When Ben looked at the astonishing numbers in the document for allocating orphanage funds for a whole year, he asked Harry in shock to confirm what was in the document before him.
"Oh... my lord, that's the yearly allowance the kingdom allocates for the orphanage."
With a serious expression, Harry informed Ben.
"____"
Seeing the calm, warm aura around Harry vanish and his face adopt a serious expression, Ben, too, realized that something was very wrong here, looking at the document.
cough~
With a cough, Ben regained his composure.
"Harry... how many orphanages were receiving these funds? Who is responsible for it?"
After regaining his composure, Ben asked Harry about the orphanages receiving these funds.
"My lord, five families were responsible for overseeing the allocation of orphanages in our kingdom. It's for all the orphanages in our kingdom, my lord, not for one specific."
Hearing Ben ask about how and who were responsible for allocating the funds to the orphanage...
knock... knock...
When Ben was about to discuss this matter deeply with Harry about the orphanage funds, they heard a knock on the door.
"Come in."
Hearing the knock on the door, Ben gave permission for the person to enter the cabin.
"My lord... Captain of the Blue Rose has requested a visit."
A royal guard entered the cabin, kneeled down, and informed Ben about the reason he came here.
"Let her come in."
When Ben heard Charlotte had come here to visit him, he immediately ordered the royal guard to bring her in.
A few hours ago...
Blue Rose Magic Squad's base...
Captain's office...
Charlotte was looking at the document in her hand and placed it to the side with a defeated sigh.
It's been five days since Ben left after the court hearing, stating that he would be back when his mind was clear.
But until now, there has been no news from Ben.
sigh~
For all these five months, knowing Ben well, she knew he had never stayed out of the squad base that long without a mission.
Even if he stayed one or two days out, he would always keep in contact with her through Nero.
But the problem is that even the bird Nero didn't know where he was, and it would always try to attack her with its beak.
chirp~ chirp~
While chirping angrily with narrowed eyes, probably, Charlotte guessed, because she allowed Ben to go alone all that day.
chirp~ chirp~
Now, seeing the angry bird once again come to her office with narrowed eyes and once again start chirping angrily at her while circling around.
For some reason, Charlotte always feels like the one before her is not a pet bird but a mistress who was complaining about her husband who has not returned home.
sigh~
'Where are you, Ben?'
Massaging her forehead, Charlotte questioned Ben in her mind with visible concern on her face, looking at the ceiling.
image flashes
When Charlotte closed her eyes, she could see Ben's figure, who looked very sad and depressed, walking in another direction after informing her that he would come back soon.
knock~ knock~
Suddenly her thoughts were interrupted by knocks on the door, which opened the next second, and Puli entered with an excited smile.
"Captain, I saw Ben!"
With an excited smile, Puli didn't wait for Charlotte to respond; she immediately shouted the news.
Everyone in the base was very happy when they heard Ben was the Crown Prince Benjamin Salvador Kira.
They were even proud that the crown prince was a part of their Blue Rose Magic Knight Squad.
But all of them saw the sadness and worry in their captain's face when they mentioned Ben.
With word of mouth, they came to know about the interaction between Ben and their captain.
They could only sigh—they already knew the relationship between their captain and Ben, even though both did their best to hide it.
"Where? Where is he? Is he fine?"
When Puli's words reached Charlotte's ears, she stood up from her seat excitedly and asked Puli in a hurry.
"Yes, Captain. I saw him near the king's palace along with the Wizard King and the Silvia sisters."
With a smile, Puli explained where she spotted Ben, and added with an awkward smile when she mentioned the Silvia sisters.
"____"
Hearing that the Silvia sisters were with Ben, Charlotte's face darkened.
grit
'What is that bitch doing with Ben?'
Gritting her teeth in annoyance, she heard that Nebra, along with her little sister, was with Ben when Puli saw them.
"Sister… if you want, we could go there to see him."
Looking at Charlotte, who was irritated, Sol, as a good sister, gave a suggestion.
"____"
"Yeah, let's go."
Hearing Sol's words, Charlotte's eyes glimmered, and she started to walk out of the room excitedly, followed by Sol, while Anny and Mary tagged along with them.
Meanwhile, Nero flew alongside them to meet with Ben.
Present...
When the door opened, Charlotte, Sol, Anny, and Mary all stepped in, looking around curiously.
"Hey, guys."
Seeing his squadmates walk in, Ben welcomed them with a bright smile on his face.
After welcoming them, Ben spent time chatting with them, telling them where he had been all this time for the past five days and how he ended up here, brought by the Wizard King.
"So why are you with that Silvia bit—"
cough~
"Silvia sisters."
Hearing Ben's explanation, Charlotte, with a pout, asked him while looking at him with narrowed eyes, scanning to see whether he was lying.
sigh~
With a sigh, Ben explained how he met with Nebra and Noelle to her.
grit~
'Damn… why didn't I think of it?'
Hearing that Nebra found Ben staying at his hidden hut in the forest around Hage Village, Charlotte cursed herself. She knew what was on the mind of that vixen who came to visit Ben.
After chatting with them for some time, Ben returned to official matters and asked Harry to get the full detailed report on the fund transaction and which orphanages it goes to.
With a bow, Harry excused himself and was about to go out of the cabin.
"Harry, is there any census reading on the population?"
Before Harry could step out of the room, Ben suddenly remembered and asked him curiously.
"No, my lord."
Harry, who heard Ben's question, stopped, turned, and answered him, looking at him confusedly.
sigh~
Looking at Harry's reaction, Ben sighed in disappointment.
A huge kingdom like Clover Kingdom didn't even have a proper census report on the people of this kingdom.
"Are there any schools in this kingdom?"
With a frown, Ben once again asked another important question, to which Harry once again shook his head.
According to him, noble families and royal families practice home tuition, and hiring a tutor costs a fortune.
So a commoner cannot afford to pay and hire a tutor for homeschooling.
"____"
Hearing everything from Harry, the mechanics in Ben's brain started to click, and several ideas began to take shape.
"Harry... give a mission to all the Magic Knight squads that they need to take a census of the citizens of our kingdom, including commoners and the people from the Forsaken Realm."
After a few minutes of pause, Ben gave his order to Harry to conduct a census count of every citizen in the Clover Kingdom.
The idea intrigued Harry; even for him, who served as a Royal Knight Captain, this was new.
"Why do you need the count of all the people of the Clover Kingdom?"
With a confused look, Mary asked Ben.
By looking at the face of the old butler before her, the idea seemed impressive, but she couldn't understand.
"Yeah, why do you need it?"
Immediately, Sol chimed in too, looking at Ben curiously for an answer.
chuckle
With a chuckle, Ben began to explain the use of counting the population of the kingdom and how it could help with the matters of the kingdom.
"Sol... if this happens, all those corrupted nobles will have a huge headache."
Seeing her squad's vice-captain was clueless, Charlotte chimed in with a sigh, eyeing Ben with a proud glint.
She was very proud that her man had come up with such an irregular idea that could change the course of the kingdom in a good direction.
If it succeeded without any hindrance from any nobles, they could fully complete the task.
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(Author's POV)
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