The Undercover Knight Sets Out!

An undercover knight basically does not act unless certain.

Since the domain is so vast that traveling through it inevitably causes considerable administrative waste, undercover knights are not dispatched unless the matter is at least half-confirmed through circumstantial evidence.

This was also why Duke and the dark elf company commander had come to this domain.

- “This tax report looks strange.”

Over the past few years, whenever Rex collected taxes from each city, he had reformed the administrative system so that the reason for collecting each tax was always recorded.

(Mayors who failed to listen were naturally selected.)

And immediately after declaring the emancipation of the slaves, he discovered something strange in the tax records received from this trade city.

- “As the number of taxpaying households increases, the citizens’ income tax should increase, while the landowners’ income tax should decrease by more than the reduction in slave taxes. But the citizens’ income tax is also decreasing by an unusual amount. It’s as though people are disappearing···”

Because Duke had spent an hour standing and dozing while listening to TMI in Rex’s office, he did not understand the exact principles involved, but the gist was this.

- “Judging by the tax records, it looks like slavery is still being maintained in the trade city. That city is a strategic point in our domain. So, Duke, go there and find out.”

That was the background behind the dispatch of Duke, the undercover knight, to this city.

However, contrary to expectations, the trade city they saw on-site was suspiciously honest.

The administrative groundwork Rex had prepared over the past three years for the emancipation of the slaves had been implemented astonishingly well.

The landowners had faithfully invested the subsidies they received from the lord in production facilities ahead of time, while the slave traders had freed all their slaves and successfully transformed themselves into labor offices.

It was a sight so beautiful that it was hard to believe it had come from the average human nature of this world.

But Duke and the dark elf company commander did not take the scene before them at face value.

‘Humans can’t be fixed. Money doesn’t lie.’

‘Lord Rex couldn’t have made a mistake.’

Duke believed in human wickedness, while the company commander believed in Rex, and so they carried out a sting operation.

And the ones who took the bait were vigilantes they had never expected.

The old butler Dominic—Duke—did not take his eyes off the vigilante’s blade as it approached him.

‘The sword is wild.’

The attacker held a single-edged sword in a reverse grip and aimed for his neck.

It was not a sword from any particular school, learned or stolen; it was the crude, barbaric sort used by adventurers.

That sword further strengthened the hypothesis that the attacker was a vigilante.

The old butler made a quick decision within his own slowed-down time.

‘Persuasion···’

He did not want to.

This old butler, who was basically overflowing with a troublemaker’s temperament, preferred making misunderstandings worse to clearing them up.

He was not eloquent enough to persuade someone, either.

For him, knocking someone down first and making them understand afterward was far more efficient.

Dominic habitually focused on the nape of her neck and activated his telekinesis.

But then he recalled his current condition and withdrew the telekinesis.

‘It’s not as if I’m going around advertising that I’m Duke.’

And this old butler had a particular persona to uphold.

Returning to reality, he pulled his head back just before the blade touched his neck, narrowly evading the attack.

Then, slipping through the natural opening created by the sword swing, he entered the vigilante’s guard.

Before the startled vigilante could widen the distance, the old butler lightly shoved her with his shoulder and broke her stance.

“Ugh!”

Dominic hooked her leg and stole the spare dagger from her waist as she staggered.

Then, when he slashed upward with the dagger, a thin silver line passed in front of the vigilante’s mask.

The falling vigilante did not resist, instead leaning backward and widening the distance with two somersaults through the air.

Thud.

When the vigilante landed, her mask fell to the ground a moment later.

The vigilante ran her hands over her face as though checking whether it was unharmed beneath the mask.

Only after confirming that just the mask had been cut away did she let out a sigh of relief.

The old butler cast a glance at the vigilante’s face and muttered as though complaining.

“This kind of sword is not to my taste, but given the circumstances, I suppose it can’t be helped··· I’ll have to be a little rough, my lady.”

The old man’s sharp gaze settled on the woman whose mask had been removed.

The woman’s feet froze beneath that gaze, and the old man closed the distance between them again.

The woman who had set out to hunt the old man had somehow been driven back and reduced to the hunted instead.

The old man’s fighting was straightforward.

None of his individual sword strikes were especially powerful, nor did he wield his sword too quickly for the eye to follow.

It was simply that his dazzling movements seemed to toy with human perception, making them difficult to counter.

‘Right?’

As she defended against the attack she predicted would come from the right, the old man withdrew his sword and grabbed the vigilante by the collar.

When she tensed her body, thinking he was about to throw her over his shoulder, the old man moved behind her while still holding her collar.

Then he shifted into a chokehold and questioned the vigilante.

“Kgh···”

“Be careful how you answer. Who are you?”

At the old butler’s question, the vigilante cursed inwardly.

‘What the hell do you mean, asking that while choking me, you crazy old man!’

Anyone who knew Dominic’s inner thoughts and witnessed this would have found that assessment perfectly accurate.

As her vision gradually blurred, she gritted her teeth and stabbed backward with the sword in her reverse grip.

Just before the sword reached his abdomen, the old man released her and widened the distance.

“Khhk. Kh···”

While she gratefully gulped down air, the old man began pressing her again.

After that, the old man continued to toy with her by mixing swordsmanship and martial arts.

During the process, she realized that the old man had no intention of killing her.

‘Damn it. Is he some kind of slave hunter?’

The misunderstanding only deepened as the old man attacked her without bothering to explain himself.

Then, the old man forcefully pushed the crossguard of her longsword with the back of his dagger.

The longsword slipped out of her hand with a soft whoosh, almost like magic.

‘Crazy!’

The old man muttered as though admonishing her.

“You need to hold your sword more tightly.”

Without giving her time to rearm, the old man drove her against a wall and lightly pinned her neck with his forearm.

The impact of hitting the wall caused the hat she had been wearing to slip off.

‘An elf?’

Long ears emerged along with the scarlet hair hidden beneath the hat.

Dominic stared into her green eyes and pressed the dagger to her neck.

“I’ll ask again. Who are you?”

“Kuh. Kill me.”

“I have no reason to kill you.”

At Dominic’s answer, anger flashed in her eyes.

“Damn it, you were one of the higher-ups? Get lost. I’d rather die here than go back there.”

‘Bingo.’

That answer was extremely satisfying to Dominic.

‘I don’t know where that place is, but it must be some kind of black market.’

She was probably an escaped slave.

Dominic quickly finished his calculations.

‘The protagonist of this story is··· probably this woman?’

Would there be room for an old butler named Dominic in this woman’s story?

The old butler quickly made another calculation.

‘I guess I’ll have to become the final boss of the third faction.’

Vigilantes trying to free the slaves.

A black market trying to maintain slavery.

Dominic was better suited to the role of a state authority that would tolerate neither side.

Having finished calculating, Dominic immediately assembled his lines.

“You’re going back? Where is this place you’re talking about?”

“As you’ve gotten older, have you learned nothing but shamelessness? Don’t play dumb.”

“As I said, I have no idea what you’re talking about, miss.”

As though proving his innocence, Dominic withdrew the dagger and released her.

He gave the confused vigilante a benevolent smile.

“It seems we’ve built up quite a few misunderstandings between us. Shall we talk?”

Of course, he did not mention that he had deliberately caused the misunderstandings because it looked fun.

***

“So you’re the escort for a tax official dispatched from the capital?”

“Yes, exactly, miss.”

Dominic bowed his head politely toward her.

He revealed only that they were agents of the state, not that the two of them were undercover knights.

[Indeed, undercover knights are not widely known yet, and a tax official investigating omitted slave taxes would also be a good way to put the enemy at ease.]

After receiving the report about the change in their persona, the company commander accepted it and marveled at Duke’s insight.

Duke had only done so for the sake of a later twist, but he let them take that as the reason.

Returning to the present, the vigilante also grew wary of the old butler once she learned that he was an agent of the state.

“So the rumor that the lord is merciful must be true. You’re planning to put me in another prison instead of killing me.”

“He is flexible as well.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“It means he is willing to overlook a troublemaker who disrupts order, so long as it is in pursuit of punishing evil.”

The pupils of the scarlet-haired elf trembled at those words.

Given what she knew of the world, she could not believe that the lofty and arrogant lord would tolerate a vigilante who defied the laws he himself had created.

Nevertheless, the old man continued speaking as though it were only natural.

“Work with us. Help us find evidence that slave taxes are being collected in this domain.”

In exchange, the butler offered her tacit permission to continue her vigilante activities as part of a plea bargain.

However, the response he received was entirely different from what he had expected.

“No.”

“Pardon?”

“Those bastards are mine.”

Only then did Dominic notice the vengeful fire in the elf’s green eyes.

He was slightly taken aback, but the seasoned butler did not show it and calmly changed the terms.

“Then I’ll change the conditions. I don’t know who they are, but I’ll give you the leader’s head.”

The response was immediate.

“Fine. But I’ll make one thing clear. I’ll cooperate with you, but I won’t take orders from you.”

“Naturally.”

Dominic had not expected otherwise.

“And give me the higher-ups too, not just the leader.”

“The organization must be larger than I thought?”

“What do you know about it?”

“Isn’t that why I’m asking you to cooperate, miss?”

The elf clicked her tongue at the shameless old man’s answer.

“I feel like I’m the one losing out here. Let’s add one more condition.”

“Go ahead.”

“Give me something like a token proving that I’m acting under the lord’s orders. That way, if trouble arises in the neighboring domain, you won’t abandon me.”

At that, Dominic readily nodded.

“I’ll give you one tomorrow.”

“Good. Then come to the labor office tomorrow morning.”

With those words, she promptly left.

Dominic let her go without protest.

He was certain that nothing was more reliable than the motive of revenge.

***

The day after Duke, wearing Dominic’s skin, caused a commotion.

Rex opened his eyes to the sunlight streaming in through the collapsed inner fortress wall.

“Yawn.”

What incident would be waiting for him today?

As soon as he got up, he opened the interface.

At the very top of the interface window, a report titled Most Urgent Matter flashed a red dot, demanding attention.

Gulp.

Rex suppressed the anxiety already creeping over him and opened the report.

Then, upon seeing the message that had arrived from Duke the previous dawn, his complexion turned blue.

- The neighboring domain was kidnapping residents from our domain, turning them into slaves, and repurchasing them in the trade city to maintain slave labor.

- They were also falsifying their administrative records by returning and exchanging slaves at regular intervals.

- Accordingly, undercover knight Duke and Hedonius will execute the mayor and head for that domain.

Rex was horrified and sent a message to Duke.

[Wait a moment. My domain isn’t even stable yet!]

He was not worried about a war.

Why would he fear war when he had a nuclear missile in his own domain?

What Rex was worried about was that he had not even finished stabilizing this domain, and he had no confidence that he could handle the increased workload from absorbing the neighboring domain as well.

Even a simple calculation put the workload at twice as much, and factoring in the wealth gap and other matters, it would be beyond imagination.

But Rex’s desperate message did not reach the undercover knights.

[That hero has left the effective range!]

Rex went deathly pale at the aggravating notification.

The hero who had left Rex’s domain was now beyond the reach of his abilities.

Rex’s vision went dark.

‘Why? How?’

Since when had an undercover knight’s duties included conquest?

Then Rex checked the scope of an undercover knight’s duties once more.

And at last, he noticed a clause he had ignored at the time, not knowing who had added it.

- If enforcement directly related to the security of the domain is deemed necessary, the knight on-site may take action first and report afterward at their own discretion.

‘Duke···!’

The lord, who had gotten up early for the first time in a long while, collapsed back onto his bed, foaming at the mouth.

Until his White Tiger maid came to wake him again.