Chapter 54 – Unexpected Meeting (3)
Unexpected meeting (3)
Next day. After hearing Mayer’s call, Yuno got into the carriage with her family and headed to her official residence.
There were two guards under Gerard, but Cordelia ran quickly and overpowered them, so Yuno and his party were able to enter the residence without any resistance.
“Welcome, Yuno. All preparations are complete.”
Mayer was already waiting at the entrance of the official residence, holding the seal symbolizing the count and the appointment letter for acting lord.
“Cordelia! Protect Mayer with the escort knights! Eliza. Please take your mother and older sister Marie up to the second floor.”
“Yes! I understand. Your Highness”
“Yes, be careful~”
As Eliza and her family went up to the second floor, Mayer asked Juno and the escort knights to hide her body for a while.
“If your Highness is seen, wouldn’t you be able to destroy the evidence you brought with you? Just in case, he didn’t bring it here and hid it somewhere else.”
“Hmm, I understand. I’ve entrusted this matter to you, so I’ll leave it to the end.”
Not long after Yuno hid, a commotion was heard outside, and a large man appeared.
“Hey, Mayer, here’s a copy of the secret ledger that Boras embezzled public funds from! It’s not the original, but it’s enough to blow off his head!”
Mayer took a quick look at the ledger he had turned over.
“Sure… I think this is enough. But is there any way to get the original?”
If it wasn’t the original, there was a possibility that they could claim that the evidence had been fabricated, so Meyer wanted to obtain the original somehow. But Gerard shook her head, and Mayer’s disappointment grew slightly.
“I couldn’t find the original. That guy must be keeping a close eye on him, so he must be keeping a close eye on it. This copy was also stolen by one of his subordinates to save his own life. I managed to find it.”
“Then wouldn’t Boras be able to claim that the evidence was fabricated?”
Hehe, why are you so worried? Shouldn’t you just blow off Boras’ head as soon as he comes in? Dead men don’t talk, right? Haha,”
Mayer, who thought there was no more information to be gained from him, raised his hand.
“Come out!”
“Hmm? Who are you talking to? Huh!”
Cordelia’s sword was hanging around Gerard’s neck, and the guards Gerard brought were all suppressed by the other guard knights.
“Why… Why are you doing this? I don’t know who you are, but it’s Boras who should be beheaded, not me.”
“No! Whether it’s him or you, it’s the same that you have to cut off the head.”
In Gerard’s trembling gaze, Yuno appeared dressed in the prince’s uniform.
Although it was Gerard’s first time seeing the prince, and he had no idea what Yuno’s attire meant, he knew that it was a luxurious thing that commoners like themselves could not even dare to wear.
“Hwa… Your Highness the Prince?”
“Oh, you’re quick-witted. That’s right. I heard that you and that guy named Boras are making a huge mess of the territory. I heard they’re creating imperial laws at will?”
Haha… Your Majesty the Prince… In the countryside… There is a custom called that. It’s been around for a long time!”
Before he could properly excuse himself, Gerard had Cordelia knee him on the waist and force her to shut up.
Gerard tried to resist for a while, but no matter how big he was, in the end, the level of the Viscounty’s guard captain was at best a low-level knight.
He was unable to move due to the suppression of Cordelia, the leader of the knights of the County of Le Delmo and who was honing his martial arts at the front line of the Balkan-Tesseito front and was looking at a high-ranking knight, and had no choice but to entrust his life to Juno’s disposal.
“What do you think? Mayer. Does that prove Administrator Boras’s guilt?”
“It’s a little lacking. It’s probably a copy, not the original…”
“Hmm… I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what Boras brings.”
After a while, Boras, like Gerard, was caught by Yuno, and a document proving Gerard’s corruption was found in his arms.
“Your Highness. The document regarding the guard captain’s corruption is authentic. I believe execution is warranted.”
“I… Your Highness!! I am not guilty!! These are all documents fabricated by Guard Captain Gerard!! If you release me, I will bring documents proving that I managed the estate’s assets properly!”
As expected, Boras claimed innocence, insisting that the evidence was fabricated.
“Hwang… Your Highness! Please save me!! I will do anything if you can save my life!!”
On the other hand, Gerard, who thought he would be executed without making a move, fell to the ground and began to pray.
“Okay. Then there is a condition. Bring a witness who can prove Administrator Boras’s corruption. If you do so, I will spare your life.”
“Are you… Really?”
“Yes. I assure you on my honor. Cordelia! Keep a close watch on that guy, so he doesn’t do anything else. If he tries to run away or rebel, you can kill him right away.”
“I will follow your orders, Your Majesty.”
Cordelia tied Gerard up with a rope and dragged him outside, and soon several members of the security guard, civil servants working under the administrator, and several residents came in. Then Boras’s expression began to distort.
“Administrator Boras ordered us to assault residents who did not pay special taxes. He also forcibly took the rice fields of residents who failed to pay rent and made them his own.”
“He also manipulated and reported the amount of taxes he collected from us as a small amount, and also reported the amount of money sent by the Ministry of Defense to support the Rangers of Monster Mountain for his own personal use and then falsified the documents.”
“We lost our houses and fields to that guy! Even though it was a season when there wasn’t much game, they kept forcing us to hunt, so there was a situation where some hunters went to the center of the mountain range and disappeared.”
“You guys!! I didn’t treat you carelessly, but you hit me in the back like this!!”
Despite his shouting, the charges against Boras continued to flow. Yuno, who was listening to his crime, was so annoyed that he told him to stop, and Yuno, along with Mayer and Cordelia, dragged Boras and Gerard to the square of Chiese Castle and rang the bell to gather the residents.
“Residents of the Nikana Territory, listen! I am Juno Alexander Windrage von Balkan, the Third Prince of the Balkan Empire and also the Count of the Unified Territories of Nikana and Tesida Territories.”
The residents gathered at the square murmured at the sight of the royal family for the first time in their lives, but immediately bowed down and showed their respect.
“Lift your heads! I came to Nikana Territory yesterday and discovered that there are many evil practices in the territory! And it turns out that most of it is the work of Administrator Boras and Guard Captain Gerard!”
Then the residents stood up and started swearing at the two people, and some even tried to throw stones.
“Stop!! If something similar to this happens in the future, I will execute it in the same way as the lord ruling the territory of Tesidanicana! We will execute Administrator Lucas Boras. We will also confiscate half of Stara Gerard’s security captain’s property and convert him to an ordinary soldier. He will be demoted and transferred to the ranger unit in the Monster Mountain Range.”
“It’s unfair, Your Majesty!!”
“Thank you, Your Highness!!”
Juno, who personally executed Magistrate Boras in front of the residents of Nikana Castle, agreed to spare Gerard’s life as promised.
Compared to Administrator Boras’ crimes, he had amassed his wealth relatively expediently, except for extorting money at the castle gate. Since he thought that his size and martial arts skills would be useful, it was decided to have him join the ranger unit, the most dangerous unit. 〈 Br〉
Juno completed his first task as a lord by restoring the falsified ledger to its original state and reporting it to the imperial treasury.
“Aaaaah~ Phew~ You two did a good job. Let’s go home today.”
The guards and civil servants of the Viscounty of Nicana were all temporarily suspended because they were suspected of having participated in corruption, and this meant that Baron Kimberley, Maier, Isabella, and Marie, including Juno, all had to rush in to fill in. I spent the night at the official residence.
“Your Highness, isn’t this too much? I came here to be Your Highness Marie’s teacher, not to do office work like this.”
Haha, isn’t Baron Kimberly my teacher too? If a teacher like that doesn’t help his student when he’s in trouble, who will help me? When I return to the capital later, I will definitely take these things into consideration and compensate you.”
“Hmm… Well, if you say so… I understand. I will trust you and wait. Your Majesty.”
Baroness Kimberly, whose mouth was wide open to her ears when the noble third prince called her teacher, bowed and returned to the residence prepared by Yuno with dark circles running down her face to her cheeks.
Haha, Your Highness? Now that the work is finished, what about the reward I promised…?”
“Ah, that’s right. I forgot for a moment about the reward I was going to give you.”
Hehe, you are the crown prince. How big of a reward will you give me? I received 20 gold coins when I acted as a corps commander and made a great contribution… Wouldn’t you give me 10 gold coins this time too?’
Among the empire’s commoners, the living expenses of a middle-class family of four were about half a gold coin, so he received a fairly large reward in the last war, and was expecting to receive a similar reward this time.
“Yes! Vladimir Mayer! As a reward, I will give you the position of commander of the garrison of the County of Tessidanikana.”
“Thank you! Your Majesty! Such a big reward… Eh?”
Mayer bowed down in front of Yuno and looked at Yuno with an expression of emotion, but then he looked at Yuno with a blank expression.
“Huh? What’s wrong? I’m talking about the position of garrison commander. Isn’t that a pretty big position? I can command all the defenders of Monster Mountain, and all the rangers. And when I’m away, I can even command the newly created knight corps. I’ll let you do it! If you have the skills I saw in Streve, you can do it!”
Of course she wasn’t expecting anything like that, and her face turned completely red.
‘What kind of bullshit is this! Just give me money! How long have you been discharged from the military? You sound like a guard captain.,’
“Well… Your Highness! I have no regrets about the military anymore…”
“20 gold coins!”
“Yes?”
“I will give you 20 gold coins as your annual salary. What do you think? Do you not like it?”
Mayer’s face, which had been distorted into a grotesque shape due to his dissatisfaction with the reward given by Yuno, quickly returned to normal thanks to Yuno’s prompt financial treatment.
“I will do my best to live up to His Highness the Third Prince’s expectations!!”
That’s how Mayer became Yuno’s subject, but at that time he never thought that he would regret this decision for the rest of his life.
