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Captain's POV
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After Count Poin's execution date had been set, the King's temper was on a short fuse.

This was especially apparent to me, as not 10 minutes after I woke up, he had called me to his study to give me a mission.

Said mission was to take 20 or so of the Royal Knights to confiscate Count Poin's possessions.

I'm thankful that it wasn't a hard task, considering I had quite literally just woke up, and so I managed to gather the group needed in about 5 minutes.

By the time a few hours had passed, we had already arrived at Count Poin's residence and the knights were beginning to take the items in the estate.

It was at this point that the Count's aide had come up to me, requesting a private meeting.

"I understand that my master has done the Kingdom a great disservice, but if anything were to rub the stain off his reputation the slightest bit, I will show it to you." (Aide)

As he speaks, he hands me a folder full of the Count's transactions, ranging from the day he was taken all the way back to 14 years ago.

"What did you want me to know with this?" (Captain)

"I wanted you to know that I write these myself, and I have written no lies. Count Poin was not the one who had bought the assassins." (Aide)

"What do you mean?" (Captain)

"Exactly as I said. If you look through that, there are no large transactions that had taken place that are not with reputable companies. Surely you don't believe any of the small purchases would be enough to pay assassins to murder a Royal?" (Aide)

"... I see." (Captain)

Confirming what he said, I flip through a few of the pages of the folder, and it all seems to check out.

"Well, I'm not good with these types of things, so I'll let the King's aide have a look at them, but it seems fine to me." (Captain)

"Thank you for listening to this humble servant." (Aide)

That was the first and only conversation I had with a servant of Count Poin's estate.

Not long after I had spoken to the aide, everything had been taken from the buildings, and the knights were awaiting orders.

At midday, we were already on our way back to the Palace, confiscated goods in hand.

When we reached the gates, the carriages that the possessions were in were taken to a separate area, while I headed towards the main part.

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"Doujima? Are you already done with the task?" (King)

Sitting in the leather chair at his desk, the King sat in a similar posture as he had before.

"I am, Your Majesty. I would also like you to have a look at something." (Captain)

I hand over the folder.

"What is this?" (King)

"It is an account of all of the Count's transactions, starting from the end of the war to now." (Captain)

The King lightly flips through the pages of the folder.

"And what of it?" (King)

"If you look through, you will find that any large sum was paid to reputable companies. There was not a transaction that could have paid off assassins recorded in that folder that wasn't to a well-known company." (Captain)

"...! So are you saying someone else did?" (King)

"That is what I think." (Captain)

"Haah, so it's not over yet... Call Subaru over here." (King)

He calls over to an aide that stood in the far side of the study, fingering through several documents.

"Yes, Your Majesty." (Aide)

With practiced swiftness, the aide left the room and returned with Subaru a few minutes later, Airi also following behind.

"What is it, Father?" (Subaru)

"How much did you pay the assassins?" (King)

"Umm... About... 1 platinum coin, I think..." (Subaru)

"1 platinum? Where did you get that from?" (King)

"... About 4 months of allowance..." (Subaru)

"... Right. That's getting cut. But anyway, Doujima, you're right. Count Poin didn't pay off those assassins. He never spent more than 60 gold coins." (King)

"So it's likely someone richer than him..." (Captain)

"I can't think of many. The Marquis would be one..." (King)

"Which one?" (Captain)

"Lovenhood." (King)

"Hmm... I see... He's likely the one who'd gain the most with the Royal Family's downfall." (Captain)

"But I can't do anything against him. There're no ties between him and the Count, and I can't accuse him in case he shuts down the economy." (King)

"So we're stuck?" (Captain)

"We are." (King)

Coming to this conclusion, the room goes silent.

"... Didn't Your Highness say that Baron Vionne was trying to curry favour with you?" (Airi)

"Hm? Yes, I did... Why?" (Subaru)

"Well, isn't he also a part of the aristocrats?" (Airi)

"He is..." (Subaru)

"Baron Vionne?" (King)

"Yes. When he heard Count Poin was getting executed, he started requesting to meet me." (Subaru)

"He's the one the Count sent letters to, right?" (Captain)

"He is..." (King)

"Getting the Crown Prince's favour... Is he trying to get more money?" (Airi)

"No, there's no reason to go to the Crown Prince for that, it's too risky." (Captain)

"Then something else?" (Airi)

"Like what?" (Captain)

"Hmm... Something... Not monetary?" (Airi)

"...! Could he be trying to get sovereign immunity?" (Subaru)

"If he is, then surely he'd be hiding something." (Captain)

"And if its immunity he's after, then it's likely something that doesn't abide by the Kingdom's laws." (Airi)

"... If he was talking business with the Count, who then got put to execution, so then he started to curry favour, then surely it'd be an illegal way of earning money?" (Subaru)

"Then he's trying to save himself if his corrupt business gets caught... Aide, bring me both Count Poin and Baron Vionne's income over the last few years." (King)

The aide leaves with a quick bow.

"This might turn out to be much deeper than I thought..." (King)

"Well, atleast now we can dig it out." (Captain)

"Let's hope so..." (King)

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Author Notes
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Oh my, another chapter done.

These last few chapters have been surprisingly hard for me to write. It's probably because I'm not good with politic type stuff, or maybe I'm just bad at mystery and solving cases.

I got stuck at about 780 ish words, right around the "The room went quiet" part because I had absolutely no idea what the characters would have to do, up until I remembered Airi was also in the room.

But anyway, thanks for reading, please continue doing so, and also consider following!