary in question. Well, it’s perfectly pulled out. Here”
Eins, who had been forced to do office work for some reason, met halfway with the princess with a smile.
“Good work. Well then, Mr. Lute, let’s detain them and go back to Earl Samuel”
“However, are you sure about this? We should have visited with the pretext of a tour till the end. If we did this, the local officials will certainly retaliate later on”
Even Lute himself didn’t hear such schedule of inspection until the last minute, and was thinking that it will only be a simple tour, so he couldn’t hide his unrest in the sudden events yet.
“There may be a little opposition afterwards, but you don’t have to worry since you can’t do anything about that”
“But-“
Lute is serious in nature, and because he has done all the duties assigned to him perfectly and in accordance to the rules so far, he was promoted up to what he is now. For him, he was unable to accept psychologically these extrajudicial audits behind the scenes by using the power of the royal family.
“Don’t you think? Then, shall we hear the opinions of the staff in this place. Will someone call Mr Ystats and the others waiting outside?”
In response to the princess’ words, one of the chamberlains rushed outside the building and pulled out Yui and his company who had been waiting outside without any explanations inside.
“My, my, it was done really flashy, wasn’t it?”
Looking at the figures of the captured officials, Yui understood the circumstances.
“Oh? I thought you’ll be surprised, but you’re unexpectedly calm”
“Well, because you changed the schedule and was made to guide to inspect the grain storages suddenly. Then there must be something there isn’t it?”
Yui said so with a wry smile, stretching his arms out.
“So how do you do it as a man if the ministry of Military Affairs?”
“How will I do it?”
“Like putting these people in prison, searching for related parties, somewhere along that lines?”
Elise said so as to provoke Yui, But Yui only expressed a troubled face while scratching his head.
“Ah, Yes. I will report this to Sir Ernst for the time being”
“Because our boss always moves without reporting, right? Ernst’s father is really having a hard time”
Crary who was laughing while standing next to Yui who answered “that’s right”, issued instructions to Huth who was waiting behind. Huth saluted with a sleepy face, then went out to report.
“Just reporting it?”
“Yes. Is there a problem, your highness?”
With a bitter smile, To Yui whose composure did not change at all, as if it was stirring her insides, Elise pierced a glare towards Yui.
“Is there a problem?! Because you do it like it was a routine job, no matter how much time will pass, the reformation of this region will not advance!”
“Even if you say so, my current job in only guiding and escorting. I really don’t want to say this, but I’ll dare say anyway. Are you thinking you can charge the Tarim factions with just this level of evidence? Well, unless you verify it with the Ministry of Justice, you cannot call this an authentic act”
That said, Yui scratched his head while having a troubled look on his face.
“Hmph, wise words for a demoted soldier whose only work done is in the office. Do you not think that this is a very good opportunity to purge and discipline the corrupt officials and lower aristocrats in this region?”
“Princess Elise. How do you expect an official to go back on his words and reveal those who break the rules just like that? Our job here is to keep the rules, not violate them. And it is even so against criminals. Yet using coercion on the personnel responsible of the local security? We do not attempt to take part in this, no matter how much admiration we have of the royal family”
Yui said so and turned around, trying to exit the building.
Not expecting Yui’s speech and conduct with a tinge of criticism towards her, Elise could only scowl at his back as he was about to leave the room. Crary who was near Yui, made a voice containing a bit of disgust towards Elise.
“I know this may be a bit rude to say this, but it is just as boss have said. Well, for big-shots of the royal capital like you who think that they are the law, you won’t even care about this, will you?”
While saying so with absolute sarcasm, the royal guards tried to jump on him for his rudeness, but Elise raised her hand, causing them to stop.
“If so, leaving these violation of the law as it is, you are also responsible for it, are you not? Before saying something about someone, how about working in accordance to the hour’s equivalent to your salary, Mr. Daylight of Carlin?”
For making a fool of Yui, the usually gentle Kains, to the least of their expectations, advanced one step towards the princess. The royal guard escorts who saw it blocked the front of the princess in a hurry, half-enclosing Kains and Crary, and a tense situation was born.
“How barbaric! These people act like bandits! I don’t need any of your service anymore. Remove your presence in front of me immediately!”
When Elise threw those words towards Crary and the others, Yui turned towards her. He then opened the cylinder attached in his waist, containing a bundle of papers, then threw it towards the princess.
“Then I’ll give this you, Your Highness. With that, your job in Carlin should be done, now why don’t you quickly go back to the capital and play your own politician of justice? As for the work hours of my salary, I believe with this I have sufficed enough work on my part, so we’ll be taking off from the escort duty. We will be leaving now”
After saying so, flicking his hair with his hand, Yui turned his back and left the building. Crary and Kains, who were being encircled by the royal guards followed afterwards.
Elise who was left in the place, traced the pages at hand with her eyes, and from there, the names of a large number of Tarim faction and their flow of money, the movement of goods, even the hiring for city employees… all are described in detail.
The following day, which was the second day of inspection of the town of Carlin, although they were worked to death with the guidance and explanation of each place in the city, no problems occurred on the tour.
But on the third day, on the verge of inspection of the suburbs, an anomaly occurred.
“What does this mean?”
In the warehouse where grains collected to serve as tax payment is stored, Elise is standing in front of the personnel in charge of management.
“Y-your highness, the error on the records is just a coincidence”
Unable to withstand the pressure of the princess’ gaze, Third Class Aspir, who is currently in charge of the management, looked down as he answered.
“Is that so? Then, the issue of which half of the grains collected as land tax are missing, are just also a coincidence?”
“N-no your highness. Although it was the case, I don’t know the cause of it”
To the unexpected pursuit of the princess in front of him, the officer on duty was not able to emit words any further.
All of it began when Aspir went to the grain warehouse to work, and as usual he passed time by playing chess with his co-workers. All of a sudden the door at the entrance was opened with great momentum, and a party including the princess came into the office.
“As a member of the royal family, I would like to confirm with my own eyes what the people have contributed.”
Elise who began to talk suddenly made the royal guards restrain Aspir, then made the chamberlains search for the records of the tax payments, while she walked towards the grains storage as it is.
Aspir who didn’t even know what happened was dumbstruck, but when he was held down and the search for the tax records began, he just began to realize the seriousness of the situation.
“Please wait! We haven’t received any search warrant to this facility. On what legal basis would you conduct this inspection?”
Wanting to stop the actions of the princess, Aspir desperately struggled and cried out, but before the strong prowess of the royal guards, he wasn’t able to do anything.
And when one of the chamberlains found the tax payment records from Aspir’s desk drawer, he realized the end of his own fate. After that, by comparing the contents of the records with the goods in the warehouse which were certainly less, while wearing a smile, Elise looked down at him.
“Your highness, we have finished auditing all the contents of the records with granary in question. Well, it’s perfectly pulled out. Here”
Eins, who had been forced to do office work for some reason, met halfway with the princess with a smile.
“Good work. Well then, Mr. Lute, let’s detain them and go back to Earl Samuel”
“However, are you sure about this? We should have visited with the pretext of a tour till the end. If we did this, the local officials will certainly retaliate later on”
Even Lute himself didn’t hear such schedule of inspection until the last minute, and was thinking that it will only be a simple tour, so he couldn’t hide his unrest in the sudden events yet.
“There may be a little opposition afterwards, but you don’t have to worry since you can’t do anything about that”
“But-“
Lute is serious in nature, and because he has done all the duties assigned to him perfectly and in accordance to the rules so far, he was promoted up to what he is now. For him, he was unable to accept psychologically these extrajudicial audits behind the scenes by using the power of the royal family.
“Don’t you think? Then, shall we hear the opinions of the staff in this place. Will someone call Mr Ystats and the others waiting outside?”
In response to the princess’ words, one of the chamberlains rushed outside the building and pulled out Yui and his company who had been waiting outside without any explanations inside.
“My, my, it was done really flashy, wasn’t it?”
Looking at the figures of the captured officials, Yui understood the circumstances.
“Oh? I thought you’ll be surprised, but you’re unexpectedly calm”
“Well, because you changed the schedule and was made to guide to inspect the grain storages suddenly. Then there must be something there isn’t it?”
Yui said so with a wry smile, stretching his arms out.
“So how do you do it as a man if the ministry of Military Affairs?”
“How will I do it?”
“Like putting these people in prison, searching for related parties, somewhere along that lines?”
Elise said so as to provoke Yui, But Yui only expressed a troubled face while scratching his head.
“Ah, Yes. I will report this to Sir Ernst for the time being”
“Because our boss always moves without reporting, right? Ernst’s father is really having a hard time”
Crary who was laughing while standing next to Yui who answered “that’s right”, issued instructions to Huth who was waiting behind. Huth saluted with a sleepy face, then went out to report.
“Just reporting it?”
“Yes. Is there a problem, your highness?”
With a bitter smile, To Yui whose composure did not change at all, as if it was stirring her insides, Elise pierced a glare towards Yui.
“Is there a problem?! Because you do it like it was a routine job, no matter how much time will pass, the reformation of this region will not advance!”
“Even if you say so, my current job in only guiding and escorting. I really don’t want to say this, but I’ll dare say anyway. Are you thinking you can charge the Tarim factions with just this level of evidence? Well, unless you verify it with the Ministry of Justice, you cannot call this an authentic act”
That said, Yui scratched his head while having a troubled look on his face.
“Hmph, wise words for a demoted soldier whose only work done is in the office. Do you not think that this is a very good opportunity to purge and discipline the corrupt officials and lower aristocrats in this region?”
“Princess Elise. How do you expect an official to go back on his words and reveal those who break the rules just like that? Our job here is to keep the rules, not violate them. And it is even so against criminals. Yet using coercion on the personnel responsible of the local security? We do not attempt to take part in this, no matter how much admiration we have of the royal family”
Yui said so and turned around, trying to exit the building.
Not expecting Yui’s speech and conduct with a tinge of criticism towards her, Elise could only scowl at his back as he was about to leave the room. Crary who was near Yui, made a voice containing a bit of disgust towards Elise.
“I know this may be a bit rude to say this, but it is just as boss have said. Well, for big-shots of the royal capital like you who think that they are the law, you won’t even care about this, will you?”
While saying so with absolute sarcasm, the royal guards tried to jump on him for his rudeness, but Elise raised her hand, causing them to stop.
“If so, leaving these violation of the law as it is, you are also responsible for it, are you not? Before saying something about someone, how about working in accordance to the hour’s equivalent to your salary, Mr. Daylight of Carlin?”
For making a fool of Yui, the usually gentle Kains, to the least of their expectations, advanced one step towards the princess. The royal guard escorts who saw it blocked the front of the princess in a hurry, half-enclosing Kains and Crary, and a tense situation was born.
“How barbaric! These people act like bandits! I don’t need any of your service anymore. Remove your presence in front of me immediately!”
When Elise threw those words towards Crary and the others, Yui turned towards her. He then opened the cylinder attached in his waist, containing a bundle of papers, then threw it towards the princess.
“Then I’ll give this you, Your Highness. With that, your job in Carlin should be done, now why don’t you quickly go back to the capital and play your own politician of justice? As for the work hours of my salary, I believe with this I have sufficed enough work on my part, so we’ll be taking off from the escort duty. We will be leaving now”
After saying so, flicking his hair with his hand, Yui turned his back and left the building. Crary and Kains, who were being encircled by the royal guards followed afterwards.
Elise who was left in the place, traced the pages at hand with her eyes, and from there, the names of a large number of Tarim faction and their flow of money, the movement of goods, even the hiring for city employees… all are described in detail.
