Chapter 6

When we returned to the office, the things I asked for were already laid out on my desk. Karl must have placed them there. I was thankful he worked so quickly.

There were two thick bundles of paper with their spines tied with strings. Perhaps it was because I knew the contents, but I felt an ominous aura from it… Right, this was the list of prisoners and hostages. I wasn’t sure which one to read first, but since hostages weren’t often replaced and remained fresh in my memory, I started first with Prison One… and picked up the list of prisoners.

If this really were information about scoundrels, I’d say thank you for the hard work, but at any rate, I (Heinreid) was the one who should be condemned. Their charges were almost allegations. Failure to pay taxes, assassination attempts and so on, were still acceptable reasons (but even these were also due to Heinreid’s absurd tax rates and him paying for his inhumane deeds), but the most common and unreasonable charges were something like perceived insults against those in power1. For example, ‘I don’t like their voice’, ‘I don’t like their eyes’, ‘I don’t like their name’, ‘It’s a crime for people I don’t like to be seen by my eyes’ …They were absurd crimes determined by such a vague judging criterion of the lord. I could assure you; he made accusations worse than a con artist’s.

Most of the criminals brought to my estate for such absurd crimes were often executed immediately, or otherwise died during the torture of Heinreid, but some of them had survived. Heinreid seemed to lose interest in people he had punished once, so criminals who ended up like ragged dust cloths (if they survived) were thrown into Prison One. …But even this was like a drawn-out execution. Prison One wasn’t like Prison Two with private rooms – it was a filthy prison lined with barred iron cages. If an injured person was forced into a place without proper meals and medical attention, it was only natural that they would eventually weaken and die… Hm?

I stopped my hand that was turning the page with bitterness.

This record… Something was wrong with it.

In addition to the criminal’s name and charges, there were two other columns for writing down dates. One was the criminal’s date of imprisonment, and the other was their date of death. The number of criminals were being added upon by Heinreid on a whim and fluctuated rapidly since their vitalities were different. That was supposed to be the case, but the number of deaths suddenly began to rise after a certain time, and the number of prisoners had become constant, never increasing significantly. For example, Heinreid captured two more prisoners. Then, two to three people died for about the next two weeks or so. There were accounts of deaths while no new criminals were added, but the number of people who died over time was just as much as the ones brought in en masse. The current number of criminals, which had been fluctuating in this way, was just thirty.

…This was unnatural. There was even a time where the number almost reached a hundred, and Heinreid, who called the overcrowded prison unsightly, carried out mass executions. In other words, if you left it alone, it would still continue to increase. But since the number was kept constant right now, the executions hadn’t been done for a while. …Was it Craig? Did he use some kind of trick to release the criminals stealthily and then report them dead? But Craig supposedly only had jurisdiction over the escort team. The prison guards were under Karl’s command, and since he was in charge of this list in the first place, there was no way he wouldn’t notice this incongruity… Could it be that Karl was also an accomplice of Craig? If that were the case, it might be safe to say that Prison One was settled without me having to deal with it. If the Top Two of this estate, not including Heinreid, had been working together, then, as long as I don’t bring in more criminals; Prison One would become empty sooner than later. Then, I’d just have to focus on the hostages in Prison Two…

I got a glimmer of hope and was about to pick up the list for Prison Two when a knock on the door of the room interrupted me.

“My lord. I have received a letter for you.”

…It’s Karl. A letter? Maybe it’s an invitation to an evening party? I have so much work to do here, so I don’t have much time for that, and I definitely don’t want to go to an evening party with the villains, but I have to at least write a response about refusing them, else they would feel offended. …It’s a hassle, but it has to be done.

”

”

“Alright, I’ll take it. Come in.”

When I prompted him, Karl entered the room with a voice saying, ‘Pardon my intrusion’. And was it that necessary for him to be so thorough? He walked up to the front of my office desk with such a fluid motion, and politely held out the envelope.

“Here it is.”

“Yes, thank you…”

When I brought the envelope into my sight to receive it, I lost my voice. It was an elegant white one with gold embroidery. The national flower, Amaryllis, was small but in beautiful full bloom in the red seal.

…This is a letter from the royal family’s… or rather, His Majesty King Eberhardt… the final boss, isn’t it…?

I felt my fingers tremble slightly, but I managed to receive the letter from Karl.

No, why? Why would he send me a letter at this point in time? Wait, calm down. It’s not such a big deal of a letter. After all, it was only yesterday that I woke up as Heinreid, so there’s no way they could’ve already found out about me settling my affairs. Maybe it’s that one, a discussion about their conspiracies, yeah. …I also don’t like that plenty enough, though.

I placed the letter down on the desk, thinking that a letter for an evening party, which I had thought was a bother a moment ago, was a thousand times better than this. I noticed that Karl was standing still and waiting for an opportunity. A pair of gray eyes quietly stared at me from behind its slender glasses.

Hm? What, I thought he was going to briskly leave like he did earlier. He might be waiting for permission to leave the room… or not, he seems like he wants to say something.

“What is it?”

Once prompted, the excellent butler opened his mouth without impatience.

“I’d like to tell you something.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“Craig Bauer. That man is secretly releasing criminals from Prison One.”

…Huh, no way. Didn’t you just say something ridiculous? Huh. Did I guess wrong about Craig and Karl conspiring together?

I chose my words carefully while somehow suppressing my agitation.

“Oh? That’s a very interesting story. Do you have any evidence?”

“The reason for my report is because I have just received conclusive evidence. I sensed that person was acting even more suspicious than before. That’s why I have been doing my own investigation in my spare time, but I was finally able to get one of his collaborators to testify just a moment ago.”

“…Did you torture him?”

“If you request for it, I will do so from now on, but that is outside my area of expertise. The person in question is also not aware that he has leaked information.”

A guided interrogation, huh. Well, you certainly seem to be good at that sort of thing.

But all that talk about how he just found evidence was most probably an outright lie. He had given a very plausible reason for doing investigation in his spare time, but this excellent butler couldn’t have taken that much time. He probably got the confirmation much earlier, but since Heinreid didn’t pay attention, he dared not say it. This time, I started to inspect the dungeons, so he simply pulled out the card as a competent butler. How terrifying. What terrifies me more than anything was that I still didn’t have any idea where this guy stands. He wasn’t being loyal to evil (Heinreid) nor was he collaborating with justice (Craig).

…However, it was surely not a good idea to distance myself from this man just because I didn’t know anything. After all, the scars left by Heinreid’s misdeeds run deep. There were definitely things I couldn’t clean up by myself.

—I have to take advantage of it.

I felt the atrocity that lay deep inside my head whisper.

“…Excellent. We don’t prepare an example for treachery in this estate but crush them all together. Karl, I don’t care how long it would take. Rats and worms that follow it, dig them all out with your power. We can’t afford to let them notice it and hide, so as long as I’m alive, we have to put off tightening up Prison One.”

“As you wish. But, my lord. As we move forward with our investigation, there is just one thing.”

“What is it?”

“Releasing Elmer Kisch from Prison Two… was it my lord’s decision?”

The wickedness in my brain became silent for a while. …That’s right, it wasn’t your doing. But.

“…It was my2 decision.”

“I understand. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

Whoosh. Thud, thud. Clack. Tchk.

The few onomatopoeias and mimetic words were still the same, and Karl left the room without wavering at all. The moment the door closed, I leaned wearily against the back of my chair with a deep sigh.

S-So tiring… What’s up with that guy, he’s really scary. Am I really going to engage in psychological warfare3 with that kind of guy? I don’t think I can win. Shit, if that happens, then I’ll have to rely more on Heinreid’s memory… I’m going to wither.

It was funny because when I thought about it, Craig seemed to be a very easy to understand and cute guy. Though he was quite muscular and bigger than me.

”

”

…And I was escaping reality, but I wasn’t finished yet with things I had to do. I looked at the envelope I left on my desk.

I’ll have to open this one, right… I don’t think I’d be allowed to do this tomorrow instead because I’m already tired for the day, right… Ah, the hell with it! Don’t put off things you don’t like! You’re a man, aren’t you, do what you have to do!

I grabbed the envelope, took a paper knife out of the drawer and broke the seal. Then, I unfolded the letter inside with great vigor.

“Ugh…!”

The damage was done where it was first spread out. The letter was completely filled with black ink, with small characters, tight letter-spacing and no gaps from start to bottom.

Is this a cursed letter? Stop damaging my sight, split it into two pieces instead of doing this!

But what was written would do more damage to me.

“……”

Well, it’s extremely long, but here’s the gist of it.

Ten percent of it was him worried that I fell down the stairs yesterday. Seventy percent of it was sarcasm. Ten percent of the contents were ‘I’ve been bored lately, so write to me about your atrocities and your thoughts on them.’ Ten percent of which he declared ‘I’ll come visit and see you soon, okay?’ To make matters worse, it came with a statement that a response should be sent out immediately. The long, long sarcasm was quite palatable, but the other contents made my stomach turn more than anything else.

First of all, how did he already know that I fell down the stairs? Even if there’s someone in this estate keeping surveillance, it would take at least one day to travel by carriage from here to the royal capital. No matter how I think about it, reporting it or writing a letter, then sending it back, the time frame just doesn’t add up. And what’s with the ‘atrocity journal with my impressions’? How the hell should I know that! Even if I have inherited Heinreid’s memories, his emotions only synchronized in my dream. What kind of torture is that, to have me remember and write them down myself? As for the last one, about him coming to visit me… don’t ever come!!

If something like, ‘There’s no need to rush’ was written, then I would have no choice but to send a response immediately. I’d hate to be left on my own and have him come to me, to stand off with the final boss… though we couldn’t really be all in a position to do that, but the less I had to do, the better. As the sun began to set, dyeing the room scarlet, I hurriedly picked up my fountain pen.

Damn it, all the people on the villain’s side are scary!