At That Moment, the Audit Department - 1
The daily routine of Deyras Croton, Deputy Director of the Audit Department, never varied by so much as a single day. Sandwiched between a superior who could only dubiously be called proficient at desk work and subordinates who had not the faintest interest in paperwork, he was the sole administrative officer among the department’s executives—and so he lived buried under the bulk of the Audit Department’s documents.
Within the Ministry of Finance, the Deputy Director’s office—staffed by Deyras and his personal aides—was openly referred to as “Division Zero” of the Audit Department. Its importance could not be dismissed. Of course, Division Zero’s duties were confined strictly to paperwork and miscellaneous chores, never fieldwork.
That was why even the Director’s open-ended dispatch had failed to throw the Audit Department into any serious disarray. Administrative work had always been handled almost entirely by Deyras in the first place, and when the Director left for the Academy he had delegated full acting authority to him. Consequently, nearly every approval passed through Deyras’s desk alone.
The sole remaining concern was the possible rampage of the three Division Chiefs once the Director’s leash was removed—yet, surprisingly, they had stayed quiet so far. The First Division Chief in particular had returned from the Academy and been as silent as a mouse ever since. It was puzzling, but it was not a bad thing, so Deyras left it alone.
Thus Deyras had been spending a far more peaceful tenure as Acting Director than he had feared.
At least, it had been peaceful until a moment ago.
Director?
The communication orb resting in a corner of Deyras’s desk was glowing with a blue light. They exchanged routine check-ins from time to time, yet contact at this hour was unusual.
“Yes, Director.”
—An imperial decree has been issued.
At the Director’s blunt words, Deyras straightened in his seat.
—I hear the Information Department forwarded some materials?
“Yes. Documentation on houses that showed signs of contact with the Third Glory. We received it this morning.”
—His Majesty has come to doubt the loyalty of three houses.
Deyras quietly nodded. Houses that had made contact with a group openly speaking of restoring Apels. It was only proper that the Emperor question their fidelity and strip them of their rights.
—Therefore the Audit Department, in obedience to the imperial decree, will purge the traitors.
“Understood. How wide a net shall we cast?”
—No exceptions.
The corners of Deyras’s eyes twitched ever so slightly as he waited for the answer.
“Understood.”
Yet the agitation was brief. Swiftly mastering his unsettled thoughts, Deyras submitted to the Director’s command.
—I would prefer to go myself, but unfortunately I am not in a position to leave my post.
“We will handle it. Do not trouble yourself.”
—Good. I can trust my Deputy. I believe you will keep it clean.
“I will not disappoint you.”
The Director nodded and ended the call; the orb on the desk lost its light. Deyras stared at it for a moment, then leaned back in his chair and pressed a hand to his forehead.
Trouble’s broken out.
When he asked about the scope, the answer had been “no exceptions.” Every member of a house branded traitorous—man or woman, old or young—was to be killed, and even the servants of that house were to be swept away.
Of course that was correct in principle. Traitors were to have their bloodlines extinguished, and those who had served them were to be executed so that no future trouble remained. But that principle had applied in an age when the Church’s authority was still too formidable to ignore, when even the slightest pretext had to be seized and crushed underfoot.
Now that imperial authority held overwhelming superiority, the custom was to cut down only the ringleaders and reduce the rest to slavery. A petty noble house, even if left unextinguished, could no longer threaten the throne. Showing the Emperor’s mercy by killing only those who had actually plotted treason was the present-day practice.
Something must have happened.
Of course, when custom and principle collided, invoking principle was perfectly acceptable. The Emperor’s own sword, the Audit Department, wiping out the bloodline of traitors who had threatened the Emperor could never be a problem. The Emperor would certainly be pleased by the department’s loyalty.
The only puzzle was that a Director who had always followed custom had now chosen to brandish principle. Something had clearly occurred—something Deyras himself did not know.
Having sorted his thoughts, Deyras reached for the communication orb. The Director’s order had been given; now he had to move.
He was re-examining the materials from the Information Department when a knock sounded at the door. He raised his head.
“Enter.”
The door to the Deputy Director’s office swung open and four people piled in. They must have met on the way; every Division Chief had gathered at once.
“What’s going on? It’s been a while since you called a full meeting.”
The Second Division Chief at the front trudged over, chose a seat at random, and sat. The remaining three followed suit and fixed their eyes on Deyras. Only the Second Division Chief had voiced the question, yet all of them clearly found the sudden summons odd.
“First Division Chief.”
Before answering, however, Deyras fixed his gaze on the First Division Chief. She blinked and tilted her head, as though she had not expected to be addressed.
“What happened at the Academy?”
The way her eyes flickered told him something certainly had.
“The Academy? Didn’t they just catch those Third Glory people or whatever?”
The Second Division Chief yawned and spoke in a bored tone, yet Deyras’s stare remained locked on the First Division Chief. He had already received her report that the Third Glory members had been captured, but something more remained unsaid.
Under the relentless scrutiny the First Division Chief’s eyes darted about; at last she opened her mouth quietly.
“The Third Glory brought up the North in front of the Director.”
The Second Division Chief froze mid-yawn.
“They even mentioned the Six Swords.”
At her words, a hair-raising silence settled over the executive meeting that had been thick with fatigue and annoyance.
It was the Third Division Chief who finally broke the long silence.
“Why are you only telling us this now?”
“And if you’d known earlier? Did you have a way to talk him down?”
“Well… no, but…”
The Third Division Chief sighed as though the situation were hopeless; next the Fifth Division Chief directed a question at the First.
“How did the Director take it?”
“How do you think? He just pretended everything was fine.”
“So he blew today.”
At Deyras’s remark every Division Chief’s gaze snapped back to him. He laid the Information Department’s materials in the center of the table and continued calmly.
“Houses that made contact with the Third Glory have been identified. Viscount Gorpu’s house, Baron Bendel’s house, and Baron Dosil’s house.”
“All of them second-rate nobodies.”
“Right? Maybe they went wild because they had nothing left to lose?”
“The Director has ordered the three houses purged without exception.”
Once more the Division Chiefs fell silent and exchanged glances. A purge without exception had been rare even during the Great Purge two years earlier, applied to only a handful of houses. Even House Aeshilon, which the Director had ground his teeth over, had lost only its head and heir; no one else had died.
“If we bungle this, we’re next, aren’t we?”
“He said he believes we will keep it clean.”
“Oh hell—I’d rather just get yelled at.”
The Second Division Chief shuddered as though a chill had run down his spine; the Third Division Chief kept mopping sweat from his bald head with a handkerchief. For the moment the Director’s rage was confined to those three houses. But if the subjugation of even one of them proved the least bit incomplete, the direction that rage would turn was obvious.
He was on Academy assignment and could not easily return to the Audit Department? Please. Once the Director’s eyes went completely bloodshot, would he care about such things? Despite the Crown Prince’s remark that there was no real need to kill even the head of House Aeshilon, it was the Director who had staged the man’s death as a suicide.
And before killing him he had heaped every possible mockery upon him. Thanks to that, the head of House Aeshilon was recorded not as a murder victim but as a noble who had taken his own life out of shame—an obtuse aristocrat who could not endure a fleeting moment of humiliation and ended himself.
“The punishment of the three houses is an imperial decree.”
Deyras spoke while trying to soothe the throbbing in his skull. Yes—an imperial decree. It was the order of a Director brimming with fury, and at the same time a solemn command from the throne. Even if the Director had said nothing, the matter would still have required thorough handling. They were merely widening the scope a little.
“Third Division Chief Leonard Hodella, Fifth Division Chief Marsilio Viago. Lead your divisions and purge the traitors.”
“Understood.”
“Yes, sir.”
The Third Division, which handled the Audit Department’s outward force, and the Fifth Division, which mopped up unfinished targets—when those two moved, three lower-tier noble houses could be disposed of swiftly.
“First Division Chief Ersebet Masalo and Second Division Chief Lafayette Baron will conduct interrogations before the servants are executed.”
“Yes.”
“We’ll do so.”
It had been a long time since every division of the Audit Department had been thrown into a single operation. But what choice was there? This was not mere corruption; it was a matter of treason, and a bomb on the verge of detonating was already flickering before their eyes. If they handled it the least bit carelessly, at least two people would fly into a rage.
“I will say it again. There are no exceptions. There must not be even the slightest delay. I will request cooperation from the Ministry of Special Affairs, so move quickly.”
Traveling to the three houses on foot would take considerable time, and there was a real risk that while one house was being dealt with the other two would hear the news and flee. Teleportation was essential. Begging a favor of the Ministry of Special Affairs was distasteful, yet with treason involved they would cooperate without much fuss.
Watching the Division Chiefs disperse in haste, Deyras let out an involuntary sigh. The Six Swords? They had provoked the Director by bringing up the Six Swords?
Madmen.
Not merely the North—they had touched them. If they had been hoping for suicide, their wish had been granted in full. It would have been safer simply to insult the Director’s parents. Whether a corpse would even remain was another question.
One could hardly issue orders to the Deputy Director in a place full of watching eyes. I had slipped out of the auditorium, given the purge order, and, while I was outside, sat for a moment on a bench to catch the breeze.
They’ll handle it well enough.
Not being able to take care of it myself was a pity, yet I was in no position to leave this place carelessly. I could not set private motives ahead of public duty. If the Emperor had given the order to Karl Crassius the private citizen rather than to Karl Crassius the Chief of the Audit Department, I would have run without a second glance.
What a shame.
I trusted my people. Inside the Audit Department they might look like a pack of lunatics with no common sense, but when it came to outside work they never disappointed. Of course catastrophes like the Third Division Chief’s friendly-fire incident were not entirely unheard of, yet with targets this clearly designated there was no room for error.
It was simply regrettable. The very fact that I had to leave it to others was already more than enough.
Still, I would content myself. Had no house at all made contact with the Third Glory, I would have been forced to vent my anger by merely smashing a few heads in that forest. At least this time it was my own order, carried out by my own subordinates.
“Brother!”
While I stared blankly at the sky, Luise came running toward me, trophy clutched in her arms, with club members trailing behind her like a string of ornaments.
“You’ll fall. Be careful.”
I rose from the bench with a faint smile.
Yes—content myself. Today was a day of good things. I would believe that the Audit Department would soon send one more piece of good news as well.