When the Superior Points, the Underling Scrambles - 3

If a family suffers damage from a mistake in the Audit Department's duties, the custom is to make amends by offering benefits and considerations that surpass the harm done. This custom existed long before I joined the Audit Department, which also means that, historically, there have been families whose heads got blown clean off by the Audit Department's friendly fire from time to time.

The phrase "benefits and considerations that surpass the damage" sounds nice enough, but from the perspective of a family that was living just fine until they suddenly got beaten half to death, the only natural response is a stream of furious curses. More critically, very few houses can survive long enough for an Audit Department friendly-fire incident to even be confirmed as such. More often than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠not, they die on the spot.

In that sense, House Yorun was lucky, and so was I. House Yorun lived to receive compensation for the damage, and I avoided the title of "the bastard who wiped out a perfectly fine count's house." There is even a gruesome precedent of an Audit Department Chief who was executed after accidentally annihilating five or six noble houses in the past.

"Oppa, are you all right? Your expression looks dark."

"Ah, I'm fine. It's nothing."

Luise's worried voice pulled me out of my thoughts. Just remembering that incident still made my head spin, so my face must have looked thoroughly rotten.

There was a reason I had ordered the Third Section Chief to plant his face on the floor in front of every single executive at the time. If things had gone spectacularly wrong, I might not have been executed, but I would certainly have received a heavy disciplinary punishment. So how do you think I felt when I learned that the young lady of House Yorun—the very victim of that incident—was Luise's friend?

She seems to know I'm the Audit Department Chief, too…

On the day I first met Luise, when I tried to slip away at a suitable moment, it was Irina who stopped Luise from holding me back. At first I thought she was a sharp-eyed kid who had noticed I was trying to leave. Looking back, she simply wanted me gone because I scared her.

Of course, the Third Section Chief had personally visited House Yorun to offer both an apology and compensation, and I had sent an official letter of apology as well, so the matter had been formally closed. But from Irina's perspective, the head of the department that had nearly destroyed her family had suddenly appeared right in front of her. Even if she had treated it as some new form of psychological torment and freaked out, I would have had no right to complain.

"Come to think of it, Irina sometimes asks about you, Oppa. Did you two know each other?"

Luise stared straight into my eyes as she asked, and I nearly sighed out loud. Having the man she was terrified of even in her dreams loitering right next to her best friend must have made him even scarier. She had probably asked just in case they might run into each other by accident.

"No. She was probably just curious because an auditor doing interrogations seemed interesting."

I couldn't exactly answer, "My subordinate rammed a death spear into your friend's family chest." But a faint shadow of suspicion had already settled in Luise's eyes. She was probably worried that I had some kind of trouble with her friend. The sad part was that she wasn't wrong…

Should I go talk to her at least?

Damn it. That would probably just make her freak out even more. And yet, talking might be the only way to improve the relationship even a little.

Under Luise's increasingly suspicious gaze, I couldn't say a single word.

That night, after spending the day under Luise's faintly sulky stare, a call came through on the brand-new communication orb I had bought because I felt bad about constantly using the headmaster as a messenger. It was Villar.

And the news Villar brought was a tear-jerking tale of hardship.

With the picnic taking the three kingdoms' key figures outside the Academy, the escort forces from those three kingdoms could hardly just sit still. The problem was that the people they were supposed to protect were the hopeless trio who had clawed and scraped their way into the Academy no matter what. When their escorts insisted on accompanying them for protection, the three had firmly refused to the bitter end, insisting they would be fine.

Are these guys actually insane?

That was the first thought that hit me the moment I heard the tragic news.

No escort in the world who is supposed to protect their charge with their life, without so much as a scratch, would cheerfully say, "Oh, is that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so? Heehee, guess I'll take the day off then," just because the charge told them not to follow. But when the charge keeps refusing protection, there is only so much an escort can do.

Villar had contacted me at this hour to deliver that pitiful news. It was more than enough to make anyone grab the back of their neck.

No, this wasn't even close protection—just watching from a distance—and they still refused that? Even if they had cleared a dungeon, I had no idea what original-story powers I didn't know about might explode into some incident. Of course I was going on this picnic under the assumption that the three kingdoms' forces would be nearby at a reasonable distance. Only a lunatic would try to handle the escort alone.

For a moment I was left speechless, and looking at Villar's haggard face through the orb, I almost shed tears. When the people above act up, the people below suffer. That was a universal truth that applied not only to the Empire but to the three kingdoms as well.

In the end I suggested that the escort forces hide in the forest near the hill. It was close to the picnic site, the plains around the forest made it easy to spot anyone approaching, and from the outside you couldn't easily tell whether escorts were present.

"It should be suitable for concealing yourselves."

This hardly seemed like something that warranted thanks, so I simply answered with a smile. The very situation of escorts having to hide so their own charges wouldn't notice them was absurd. Anyone watching would mistake them for assassins. Those bastards, seriously.

And so Villar and I shared the sorrows of the underlings and quietly ended the call.

The day of the picnic I hadn't particularly been looking forward to finally dawned. Erich and Luise had said they would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠take care of the boxed lunches for us to eat while looking at the cherry blossoms, so all I had to do was show up with my body. My mind, however, was far from at ease after the bizarre conversation the night before. Was this that plus-minus-zero thing? I would rather have been physically tired instead.

In the midst of all that, the sight of some of the escort forces heading to the forest first thing in the morning was genuinely moving. So I contacted Villar and told him that if they were discovered hiding in the forest, he should say they had gone there at my request for dungeon subjugation. There had been a dungeon, after all. Just so you know…

When Villar heard the word "dungeon," he looked ready to dash off immediately, so I quickly added that it had already been cleared the day before. His expression turned a little complicated at that, but he still thanked me for the consideration. Well, us fragile civil servants have to look out for each other.

"Everyone's here, so let's go."

Unlike the escort forces who had left for the forest at dawn, the Baking Club only set out at club time, leisurely boarding the carriage the headmaster had provided. It was large enough for six people to ride comfortably, so I put the kids in the back and sat up front next to the coachman.

The coachman's body seemed to be trembling a little, but I hoped he would understand. I wasn't exactly thrilled about being crammed in among those six either. When I quietly slipped him a few silver coins as a token of appreciation for his hard work, the trembling subsided at a remarkable speed.

"I shall take you there with all haste!"

"Don't push yourself. Just get us there safely."

I didn't bother adding the warning that if even one of the passengers inside got hurt, his head would fly. In any case, once the tension eased, his motivation seemed to surge. Financial therapy really is the best. A lesson I learned from the Golden Duke.

After that, both the coachman and I stayed quiet. I had finally managed to calm him down; talking to him now would only scare him again. Instead, because the driver's seat was silent, the conversation inside the carriage drifted out faintly.

"—Sometimes dungeons just appear out of nowhere in fields or forests."

Which bastard was unpleasantly bringing up dungeon flags ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we had already pulled? Was it Ryutis again? From the voice, it certainly seemed so. In the original story he had quite the reputation for that devil's mouth of his.

"That's why they made the artifacts to prevent it, isn't it? For decades now, even seeing a dungeon has been rare."

This time Later took Ryutis's words and drove a stake straight through my heart. Right. Dungeons are hard to even see these days. I just never expected one would appear in this area at this exact timing.

"I've never seen a dungeon. What are they like?"

"It is better not to see one, Lady Luise. The magical beasts inside are extremely ferocious."

Somehow the topic had locked onto dungeons, and now Luise and Ainter were continuing the conversation as well. Sitting quietly in a carriage gets boring, so of course they wouldn't want to miss a good topic once it appeared. Assuming one had read the original story, this was pure foreshadowing. It was enough to give me goosebumps.

"Even for a small dungeon, records say you need at least ten elite soldiers under a seasoned knight to clear it. Their size and strength far exceed ordinary beasts."

"Oh, that's a pretty specific record."

"The dungeon that left that record opened in our territory. It was after the artifacts were developed, so it was quite a shock."

I had heard about the one Erich mentioned. It had been a few decades ago, and the Crassius family head of the time had been thoroughly roasted by his friends over it. Just what did you have to do to get a dungeon opening in your territory?

And amazingly, not long after, a dungeon opened in the territory of the friend who had led the mocking. That time the Crassius family head had taken the lead in the teasing. The legendary mutual destruction of those two impressive friends still stuck in my memory.

"Well, that's by soldiers' standards. For us, we could clear most dungeons without breaking a sweat."

You son of a bitch.

At Ryutis's laughing remark I nearly burst into the carriage. Whether they could clear it or not was secondary—if they got even a single scratch in the process, the escort forces would end up with perforated cut lines around their necks. When a superior's smallest action reaches the people below, it is no different from an earthquake.

This was exactly why people born into positions above others were hopeless. Superiors never understand the hearts of those beneath them…

Filled with frustration, I quietly closed my eyes. I might as well just sleep until we arrived.

"Talking about it this much is making me want to go see a dungeon for fun!"

……

I was asleep, so I didn't hear a thing. That bastard.

And so, all the way to the picnic site, I wept in my heart.