Current time.
"Reselling military provisions. You resold fifty bags of military provisions? There's nothing left to say. Kill him."
The man in front with a pale face knelt on the ground. The man opposite at the table gave his dark purple cape a strong brush and then sat down. He looked at the man on the ground with a cold look. The man with the purple cloak was very young. He looked just twenty. However, judging by the decorations of the room and his dark purple cape, the twenty year old man was of higher rank than the thirty-plus man.
It's actually very simple to get promoted in the military. The death count has always remained high, particularly for teams on the frontline. Battles against the demons were especially intense. The demons showed no mercy nor did they have any concept of fear. They fought to the death even if they were the last one standing, so the death toll on the frontlines was very high. You could easily get promoted if you could survive.
That said, the twenty year old man didn't attain his rank through pure luck. He was also incredibly competent.
After all, the dark purple cape was the cape Imperial Guards wore, and it was also the symbol of an outstanding individual in the military. There were no more than ten people in the entire nation who were allowed to wear the dark purple cape. Most soldiers are soldiers from the North, because this nation originated from the North. As such, leaders in the military were basically people from the North, and therefore became a powerful military force in the North. As opposed to saying that the entire military obeys the Queen, it would be more accurate to say that it belongs to the nobles in the North. Nevertheless, all of said nobles are absolutely loyal to the Queen, for loyalty is the greatest honour for soldiers of the North.
As a result, the Queen's subordinates could lead the most powerful military on this continent.
The aforementioned man was an outstanding individual in the Northern military and was the leader of the military in the North.
"Don't do this, don't do this! Sir! Sir! I was tricked! I was tricked! Umm… I got greedy for just a moment… And, and I did it for my wife and child. I honestly miss home too much. I really, really miss home…"
The man raised his head up. His face was covered in tears and snot. He was an adult, yet he was crying in front of a kid. The young man with the purple cape stood up and placed his pen down. He calmly said, "You can miss your family. You just need to put in a request for a vacation. I won't be heartless. However, reselling military provisions incurs capital punishment. If I spare you this time, everybody will do the same thing in the future. It can't be helped. Your family will receive a normal subsidy allowance, so you can die in peace now."
"What? No, don't do this!"
"Die."
The young man stood up and two guards entered the room. They grabbed the chief in front and dragged him straight out. He was still shouting just moments ago, but right after the sound of a blade was drawn from its sheath, it went silent at the plaza below. The officer at the top pulled the thick curtain open and looked down at the plaza. The soldiers below were in the middle of slowly dragging a headless corpse to the side. The soldiers coming and going were used to that sort of scene, so they didn't even care to spare a glance.
He just watched the bloody corpse get dragged off and blood disappear. He was young, but pain and sadness could be seen in his gaze. He was just a kid, yet he had experienced struggles and torment others would never experience for an entire lifetime.
"Why did brothers who went through life and death before become like this? They didn't have selfish or crooked thoughts in the past, so why did he resell military provisions for money as soon as the war ended? He's a soldier, yet instead of dying on the battlefield, he died after the war. Is the honour and traditions we were proud of worthless in the face of money?"
He leaned on the wall lightly as though the person just killed was his special friend and family. He wore a painful expression. His eyebrows were pulled together tightly into a frown. He clenched his fists tightly and turned his head swiftly to look at a large drawing on the wall. He knelt down in front of it with despair.
The person in the drawing wore armour and held a long sword. Her eyes were fixated on a spot on the battlefield. Corpses were on the left and right of the drawing. Soldiers on one side fled in the opposite direction. Only the person with long silver hair with her armour covered in blood and blood running down her face possessed an absolutely determined look in her blue eyes. She looked in the opposite direction.
"Lord Veirya… What must I do…? What must I do to be able to do it how you did it…? Leading the soldiers in the correct direction… Lord Veirya… I beg you… Please… Can you teach me again…? I… I am truly… so lost…"
===================
I looked at the pile of food in front of me in the warehouse. I lightly pinched my chin and said, "This food needs to be dealt with. We do indeed have too much."
"We have too much food?"
"Too much from the perspective of the inspectors. We have only twenty bags recorded in the books, so having fifty bags now is obviously too many."
"But this batch of food has already been recorded…"
"Who told you to record it?!"
I looked at the man, hoping he'd learn. I scrubbed my hair and sighed, "I'm partly to blame. The origins of this batch of food aren't ideal. It's food from the military resold to us. I haven't laundered the food yet, and you recorded it? Give me the book. I'll burn it and then record it again. There wasn't much to record in the first place anyhow. Oh, right, don't record the transaction with the elf. We had twenty bags, but we went through some. We never got any more or exported any, understood?"
The man in front of me sniffled and reluctantly asked, "I have to record it again…?"
I pulled him over by his scarf and fumed, "You have another idea? Would you have to record it again if you didn't record it while being completely ignorant?! Don't record things with questionable origins. Only things acquired from legit origins are to be recorded. Otherwise, hide it. Hand out twenty bags of food for the townsfolk to prepare unique foods, so that they can sell them at this upcoming Fire Torch Festival. Then distribute the remaining ten bags. Don't record them. Just distribute them. Understood? We just need to leave fifteen or sixteen bags, understood?"
"I understand."
"Also, have you arranged the fur job I told you to?"
"I have. However, the hunters said that they were not too sure. They said that they would only be able to provide goods at the end of autumn… They asked if it was okay to use demons, since goblin intestines can be used to make very sturdy water bags."
I cut him off, "No, no, no. I already said to put the demons aside. They aren't attacking us. I'll punish whoever dares to go and hunt them down. Moreover, would merchants want those low quality items of yours? Low quality items don't fetch a good price and not many people are willing to take them, so stick with fur. Oh, right, organise a place to have a goods warehouse built. Merchants will come to collect goods next year."
"Understood. But, sir, it is strange. I am talking about the famine. We were told that a famine broke out nearby, but it seems to have been settled. Nobody is crying about a famine anymore, either. I heard that there is nobody below the city. Disaster relief did not yet show results when you returned. Can Her Majesty settle it that quick?"
"A little too fast that it's ridiculous…"
'Of course, I'm aware that there are two ways to deal with a problem. One, is to resolve the problem, and the other is to resolve the people causing the problem.'
'However, no matter how sinister she may be she couldn't have killed so many people with a single word, could she? You would be crueller than a demon to massacre a group of pitiful, unarmed people.'