Chapter 88

This is a work of fiction.

The characters, organizations, and names are all fictitious and have no relation to any real entities.

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083 - The Princess's Struggle

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I entered the castle for the first time in several days. Of course, I hid my presence and headed to the princess's office. Just to be clear, I'm not a stalker.

"Your Highness, we are about to head out to raid the underground guild."

The knight captain, Barbados, stood straight and reported to the princess. It seems a large-scale crackdown on the criminals is about to take place.

"Is the information management in order?"

Sorry, but the fact that I'm here means the information management is already compromised. But don't worry, I'm not corrupt enough to leak information to the criminals.

"We have gathered only those who have been confirmed to be clean by all the appraisers."

"I pray for the safe return of everyone."

"Hmm!"

In other words, there were some who were not clean. Apparently, about 20% of the knights were caught, and the knight order is now short-handed. As a result, the castle's prison is reportedly full.

It's a bit of a side note, but it seems that in this world, you don't get a big reward for a full prison. Well, with the prison full, it's not just unjoyful, it's downright laughable.

I followed Barbados as he left the princess's office. He is quite determined this time, as he plans to show no mercy for the attempted assassination of the king.

The mastermind behind the king's assassination is the guild master of the underground guild.

And that guild master, it turns out, is the Marquis Venus, the brother of the queen, and also the Minister of the Interior. I was truly surprised.

The Marquis Venus was not as overt as the Minister of Finance, but he was involved in corruption. Moreover, he was the guild master of the underground guild, a position that absolutely could not be exposed.

The previous marquis founded the underground guild, and the current marquis expanded it significantly. They are a rotten father-son pair.

By a stroke of luck, his sister became the queen, and he also took on the important position of Minister of the Interior.

I was amazed that the Marquis Venus's family was not thoroughly investigated during the selection of the queen. But if it were easy to find out, the marquis's family would have been crushed much earlier.

In any case, the Marquis Venus's family gained significant power both openly and secretly. They then used their public positions to further expand the underground guild.

Then, the king decided to summon a hero. At first, the Marquis Venus thought the king was being swayed by the Minister of Finance, but he learned that the king intended to use the hero's power to correct the corruption within the country.

The Minister of Finance was not a concern, but as the leader of the underground guild, the Marquis Venus was worried about any mishaps and planned to make the king appear to die of illness.

The queen was by the king's side, and the high priest was his deputy guild master. Poisoning the king was not a difficult task.

However, the royal physician was unexpectedly stubborn, so he had the physician's family kidnapped to make him comply.

He steadily administered the poison that would slowly erode the king's health, and in about a month, the king was supposed to die of illness.

Dargan's disease is known to be incurable, but it progresses slowly. This was fortunate.

Many diseases can be cured by priests or potions, but Dargan's disease is not one of them. Therefore, it was necessary to make the king appear to slowly wither away from Dargan's disease. If he died suddenly, it would be suspected that it was not Dargan's disease and that he was poisoned.

The princess decided to exterminate the Marquis Venus's family. Even though the attempted assassination of the king was not successful, it is still a serious crime.

The knight order split into several groups to carry out the raids.

The knight captain positioned himself near the border between the noble district and the commoner district for better command.

"First squad, we have entered."

"Good work."

The messenger reported on the operation.

"Today, we will purge all the corruption from this country!"

Barbados's breathing was heavy.

I also hope that the corruption is thoroughly purged and that the country can be run more healthily. I am building a foundation in this country, so I want it to improve as a nation.

This time, the targets are the Marquis Venus's family and the underground guild.

From there, many nobles will likely be punished in a chain reaction.

Reports kept coming in.

The Marquis Venus's family, including the marquis, his wives, and children, were all apprehended.

On the side of the underground guild, it seems one of the deputy guild masters escaped. However, most of them were captured, so it can be considered a complete defeat.

The temple knights are still resisting at the temple, but the knight order is well-prepared for this resistance and has deployed many elite forces.

The princess ordered all the priests at the temple to undergo appraisal. Since the high priest was involved in the king's assassination, the princess's order was justified, but the temple refused to comply.

The decision to send troops to the temple was apparently quite a dilemma. Even if one of the king's assassins was the high priest, the authority of the temple could not be underestimated. Sending troops to the temple could turn all the temples and their followers in the kingdom into enemies. In the worst case, it could lead to a civil war that could shake the nation.

Still, the princess decided to send troops. She had not yet secured the support of the nobles. If she had, the information would have leaked to the temple side. She wanted to avoid that. We'll see how it goes.

Soon, a report came in that the temple had been subdued.

After the raids, I visited the princess's office.

She is trying to hide it with makeup, but she looks terrible. She has dark circles under her eyes. It ruins her beauty.

She must be busy, not just with the attempted assassination of the king but also with the crackdown on corrupt officials.

The queen was under house arrest but has died. It seems the princess ordered her to drink poison. The queen's death will be announced as a natural death.

She makes ruthless decisions despite her cute appearance. However, even though the queen was a stepmother, it must have been painful to sentence her mother to death.

This might be the reason for the dark circles under her eyes.

The queen is also the mother of the crown prince, but he will not be killed. However, the crown prince's right to the throne has been revoked, and he will be confined for life, away from the public eye.

In this world, the sins of the parents are passed on to the children. In the case of an attempted assassination of the king, not only the parents but the entire family is destroyed. The queen was foolish. If she had cut ties with her rotten brother, she might have avoided death. Instead, she involved the crown prince and brought about her own downfall.

The next king is likely to be the second prince, who is only five years old, but with ten years until he comes of age, it's unclear what will happen.

The king has been detoxified by a proper priest and is recovering enough to communicate, though it will take some time before he can return to governing the country. Until then, the princess, as regent, will have to work hard alone.

The Minister of Finance and the Elbasil Earl and other financial officials have already been arrested.

The corruption among the financial nobles was so severe that if all of them were arrested and stripped of their positions, the government would not function. Therefore, the princess decided to enslave the officials with minor offenses and use them to prevent further corruption. Those who do not work hard will be sent to harsh environments, so they are working with all their might.

The princess is not one to be taken lightly.

The Minister of Finance and the Elbasil Earl and other financial officials have been stripped of their titles and reduced to slavery, and their assets have been confiscated.

The Minister of Finance's position will be taken by Minister Rudil, who is rumored to have had a fistfight with the Elbasil Earl. My detailed appraisal also confirmed that he is a serious person. He will assist the princess and ensure the proper functioning of the Ministry of Finance.

A serious person is also taking over as Minister of the Interior, so things will settle down eventually.

Next, to prevent further corruption, the princess decided to conduct random inspections of record cards.

Officials and knights, as well as others who serve the country, will be inspected at least once a year and four times every three years. These inspections will be random, with no prior notice and no set schedule.

These inspections will apply to both nobles and commoners. Those who refuse will be imprisoned without question.

Given the severe state of corruption, no one objected to this. If anyone had, they would have been the first to be purged.

The princess is taking decisive action, and it shows her determination to eliminate the bad elements from the castle.

The royal physician's family was found, but they were all dead. They were killed shortly after being kidnapped, and their bodies were in various stages of decomposition or skeletonization. The record cards were not found, so it was only through the appraisal of a troubled appraiser that the bodies were identified as the physician's family.

Even though they were coerced, the royal physician and his family were guilty of attempting to kill the king and thus deserve the death penalty. Although they would have died eventually, it is sad that they were killed so brutally and their bodies left unattended. I pray for their souls.

The princess rubbed her temples and stretched. Her movements were cute for her age.

Born as the king's eldest daughter, she was entrusted with the responsibility of steering the country with her slender arms. I feel sorry for her, but all I can do is send her my encouragement.

... Since this country recognizes queens, she might become one in the future.

The castle is still not calm, but we have entered the 8th floor of the dungeon.

With Bartz's guidance, we are taking a route with fewer battles, but we have still eliminated several groups of merfolk.

In front of us, the door to the boss room appeared.

"We have fought hundreds or thousands of merfolk. Although we have no injuries, we are somewhat tired. Let's take a break before the boss battle."

Bartz took out chairs and tables from his item box and placed snacks and drinks on them.

"Lord Toy says that sweets are good when you're tired, so I prepared honey-filled snacks."

Anneliese placed cookies and warm tea in front of me. The cookies smelled sweet and delicious.

"Delicious. This will definitely refresh me."

The cookies were fragrantly sweet, but not overly so, and had a refreshing taste.

"The tea is also delicious."

It had a slight bitterness but a refreshing aroma. The color was reddish-brown, but it wasn't tea.

"This is herbal tea. Saya said it's made from fermented Heal Leaf."

Saya? ... Oh, Itsumi-san. She doesn't usually call people by their first names, so I didn't recognize her at first.

"Did Itsumi-san make this? That's impressive."

"She can't fight, but she wanted to contribute by making something to assist Lord Toy."

"That's very kind of her."

"Is that all?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Anneliese stared at me intently. Her emerald eyes seemed to be conveying something, but I couldn't understand her intent.

"Nothing, never mind."

"I'm curious. If you have something to say, just say it."

"Lord Toy is insensitive."

"Eh?"

Anneliese turned her face away.

What do you mean by insensitive?

I'm actually quite sensitive, you know?

Thank you for reading.

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The next update will be on March 21st.