Chapter 30 - What Do I Look Like to You?

Ferda tilted his head.

"What does that have to do with conspiring and inciting rebellion?"

"You are relying on a company to arm your soldiers, and you are building roads connecting you to the Empire. Is that not an attempt to make an invasion proceed smoothly?"

It was absurd beyond belief.

Ferda responded calmly.

"I am only improving the roads because they will invigorate and smooth the flow of supplies and trade, and because it will make it easier to receive support from the Empire in an emergency. And since I have signed a contract with the Pascal trading company, I need to make roads for them as well. In a land where the only enemies are demonic beasts and monsters, what exactly do you think I am going to do with roads that you would nitpick like this?"

"The east has defended itself steadily until now even without roads. What you are doing now is excessive armament, and an act of threat toward the Empire."

"Defended itself..."

At that moment, Ferda's calm emotions surged up all at once.

"Have you ever seen, even once, what is happening in the far east?"

"No."

"Have you ever set foot in the far east?"

"No."

"Then you must not know what is happening in the far east."

Ferda had not known either before coming here.

He had attended the far eastern front alliance meetings several times, but only belatedly learned how poor its condition was.

"To begin with, the far eastern border was lacking in budget, manpower, and even morale. I have only barely filled about twenty-five percent of that now. And that looks like excessive armament to you?"

"There have been no problems to date. Increasing armaments when there is no need to arm yourselves means exactly that."

"Do not be absurd. To be honest, the only reason Grand Duchess Valdrova's territory was able to defend against demonic beasts was because of my fiancée, Grand Duchess Valdrova. If not for her, we would already be as good as corpses. The soldiers of the far east need to be armed with better weapons."

"Absurd, you say!"

Karl seized on his words and raised his voice.

"I have come here in my capacity as chief auditor! Do you not know you should treat me as if you were looking upon the emperor of the Empire?"

Karl burst out in a roar, threatening him.

He tried to break Ferda's momentum, but,

"Right now."

Ferda's quiet voice sealed Karl's mouth shut.

He merely held his teacup, crossed his legs, and looked up at Karl.

But there was something in his blue eyes.

"Did you raise your voice in front of me, Sir Karl?"

Something that could not be thought of as human.

Karl was not cowed by that force.

He was the one who had the right to shout.

Ferda was angry as well.

If it had been his original personality, Karl ought to have been a corpse by now.

No, he would have been cruelly destroyed and smashed apart.

And yet Ferda was holding back.

'Was Valdrova nothing but a watchdog guarding the house all this time?'

The way they treated her was beyond anything he had imagined.

Ferda had known it vaguely.

They feared her, but there was no fear that came from the root.

Ferda was sorely tempted to send them back to the western Empire at once.

But he did not.

Ferda decided to look farther ahead.

All of this was for his fiancée, Valdrova.

In the end, Karl, who had tried to press him down with force, tucked his tail between his legs.

"If a full investigation continues, we can punish the Regent according to imperial law."

Ferda sipped his tea and replied.

"Then stop it."

"It is impossible to handle this alone when the higher-ups are also paying attention."

"Is that so?"

Ferda waved his hand as though disappointed.

"Then there is no helping it. I shall sincerely undergo the investigation and seek vindication."

Karl finally opened his mouth with a frustrated expression.

"... Once it starts, it cannot be stopped."

"That is unfortunate, but there is nothing to be done. You have done your duty. You may return."

In the end, Karl let out a heavy sigh.

"What is wrong with you? A man of your standing keeps pretending not to know."

He stopped putting on his clumsy little act and revealed his true colors.

His murky eyes turned toward Ferda.

"Let us settle this amicably. If you are a member of House Rosnova, you must know what our Purge Squad does."

"Of course I know it well. You are knight bastards who do nothing but rob lords, are you not?"

"We are called that too, yes."

He wore an expression as if such insults meant nothing at all.

He made a circle with his index finger and thumb.

"Please give us the money to send to the higher-ups and a small fee for me. Then we will take a step back."

"About how much?"

He spread all the fingers on one hand.

"One hundred thousand golden should be enough."

"Hmm, one hundred thousand..."

Ferda nodded and set down his teacup.

Luri approached with the teapot and refilled it with warm tea.

"Let me ask one thing."

"Please do."

"What do I look like to you?"

At Ferda's question, Karl answered as if dumbfounded.

"Are you not the Regent of Valdrova?"

"Is that how I look? I think you see me as dogshit."

"D-Dogshit?"

When blatant profanity flew at him, Karl was flustered.

"What are you talking about? How could I possibly see the Regent in such a way..."

"Do not worry. I have already heard plenty about being Valdrova's kept man and Rosnova's defective son. I can expect that you would see me as dogshit."

The very fact that someone from the Purge Squad had come here meant exactly that.

"I know everything."

Ferda had liked honorable knights.

The foremost among them had been the Purge Squad, which monitored the corruption of lords.

"How you drive sound lords into ruin, that is."

So when he realized their true nature, he was more disappointed than anyone.

"If I give you money, what do I become? Ah, this man admitted his guilt and paid money to keep our mouths shut, you would say. That is how you would create one easy mark for yourselves."

The moment he set foot in it, he would become entangled there.

As if he had leaped into a sticky swamp, he would no longer be able to escape by his own power.

"And things like you will start gathering one by one. Like children toddling over to their mother and asking for pocket money to buy sweets, you will tell me to slip you money."

Similar demands and similar threats would begin pouring in from all around.

Even if a lord had a lot of money, it was not infinite.

If he granted their demands, he could not handle them, and if he tried to clean them up, he would need even more money and power.

That was how the lord would raise taxes and begin exploiting those around him.

They would drive a perfectly fine person into a deathtrap and force him down a path where he truly had no choice but to become corrupt.

The Empire's corruption continued in that way.

"Knowing all that, do you think I will give you money?"

Ferda had sworn.

That he would protect the things Valdrova loved and wished to protect.

There was no way he would let them be pushed around as the plaything of worthless scumbags like these.

"So do as you please. Search hard for that impressive conspiracy and incitement of rebellion, and pick as many fights as you like. I have no intention of giving you so much as one coupet, let alone one golden."

Ferda showed a firmer attitude than expected.

But Karl was accustomed to situations like this too.

How many times had he seen it?

Lords who tried to hold out without paying the Purge Squad.

"But then I suppose I cannot avoid bringing this up."

But those who defied the Purge Squad were pressed down without exception.

Even if the man was backed by the position of the Grand Duchess, his opponent was a brat who had only just become Regent.

"I hear there is talk that you recently murdered a noble. What about that?"

It was about Thessalos Vulture.

He had decided to bring up not a nonexistent crime, but one that truly existed.

"Murder, how absurd. Is it imperial law to arrest someone for killing a man in a duel?"

"A death that occurs at the end of a duel is clearly murder. There are people who witnessed it, are there not?"

"They saw it. There is one here right now."

Ferda glanced toward Luri.

"Tell him. Did I commit murder?"

Luri shook her head.

"That was an execution. Since we knew he had been secretly researching dark magic using demonic beasts, a summary execution was only proper."

"So she says."

"That is a charge unrelated to the duel, is it not!? And having your own attendant speak has no effect."

"Then whose account should I hear?"

Karl answered with a sinister smile.

"As it happens, we are bringing that witness here. He will soon arrive at this castle."

"A witness..."

Ferda merely sipped his tea.

"I would very much like to meet whoever it is."

Ferda made a gesture as if he did not care what Karl did.

Since he did not waver no matter what Karl did, Karl could not help but feel annoyed.

'Let us see how long you can stay composed. You will end up on your knees, begging at my feet!'

But he believed he would be the one laughing at the end.

Karl smiled with that belief.

A short while later, the witness Karl claimed to have brought stepped into the reception room.

He was an elderly lord with a thick white beard.

He was the oldest man in the far east, and the one whose position was highest after Ferda.

-Ferda Valdrova is a fool drunk on his own power, and so arrogant he may soon incur Valdrova's wrath.

He was an opponent who hated Ferda Valdrova, and he was also the source of information that had made them decide to move out.

"Oh my, Lord Count Concillus, welcome!"

Karl greeted him at the entrance in a friendly voice.

But Concillus did not even glance at Karl.

His eyes were on Ferda.

Concillus walked to him and respectfully knelt.

"Regent, have you been well all this time?"

Ferda accepted the greeting plainly.

"Welcome, Count Concillus."

It was an ordinary greeting between nobles.

But after seeing that sight, Karl stood blankly as if he had been struck in the head.

It was common enough for nobles to greet each other.

But if they were meeting for the first time or on poor terms, it was typical to exchange bows.

Showing respect like this was impossible in noble society unless one was truly expressing one's respect.

'He only showed basic courtesy.'

Karl did not show any sign of awkwardness.

For now, it was right to respond calmly to the very end.

'Count Concillus is on our side.'

Count Concillus was a knight who had sworn loyalty to the emperor of the Empire.

He was an old man who only walked the tightrope in the far east, and until recently, had looked unfavorably on the young Regent.

'Every lord of the far east was the same.'

They had even finished verifying it.

Ferda was a man who threatened the lords with charges, and tried to rule by suppressing them through that fear.

Fear made people shrink back.

But if the moment came when they could break free from it, they could betray faster than anyone.

He had even received that information from Concillus, so there was no doubt he would cooperate.

After accepting the greeting, Ferda politely gestured to an empty chair with his hand.

"Sit. I do not wish to leave an elderly man kneeling like this."

"Yes."

Count Concillus sat down, and Karl sat as well, clearing his throat.

He tried to lead the conversation.

"Lord Count Concillus. Thank you for coming here."

"Not at all. The timing simply happened to line up exquisitely."

Concillus laughed heartily and stroked his beard.

Karl laughed along and set the topic of conversation.

"Lord Count Concillus. You said you knew about the incident involving Thessalos Vulture."

Concillus nodded.

"Indeed. I watched it as an observer at the time."

"Yes. Would you testify here and now as to what outrage the Regent of Valdrova committed?"

"That story? Yes, you asked me to tell that story..."

"That is right. Could you give your testimony about that time?"

Count Concillus's eyes briefly turned toward Ferda.

"To state the conclusion first, the Regent of Valdrova..."

He continued and answered.

"Did nothing wrong in that duel."

"... Pardon?"

It was far from the answer Karl had expected.

"W-What do you mean? Haha, I believe I must have heard you wrong..."

"I will say it again. The Regent of Valdrova did nothing wrong in that duel."

Concillus did not choose the Empire.

"That day, Thessalos Vulture manifested a magic formula with the intent to kill Lord Valdrova, and Lord Valdrova merely subdued him in response. The Regent's level at the time was the 1st Circle. And he was a 4th Circle mage. The difference was so great that the victor and loser should have been obvious. But that brat Vulture did not know how to hold back. And yet he lost."

"That is right. He lost. He lost, but it led to the murder of a noble—"

"No, that cannot be seen that way."

Count Concillus cut Karl off.

"Even when the duel ended, he might still have tried to kill him with magic. There is such a thing as killing intent that only the parties to a duel can feel. It may have been that he counterattacked before the opponent could attack. The world of mages is that profound, after all. Is it not?"

Ferda nodded.

"Concealing one's final means until the very end. That is what a mage does."

"Since a noble tried to kill another noble, even if it ended as an attempt, the right over life and death should be guaranteed. That is the conclusion the lords reached."

What is this?

That is not what he said.