The Secret Inspector does not move unless they are basically certain.
Due to the vast size of the territory, it was inevitably structured to incur significant administrative waste during movement, so a Secret Inspector is not dispatched unless there is near-confirmation.
The reason why Duke and the Dark Elf major had come to this territory was related to this.
– “Something seems off with this tax report.”
Over the past few years, Rex had reformed the administrative system to ensure that any taxes collected in each city were recorded under specific categories.
(Mayors who did not comply were naturally selected out.)
And right after announcing the liberation of slaves, Rex had noticed something strange about the tax returns from this trading city.
– “If paying households increase, citizens’ income taxes should increase, and landlords’ income taxes should decrease by more than the abolished slave tax. However, citizens’ income taxes are also decreasing abnormally. It’s as if people are disappearing…”
While Duke stood half-asleep in Rex’s office for an hour listening to TMI, he didn’t fully understand the principle but got the gist:
– “It seems like the institution of slavery is still maintained in the trading city. This city is a key point in our territory. So Duke, please go and check it out.”
This was the background for why Secret Inspector Duke was dispatched to this city.
However, contrary to expectations, the trading city he saw on-site was surprisingly clean.
The administrative groundwork Rex had prepared over the past three years for the emancipation of slaves had been astonishingly well-applied.
Landlords had dutifully invested the subsidies they received from the lord into production facilities, and slave traders had successfully transformed into employment agencies after freeing their slaves.
It was an almost too-perfect scene to be believable given the average morality of this world.
But Duke and the Dark Elf major didn’t trust the appearance before their eyes.
“Problems don’t fix themselves. Money doesn’t lie.”
“Lord Rex wouldn’t have made a mistake.”
Duke, who believed in human depravity, and the major, who trusted Lord Rex, conducted an investigation into potential traps.
And what they caught was an unexpected Vigilante group.
Butler Dominique (Duke) kept his eyes on the blade approaching his face from the Vigilante.
“A reckless swing.”
The attacker was holding a single-bladed sword in reverse grip, aiming for the neck.
It was a crude and barbaric sword technique learned not from any particular school but from adventurers.
This confirmed their suspicion that the attacker was part of a Vigilante group.
The butler, in his slowed-down perception of time, made a quick judgment.
“Persuasion…”
He didn’t want to.
Fundamentally, this butler, full of a reckless tendency, preferred escalating misunderstandings over resolving them.
He also lacked the eloquence for persuasion.
So, for him, it was far more efficient to knock someone out first and have a conversation later.
Dominique instinctively reached for the neck area while activating his telekinetic powers but then withdrew them, remembering his current state.
“I didn’t come here to advertise that I’m Duke.”
This butler had a different concept.
When he returned to reality, as the blade was about to touch his neck, he slightly tilted his head back, narrowly avoiding the attack.
He slipped into the natural gap created by the swinging sword and entered the Vigilante’s embrace.
Before the startled Vigilante could create distance, the butler lightly pushed with his shoulder to destabilize their stance.
“!”
Dominique hooked the Vigilante’s leg and stole a spare dagger from their swaying waistband as they fell.
He then slashed upwards with the dagger, creating a thin trail of silver before the Vigilante’s mask.
The falling Vigilante didn’t resist but flipped backward twice to create distance.
Clunk.
As the Vigilante landed, their mask fell.
The Vigilante, feeling their face to check if their mask had cut them, finally sighed in relief upon confirming that only the mask had been severed.
The butler threw a complaining glance at the Vigilante’s revealed face.
“Though this kind of fighting isn’t to my taste… since this is the situation, I guess I’ll have to get rough, Lady.”
The sharp eyes of the old man pierced the unmasked woman.
The moment the woman’s feet froze under his gaze, the old man closed the distance once more.
The woman, intending to hunt this old man, had inadvertently fallen into a hunted position.
The old man’s fighting style was rather plain.
Neither was his every swing of the sword powerful, nor did he wield a speed that the eyes couldn’t follow.
However, his movements were dazzling, tricking human perception, making it hard to counter.
“Right?”
Predicting the right side, she defended herself, but the old man pulled back his sword and grabbed the Vigilante by the collar.
About to throw her over his shoulder, when she braced herself, the old man twisted with her collar and fell backward behind her.
Then, changing his stance to choke, he questioned the Vigilante.
“Guh…”
“Answer carefully. Who are you?”
At the butler’s question, the Vigilante silently cursed inside.
“Are you kidding me? Choking me and then talking, you crazy old man!”
Had a third person who knew Dominique’s true nature seen this, they would have called it an accurate evaluation.
With her vision blurring, she gritted her teeth and stabbed backward with her backward-clutched sword.
Right before the sword reached his abdomen, the old man loosened his grip and created distance.
“Kuh… Kuh…”
While she greedily inhaled air, the old man resumed pressuring her.
The old man continued to frustrate her, mixing swordplay with martial arts.
In the process, she realized he had no intention of killing her.
“Damn. Is he some sort of slave hunter?”
The old man’s sudden attack without any explanation worsened the misunderstanding.
At some point, the old man strongly pushed against the crossguard of her long sword with the flat of his dagger.
The sword was magically flicked out of her hand.
“Insane!”
The old man lectured her with a calming tone.
“You should grip your sword tighter.”
Without giving her time to rearm, the old man pushed her against the wall, lightly pressing her neck with his forearm.
As the impact caused her hood to fall off,
“An Elf?”
The crimson hair and long ears hidden under the hood were revealed.
Dominique glared at her emerald eyes and pressed the dagger to her neck.
“I’ll ask again. Who are you?”
“Hmp. Kill me.”
“There’s no reason to kill you, is there?”
In response to Dominique’s words, anger flashed in her eyes.
“Damn. Was I a captain? I’d rather die here than go back there.”
‘Bingo.’
To Dominique, it was a most satisfying answer.
“I don’t know where ‘there’ is, but it’s probably some kind of black market.”
She was probably an escaped slave.
Dominique quickly calculated in his mind.
“The protagonist of this story… seems to be this woman, doesn’t it?”
Indeed, was there really a place for Butler Dominique in this woman’s story?
The butler quickly computed.
“I should play the final boss of the third faction.”
The Vigilantes freeing slaves.
The black market wanting to maintain slavery.
Dominique suited the role of impartial authority that wouldn’t tolerate either side.
After processing, Dominique swiftly prepared his line.
“Where exactly do you mean when you say ‘go back’?”
“You old man who only learned how to be shameless with age. Stop playing dumb.”
“Let me reiterate, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Dominique proved his innocence by returning his dagger and releasing her.
He smiled kindly at the startled Vigilante.
“Let’s talk. Clearly, there’s been a lot of misunderstanding.”
Of course, he didn’t mention that he had deliberately caused the misunderstanding from the start because it seemed fun.
“So, you’re the bodyguard dispatched from Yeongdo to the tax officer?”
“That’s precise, young lady.”
Dominique humbly bowed his head to her.
He didn’t reveal that they were Secret Inspectors but only made known the fact that they were from law enforcement.
[Indeed, Secret Inspectors are unknown as of yet, and a tax officer missing slave tax for investigation could also effectively lull the enemy into a sense of security.]
Upon receiving the concept revision report, the major approved, marveling at Duke’s insight.
Duke just did this for future plot twists, but it was left at that.
Back in the present, knowing that the butler was from law enforcement, she became wary of him again.
“Looks like the rumors about the lord’s mercy are true. You’re not killing me but trying to throw me in another jail.”
“The lord is also flexible.”
“What are you implying?”
“It means he will look past disorder caused by vigilantes, for the sake of uprooting evil.”
At this, the emerald eyes of the red-haired elf trembled.
Given her perspective, it was hard to believe that the noble and proud lord would allow vigilantes who broke his laws.
However, the old man went on as if it were the most natural thing.
“Collaborate with us. Let’s find evidence of slave tax collection within the territory.”
The butler offered her tacit approval of her Vigilante activities as a judicial deal.
But, her reaction was entirely unexpected.
“No thanks.”
“Excuse me?”
“They’re mine.”
Only then did Dominique notice the vengeance-filled green eyes of the elf.
A little startled, but the seasoned butler hid his reaction and calmly changed the condition.
“Then I’ll revise the condition. I don’t know who they are, but I’ll hand you the leader’s head.”
The response was immediate.
“Fine. But one thing is certain. I will collaborate with you, but I won’t take orders.”
“Naturally.”
Dominique, who didn’t expect this, agreed.
“And give me the lieutenants too.”
“Does the size of your organization exceed my expectations?”
“What do you know?”
“That’s why I’m asking for collaboration, isn’t that right, miss?”
The brazen old man’s answer made the elf click her tongue.
“I feel like I’m losing out here. Let me set another condition.”
“Please speak.”
“Give me some sort of token proving I’m acting under the lord’s order. So if problems arise from neighboring territories, I’ll know you won’t abandon me.”
To this, Dominique nodded readily.
“I’ll deliver it by tomorrow.”
“Good. Meet me at the employment office tomorrow morning.”
With that, she left in a hurry.
Dominique let her go without resistance.
Revenge is, after all, the most reliable motivation.
The next day after the episode with the butler disguised as Duke.
Basking in the sunlight entering through the crumbling wall of the keep, Rex opened his eyes.
“Hmm.”
What kind of event would be waiting for him today?
He opened his interface as soon as he woke up.
At the top of the interface window, a report named ‘Most Important Issue’ was flashing ominously with a red dot.
gulp.
Rex desperately suppressed the looming anxiety as he read the report.
And upon reading Duke’s message from the early morning, his complexion turned pale.
– Residents from neighboring territories have been kidnapping our people, turning them into slaves, and re-purchasing them in the trading city to maintain slave labor.
– They have been forging administrative records by periodically repatriating and exchanging slaves.
– Accordingly, Secret Inspector Duke and Hedoineus will execute the mayor and proceed to the neighboring territory.
Rex gasped and sent a message to Duke.
[Wait a moment. My territory is not yet stable!]
He wasn’t worried about the war.
What was the point of fearing war when they had nuclear missiles in his territory?
What Rex was worried about was that, with his current territory not yet complete, absorbing another nearby territory would increase his workload beyond imagination.
A simple calculation showed a doubling, but considering the wealth disparity, it was beyond comprehension.
But Rex’s urgent message didn’t reach the Secret Inspectors.
[The associated hero has left the effective range!]
An irritating announcement turned Rex’s complexion even paler.
A hero that had left his territory was now beyond his influence.
Rex’s vision darkened.
“Why? Why is it?”
When did Secret Inspectors’ duties include conquest?
Upon checking the scope of the Secret Inspector’s duties once more, a clause he had previously ignored finally caught his eye.
– If a situation critical to territorial law enforcement is judged necessary, the on-site knight is permitted to act first and report later under individual discretion.
“Duke…”
The lord who rarely woke up early frothed at the mouth and collapsed back into bed.
Until his White Tiger-made handmaiden came to wake him up again.
