Chapter 29 - If You Have Come to the Grand Duchy's Territory, Obey the Grand Duchy's Laws

That day, from the highest point, Ferda saw a group racing toward Valdrova's Grand Duchy's territory.

There were roughly twenty of them, all mounted on horseback.

Unless a horse had been raised in the far east, every horse was bound to show aversion to a dragon's presence.

Yet though these horses had been raised in the central region, they showed no instinctive aversion.

They were horses trained to charge into the jaws of death until the final moment, even if they lost their lives or had their legs cut off.

Only the empire's finest elites could ride horses like that.

Ferda knew who they were.

"The Purge Squad."

Luri, standing beside him, responded.

"If it is the Purge Squad, that would be the agency in the empire that monitors the lords."

"Yes. Originally, they were called the Imperial Direct Audit Corps, but they changed the name among themselves, and it became that."

Originally, it had been an agency created to monitor and check the corruption of local lords.

The emperor had newly established it to win the hearts of the people.

"They never showed themselves until now, but once you arrived, Lord Ferda, they started poking around the far east."

Luri spoke as if he were the root of all evil.

It was not exactly wrong, either.

"Do you know why? Because there was nothing to feed on."

"Nothing to feed on?"

"They may have the name Purge Squad, but in truth, they are groups that extort money from lords."

It had been an agency the emperor ambitiously brought in to win the hearts of the people, but within a few months, its function was lost and distorted.

In the end, in the name of monitoring and rooting out corruption, it transformed into a band of state-approved thugs that went around threatening lords and extorting money.

What kind of place had Valdrova's Grand Duchy's territory been before Ferda came?

The castle itself had been abandoned, and the local lords were nothing more than a front line that relied entirely on Valdrova.

They had simply left it alone, thinking that going there would only be dangerous and would not even cover their travel expenses.

"They are no different from wandering knights."

"If there is a difference, it is only whether their target is a lord or a territory resident."

"If they come here under the pretext of an audit to extort money... they will likely question you about Thessalos Vulture. Will that be all right?"

The murder of a noble was a serious crime.

It must have reached the empire's ears through the local lords who had witnessed it.

"They will probably bring up the charge of murdering a noble, but they will treat that as only one of the charges."

"Have you committed any other crimes besides that?"

"No, but yes."

Ferda was a man from a knight family.

So he knew what word the Purge Squad would bring out first.

The word that made lords' hearts race.

"They will pressure me with charges of conspiracy and incitement to rebellion."

Conspiracy and incitement to rebellion.

What other phrase could make one's heart race as much as that?

It was a phrase that could be twisted to fit anything, and if handled poorly, it could cost a man his head.

They would undoubtedly force a crime that did not exist onto him and barge in with it.

"It would be best not to talk to them in the first place. Shall I drive them out?"

At Luri's question, Ferda shook his head.

"No. They are guests who came all this way, so should we not properly hook them?"

"Hook them?"

"They are people in the heart of the Arken Empire. How convenient would it be to win such people over in advance?"

"Hmm..."

What filled their heads was blind greed.

The only thing they believed in was the insignia pinned to their chests.

From birth, they were beings full of openings.

"Those things, worse than trash, are coming into our castle..."

Luri muttered so.

She openly loathed knights.

Luri's loathing had reached an unprecedented peak.

It could not be helped.

Until recently, she had suffered from the smell, and had even heard Valdrova say that she smelled.

"Lord Ferda."

"What is it?"

"If those uncivilized fools are to enter this castle, should they not have to be scrubbed down?"

They absolutely had to be.

Her face said she would start a rebellion if they did not.

"Do as you please."

"Thank you."

With permission granted, Luri swiftly went to prepare the bathwater.

* * *

Karl Harvest.

As the eldest son of House Harvest, a knight family, he was serving as a field audit team leader in the Purge Squad.

The position of team leader did not look impressive, but even so, Karl had no complaints.

After all, it was one of the few posts where he could crush local lords under the authority of a knight and play king.

Recently, new prey had appeared before them.

Ferda Valdrova.

A man who was said to have been engaged to the Grand Duchess in order to be driven out of House Rosnova, yet had snapped at the bait.

At first, everyone had laughed at him.

They called him a fool who chose to be torn apart by the Grand Duchess instead of giving up on being a noble.

But he had not been torn apart.

On the contrary, he was riding high.

Ever since he set foot in the Grand Duchy's territory, the eastern region, which had been steadily stagnant, had begun showing signs of growth.

For now, it was only that the Pascal trading company was setting up a branch, but gradually, traffic from merchant companies would increase.

That meant a great deal of money would move through the east.

The Valdrova Grand Duchy's territory they had treated as chaff could not help but look like delicious prey.

The first to scent it was the Purge Squad, an agency directly under the imperial family.

It was already a foregone conclusion that the development would gain momentum and draw an upward curve.

However, they underestimated the achievement Ferda had created itself.

'That means Valdrova has that much treasure piled up.'

They did not imagine that it was possible because Ferda was competent.

After all, he was a brat driven out of House Rosnova.

'The current Regent is from a knight family, so he should know what we do.'

Since he was a man from a knight family, he would know about the Purge Squad as well.

So Karl first thought that perhaps he would be easier to talk to than other lords.

He would know that if he simply handed over a suitable amount of money and sent them on their way, the Purge Squad would not harass him beyond a certain point.

'We must take plenty while he still has quite a bit of money.'

The Grand Duchy's territory was dangerous, and Valdrova's wealth and treasures could not be infinite.

'But I must not take this too lightly, either.'

Karl was not fool enough to think everything would flow according to plan.

When a person became intoxicated by power beyond his station, he was bound to change.

If Ferda had risen to the position of Regent and begun acting arrogant, they needed to be able to crush him.

Naturally, Karl had already finished making preparations for that as well.

"Has the reply to the letter we sent last time arrived?"

Karl had sent a letter to Count Concillus for one final check.

The adjutant who had confirmed its contents answered.

"Yes. He says he is currently on his way to Valdrova Castle. It should be fine for us to begin talking first."

"Excellent."

Karl grinned.

An informant who had told them about Ferda Valdrova, an assistant who would solidify the Purge Squad's position, and a witness.

With this, he even held a card that could crush Ferda Valdrova.

No matter how the man came at them, he would not be able to escape the Purge Squad's pressure.

At last, they reached the entrance of the inner castle.

Since it was a castle without servants, the surroundings were desolate.

Most lords brought in and displayed many servants for the sake of their own face and dignity.

Yet as they came all the way into the inner castle, all they saw was a gray-haired man in formal uniform and a girl in a maid outfit.

As if he had been waiting, the man stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking down at them.

'Is that him?'

The third son driven out of House Rosnova.

As he had heard, the man was tall, but his body was slender.

He looked so weak that one could never think he was a man from a knight family.

'Perhaps because he is the Regent, his gaze is no ordinary one.'

His eyes had depth, and even at a glance, his expression seemed to show that he would not be an easy opponent.

Ordinary people would have grown nervous, but Karl had seen this kind of situation countless times.

People who had nothing of substance, yet put on airs only with their expressions.

Karl had even seen such people collapse.

'At the end of the day, he is Valdrova's kept man.'

In Karl's eyes, he only looked like a brat putting on airs.

Hiding his sneer beyond his helmet, Karl dismounted and removed his helmet.

As befitted the eldest son of a knight family, his face had sharp angles.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Ferda Rosnova! I am Karl, eldest son of House Harvest, here under orders from the Purge Squad, a unit directly under the imperial family, to conduct an investigation!"

Karl placed a hand over his heart and offered a courteous greeting.

Ferda received that greeting politely.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Sir Karl Harvest. However, it has been a long time since I cast off the name of House Rosnova, so I would like you to call me Ferda Valdrova."

"Oh, my apologies."

It was not a mistake.

He had merely meant to remind him that he was the third son of House Rosnova.

It was a remark heavy with the nuance of, *'You are from a knight family too, so you know what this means, don't you?' *

Of course, it was a petty trick that would not work on Ferda in the slightest.

"What business does the Purge Squad, protectors of the empire's subjects, have here? In this Valdrova Castle, there are not yet even any subjects to protect."

"I do not believe this is a matter to discuss while standing here. How about we go inside and talk?"

"Go inside and talk..."

Ferda had been welcoming them in front of the inner castle gate.

He glanced behind him.

After making eye contact with the young maidservant, he nodded.

"It is possible, but you will have to follow our castle's rules. Will that be all right?"

"What rules do you mean?"

"A new rule was recently created in our castle. All knights must complete a full body scrub before entering."

Karl frowned.

It sounded like an outright insult that they smelled.

"Who set such an absurd rule?"

Red Dragon Valdrova

Her attendant, Luri Silverwind.

"I set it."

However, Ferda answered that he had done it himself.

He simply wanted to avoid a pointless exchange of questions and answers.

Ferda jerked his chin toward the silver plate armor and said,

"When you wear so many things that trap sweat like that, it is easy to fall ill. Especially in this far east, ominous energies lurk everywhere. Maintaining cleanliness comes first. That is why I established the rule that one must wash regularly."

"Hmm..."

He did not like the very idea of bathing first after coming to another person's territory, but if he had come to that territory, following that territory's rules came first.

Moreover, he had been able to feel the unclean air of the east constantly on the way here.

"Understood. Since we have come to the Grand Duchy's territory, we should follow the Grand Duchy's rules."

"Thank you."

Ferda subtly turned his head and looked at Luri, who had been waiting.

As if she had been lying in wait, she stepped forward and greeted the audit team.

"Welcome to Valdrova Castle. I am Luri, and I will be attending to your baths. This way, please."

Karl's eyes could not hide his disappointment.

Luri was a beauty with silver hair and silver eyes, but her body was that of a girl with no curves.

When told that such a girl, with nothing to look at and nothing to enjoy, would be attending to their baths, his expectations died at once.

'I can just bathe roughly and come out.'

Of course, that was only Karl's thought.

'I will make sure not a single speck of grime remains here.'

Luri was more serious than ever.

In her hand was a rough scrubber.

The spirits she had summoned were all waiting in the bathhouse like Luri, each holding a scrubber of their own.

Having resolved to strip away every bit of grime stuck thickly to their skin, she welcomed them.

Aaaagh!

Save me!

Ah! Aaagh!

That day, screams rang out one after another in Valdrova Castle.

* * *

After the bath, Ferda and Karl faced each other in the reception room.

Ferda discovered one surprising fact.

'His skin really was light.'

The difference was enough that one could believe a layer of skin had been peeled off.

Scrubbed that hard, Karl swallowed curses inwardly.

"Thank you... for your hospitality."

"Not at all. I did not expect hospitality to go this far, either. Please have some tea."

"Yes."

Karl and Ferda each lifted their teacups.

For a smooth conversation, Ferda brought up the topic.

"So, what brings the Purge Squad here?"

"As I said, we came here for an investigation. Do you know what charges you face, Regent?"

"I do not. That is why I am asking, is it not?"

"Understood."

He is pretending not to know.

Karl brought out the lines he had prepared.

"Regent Ferda Valdrova, you are currently under investigation on charges of conspiracy and incitement to rebellion against the empire. Do you understand?"

The charge did not deviate from Ferda's expectations by even an inch.

It was obvious, but for now, he decided to play along.

"I see. So have you come to pin a medal on me?"

"This is not the time to joke with an imperial audit team leader."

"Was it not a joke? Since you said conspiracy and incitement to rebellion, I thought that was all it could be. The only crime I have committed is contributing to the development of the territory."

"We are aware that you are devoting yourself to the empire's development and peace, Regent. However, once an accusation has been filed, we have a duty to investigate."

"The accuser?"

"We cannot tell you. It is confidential."

As if he could not tell him.

He could not tell him because there was no one.

"I heard you recently signed a contract with the Pascal trading company."

"That is right."

"I also heard that through it, road improvements and the lacking supplies are being carried out with Pascal providing the full amount of support."

"Not the full amount. I am paying a speck myself."

Because Stephan said it was important to hold a stake, even a side one, about one percent was being paid by Valdrova Castle.

It was Stephan who had suggested it.

"All of this can be investigated under the charge of conspiracy and incitement to rebellion against the empire."