A Spy Digs His Own Grave
By the time evening fell, Cedrian walked into the Imperial Palace with the look of a man whose soul had left his body. It was a small mercy that, as a contract employee, his quitting time came earlier than everyone else's.
"My prince, what on earth did you take leave for?"
The moment he arrived at his office, his friend and aide Eric grumbled at him.
"Because you took official leave, my workload has piled up sky-high! And if you were going to take time off, you might actually rest — instead you go traipsing off somewhere again!"
"I went to work…"
"Pardon? Work? What were you hoping to gain by working?"
"A hourly wage of 10,530 pesos…"
"That's exactly minimum wage. Why would Your Highness take a job like…"
"I wonder the same thing myself…"
Cedrian heaved a deep sigh. He staggered over and sank heavily into a chair.
"The truth is, a perfect opportunity came up to gather intelligence on the Temple, so I infiltrated the place myself…"
"You mean that Global-something-or-other guild I investigated for you before? It had the ring of a startup that couldn't even attract investors."
"That's the one."
"Then why in the world did you infiltrate it personally? Wasn't that investigation finished last time?"
Cedrian clutched his head and went on.
"I hadn't told you that part. Recently I entrusted a request to that guild, and one of the guild members saw through my identity before I'd revealed anything."
"I'm sorry — a member of a tiny guild managed to do what?"
"She was extraordinarily capable, and she seemed to harbor a burning hatred for the Temple. I did confirm her loyalty by administering the Oath, but… you know me. I'm wary of anyone who slips beyond my control."
"Even after administering the Oath?"
"Being more capable than necessary is itself grounds for suspicion. The very fact that she uncovered my identity is suspicious."
"There goes that paranoia of yours again…"
"So I went in to see for myself, and…"
"And?"
"She's a complete lunatic!"
He shouted, seething with fury.
"She made me decide the lunch menu, made me go punch coffee coupons, demanded my reports be in 32-point font with a stick-figure human illustration, and then when she called a meeting, she proposed we do it while holding a plank!"
"She really is out of her mind, isn't she."
"She bragged about the guild's benefits — and her prize example was that they have gender-separated bathrooms. What kind of benefit is that supposed to be!"
"Isn't that legally required, Your Highness?"
"That's exactly my point! To think such an absurd place still existed in our Empire!"
"If you've planted a spy there, couldn't you simply trust the spy? From what I hear, you called her not a suspicious person but simply a lunatic. Must Your Highness suffer in a place like that…"
"No! Absolutely not! Everything must be verified and controlled by my own eyes!"
"Good grief. That suspicion of yours…"
Eric shook his head, but Cedrian clenched his fist.
I could never entrust intelligence on the Temple to a mere spy. I will verify everything and control everything myself. Absolutely!
"Assistant Manager Audrette, a client is here to see you."
"A client?"
Hm, has someone come about an adultery investigation? Just as I was thinking that, Cedric continued.
"They say they're a party connected to the person who placed a request with us last time…"
"What?"
A party connected to the Crown Prince? If that's true, it must be an important assignment.
I dropped everything at once and headed for the reception room. Seated there was a man with brown hair and yellow eyes.
"Hello. I am Eric, aide to His Highness."
"Ah, how do you do."
"You may reach him through me whenever necessary. He's a very busy man. I've come in person to make sure there are no communication breakdowns along the way."
"Ah, of course."
For some reason, he flashed a smile that looked genuinely delighted.
"Let's work together to bring down the Temple from here on. His Highness has decided to place his complete trust in you."
"He trusts me? Completely?"
"Yes. His Highness places his complete trust in one Audrette Lavendel."
Was Eric always this sunny a character? He seems in awfully good spirits.
"Let's join forces and topple the Temple together, shall we?"
"Yes, gladly."
I widened my eyes at Eric and declared,
"As for the Temple's corruption — I'll gather all the intelligence on it you could ever want!"
"What wonderful news. He'll be pleased to hear it."
"Assistant Manager Audrette, do you have some good news?"
The moment I strolled into the office wearing a smile, Cedric asked. His face had been haggard from drafting yet another report the guildmaster had ordered, and he was clearly desperate to change the subject. Well, I'd happily play along.
"I do, actually. I've landed a request that suits me quite nicely."
"I see. What sort of request?"
"That, of course, is confidential."
"C-confidential even within the same guild?"
"How would I know that Employee Cedric isn't a mole planning to steal our guild's secrets and run? Security must be maintained for the time being."
I said in a cool, cutting voice,
"Who knows — someone might leak our guild's secrets and write an exposé about it…"
"Oh my, Assistant Manager Audrette~, whatever do you mean~?"
"Haha, just a little joke."
"What a hilarious sense of humor you have!"
Susanna laughed along stiffly, clearly stung.
"In any case, I'll be busy with a new assignment from here on. I'll hand over all the important duties I've been handling to Employee Cedric."
"You're handing them over to me? Then that means I'll finally be handling important work…!"
"That's right. Very important work indeed."
And I began listing, one by one, everything Cedric would be responsible for going forward.
"First, every morning you'll transcribe the guildmaster's morning address, summarize it, and circulate it. The guildmaster intends to collect these into a book someday, so you absolutely must write them all down."
"……?"
"Any remarks unsuitable for publication you'll edit on your own to make them sound dignified. For example, like this."
Original:"Back in my day, I wrote a hundred pages of documents by hand, every single day. Kids these days have no patience — ten pages in and they're whining about how hard it is. It's because they lack basic stamina."
Edited:"Constancy and stamina are the very foundation of one's duties, and the fundamental competencies demanded of junior guild members."
"That's how it's done."
"……"
"Second duty. The guildmaster has a daughter, and occasionally we have to do her homework for her. You'll take that over."
"What kind of homework? Mathematics? History? Perhaps literature?"
"No, art homework."
"……"
"Third duty. Every report is to be copied in triplicate and placed on the guildmaster's desk, inside the guildmaster's drawer, and inside the guildmaster's bag. That way nothing goes missing."
"……"
By now, Cedric's face had grown considerably darker than before.
"S-so, just to be clear — the reason I have to do all this is because you'll be taking on important duties from now on?"
"Yes, exactly. Because I'll be the one doing the genuinely important work."
I dug my own grave with these hands…
"I beg your pardon?"
"Nothing, Assistant Manager… I'll do my best going forward…"
"That's the spirit. Let's do great work together."
I patted his shoulder by way of encouragement and returned to my desk. Susanna shot me a look.
'What if he can't take it and quits?'
'I heard he used to work at a family-run company just as weird as ours. He'll be fine.'
After exchanging glances with her, I cast a sidelong glance at Cedric.
"I dug my own grave with my own hands… all to dig up a single piece of information, this is a bit… well, chances to get close to the Temple are rare… no, still, this is far too unfair…"
He was muttering to himself — evidently the sheer volume of work had already begun to wear his mind and body down.
'Fighting, newbie!'
You have to raise your new hires tough! Sorry about this!