The emperor's knights and inspectors burst in all at once.
"Everyone, stop what you're doing and step back against the wall!"
The knights who had rolled across the battlefield alongside the emperor were far too intense for the frail office workers.
Startled employees hesitated, then cautiously rose from their seats and pressed themselves against the wall.
The knights stood at a regular distance, watching us as if monitoring us.
A warning came down not to do anything foolish and arouse suspicion, since it was by imperial order.
The terrified employees kept sending silent glances toward Donovan, as if begging him to do something.
'We should at least know why we're being targeted.'
Unable to withstand the dozens of piercing stares, Donovan, sweating profusely, approached one of the knights.
"Wh-what seems to be the matter...?"
He started off with a relatively loud voice, but as the knight's gaze turned toward him, his voice gradually shrank—quite a pitiful sight.
The knight looked Donovan up and down and asked.
"Are you the person in charge here, Donovan Schroer?"
"Yes, I am."
Donovan affirmed in a tone that suggested he wanted to deny it. The knight called over one of the inspectors.
"Here is Donovan Schroer."
The inspector who approached immediately began interrogating Donovan.
"In the reports submitted from this department, evidence was found of document manipulation to facilitate tax evasion, bribery, and the creation of slush funds for the House of Camelot and its vassal families."
Donovan's face turned pale—no, greenish.
"W-what? That, that can't be possible?"
The inspector, looking displeased at Donovan's bewildered face repeating "that can't be possible," spat out sarcastically.
"If it weren't possible, we wouldn't be investigating, would we?"
As if there was nothing more to hear, the inspector handed Donovan over to the knights and, looking at documents, called for Andrew.
"The person in charge of Duke Camelot's territory and its surrounding areas—Andrew Nopen."
Andrew, who had been hiding behind the others in the lineup, was soon dragged out.
With his arms held by knights much larger than him, Andrew kept looking back as if he wanted to flee.
The inspector opened the middle section of the documents he was holding and held them out to Andrew.
"Did you write this report, Andrew Nopen?"
In the inspectors' hands was a copy of the strategic goods transaction report from the western region.
The one I had stayed up all night to write a few days ago to help Connie.
Seeing the names of the territories written on the documents, Andrew's face turned greenish like Donovan's—he must have realized he was in trouble. Then, as if finding a way out, he shouted.
"Th-that wasn't me! Constance did it. Two-thirds of the people here saw Donovan give Constance the work."
Just in case the inspector didn't know who he meant, Andrew even pointed toward Connie.
"That carrot-haired woman is Constance."
Suddenly pointed out by Andrew, Connie almost turned to look at me but barely stopped herself.
"Well, I'd need to look at it closely, but at first glance it does seem like I wrote it..."
Then she gave an ambiguous answer and smiled awkwardly. There was no chance for me to correct it.
"We will arrest those who aided Duke Camelot in accepting bribes and creating slush funds!"
The moment Connie gave what was close to an affirmative answer, she was promptly taken away.
Andrew was also dragged out after Connie, with the explanation that he needed to be investigated as well.
The remaining employees were herded outside the building, and at the same time, the outer palace building used by the treasury department was completely seized.
The knights and inspectors rapidly sorted through items that could serve as evidence.
Until they disappeared with their hands full of evidence, no words were exchanged among the employees.
Everyone's expressions were gloomy after this unexpected calamity. Among them, the one with the worst complexion was me.
Some employees who knew Connie and I were close friends kept their distance, afraid they might be suspected as accomplices if they stayed near me.
They even threw suspicious glances my way from time to time.
However, about half of the others offered words of comfort, saying I must be quite shocked judging from my pale face.
I politely received their concerned words while fervently thinking.
'What's going on? Why Connie?'
The knights had taken three people, citing charges of aiding Duke Camelot in bribery and slush fund creation.
'They held out the western strategic goods transaction report as evidence.'
But I hadn't done anything for Duke Camelot.
I had simply looked at Andrew's compiled western accounting ledgers and written it out accordingly.
'Then somewhere in the middle, something went wrong.'
As the actual author, I knew that about 90% of the transactions covered in those documents were iron ore.
'I remember it being difficult to track because the debt relationships between vassal families were tangled.'
Let's assume Duke Camelot had used the debt relationships surrounding iron ore to accept bribes and create slush funds.
'Whether it was from the minister's report or information from other routes—'
It seemed the emperor, having found a handle to use against Duke Camelot, had taken the author to secure evidence.
Recording iron ore transactions in accounting ledgers, sending them to the capital for confirmation, then compiling and organizing them.
To verify how far along the chain the corruption had spread.
The emperor was notorious for his brutal methods, but he wasn't the type to punish innocent people.
'Anyway, since I wasn't involved in Duke Camelot's crimes—'
It was unpleasant to be implicated in a crime I hadn't committed, but if I calmly explained, I'd probably be released.
If things went poorly, I'd suffer for a few days or weeks, but Connie needn't have stepped in.
But now that Connie had already been taken, revealing that I was the actual author wasn't a good idea.
'They'd suspect us both and take me too.'
It would only increase the number of prisoners in the palace detention center from three to four.
At this point, I inwardly chided Connie for meddling unnecessarily while suppressing my guilt, simply hoping she'd be released soon.
A few hours later.
Rumors began spreading that Donovan and Andrew, who were being investigated, were claiming they knew nothing about it, and that Constance had taken the lead in everything—if there was any problem, it was all Constance's fault.
"Those madmen."
After hearing the rumors from Heather, who had come specifically to tell me, I hurled curses at Donovan and Andrew.
Employees who had been glancing through the windows as if expecting some spectacle quickly returned to their positions when they saw me, having been called out by Heather, cursing so openly.
I was usually the type to become calmer the angrier I got, so it was rare for me to show my emotions this much.
Even as I acted like I was about to rush to the temporary detention center and grab Donovan by the collar, my mind was already cooling down and regaining its composure.
Donovan was suspicious. It didn't seem like the kind of statement born of selfishness to save himself, like Andrew's.
'Rather, it feels like he's following a pre-written script.'
Donovan's repeated muttering, like a broken recording device, about "that can't be possible" flashed through my mind again.
'Normally, you'd say something like "I'm innocent" or "I don't know anything about this."'
He was acting as if he believed he'd never be caught. I had more reasons to suspect Donovan.
'Why did he specifically give the work to Connie, instead of leaving it to Andrew, who was in charge...'
At the time, I'd dismissed it, thinking it couldn't be, but now that things had progressed this way, it seemed what I'd unconsciously said might have been the real answer.
I recalled what I'd said to Connie as a joke—"Maybe Donovan sees you as the easiest target."
Connie was a commoner without even a surname. She'd come from an orphanage attached to a temple.
Priests who had taken a liking to the unusually bright Connie had written recommendation letters and connected her with church members who would sponsor her, allowing her to enter the academy.
She'd graduated with excellent grades and passed the exam for capital officials, but she had absolutely no backing.
'If Donovan is the real culprit, from the start he intended to pin it on Connie the moment things went wrong.'
Donovan was a small-minded man with nothing but pride.
'Like a rabbit that digs multiple escape holes.'
Donovan probably believed he'd never be caught, but like a rabbit, he might have dug even more escape holes for himself.
'If my guess is right, Connie is in danger.'
I regretted ignoring my instinctual warning a few days ago, trusting that Donovan wouldn't do anything too extreme.
'I should have been more suspicious then.'
But now there wasn't even time for regret.
'There were some questionable points when I was writing those documents.'
First, I'd start there.
Back then, I was in a hurry and exhausted, so I'd let things slide.
But if the accounting ledgers from the west had indeed been falsified, I could find the tampered points if I dug deep enough.
'Numbers don't lie.'
I organized in my mind what needed to be done.
