I Became an Imperial Inspector (2)
I became a member of the Inspectorate the moment I graduated from the Academy.
Quite a few people had interviewed for the Inspectorate, but I was the only one who passed.
It was a moment that made me freshly aware of the power the Lichtenhaus family wielded.
After graduation I did not return to the main house. I went straight to the Imperial Capital, where the Inspectorate was located. I had secured a residence in advance for an easy commute, so there was no real difficulty.
It was a house a five-minute walk from the district crowded with public offices—in the Imperial Capital, where property prices were the highest in the Empire. Naturally it cost a fortune, but set against the Lichtenhaus wealth it was no different from spilling a cup of tea.
And so arrived the morning of my first day.
I dressed in a neat suit and buckled my sword at my hip.
A suit and a sword. It was a truly awkward combination. Having spent so many years living in armor made it feel all the more so. Still, I would grow used to it soon enough—just as I had once grown used to armor that had felt only heavy. If one thought about it carefully, it was not so different from wearing a sword with the Academy uniform.
This should do.
I checked my appearance one last time in the mirror, straightened my collar, and left the house.
The streets of the Imperial Capital were already bustling in the early morning. Merchants preparing to open their shops, people hurrying somewhere with purpose, knights heading home after finishing night duty. Everyone was living a life of their own.
That peaceful atmosphere felt alien to me. The last image I held of the Capital was nothing short of hell. There had been so many vagrants in the alleys that ordinary people no longer walked the streets. I was doing this now precisely so that it would never come to that again.
I pulled my gaze away and quickened my steps toward the Inspectorate.
I arrived about five minutes later. Even among the surrounding buildings, the Inspectorate’s structure gave off an unusually gloomy air. Granted, the work itself was dark enough, but did the building really need to match? It was not important enough to dwell on. I stepped inside without further delay.
Let’s see… the 1st Division…
The Inspectorate’s 1st Division. It was the division to which Chief Albert de Damon—who had once been dispatched to the Academy—belonged. I had been assigned there as well, so I was searching for the office.
Was this truly a coincidence? Or a thoroughly engineered inevitability? Only they would know for certain.
Fortunately I found it before long. From the entrance, it was the office farthest back on the left.
I knocked lightly and opened the door.
“Hey, you wanna die?”
“As if I’d die to the likes of you.”
“That’s it. Come outside.”
“I’m busy with work, so no.”
Inside, a neatly dressed man and woman were bickering as if they might come to blows at any second. I stared blankly at the scene, then quietly closed the door again.
No matter how I looked at it, something was clearly wrong. Perhaps this was not the Inspectorate at all, but some other public building?
Then the door opened once more and a face appeared—the woman of the two who had been arguing.
“Is there something I can help you with…?”
“I’m the new recruit starting today.”
“Ah—ah! I heard about you. The Chief stepped out for a meeting. Please come inside and wait.”
“Understood.”
So they did at least keep public and private separate. The rage that had filled her face vanished without a trace, replaced by a smile—what one might call a professional smile.
“Then please have a seat here and wait.”
“Yes, understood.”
Following her in, I found the 1st Division office in considerable disarray. Documents lay scattered unorganized across desks, and potted plants placed here and there held only dead greenery, left to wither.
This is nothing like what I expected…
Nobles usually cared deeply about appearances. Decorating their own bodies lavishly served the same purpose. Everyone in the Inspectorate would be of noble birth, so it was hard to believe the place could look this chaotic. They seemed to realize it themselves and were belatedly trying to tidy, but—
“Hey, that goes over here.”
“It looks better this way.”
“You really don’t listen.”
At this rate it would take them a full week to clear the space. No—half a month, perhaps. I let out a short inward sigh and rose to my feet.
“I’ll help.”
“What? Ah, no—we made this mess, so…”
“Won’t it go faster with three people?”
“Well, that’s true, but…”
Despite her protests I did not stop. If I did not lend a hand, it looked as though we would spend the entire day on nothing else. I even thought we would be lucky not to make it worse.
I could not say how much time passed. Just when the room was beginning to look somewhat like an office, the firmly closed door opened and the highest-ranking person present walked in.
Albert de Damon. Chief of the 1st Division.
The meeting must have been grueling; his face looked thoroughly haggard. Spotting me, he strode over at once.
“Sorry for being late on your first day.”
“Not at all.”
“Judging by the situation, introductions have already…”
“Not yet.”
“Then I should introduce you. Come this way.”
I followed him to the center of the office, before the large table used for meetings.
Thump. Thump.
The Chief rapped the table so that the sound carried. The two who had been scattered about tidying naturally turned toward us.
“Everyone gather up.”
They moved at once. And so everyone in the office—though “everyone” amounted to only three of us—assembled.
“This is the new recruit who will be working in the 1st Division starting today. Take good care of him.”
“I am Caenderic de Lichtenhaus, assigned to the Inspectorate’s 1st Division. I look forward to working with you.”
The moment they heard my name, both pairs of eyes went wide. That was the kind of reaction the Lichtenhaus name’s prestige produced.
Introductions followed.
“I’m Lena de Saint.”
“I’m Frenzy de Valacie.”
One from the Saint Count family, the other from the Valacie Marquis family. Fortunately neither house appeared in Lidia’s diary. At least I would not be pointing a sword at them. Lena and Frenzy—names not especially hard to remember.
Once the brief introductions ended, Chief Albert spoke as if he had been waiting for the moment.
“Caenderic, how about a short walk with me.”
“Understood.”
“You two finish cleaning that up. The office looks better when it’s clean.”
The Chief took the lead. I followed him, and before long we arrived at a small garden on the building grounds. His steps gradually slowed, and his voice reached me.
“Those two are the only staff in the 1st Division.”
“Fewer than I expected.”
It was surprising. I had assumed others might be out on assignment. I even doubted whether the division could function with so few people in the first place.
“I know it’s short-handed as well. But there’s nothing I can do. There are no people to hire.”
“Quite a few applied from the Academy, didn’t they?”
“When I say there are no people to hire, I don’t mean simply that there are no people to work. I mean there are no upright people fit to join the Inspectorate.”
If that was the case, I could understand completely. The Empire was thoroughly rotten. Talent capable of meeting the Inspectorate’s high standards was scarce.
“It may look fine on the surface, but the Empire is in peril right now. And that is entirely because the Inspectorate has rotted.”
“The Inspectorate…?”
“Yes. Everyone’s blinded by money. When I say this, you’ll probably think: You hired me after seeing the Lichtenhaus name, so what are you talking about?”
It was a bullseye. I had been thinking exactly that.
“I never told His Excellency the Chancellor that I would hire you. I only said I would meet you.”
“So if I had failed to meet the conditions, you would not have taken me on…”
“That’s right. I don’t know about the other divisions, but I do. At least there is no corruption in our 1st Division.”
That was a relief. If he had been lining his own pockets with graft—someday my sword would have fallen upon his neck.
“Take note. I cannot stand watching this mess. One day I intend to turn the entire Inspectorate upside down.”
“It will not be an easy path.”
“Yes. It certainly won’t. There will be a bloodbath. If that frightens you, don’t stay under me—leave.”
I knew how this story ended. In the end he would die without achieving his wish. Thus the Inspectorate, unchecked by any institution save the Imperial Family, would completely degenerate into a corrupt organization and ultimately contribute to the Empire’s fall.
Was I afraid of that? Well. From the perspective of someone who had already experienced death, what was there left to fear?
But the truth was that I had no real choice to begin with. If I did not set the Inspectorate right, the Empire would fall in the end, and my future would vanish with it.
“The Lichtenhaus family does not bow its head to a mere bloodbath. All the more so if that is the path to setting the Empire right.”
“…I hope you won’t regret it.”
“Yes. I will not regret it. Absolutely not.”