When You Come to the Grand Duchy, Follow Its Laws

That day, from the highest point, Ferda saw a group rushing toward the Grand Duchy of Valdrowa.

There were roughly twenty of them, all mounted.

Unless they had been bred in the Far East, horses invariably showed an aversion to a dragon’s presence.

Yet despite having been raised in the central regions, these horses showed no instinctive aversion.

They were horses trained to charge into the jaws of death until the very last moment, even if it meant losing their lives or having their legs cut off.

Only the Empire’s elite could ride such horses.

Ferda knew who they were.

“The Purge Unit.”

Luri, who had been standing beside him, replied.

“The Purge Unit is the organization that monitors the lords in the Empire, isn’t it?”

“Yes. It was originally called the Imperial Audit Corps, directly under the imperial household, but they changed the name among themselves and ended up with that.”

It had originally been established to monitor the corruption of local lords and keep them in check.

The emperor had established it to win the hearts of the people.

“They never showed up until now, but as soon as Lord Ferda arrived, they started poking around the Far East.”

Luri spoke of them as though they were the root of all evil.

She wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Do you know why? They had nothing to eat.”

“Nothing to eat?”

“Though they call themselves the Purge Unit, in reality, they’re a group that extorts money from the lords.”

It was an institution the emperor had ambitiously established to win the hearts of the people, but within a few months, it had lost its original purpose and become corrupt.

Ultimately, they had transformed into state-sanctioned thugs who threatened lords and extorted money under the pretext of monitoring them and rooting out corruption.

What had the Grand Duchy of Valdrowa been like before Ferda came?

The castle itself had been neglected, while the local lords were nothing more than a frontier relying solely on Valdrowa for protection.

They had simply left it alone because visiting was dangerous and wouldn’t even cover the cost of travel.

“They’re no different from wandering knights.”

“The only difference is whether they’re lords or their subjects.”

“If they came under the pretext of an audit to extort money… they’ll probably question us about Tesalos Walcher. Will that be all right?”

Murdering a noble was a serious crime.

The local lords who witnessed it had undoubtedly reported it to the Empire as well.

“They’ll mention the charge of murdering a noble, but they’ll treat it as only one of the charges.”

“Have I committed another crime besides that?”

“No, but yes.”

Ferda came from a knightly family.

So he knew what word the Purge Unit would bring out first.

The word that made every lord’s heart pound.

“They’ll pressure me with conspiracy to and incitement of rebellion.”

Conspiracy to and incitement of rebellion.

What words could make a lord’s heart pound more?

It was a word that could mean anything depending on how it was used, yet could cost someone his head if things went wrong.

They would undoubtedly force nonexistent crimes onto him and barge in.

“Then it would be better not to speak with them in the first place. Shall we throw them out?”

At Luri’s question, Ferda shook his head.

“No, they’re guests who have come all this way. Shouldn’t we properly lure them in?”

“Lure them in?”

“They’re people at the heart of the Arken Empire. How convenient would it be if we won them over in advance?”

“Hmm…”

All they had in their heads was blind greed.

The only thing they trusted was the single epaulet on their chests.

They were flawed from the very beginning.

“Those things lower than garbage are coming into our castle…”

Luri muttered to herself.

She openly hated knights.

Luri’s disgust had reached an unprecedented peak.

It couldn’t be helped.

She had suffered from their smell until recently, and had even been told by Valdrowa that she smelled.

“Lord Ferda.”

“What is it?”

“If those uncivilized idiots are going to enter this castle, shouldn’t they scrub themselves ‘properly’?”

They had to.

She looked ready to start a rebellion if they didn’t.

“Do as you please.”

“Thank you.”

With permission granted, Luri quickly went to prepare the bathwater.

* * *

Karl Harvest.

He was the eldest son of the knightly House Harvest and served as a field audit squad leader in the Purge Unit.

The position of squad leader was not particularly impressive, but Karl had no complaints.

It was one of the few positions that allowed him to press down local lords and play king under the title of a knight.

Recently, a new target had appeared before them.

Ferda Valdrowa.

The man who had claimed to be engaged to the Grand Duke to avoid being expelled from House Rosnova, and had eagerly taken the bait.

At first, everyone laughed.

They called him a fool for choosing to be torn apart by the Grand Duke instead of giving up his status as a noble.

But he wasn’t torn apart.

Rather, he was thriving.

Ever since he had set foot in the Grand Duchy, the stagnant East had begun showing signs of growth.

For now, all that had happened was that the Pascal Trading Company had established a branch, but before long, caravans would begin coming and going more frequently.

That meant a great deal of money would be changing hands in the East.

The Grand Duchy of Valdrowa, which they had treated like chaff, couldn’t help but look like a delicious target.

The first to catch its scent was the Purge Unit, an institution directly under the imperial household.

It was a foregone conclusion that this development would accelerate and its graph would continue to rise.

However, they had underestimated the achievement Ferda himself had brought about.

‘That means Valdrowa’s coffers have accumulated that much wealth.’

They never imagined that it was possible because Ferda was capable.

He was just a youngster who had been kicked out of House Rosnova.

‘The current regent is from a knightly family, so he’ll know what we’re doing.’

Being from a knightly family, he would also know about the Purge Unit.

So they assumed he might be more reasonable than the other lords.

He would know that the Purge Unit did not harass people beyond a certain point if they handed over a suitable amount of money and sent them away.

‘We need to extort as much as possible while there’s still plenty of money.’

The Grand Duchy was dangerous, and Valdrowa’s wealth and treasures could not be infinite.

‘But we mustn’t take it too lightly.’

Karl was not foolish enough to think everything would proceed according to plan.

People changed when they became intoxicated with power beyond their station.

If Ferda rose to the position of regent and began acting arrogantly, Karl had to be able to put him in his place.

Naturally, Karl had prepared for that as well.

“Did the reply we sent last time arrive?”

Karl had sent a letter to Count Consilius as a final precaution.

The adjutant who had checked its contents answered.

“Yes. He says he is on his way to Valdrowa Castle. We should be able to discuss things with him first.”

“Good.”

Karl grinned.

An informant who had told them about Ferda Valdrowa, an ally who would solidify the Purge Unit’s position, and a witness.

With this, they even held a card capable of bringing Ferda Valdrowa down.

No matter how he acted, he would not be able to escape the Purge Unit’s pressure.

At last, they reached the entrance to the inner castle.

For a castle with no servants, the surroundings were desolate.

Ordinary lords brought in many servants to display their dignity and prestige.

Yet all they saw as they entered the inner castle was a gray-haired man wearing a uniform and a girl in a maid’s uniform.

The man was looking down at them with his hands clasped behind his back, as though he had been waiting for them.

‘Is that him?’

The third son who had been expelled from House Rosnova.

He was tall, just as they had heard, but his body was slender.

He looked so weak that it was impossible to believe he came from a knightly family.

‘Perhaps because he’s the regent, his gaze is no ordinary one.’

There was depth in his eyes, and even at a glance, his expression suggested that he would not be an easy opponent.

Ordinary people would have tensed up, but Karl had seen situations like this countless times before.

Men with no substance who merely affected an impressive expression.

Karl had even watched them crumble.

‘Even so, he’s just Valdrowa’s kept man.’

In Karl’s eyes, he looked like nothing more than an affected young brat.

Hiding his sneer behind his helmet, Karl dismounted and removed it.

As the eldest son of a knightly family, he had a sharp, angular face.

“Pleased to meet you, Lord Ferda Rosnova! I am Karl, eldest son of House Harvest, dispatched under orders from the imperial Purge Unit to investigate!”

Karl greeted him with the utmost courtesy, placing a hand over his heart.

Ferda accepted the greeting politely.

“Pleased to meet you, Sir Karl Harvest. However, it’s been a long time since I shed the Rosnova name, so I’d prefer you call me Ferda Valdrowa.”

“Oh, my apologies.”

It was not a mistake.

He had only intended to remind Ferda that he was the third son of House Rosnova.

‘We’re both from knightly families, so you know what I mean, don’t you?’ was the strong implication behind his words.

Of course, the petty trick did not affect Ferda in the slightest.

“What business brings the Purge Unit, which protects the Empire’s subjects, here? There aren’t even any subjects in this Valdrowa Castle for you to protect yet.”

“This isn’t something we should discuss while standing out here. Shall we go inside?”

“Go inside and talk…”

Ferda was welcoming them before the inner castle’s doors.

He glanced briefly behind him.

He made eye contact with the young maidservant and nodded.

“We can, but you’ll have to follow our castle’s rules. Is that acceptable?”

“What rule is that?”

“A new rule was recently established in our castle: every knight must bathe thoroughly before entering.”

Karl frowned.

It sounded like a blatant insult implying that they smelled.

“Who came up with such an absurd rule?”

Red Dragon Valdrowa’s

attendant, Luri Silverwind.

“I did.”

But Ferda answered that he had made it.

He simply wanted to avoid an unnecessary exchange of words.

Ferda gestured toward the silver-plated armor with his chin and said:

“Wearing all that sweat-trapping armor makes you prone to illness. Especially here in the Far East, ominous energies lurk. Maintaining cleanliness comes first. That’s why I instituted the rule that you must wash regularly.”

“Hmm…”

He did not like the idea of bathing first in someone else’s territory, but when one entered another’s territory, following its rules came first.

Moreover, he had continuously felt the impure energy of the East on his journey here.

“Understood. Since we’ve come to the Grand Duchy, we should follow the Grand Duchy’s rules.”

“Thank you.”

Ferda subtly turned his head and looked at Luri, who had been waiting nearby.

As though she had been waiting for this, she stepped forward and bowed to the audit party.

“Welcome to Valdrowa Castle. My name is Luri, and I’ll be attending to your baths. This way, please.”

Karl’s eyes could not hide his disappointment.

Luri was a beauty with silver hair and silver eyes, but she had the body of a girl without a single curve.

Hearing that such a girl, with neither anything to admire nor anything to feel, would attend to their baths completely killed his expectations.

‘I suppose we’ll just take a quick bath and come out.’

Of course, that was only Karl’s thought.

‘I’ll make sure not a single drop of sweat remains on them.’

Luri was more earnest than ever.

She held a rough scrubber in her hand.

The spirits she had summoned were also waiting in the bathhouse, each holding a scrubber just like Luri.

They welcomed the group, prepared to scrub away every bit of grime clinging to their skin.

Kyaaaah!

Save me!

Ack! Aah!

That day, screams rang out one after another through Valdrowa Castle.

* * *

After bathing, Ferda and Karl faced each other in the reception room.

Ferda discovered one surprising fact.

‘His skin really was fair.’

The difference was so great that one could believe an entire layer of skin had been peeled away.

Karl, who had been scrubbed ‘properly’ to that extent, swallowed a curse inwardly.

“Thank you… for your hospitality.”

“Not at all. I didn’t expect we’d be able to show you this much hospitality either. Have some tea.”

“Yes.”

Karl and Ferda each lifted a teacup.

To facilitate the conversation, Ferda broached the subject.

“So, what brings the Purge Unit here?”

“As I said, we came to investigate. Do you know what charges you are being investigated for, Regent?”

“I don’t. That’s why I’m asking.”

“I see.”

So he was pretending not to know.

Karl brought out the lines he had prepared.

“Regent Ferda Valdrowa, you are currently under investigation on suspicion of conspiring to and inciting rebellion against the Empire. Do you understand?”

It was the exact charge Ferda had expected.

It was obvious, but he decided to play along for the time being.

“I see. Have you come to pin a medal on me for it?”

“This is no time for jokes with the Empire’s audit squad leader.”

“Was that not a joke? Since you mentioned conspiracy to and incitement of rebellion, I assumed that was what this was about. The only crime I’ve committed is contributing to the development of my territory.”

“I know that you are devoted to the Empire’s development and well-being, Regent. However, once a complaint has been filed, we have a duty to investigate.”

“Who filed the complaint?”

“I cannot tell you. It is confidential.”

As if they couldn’t tell him.

They couldn’t because there was no one.

“I hear you recently signed a contract with the Pascal Trading Company.”

“That’s right.”

“I also hear that, under that contract, Pascal is providing full funding for road improvements and the shortfall in supplies.”

“Not full funding. I’m contributing a tiny bit as well.”

It was important to have even a token stake, so Valdrowa Castle was paying about one percent.

Stefan had suggested it.

“All of this can be investigated as conspiracy to and incitement of rebellion against the Empire.”