" We can deal with the luxury goods and artisans later. Focus on the discrepancies in the amount of food grains first. We don't want people to be starving for no reason. "
Carseain ordered.
Sam : " Well, even if we could take out a rough estimate it will be hard to find them as we do not know where the hidden warehouse is. "
Rovenin : " Please do not worry about that because we already know where it is."
Nox : ' Everything was meticulously written in that fat ass's hidden stash and we just made him blurt out the unwritten parts.'
Nox thought, giggling silently.
" Do we have the exact amount of food grains that were hidden?"
Carseain asked.
" We have already dispatched our men to the designated site. The report will be coming in tomorrow."
Rovenin replied.
" Have these food grains sold in the areas with low supply at a low rate and distribute them for free into the famine stricken areas in the west."
Carseain ordered.
"As you comm-"
" There are no famine stricken areas in the west. "
Hilde interrupted.
Everyone turned towards her with confused faces.
" By the famine stricken area in the west you mean the one in Marquis Rohyan and and Baron Doye's territories, right?"
"Uh, yeah. "
Carseain mumbled.
" It was all a farce. I heard it by accident when the head merchant's voice met them in secret at a gentleman's salon owned by the company.
Their Territories are on the border so the people living in those villages are remotely connected to the mainland. All the doors to nobles did was cut off the last access to communication and locked all of them in the village with few provisions so that the truth would never get out. "
Nox : " How can that be? I believe that the royal family sent the most trusted inspectors to the territory. "
" I am sorry but I do not know the details. I am just telling you what I heard."
Carseain : " You seemed pretty confident when you said that there was no famine "
" Yes "
Hilde said resolutely.
" I can approximately estimate the amount of gold that had been laundered under the pretext of helping that region.
It may have been considered as an act of charity and swept under the rugs in the periodical audit however the amount was no joke.
It does not make sense especially for him to pour so much money without any return. "
Carseain nodded.
"Nox , inform 'them' immediately and tell them to get to work.
The scandal just got bigger.
This should lessen a few headaches of my father at the royal council."
Nox left in a hurry.
"Next...."
Carseain said as he turned a few documents.
" This muslin cloth business... Is it supplied by the easterners ? "
Lynn : " Yes My Lord, it comes from the....."
" Oh, I see ..."
The work continued on endlessly until Kiha came in with a tray of refreshments.
Carseain was exhausted.
" Man... Who is the one who did all the cover up so meticulously ?
At this point I respect that person so much that I want to recruit that whole team. "
" It was me."
Hilde accepted blithely.
"Huh?!"
" I helped too...."
Lynn exclaimed.
" Really?! " Carseain gasped.
"Yep!"
" No wonder you were decoding that puzzle so quaintly! It was you who made it."
Rovenin exclaimed.
" That is the only reason he paid me so well. Even I did not know that I had a knack for money laundering . Hahaha..."
Hilde was smiling yet her eyes only showed pain, guilt and embarrassment. She knew full well that it is not something that she can be proud of and hence she can only brush it off as a joke.
Sam had a guilty expression for all the times he v rated her without knowing her circumstances and what she was really like.
' I wish I had the right words to tell her so that pain would be alleviated a little.'
Carseain : " Well, honestly speaking, I am glad you did it. "
Those words made her a little skeptical of what he meant.
" You see...
There is no such thing as everlasting peace neither does there exist a truly clean society.
In order for the greater majority of people to live in peace without fear, someone has to bear the burden of getting blood on their hands.
Even we ,The Esselgardes , who are known as the most upright nobility do the most underhanded things all in the name of " peace in our territory" .
However, that does not make our hands clean."
He said with his Ruby red eyes glistening slightly in the gentle sunlight.
" Therefore , I believe that if someone has to get their hands dirty it would rather be people like us than ones with selfish ambitions or weak hearted innocent people who don't want to."
He said as he glanced towards Sam.
" I am not weak hearted!"
Sam exclaimed.
"Hahaha... I never said you were weak hearted..."
Hilde and others laughed.
"Hahaha... Well, that's true. I would rather do it myself than making a pure hearted cherry boy with a beard do it."
" Pfft... Pure hearted cherry boy with a beard?!!!"
Lynn and Carseain exclaimed in unison.
Carseain stuffed his mouth with bread.
" Bol ma bowol ar yu as udgr udind ishvr leno "
( Old man, how old are you? .....)
Rovenin could not comprehend the rest and hence he let it be, assuming it must be some sort of an insult as he saw him laughing.
Sam could not comprehend his language but he was more surprised looking at him.
He turned to Kiha with a question written on his face which could not be asked aloud.
[ Is he really a noble?!!]
Kiha shook her head.
" Yes, is most certainly of Noble blood, it is just that he is a little 'special' in many ways."
"Yeah.... I can most certainly see that..."
He said in a very awkward voice.
" By the way, did you not say that you wanted to recruit the person who did that?"
Hilde asked.
" Yeah, but do you want to work under me?"
Carseain asked.
"Huh?!"
"Eh?!!!"
Lynn and Sam had the complementary reaction.
Carseain shrugged off.
"See? I knew it! That is why I did not ask..."
"Ah...no no, that is not the part we were surprised at..."
Sam clarified.
" Yeah, don't usually Nobles just pick whoever they want regardless of the circumstances of the other. Umm... How do I put it ( without insulting the nobility)?"
Hilde asked herself a little confused.
Lynn stood up all hyped up.
" You see.. what she means is is whenever a nobility recruits someone it goes usually like this..."
She cleared her throat.
" Ahem... From this point on you shall be working your whole life in order to raise the prosperity of our esteemed noble house.
Henceforth, everyone shall consider it your greatest honour to be able to be given this golden opportunity by the grace of House ' whatever name it is'.
So, rejoice to your heart's content!!"
Hilde and Sam narrowed their eyes.
' Oh shit! She might be done for.'
Carseain clapped at her performance.
" Whoa! You got talent, Lynn.
It felt exactly like those old geezers and stuck up brats!"
Hilde : ' Here, I was foolishly trying to mince my words and sugar coated it.'
Sam : ' His oddity as a noble does not even surprise me anymore...'
"Thank you My Lord!"
She replied cheerfully.
" Well, does it really seem that weird?
Not all of the nobles are like that , the less in number. We usually see to it that the person who is recruited is capable as well as willing.
Although I am not sure about the standards by which they gauge it. The willingness, I mean...."
Rovenin was becoming the vortex of a silent storm that descended upon the room which made the three very uncomfortable.
"Umm, Sir Rovenin?! Is something the matter?"
Hilde asked, trying not to step on a landmine.
Rovenin was smiling like he usually does but it felt scary.
Sam and Lynn had chills down the spine.
" Oh, it's nothing. Miss Lynn's small performance reminded me of a very DISPLEASING and REPULSIVE behaviour of some nobles with paper scraps in their heads."
" I-- Is tha-- that so?"
Lynn shrieked.
" Yes, foolish and delusional to no extent. I do not know why they believe they are special when they will also be nothing but a bunch of dried bones after they die.
Also, unsavoury people who force people to work under them . They delude themselves into this fantasy that it should be an honour
Not all people are hungry to establish a connection with the higher nobility. People have their own values and priorities then the shitty honour that does not even feed their Pride or ego.
Sometimes I find it humiliating to be living in an empire governed by such nobles. It is only thanks to a handful of people that we are able to sustain.
I would rather work for them without even being bothered to be paid."
Rovenin took a long breath after leaving a sigh.
"Only if it wasn't for the troublesome aftermath I would have ripped them into shreds by now."
He mumbled with menacing eyes.
Hilde , Sam and Lynn turned into stone and their eardrums burst.