The old man then gave Curo a long glance before he sighed and withdrew a document from the pile next to him. He then handed it to Curo and said, “Take a look and tell me what you think of this.” Curo accepted the document and after giving it a brief glance, his brows furrowed and he asked, “Are they serious?” The man gave a long sigh and said, “It is not too late to change Instructors you know.”
That answer was all that Curo needed to know that this document was real. Curo let out a long sigh as well as he looked at the document in his hands and asked, “Do they even have an explanation for the missing items?” The man then said in a monotonous voice, “We were attacked mid shipment and those goods were stolen.”
Curo’s brows furrowed even deeper as he asked, “Do they have a detailed report for it? Surely these things don’t work by the word of mouth?” The man then handed Curo another document and after Curo read through it, he massaged his temples.
He took a few moments to collect himself and asked, “Let me see if I get this right. They were attacked by Rogue Cultivators that managed to steal several Spacial Rings that were used to transport the Items towards the Academy but magically not one person, even the people that had carried the Spacial Rings, had even a single scratch on them?”
The man gave a nod and Curo then slammed the documents down to the table and asked furiously, “Are they idiots? Why not come out and say “Yes, we took them for ourselves but you can’t prove otherwise.”?”
The old man gave a chuckle and said, “Yup, these kinds of idiots pop up from time to time. However, dealing with them is easy actually.” Curo raised his brow and asked, “How?” The man gave an amused chuckle and said, “This matter of stealing is quite common amongst those that have Heavenly Instructors. I simply need to show them the documents and ask if they have a problem with Enforcement Hall searching through their belongings.”
He then took a breath and said, “If they do, they have something to hide. If they don’t then he Enforcement Hall will back trace their steps and find everything, earning them a punishment.”
The man then sighed, “Usually, every year, one or two tries to put some resources aside for themselves and if the amounts are truly miniscule, then we usually turn a blind eye.” Curo raised a brow but the man then flatly said, “We are an enormous institution, if the amount of resources that these people put aside for themselves can’t be considered much, it is more work than benefit to chase after every Qi Stone and Pill.” Hearing this Curo nodded his head and sighed as well.
In a big organization like this, putting some things aside for themselves was bound to happen. If the people were smart and didn’t overestimate themselves, then the Academy would simply give them a superficial warning. If the person however starts being too rampant with it, like the people involved this time, then they have to set an example.
The man then gave Curo a stack of papers and said, “Look through these, if you spot something odd or see something out of place, consult with me. If everything on the paper is in order, use this stamp and sign them.” As he said that, he produced a small black stamp and handed it to Curo. Curo accepted the stamp and then accepted the stack of papers and started going through all of them. Some documents were of the expenses that the Academy needed to pay, some were of the protection fees and tributes that other forces paid them and so on. As Curo checked through one document after another, he suddenly felt thirsty, When he looked up, he saw that several hours had already passed and the Sun hung high in the sky already. Curo stood up, took the tea pot and headed to the other room to make a fresh pot of tea.
After making a fresh pot of tea, he headed towards Instructor Sheng’s cup. After seeing that it was empty, he refilled it and pushed it slightly closer to him. Instructor Sheng didn’t raise his eyes from the document in his hand as he took the cup and took a sip. Seeing that, Curo smiled lightly and refilled his own cup as he continued to work. It didn’t take him long after that to sort through all of the other documents and after double checking that there were no problems he divided them according to their nature and organized them into different piles.
He then asked, “Are these the finished documents?” Instructor Sheng was brought out of his trance and nodded his head. He then looked at the organized documents on the small tea table in front of his table. He raised a brow in surprise and asked, “You are finished already?”
Curo gave a slight smile and said, “Since I was a cripple, my Father had several scholars teach me accounting. I used to manage a whole land for a few years. I managed to turn it into quite a profitable area.” Seeing the smug smile on Curo’s face, Instructor Sheng understood why Curo had not been the slightest bit reluctant to do these tasks or why he hadn’t asked about every thing.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
He then pushed another stack of papers towards Curo and said, “Help me look through these as well before you organize everything.” Curo nodded his head and started working on the stack of papers. As he looked through the stack of papers, he didn’t find any problems with the numbers and he found no problems with the reports either and stamped, signed all of them. After he was done, he organized everything again and took the finished stack of papers and organized them as well. When the two were finished with the stack of papers, Instructor Sheng looked outside and saw that it was mid day.
He then sighed and said, “A competent helper truly does make a world of difference.” Curo was just pouring the man another cup of tea when he heard that and asked, “What does Instructor Sheng mean?” The man gave a merry laugh and said, “If I am lucky, I usually finish when the last rays of the sun disappear. However, most of the times, I leave this office when that time has long passed.” Curo gave a wry smile as he knew what the man was talking about.
When he first took over the territory his Father had assigned him, he would have countless sleepless nights just to get everything up to speed. Then he would usually spend his entire day dealing with the paper work. After pouring the man a cup of tea, Curo sat down opposite of him and slowly drank the tea. As the two drank the tea in silence, a knock sounded on the door. Instructor Sheng’s brows furrowed as he gestured his hand and a door opened.
Outside the door, a young man was standing with a depressed expression. Seeing this, Instructor Sheng asked, “What happened?” The youth stepped in and after giving a glance at Curo, he said, “There has been a problem with the Mo Clan. They were attacked by a mysterious group called the “Blood Fiends”. They suffered many casualties and are requesting reinforcements from the Academy.” Instructor Sheng furrowed his brows and asked, “Shouldn’t that matter be brought to the Enforcement Hall?”
The youth gave a bitter smile and said, “Even though the Mo Clan is affiliated with our Academy, they lay outside the Myriad Beasts World, making this a Foreign Affair. The Enforcement Hall Chief said they can’t do anything without the approval of the Head of Foreign Affairs.” Instructor Sheng gave a long sigh as he stood up and said, “Okay, I will head to the Enforcement Hall and oversee this situation.” He then glanced at Curo and added, “Follow me.”
Curo also stood up and just as they had reached the door, Instructor Sheng turned around and said to the young man, “You can collect the documents, we are finished with them.” Hearing this, the youth’s face showed surprise as he looked at the neatly organized stacks of documents. He then looked outside and thought for a moment. It was his job to bring new documents in the morning and collect them each evening when they were finished. Usually, he would have to wait until the late hours of the night before he could collect them but surprisingly, today all the documents were dealt with by mid day. Even though he didn’t leap of joy, he was still extremely happy about it.
After Curo and the old man had left the office, they turned several corners and walked for a while before they reached a huge, nine layered pagoda. On top of the door, there was a huge sign saying, “Enforcement Hall.” Curo looked at the building for a moment before following Instructor Sheng inside. When they reached inside the building, it seemed as though they had been expected as a Student wearing the Enforcement Hall robes greeted them and quickly guided them towards the Enforcement Hall Chief’s office.
When they arrived there, the man didn’t raise his head from the documents. After waiting for a bit, the man finished the document and then raised his head. He gave a slight sigh as he said, “I’m sorry for bothering you with your busy schedule Instructor Sheng. However, protocol dictates that I need to have the permission of the Head of Foreign Affairs before I am allowed to send troops outside our domain.” Instructor Sheng gave a chuckle and said, “No problem. We just finished with all of our paper work and I was just wondering on what to do with the time. It isn’t that often that I am able to get all of it done before sundown.”
Hearing this, the man stared at the pile next to him and then at Instructor Sheng. A complicated look was on his face as he glanced at Curo and sighed, “Seems like you got a competent youngster assigned to you.” He then straightened his back and handed Instructor Sheng a document.
After reading through it, his brows furrowed as he passed it to Curo and asked, “Doesn’t this method of action seem quite familiar?” Curo took the document and after reading through it, he said with a furrowed brow, “Several of the attacks on our caravans that transported items to or from the Academy were done in the same way.” Instructor Sheng nodded his head however, the Enforcement Hall’s Chief furrowed his brows and asked, “So, this isn’t an isolated incident?”
Instructor Sheng nodded his head before saying coldly, “Lately, these kinds of reports have been coming in more frequently. Everything from transported items to attacks on Students that were out gaining experience.” The Enforcement Hall Chief’s face turned cold as he said, “Seems like someone is targeting our Academy.”
Instructor Shen’s face turned cold as well but before he could say anything, the Chief continued, “I actually put in a suggestion to form a new Division that let’s us bypass these situations; The Roaming Dragon Division.” He took a breath before continuing, “It will be formed from the Elders of Enforcement Hall and people from your Foreign Affairs Department that will solely deal with these kinds of situations that involve people affiliated being attacked outside our Myriad Beasts World.”
Hearing this, instead of being interested, Instructor Sheng asked, “Who did your recommend to become the Head of this new Division?” the Chief gave an apologetic smile to him as he said, “I recommended you to become the new Head of this Division.”