Rebirth in a Ruined Nation! The Life of a New Strategist Starting From Now - Chapter 2

The King’s Eye

“Hey, you there!”

A sharp voice that sent a chill down the spines to Roa and his friends suddenly came from behind.

“I’m talking about you, who is standing in the middle. What did you just say?”

I turned around and saw a man dressed in a black robe. Standing on the man’s two sides were knights wearing light armor. One of them  was a petite woman.

The people of this kingdom would never fail to recognize the person wearing that black robe.

Known as The King’s eyes and The Two Swords of the Rudek Kingdom among many of other titles, he was the lieutenant of the 10th division of Rudek Kingdom’s Knights Order, Rays Stein.

The two that stood beside him were Lapilia Zodiac and Grantz Savey, Ray’s most famous sword and shield.

The Rudek Kingdom’s Knight Order has 10 divisions. The division number has nothing to do with how skilled the knights who were the members of the division were, but the 10th Division was special. Other divisions were under a general, but the 10th Division was directly under the king himself. In addition, the 10th division didn’t have a fixed post so The 10th division could move freely. They were the most flexible division among the 10 divisions of the Knight Order.

Rays-sama was the person who held the real absolute authority among the 10th Division. This alone was enough to tell anyone how much the King trusted him.

“You, with the black hair, I’m talking to you. What did you just say?”

As Rays-sama once again asked me, I finally realized I made a mistake.

I frantically searched my memories. I remember at first, the bandit subjugation failed.

After that, Rays-sama noticed a strange flow of goods coming in and going out of the village, so he ordered an investigation and found out that the lord was colluding with the bandits. After that, he created a trap and successfully arrested the lord and the bandit together.

In short, no one should have known that the lord and the bandits were colluding currently. Even if I told Derrick and Yord about this, they would just probably listen to me and nod with no other questions, but this person… I was being eavesdropped by the worst possible person.

One wrong step, they might suspect me of colluding with the lord because of my knowledge of this information. In the worst-case scenario, I might get executed as a traitor.

I need to avoid that scenario at all costs. Think, Roa! Think of a believable excuse!

“Are you planning to ignore Rays-sama’s question?”

Lapilia-sama stepped forward with one hand on the hilt of her sword.

“….The tax ledgers of the village… is strange!!”

I answered with what Rays-sama has discovered in the past. I couldn’t think of anything else.

If I remember correctly, the first red flag that Rays-Sama’s has discovered in the past was the merchant’s tax ledger about the goods that the village has brought.

In that report, the village bought slightly more goods compared to other villages of similar size.

The increase happened little by little every month for three years. If there was a sudden increase in the goods’ trade, the kingdom would send an investigator to the village, but because the increase happened little by little, no one noticed it.

“The ledgers, you said? Explain.”

“Yes. According to the tax ledger sent by the merchant, the village bought slightly more goods compared to other villages, but that is not the case according to the ledgers sent by the village. Is that not strange? If the village reported they bought more goods compared to the merchant’s ledger, we could say that they falsified the ledger in order to get a more tax reduction. But in this case, the village reported they had bought fewer goods. When I saw the report, I thought that maybe the lord is planning something secretly.”

“A normal court official like you noticed that kind of thing?”

Rays-sama then stared at me with a piercing gaze. It’s over…

“Pardon me for saying this, but this man, Roa, has a powerful memory far above anyone else! It was to the point he was known as walking dictionaries among us! He most likely came across the ledgers by coincidence and ended up remembering its content because of his powerful memories and became curious about it…”

Derrick’s words were like a saving hand. Hearing Derrick’s words, Rays-sama turned to me.

“Is what he said the truth?”

“Yes. I have confidence in my memory.”

Rays-sama then fell into thought.

“Then, what happened in the 5th month of the 10th day last year?”

That was an easy question.

“That day, the Imperial Army came too close to our border so our kingdom was planning to send the 2nd, the 5th, the 7th, and the 10th Division to the border to anticipate the Empire’s invasion. In the end, the empire withdrawn their troop, so our kingdom only sent the 5th Division to the border.”

Rays-sama raised the corner of his mouth slightly.

“Your memory is certainly outstanding. I believe your name is Roa? I will launch an investigation about your findings. But from now on, if you notice that sort of thing, report it to your superior immediately.”

“Ye…Yes, Sir! I apologize!”

Rays-sama nodded in reply.

After we saw the three had gotten far, we quickly left the place and went to our workplace.

“Fyuuh… I thought my heart was going to stop!” Yord spoke with a low voice.

“We saw the real Lapilia-sama! She’s as pretty as the rumor!” On the other side, Derrick said excitedly.

Lapilia-sama, nicknamed the War Princess, was a granddaughter of one of the kingdom’s famous generals. Although it was pretty rare in this kingdom for a young woman like her to appear on the battlefield, Lapilia-sama was acknowledged for her skill.

At first, they ridiculed her and called her ‘little girl’ but soon the soldiers revered her as the War Princess because of her outstanding battle power, her excellence in commanding troops, and her good looks.

I heard from rumors that she said ‘that kind of nickname is disrespectful to the princess of the royal family’ but in fact, her grandmother was a member of the royal family so she herself was a distant relative of the king. She deserves to be called a ‘Princess’

For me, she was just a scary person, though. Earlier, one wrong word and she would definitely kill me.

As expected, stuff like battle and war was best to be seen and enjoyed from a distance.

I arrived at my workplace with that thought in my mind. A way for everyone I care to survive….as I worked while thinking of that, I ended up making a few mistakes in my paperwork and got scolded by my superior.

The morning changed to the afternoon, and now it was time for me to do my afternoon work! Right when I was thinking like that, my superior called me.

Did I make another mistake? With that thought, I entered my superior’s office and saw him looking at me with a slightly pale face.

“Roa, you don’t need to work this afternoon. Go to this place.”

He then handed me a written order for me to go to one of the central parts of the palace.