Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Undercover Knight's Deployment
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Undercover knights fundamentally do not move without certainty.
Given how vast the territory was, any movement inevitably led to significant administrative waste during transit. Thus, they never dispatched undercover knights based on mere suspicion without solid confirmation.
This was precisely why Duke and the Dark Elf company commander had come to this territory.
- "Something's off about this tax report."
Rex had overhauled the administrative system over the past few years so that taxes collected from each city always included records of the specific purpose.
(Mayors who didn't comply had been naturally selected out.)
And right after declaring the emancipation of slaves, he'd spotted anomalies in the tax records from this trading city.
- "When the number of tax-paying households increases, citizens' income taxes should rise, and landlords' income taxes should drop by more than the reduction in slave taxes. But here, citizens' income taxes are dropping at an odd rate too. It's like people are vanishing..."
Duke had dozed off standing up during Rex's hour-long info-dump in the office, so he didn't grasp the exact principles, but the gist was this:
- "From the taxes, it looks like this trading city is still maintaining slavery. It's a key hub in our territory. So, Duke, go check it out."
That was the backstory for why Undercover Knight Duke had been dispatched to this city.
But contrary to expectations, the trading city on the ground was suspiciously clean.
The foundational administrative systems Rex had prepared over the past three years for slave emancipation had been implemented remarkably well.
Landlords had faithfully invested the subsidies from the lord into production facilities ahead of time, and slave traders had fully emancipated their slaves and successfully pivoted to labor offices.
It was too beautiful a scene to believe it stemmed from this world's average human decency.
But Duke and the Dark Elf company commander didn't take the sight at face value.
'You don't reuse toilet paper. Money doesn't lie.'
'Lord Rex couldn't have made a mistake.'
Duke trusted in human malice, while the commander trusted Rex. And so, they launched a sting operation.
What they hooked wasn't even anyone they'd expected: the vigilantes.
Old butler Dominique (Duke) kept his eyes locked on the vigilante's blade approaching right before him.
'The swordplay's crude.'
The attacker gripped a curved single-edged sword in reverse, aiming for his throat.
It wasn't a technique learned from any formal school or stolen from experts—just the rough, barbaric swordsmanship of adventurers.
That lent even more credence to the hypothesis that the attacker was a vigilante.
In his own slowed time, the old butler made a swift judgment.
'Persuasion...'
He didn't feel like it.
This old butler, brimming with a natural talent for stirring chaos, preferred escalating misunderstandings over resolving them.
He lacked the eloquence for persuasion anyway.
For him, knocking them down first and making them see reason later was far more efficient.
Dominique instinctively focused on her nape, priming his telekinesis.
But recalling his current condition, he reined it back in.
'No need to advertise that I'm Duke.'
Besides, this old butler's concept was something else entirely.
Returning to reality, just as the blade neared his throat, he snapped his head back, dodging by a hair's breadth.
Then, slipping through the natural opening from her swing, he closed into the vigilante's guard.
Before the flustered vigilante could create distance, the old butler lightly shouldered her off-balance.
"Eut!"
Dominique hooked her leg, and as she staggered, he swiped the spare dagger from her waist.
Sweeping the dagger upward from below, a thin silver line sliced past the front of the vigilante's mask.
The tumbling vigilante offered no resistance, arching back and flipping twice in midair to gain distance.
Thud.
As the vigilante landed, their mask fell off belatedly.
The vigilante groped their face, as if checking if it was intact beneath.
Only after confirming just the mask had been severed did they exhale in relief.
The old butler cast a glance at the vigilante's face and muttered in a complaining tone.
"This style of sword isn't my taste... but given the circumstances, no helping it. I'll have to get a bit rough, lady."
The old man's sharp gaze pierced the woman whose mask had been stripped away.
The moment her feet froze under that stare, the old man closed the distance again.
The woman who had set out to hunt the old man had somehow become the hunted.
The old man's combat was straightforward.
None of his strikes were overwhelmingly powerful, nor did he wield a blade too fast to follow with the eye.
But his flashy movements toyed with human perception, making response difficult.
'Right side?'
Predicting right and guarding, only for the old man to withdraw his sword and seize the vigilante's collar.
As she tensed expecting a fireman's carry, he flipped over behind her while keeping his grip.
Shifting to a chokehold, he questioned her.
"Kkhuk..."
"Answer carefully. Who are you?"
To the butler's question, the vigilante inwardly cursed.
'Choking me and asking questions, you crazy old geezer!'
If a third party who knew Dominique's true nature had seen it, they'd call it spot-on.
In her blurring vision, she gritted her teeth and thrust her reverse-gripped sword backward.
Just before it reached his gut, the old man released her and backed off.
"Khaak. Khek..."
While she gulped down grateful air, the old man pressed her again.
Thereafter, he toyed with her, mixing sword and unarmed strikes.
In the process, she realized the old man had no intent to kill her.
'Damn. Some kind of slave hunter?'
Misunderstandings deepened with the old man's unprovoked assault sans explanation.
Then, he slammed her longsword crossguard with the flat of his dagger.
Like magic, the longsword slipped from her hand.
'Crazy!'
The old man chided the shocked woman.
"You need a firmer grip on your sword."
Not giving her time to rearm, he pinned her against the wall, lightly pressing her throat with his forearm.
The impact dislodged the hat she'd pulled low.
'Elf?'
Crimson hair and long ears spilled out from under the hat.
Dominique stared into her green eyes and pressed the dagger to her throat.
"I'll ask again. Who are you?"
"Kh. Kill me."
"No reason to kill you."
At Dominique's reply, fury flared in her eyes.
"Damn, an executive then. Scram. I'd rather die here than go back."
'Bingo.'
Her answer satisfied Dominique immensely.
'No idea where "there" is, but must be some black market.'
She was probably an escaped slave or similar.
Dominique quickly calculated in his head.
'This story's protagonist... seems to be this woman?'
Would there even be room for an old butler like Dominique in her tale?
The butler finished his swift computation.
'Gotta go for third faction final boss.'
Vigilantes trying to free slaves.
Black market maintaining slaves.
Dominique suited the role of public authority rejecting both sides.
With calculations done, he promptly assembled his lines.
"Go back? Where to?"
"Grown shameless with age? Don't play dumb."
"I must insist, I have no idea what you're talking about, miss."
Dominique proved his innocence by sheathing the dagger and releasing her.
He smiled kindly at the bewildered vigilante.
"Seems we've piled up quite the misunderstanding. Shall we talk it out?"
Of course, he omitted that he'd deliberately sparked it for fun from the start.
"So, you're an escort dispatched from the capital by a tax auditor?"
"Yes, exactly, miss."
Dominique bowed politely toward her.
He revealed only that they were public officials, not undercover knights.
The company commander, briefed on the concept tweak, nodded in understanding and admired Duke's foresight.
Duke had done it purely for future twists, but they let it stand.
Back to reality, once the vigilante learned the butler was public authority, she grew wary again.
"Rumors of the lord's mercy must be true. Instead of killing me, you're scheming to toss me in some other jail."
"He's merciful and flexible."
"What're you getting at?"
"It means he'd overlook a bit of mischief from rabble-rousers if it means stamping out true evil."
Her crimson-haired elf pupils wavered at his words.
By her common sense, no lofty lord would tolerate vigilantes flouting his own laws.
Yet the old man continued as if it were obvious.
"Cooperate with us. Help find evidence of slave tax collection in the territory."
The butler offered tacit approval of her vigilante activities as a judicial bargain in exchange.
But her response was utterly unexpected.
"No."
"Pardon?"
"They're mine."
Only then did Dominique notice the vengeful fire in the elf's green eyes.
A bit flustered, the seasoned butler hid it and casually altered terms.
"Then let's change the deal. I don't know who they are, but we'll deliver their boss's head to you."
Her reply was immediate.
"Deal. But one thing clear: I'll cooperate, but I take no orders."
"Naturally."
Dominique hadn't expected obedience anyway.
"And not just the boss—executives too."
"The organization's bigger than expected, huh?"
"What do you know?"
"Why ask for cooperation otherwise, miss?"
The elf clicked her tongue at the old man's brazen reply.
"Feels like I'm getting the short end. One more condition."
"Name it."
"Give me proof I'm acting under the lord's orders too. So if trouble brews with neighboring territories, you won't abandon me."
Dominique nodded readily.
"I'll have it for you tomorrow."
"Good. Then tomorrow morning, labor office."
With that, she leaped away.
Dominique let her go without issue.
Convinced nothing was more reliable than vengeance as motive.
The day after Duke, in Dominique's skin, stirred things up.
Rex awoke to sunlight streaming through the crumbled inner castle walls.
"Yawn."
What incident awaited him today?
He opened the interface first thing.
At the top of the interface window, a report titled "Top Priority Issue" blinked insistently with a red dot.
Gulp.
Rex swallowed, suppressing rising anxiety, and opened the report.
His face drained to blue at the message from Duke that arrived at dawn.
Rex panicked and messaged Duke.
Not worried about war.
Why fear war when his territory had a nuke?
What concerned Rex was that he hadn't even finished consolidating his own territory—absorbing the neighbor would balloon his workload beyond capacity.
Simple math put it at double; factoring in wealth gaps, it'd be unimaginable.
But Rex's urgent message never reached the undercover knights.
Rex's face turned ashen at the irritating alert.
The hero who had exited Rex's territory was now beyond his reach.
Darkness clouded Rex's vision.
'Why? How?'
Since when did undercover knights handle conquest?
He double-checked the undercover knights' duties.
Finally, an overlooked clause—added by whom, he knew not—caught his eye.
- In cases deemed necessary for territorial security, on-site knights are permitted to act first and report later at their discretion.
'Duke...!'
The lord, awake unusually early, foamed at the mouth and collapsed back into bed.
Until his white tiger maid came to wake him again.