Guest from the Imperial Palace (2): The Inspector's Eye
I opened my eyes. More precisely, I lifted my face from where it had been buried in the desk.
“……”
My arms were numb, and my eyes felt like they had sandbags hanging from them. Well, at least I was alive.
Spread across the desk was the draft of the Ramal report. Beside it lay the list of confiscated items, the sealing string recovery record, the warehouse custodian’s statement, and the bandit boss’s interrogation transcript. There was a lot of paper. Far too much.
I’d seen a desk like this in my previous life too.
‘Those nights, I usually pulled all-nighters.’
And now, even in this other world, I was staring at the same sight. Different civilization, same miserable grind. Wasn’t that proof enough?
Why did I have to end up like this? I’d only wanted to transmigrate as a handsome noble heir and live a life of luxury. Damn truck driver—
“Young master.”
Roman’s voice reached my ears. I raised my head with half-lidded eyes.
“What.”
“The morning newspaper.”
“...Give it here.”
I took the paper Roman offered. The morning edition already. These things rarely carried good news.
‘Back on Earth, newspapers were mostly filled with things that made you frown.’
Good news traveled by word of mouth; bad news arrived neatly printed on paper.
I unfolded the newspaper. The front page was dazzling.
[Imperial Family Declares Full Review of Foreign Aid]
[Cech Kingdom Support Funds Recovery Process Begins..]
[Imperial Inspectorate Launches Investigation into Local Private Armies]
[Lady Verka Nears Sword Master Rank… “Genius Among Geniuses of the Empire”]
[Some Nobles Protest: “Auditing Local Security Operations Is Excessive”]
“……”
The world was burning quite beautifully. In other words, the empire was undergoing Normalization.
Foreign aid was being reviewed, the treasury audited, and the operation of private armies across territories was landing on the Inspectorate’s desks. If I’d read this while still following the original novel, I might have applauded. Finally, the pushover emperor had come to his senses.
But now that I was caught in the net of that Normalization myself, applause was the last thing on my mind.
“By the way, Lady Verka.”
I tapped the fourth headline with my finger. Verka. The original protagonist. The woman who would later pull the empire’s straws out of neighboring countries, clean them up, and revive the treasury.
‘She’s already close to becoming a Sword Master.’
Lucky her. One person was on the verge of Sword Master, while another was busy catching bandits and preparing for an intimate date with an inspector.
“Young master, Inspector Sera Klein is waiting.”
I looked up from the paper.
“Already?”
“Yes.”
“We met yesterday too.”
“It seems inspections are not limited to once a day.”
Of course. That made sense, which only made it more annoying.
I stood up, folding the newspaper.
“Where is she?”
“In the drawing room.”
“And my father?”
“He is with her.”
Still, I had to go. If the heir couldn’t even show up when an inspector was waiting, that would be its own kind of disaster.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
**
When I entered the drawing room, Sera Klein was already seated. Same posture as yesterday. Straight back, calm face, gray eyes. She looked nothing like someone who had been running around all night.
Then again, she’d probably been working at the Inspectorate all day too. So how was she still perfectly fine?
‘Is she even human? Her speech is so stiff—maybe she’s a humanoid?’
My father sat at the head of the table. The documents I had organized were spread across it. Sera’s gaze turned to me.
“Did you sleep well?”
“...After you arrived, Inspector?”
“Yes.”
“Are you joking?”
“I am asking in earnest.”
I sat down and set the newspaper aside.
“Then I’ll answer in earnest. I didn’t sleep well.”
“From what I’ve read in the records, that’s understandable. You must have worked quite hard.”
“......”
Being cut by a tongue didn’t draw blood, but it still stung. Actually, there might have been a little bleeding.
Sera glanced over the documents on the table.
“The records are well organized.”
“I worked on them all night.”
“I see.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“Do I also need to say ‘good work’?”
I stared at her face for a moment. Then I spoke.
“No. It would feel awkward coming from you, Inspector.”
Sera blinked. Just once, very briefly. My father, sitting beside her, lifted his teacup. The corner of his mouth seemed to twitch as well.
Of course, I knew this wasn’t normal behavior in front of an imperial inspector. But if I just bowed my head obediently here, it would backfire. In the original novel, Sera Klein was that type. She didn’t trust people who groveled. She preferred the bold ones.
Not that I was using that as an excuse to complain.
“Will you examine the documents first?”
When I asked, Sera shook her head.
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“I will look outside first.”
I froze.
“Outside, meaning…”
“The Kaindel County territory.”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
I looked at my father. He quietly sipped his tea. He wasn’t going to stop her. As expected, the Kaindel family’s heir welfare was terrible.
“Inspector.”
I turned back to Sera.
“Isn’t it a bit cruel to ask someone who spent all night organizing reports to go out?”
“I am here to verify whether those records are accurate.”
“Don’t you sleep?”
“Weren’t you the one who woke up late after sleeping until just now?”
“……”
‘And whose fault is it that I’m suffering like this?’
I let out a short breath.
“Where would you like to start?”
“The roads.”
“The roads?”
“Isn’t that where the problems in Ramal originated?”
She was right. Ramal wasn’t just about one village. The transport routes had been blocked, merchants had turned away, and tax flows had tangled. In the end, it all came down to the roads. The paths people, goods, and money traveled.
“Very well.”
“Let us exclude the bakery inside the market, however.”
Sera’s eyebrow twitched ever so slightly.
“Why?”
“It doesn’t taste good.”
This time, my father definitely coughed. Sera looked at me for a moment before speaking.
“I will confirm that later.”
Hmm. I’d have to apologize to the bakery owner later.
**
If you only looked at the fact that I was walking side by side with a woman through the territory streets in the morning, it might have seemed strangely like a date.
Of course, the atmosphere was nothing of the sort. No date involved someone saying, “I will verify the private army operation records.”
If such a date existed, I’d run away immediately. Which was why I was already planning my escape.
Just as I was about to speak—
“The roads are remarkably well maintained.”
“Yes, ahem. The carriages kept getting stuck.”
“Is that all?”
“I didn’t like merchants getting stuck either, nor tax carriages being delayed, nor the residents complaining.”
“You paved the roads to reduce complaints?”
“Isn’t that a fine administrative goal?”
Sera looked down at the road for a moment, then spoke.
“Not bad.”
Was that praise? No. It was an inspector’s verdict.
I waved a hand.
“No need for compliments. Somehow, praise from you feels more like a deduction.”
“That’s the first time I’ve heard such an expression.”
“I just made it up.”
“Worth recording.”
“...Please don’t.”
We walked toward the market. The morning market was already bustling. The smell of bread, dried fish, the sound of vegetables being sorted, merchants unpacking goods. People bowed their heads when they saw me.
“Young master!”
“Young master, is everything all right in Ramal?”
“I heard the transport route reopened?”
“You’ve worked hard.”
I just raised a hand vaguely. But their gazes quickly shifted to my side.
Sera Klein. Well, it was hard not to look.
“The lady beside you……”
“Is she a noble lady? She’s truly beautiful.”
“Well, it has been a while since the young master ended his engagement.”
“If the two of you are walking together, perhaps—”
When I glared at the source of the nonsense, people immediately shut their mouths. I glanced at Sera Klein beside me. She walked on without changing her expression.
“You’re quite popular.”
“Because many people owe me.”
“Did you lend them money?”
“No. I fixed the roads.”
“That must have been more expensive.”
“You understand well.”
Sera surveyed the surroundings as we passed the market stalls. Her eyes were sharp. She observed people, goods, road widths, warehouse locations. This wasn’t the picture of a pretty woman taking a stroll. An inspector was dissecting the territory.
And the one being dissected had made quite a few changes over the past three years.
“What about over there?”
Sera pointed to a building behind the market.
“A temporary warehouse for merchants.”
“And that side?”
“Where the tax transport carriages gather.”
“What about there?”
“Let’s not go there.”
“Why?”
I shook my head and answered.
“I told you. It’s the bakery.”
“Does it relate to the inspection?”
“It relates to my mood.”
“Not a public reason, then.”
“Bad bread is a public enemy.”
Sera blinked once, very briefly. The corner of her mouth seemed to move ever so slightly.
“..Is that from experience?”
“A victim’s testimony.”
Sera glanced toward the bakery once, then kept walking.
“Then I will confirm it later.”
“Why.”
“Because you went to such lengths to stop me, I became curious.”
Ah. Seriously.
**
“Is this the main transport route?”
Sera asked.
“It connects the east and north. Ramal branches off from here.”
“There’s a lot of logistics.”
“I made it that way.”
Sera Klein looked at me.
“Does that mean you intentionally directed it?”
“Merchants have to pass through for money to circulate. And money has to circulate for taxes to come in.”
“Did you offer benefits to the merchants?”
“I lowered the initial tolls.”
Sera Klein fell into thought for a moment, then asked,
“What about financial losses?”
“There were some at the beginning.”
“You accepted them?”
“If ten carriages used to pass and now a hundred do, even if you collect less per carriage, the total increases.”
Once I started explaining, it dragged on. When you’re tired, you tend to ramble. Not a good sign.
Sera looked at the milestone by the road.
“It’s changed a lot compared to three years ago.”
At those words, I stopped walking.
“...Have you been here before?”
“Through documents.”
“……”
“Decrease in tax leakage, increase in merchant traffic, decrease in security reports.”
Sera didn’t take her eyes off the milestone.
“Kaindel County’s numbers have been different since roughly three years ago.”
I looked at Sera. This woman. She hadn’t come just because of Ramal.
“You even look at things like that?”
“I am from the Inspectorate.”
“Terrifying.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It wasn’t one.”
“I know.”
The conversation wasn’t exactly failing to connect… but somehow, the way it connected was even more exhausting.
Sera looked back at the road.
“...It’s a positive change for the territory.”
“Then you could just let it pass favorably.”
“Positive changes aren’t always safe ones.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“More exhausting talk?”
“I came here to do exhausting work.”
Sera said that and slowly turned back toward the market.
“I’ll look at the Ramal records later.”
“Later?”
“Yes.”
“Then what did you come to see now?”
Sera looked at me for a moment.
“What you changed before it was recorded, young master.”
“……”
“To be precise, from the spring of three years ago.”
I swallowed a small breath.
“The period when the report format of Kaindel County changed, tax leakage decreased, and the budget for transport route maintenance increased.”
Sera wasn’t looking at me. She was simply looking at the road.
“It also coincides with the time when Cian Kaindel, the young master, began attending heir lessons again.”
“You even look at things like that?”
“I am from the Inspectorate.”
That answer again. But this time, the atmosphere was different.
Sera Klein finally looked at me. Her gray eyes were quietly settled.
“Young master.”
“Yes.”
“What happened back then?”