Chapter 36
Chapter 36
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: The Special Inspectors Arrive
-----------------------------------------------------------------
My eyes snapped open at the sound of the self-ringing bell. Being an expensive item, it let out a resounding clamor.
I got out of bed, slipped on my shoes, and stepped outside. Leaning against the door, I spotted a kid running over breathlessly with a water basin.
“You’ll trip. Slow down.”
The kid sloshed some water out of the basin. I handed over a tip as payment and gave my face a quick rinse.
“Uncle Mac! Newspaper!”
“Leave it there.”
“Yes, sir!”
Mac grabbed the newspaper and headed back inside. He struck flint to light the stove and set the kettle on top. While the water heated, he picked up the paper.
Dominating the front page were the latest dispatches from the Imperial Capital. Being a paper published right here in Dun, the news was a tad delayed, but it was decent enough.
The power struggle between the Emperor and the Assembly, the native nobles playing it safe while the upstarts expanded their influence like they’d struck gold, and even word on the One-Man Army.
Since it covered the power centers, the articles didn’t dig too deep—just the kind of gossip you’d hear at a tavern.
The reporters and publishers only had one life to live, after all.
There was a paper called *Wolf*, put out by fearless journalists, that supposedly ripped into the current Empire with biting criticism. But you couldn’t get it in Dun anymore.
Ever since security levels hit the max, it had been deemed unfit and vanished from the outpost.
The kettle whistled. He half-covered the stove, poured water into a bowl, and tossed in a handful of dried, ground grains. As he waited,
“Uncle Mac! Here for the paper!”
He rolled up a newspaper and handed it to the kid waiting outside. After finishing breakfast, he stepped out.
He handed the laundry to the housekeeper who’d just arrived and headed for the gates.
Mid-September, and the fog hung thick. It’d turn cold soon enough. Yawning lightly as he walked, a familiar face caught his eye. A man staring fixedly at the firmly shut gates.
Mac couldn’t recall the name, but the man’s history stuck in his mind. Retired soldier. It had lodged there because he’d been stationed at Inner Dun, just like Mac’s brother.
Waiting for family? Mac clicked his tongue briefly. Every one of those folks staring endlessly at the gates had a heartbreaking story.
Maybe waiting for a wife who’d left or a lost child. Pitiful, but there was nothing he could do.
“You’re here.”
He entered the office by the gate, which doubled as the inspectors’ break room. He took his seat after exchanging greetings with the guards.
“Inspector General. They’re coming today.”
His subordinate said it with rigid tension. From the look, it seemed “those guys” were finally arriving.
“You’ve sorted all the entry management files?”
“Yes. We’ve gathered and organized everything up to the six-month retention period.”
“As long as they don’t find fault with those, we’re good. Admin will handle the rest.”
The subordinate, only half a year into gate duty, kept sitting and standing, stomach churning.
Normally, Mac would’ve told him to knock it off and focus, but today he got it.
“Inspector General.”
“What?”
“I hear the Special Audit Team hauls you in first and sorts guilt later. We’re really okay?”
Mac swallowed dryly at the word that slipped from his subordinate’s mouth. Special Audit Team. The name every government drone dreaded.
“They say they’re even more ruthless than Stoa. Scarier than the Think Tank that trains their agents…”
“Cut the hysterics and shut your mouth. You’re making me jumpy too.”
Arms crossed, leg jittering, he double-checked the files with his subordinate.
“No issues?”
“None.”
“Good. We just do our jobs as usual.”
He laid out the files so the auditors could see them right away upon arrival.
“But Inspector General, what’s going on? For the Special Audit Team to come here of all places—it must be huge.”
“Here’s some advice: don’t get curious about things that aren’t your business. We do what we’re told and collect our pay. Remember, we’re not reporters.”
“Understood.”
Excess curiosity always spelled trouble. The two reasons he hadn’t been booted from this cushy job past forty?
He did his assigned tasks flawlessly and minded his own business. That was the ideal civil servant.
A bell tolled. The drawbridge groaned down. The gates were opening.
“Let’s go. Grab the files.”
“What do I say when the auditors arrive?”
“I’ll handle greetings. You just inspect thoroughly.”
“The auditors too?”
“Of course. Show any slack, and they’ll say that’s how you always do checks—nitpick city. Better they call you blind than drag you off for an audit.”
“I’ll follow your lead, Inspector General.”
The crowd waiting outside the gates surged in. The guards bellowed louder than usual.
Word that the Special Audit Team was arriving today had spread across all of Dun. Admin was probably in chaos.
“Identification token.”
He checked identities meticulously, taking twice as long as usual. A slip-up on Audit Team day meant no excuses.
He oversaw inspections in tense silence all morning. His subordinate’s eyes were bloodshot. How much time passed? He finally looked up and exhaled at the noon bell.
Stiff from the strain, he took his break. Over lunch, he asked the guard captain if he knew where the auditors were.
“Sentries on the outskirts brought word at dawn, so they’ll hit no later than five.”
“Blood’s running cold.”
“We followed procedure. And it’s serious enough they won’t even say what—probably trouble at Admin or the gates, not us.”
“Or the Giant Soldier Administration Bureau.”
If something went wrong at the Giant Soldier production facilities inside Dun, sending the Special Audit Team made sense.
Past the threshold, it was blanketed in top-secret measures, or so he’d heard. No regular bureaucrat could handle a mess there.
Break ended. Back to staring down entrants, checking tokens or papers, waving them through. Mechanically repeating years of routine.
Ha ha. A cheerful two-syllable laugh tickled his ears. Behind the woman he was inspecting stood a lanky man.
Wild curly hair caught the eye first. Head tilted back, scanning the gates, grinning like it was the best thing ever.
“Next.”
The laughing man approached and presented his token. Name: Kalligo. Origin: someplace new to him. Occupation: arborist.
Far too pale and slender for a tree-trimmer.
“Hand on the scroll.”
He placed the token in the scroll’s center. The man touched a corner, and red light glowed. Proof of legitimate issue.
“Purpose of visit?”
“Got some time off work. Figured I’d sightsee in Dun. Heard there’s famous eateries and all sorts of wares for sale. Looking forward to it.”
Beaming idiot. Classic tourist type. Mac returned the token.
“You’re clear.”
Kalligo breezed through whistling. Ha ha—that laugh snagged his ears again. Frivolous for a guy, Mac thought, glancing over.
Kalligo was heading straight for the man who’d been haunting the gates for days. They shook hands casually as they neared and vanished into an alley. Waiting for that guy?
“Uh…”
A voice from ahead turned his head. An old man waited clutching papers.
“Sorry. Hand them over.”
The retired soldier vanishing with the odd-laugh guy slipped from memory fast. Frenzied inspections resumed.
With the United Kingdom trade caravan due soon, there were plenty of out-of-town merchants. Even skewer-wielding guards looked beat.
“Inspector General. Tea?”
Afternoon break already. Sipping tea, he eyed the long line outside. Speed up? That’s when he spotted a carriage approaching afar, soft lantern light ahead. Magic lamp? Closer now.
Ding ding. A bell signal only guards and inspectors would catch. Caution: VIP inbound.
“They’re here.”
Suppressing the creeping tension, he cleared the waiting crowd. The carriage soon crested the drawbridge.
A fluttering black flag bore a blue lion. Black for the Assembly, blue lion for the Imperial House. Unmistakably the Special Audit Team.
He went out to greet them with the guard captain. The lead rider dismounted.
“We assume you’ve heard. We’ll start audits immediately. Inspection files first.”
“This way.”
Confirming the white lion insignia on the man’s uniform, he led him in.
“You lot—head straight to Admin and the workshops, control personnel. Prep the files I need.”
“Yes, Vice Captain. Team 1 with me to the workshops, Team 2 to Admin.”
The halted carriages rolled inside. Watching the man skim files, Mac thought: Vice Captain? Not the captain?
The man, eyes glued to the papers, said,
“Vice Captain Jens. Greetings later—fetch the May 1st log first, please. Then the rest in order.”
“Got it.”
He sent his subordinate for the files. Every frown from the much younger Jens shaved years off Mac’s life. Please, no issues.
“Well organized. You make this form yourself?”
“Yes. Old one was clunky, so I got approval to revise it three years back.”
“Impressive.”
He flew through the logs at inhuman speed. Special Audit Team indeed.
Hyenas, traitors—whatever they were called, each auditor was surely a genius. Amateurs couldn’t handle top secrets.
How much time passed? The vice captain closed the last log—September’s too. Mind-blowing pace.
“Clear format was easy on the eyes. Made verification a breeze. No immediate red flags.”
“Relief.”
“That wraps it. Mind if I get some water?”
“Of course.”
He took the glass his subordinate brought and passed it over.
“One thing I’d like to ask.”
The eased mood let him speak. Unlike during the review, the vice captain’s face was mild.
“Go ahead.”
“The Audit Team captain isn’t coming today?”
If the captain wasn’t moving, it wasn’t apocalypse-level. He’d heard captains only stirred for true emergencies.
“The captain’s already in Dun.”
“What? No way.”
“He prefers going solo. Came in this afternoon.”
The vice captain rose to leave. Mac saw him off, then tore at his hair. The captain passed through today?
“You sure you didn’t mess up?”
His tactless subordinate piped up. Glaring, Mac racked his brain for daytime entrants.
But nothing stood out. Same as always—faceless crowd of similars.
(To be continued next time)