The King's Eye

Hey, you civil official over there.

A sharp voice rang out from behind us, freezing Roa and the others in their tracks.

You in the middle. What did you just say?

When we nervously turned around, we saw a middle-aged man clad in black robes denoting high rank. Two knights in light armor stood on either side of him, as if guarding him. One of them was a petite young woman.

There was no one in this country who could mistake the identity of the man in black.

He was none other than Rays Stein, deputy commander of the Tenth Knight Order, known by such nicknames as the "King's Eye" and the "Twin Heads of the Kingdom of Rudek."

The two beside him were Rapilia Zodiac and Glantz Survey, famous throughout the kingdom as Rays's sword and shield.

Both were military leaders regarded as heroes in this country, so revered that people said it was almost too much merely to stand in their presence.

The Kingdom of Rudek had ten knightly orders. Their numbers bore no relation to their strength, but the Tenth Knight Order was unique. While ordinary knightly orders had a general at their head, the Tenth was different: its commander was the king of the country.

The First Knight Order served as the king's personal guard, while the other orders from the Second through the Ninth each had a regular assignment. Unlike all of them, the Tenth alone was permitted to move freely and respond to circumstances as needed. In other words, it was a mobile reserve.

Rays-sama was the one who effectively held complete authority over the Tenth Knight Order. That alone should tell you how much the king trusted him.

Hey, didn't you hear me? You with the black hair over there, I'm asking what you just said.

Being singled out by Rays-sama again, I finally realized that I'd said something I shouldn't have.

If memory served, the campaign to suppress these bandits failed at first. The cause was that they underestimated the bandits and sent insufficient forces.

The Tenth Knight Order was called in afterward. Rays-sama noticed something odd about the volume of supplies entering and leaving the village and had the connections behind it investigated. He saw through the fact that the village's lord was supporting the bandits, turned that knowledge against them, lured them into a trap, and subdued both the bandits and the lord.

In other words, at this stage, no one should have known that the lord and the bandits were connected. If it had been Derik or Yold, they would have just said, "Huh," and let it pass. But the worst person possible had heard me.

If the relationship between the lord and the bandits were exposed, I might be imprisoned as a traitor colluding with the lord—or executed at worst.

Then avoiding the kingdom's destruction would be the least of my concerns. I had to come up with an excuse somehow... and fast!

Hey, are you planning to ignore Rays-sama's question? Rapilia-sama stepped forward in displeasure, her hand reaching for the hilt of her sword.

I... noticed something odd in the records of incoming and outgoing supplies! The words I blurted out pointed to the very discrepancy Rays-sama was supposed to notice in the first place. I couldn't help it; I hadn't thought of anything else.

I desperately rummaged through my memories. If I remembered correctly, the first oddity had been discovered through merchants' transaction records managed in the royal capital.

Compared with villages of the same size, the amount of purchases reported by merchants for that village was slightly higher. Nevertheless, the village's own report showed the usual amount.

Apparently, this had continued every month for about three years. A sudden change in the figures would have seemed suspicious, but because they had been inflating them little by little for three years, they had escaped the auditors' eyes.

Records of incoming and outgoing supplies? Go on.

Yes. According to the merchants' tax filings, that village always bought a little more than the others. But the village's own report of its purchases was normal. Isn't that strange? From a tax standpoint, I could understand padding the purchases and lying that the village's upkeep had cost more than it really did. That would be a false report to obtain a tax reduction. But the fact that the number was lower instead seemed strange. I happened to notice that document and wondered if something might be going on behind the scenes...

A mere civil official noticed that?

A gaze that went beyond coolness into outright coldness pierced me. Unable to bear it, I swallowed hard. Derik was the one who threw me a lifeline.

If I may, sir! This man, Roa, has an extraordinary memory! Among our colleagues, he's valued as a human dictionary! He probably happened to see the document, remembered it, and wondered about it...

Rays-sama continued to stare at me without so much as glancing at Derik.

Is that true? he asked curtly.

…Yes. I have some confidence in my memory, at least.

After hearing my answer, Rays-sama seemed to ponder for a moment before asking,

Then tell me what happened on the tenth day of the Fifth Month last year.

For me, that was an incredibly easy question.

Yes. Imperial soldiers had advanced to just short of the border, so our country hastily sent a watch unit there as well. The Second, Fifth, Seventh, and Tenth Knight Orders were scheduled to deploy, but the Empire withdrew its troops, so in the end only the Fifth Knight Order went.

Rays-sama's lips lifted ever so slightly when he heard my answer.

I see. Your memory does seem to be quite good. Very well, Roa, was it? Your question cannot be ignored. I will have it investigated. However, if you notice anything like this in the future, report it to your superior immediately.

Y-yes! I'm sorry!

After saying that, he signaled that we could leave.

Once we'd watched the three of them stride away in the opposite direction, we hurried toward work as though fleeing the scene.

I was stunned. I thought my heart was going to stop, Yold said quietly to us. On the other side of me, Derik exclaimed excitedly, "Hey, that's the real War Princess! Rapilia-sama really is cute!"

Rapilia-sama was known as the War Princess. It was unusual for a young woman to appear on the battlefield, but her grandfather had been the most capable and trusted grand general under the king of that time. His granddaughter was devoted to martial pursuits and raced across the battlefield.

The soldiers who had initially dismissed her efforts as a little girl's childish game eventually came to revere her as the "War Princess," impressed by her skill at reading opponents in one-on-one combat, her excellence as a commander, and her beauty.

Rumor had it that she disliked the nickname, calling it disrespectful to the royal family. But her grandmother had been a member of the royal family, making Rapilia-sama a distant relative of the king and suitably worthy of the title "Princess."

I might have been cut down if I'd made one wrong move, so all I could think was that she was a terrifying person.

People were better off hearing idealized stories about people like that from a safe distance.

With those thoughts in mind, I arrived at work and tried to figure out how we could all survive somehow... Distracted, I made several errors in the paperwork and was scolded by my superior several times. Just as I was ready to start the afternoon's work, my superior called for me.

Was I being summoned because I'd made another mistake? I went to my superior's room prepared to apologize, only to find my superior waiting for me with a slightly pale face.

Roa, forget your afternoon work. Go to this location.

The order I was handed listed a room in the central section of the royal palace.