“Yes, understood.”
Rondo headed out of the office.
An hour later, my men presented me with Enz in all his swinish glory, along with his wife and son. All three of them were absolute scum. I felt sick to my stomach.
“Lord Cliff, what possible reason could you have to send soldiers for us at this late hour?”
“I feel like executing you and your family immediately, so please choose your answers wisely.”
“…”
“Did you embezzle the funds meant for the orphanage?!”
“I have done no such thing.”
“The orphanage is claiming they haven’t received anything!”
“Well, it’s the people at the orphanage saying that. They’re probably just hoping to get more out of you by pretending they didn’t receive the money. Trash is as trash does.”
You’re the trash!
I controlled the urge to strike him and continued with my line of questioning.
“It seems that the jobs I’ve entrusted to you have largely remained undone.”
“It will all be done at a future date. We’ve just had some slight setbacks,” he responded, keeping calm.
“There’s also the matter of your debts.”
“Those are minor. I’ll be able to repay those soon, so it’s nothing you need to be concerned about.”
It didn’t look like he intended to tell the truth.
“Then you won’t have any problems with me inspecting your house.”
“Well…”
Finally, his expression changed.
“We have already begun searching your residence.”
“You really think you’ll be able to get away with that? I’ll tell my brother in the royal capital.”
“This is my town. As soon as I gather evidence, I will have you executed. Throw those three into the jail!” I ordered the soldiers.
“Wait, you have to let me contact my brother in the royal capital!”
“Someone shut this guy up. He’s sickening.”
The soldiers gagged the Rolands’ mouths with cloth and took them from the room.
Some time later, Rondo came back from examining Roland’s house.
“Did you find anything?”
“Yes, we found all the proof we needed.”
Rondo was pale.
“What’s wrong?”
“Master Enz’s actions were despicable.”
“Was it that terrible?”
“Embezzlement, fraud, rape, murders, illegal dealings—just too many things to count.”
“Murder?!”
“We are still tallying the corpses in the dungeon. The cruelty was such that I could hardly believe it had all been done by a human.”
Rondo’s account was just unbearable.
Apparently Enz would hire young girls from the country as his servants, have his way with them until they died, and abandon them in the basement. Since they had recently come from the countryside, no one would notice when they went missing. If a family member or their sweetheart came in search of them, he would invite them to his residence, ensnare them, and kill them. This had gone on for a while.
His wife would spend money freely on jewelry. Enz would then embezzle or misappropriate the funds he needed to pay off the debt she racked up.
His son would do as he liked abusing women in the town and would squash any lawsuits using Enz’s money and influence. He was in the habit of extorting shopkeepers around town, forcing them out of business if they defied him.
The reason none of this had reached me was obvious now—Enz had put a stop to it before it could. His older brother was most likely pulling strings for him, but this was my town. I wouldn’t let them get away with whatever they wanted.
“Execute them.”
I was out of patience.
“Are you certain? We risk making enemies at the capital.”
“It doesn’t matter. We’ll say they were killed by a home invader.”
The Roland house was executed. We secured evidence of their crimes. We seized their assets. We rescued the survivors in the dungeon. Once we treated those who had a place to go, we prepared them for the journey home. After everything was done, I headed back to Yuna’s house.
“I’m sorry.”
I lowered my head and explained why the orphanage’s funding had been cut off. Normally, I wouldn’t tell an ordinary person about any of this, but I felt I had to tell this girl.
“My subordinate embezzled the money. I didn’t realize it. I will be reinstating the orphanage’s funding immediately.”
“You don’t need to.”
“…”
“They’re all already working their butts off. They don’t need a subsidy anymore.”
“But that’s…”
I still didn’t feel better about it.
“If you have that kind of money, why not put it to good use?”
“And by that you mean?”
“Like you could use it to make an oversight department to make sure something stupid like that doesn’t ever happen again.”
“To oversee things?”
“They’d make sure that the money is being used the way you instructed it to be. For example, if they were in charge of the orphanage funds, they would go to the orphanage every few months and check in to make sure they were using the money for expenses they actually needed. They’d check whether the stuff they were buying counted as a reasonable purchase. If there was a person doing that, it wouldn’t be that easy to misappropriate or embezzle the money. Then again, if the person overseeing stuff ended up becoming a criminal, there wouldn’t be a point.”
“Then what would I do?”
“That’s obvious. You can’t just choose someone you trust—you need to pick someone who’d trust you so much they’d put their life on the line. You have to have at least one person like that, right?”
“Actually, I do.”
I had Rondo.
“Really? Good for you.”
Yuna didn’t say anything after that.
“So the orphanage really is fine?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“You really saved me there. We got by without any of the children dying. Thank you for that.”
I left Yuna’s house and returned to mine. I had a mountain of work. Rondo would have to take a break from being my butler so he could work as my right-hand man.
Chapter 47:
The Bear Makes Pudding
I WONDER IF IT WORKED.
I’d gotten my hands on a ton of eggs, so I’d decided to try making pudding.
When I opened the refrigerator, the cold air brushed my face. A row of puddings greeted me. I grabbed
