A few days passed, and by this time, the drivers had finished loading all the furniture onto their carriages with the help of Apolo's servants. As a result, the drivers had departed. However, the task wasn't entirely completed yet because the servants hadn't finished arranging the furniture inside the mansion. Currently, several people were in the courtyard of the estate, transporting the coffins.

As this was happening, Apolo had just woken up, and like every morning, the nobleman proceeded to change. While doing so, Apolo looked out of the windows of his room and saw that finally, the carriages and the annoyed people had left. So, the young nobleman decided to approach the courtyard to check the state of his new possessions.

Upon reaching the courtyard, Apolo could see the servants working on the coffins, while Mateo "supervised" the work from a distance. He was sitting on a crate, having breakfast with a white drink resembling milk.

—Were the conditions of all the coffin crates acceptable? If not, we might as well toss the bodies into the lake— Apolo asked without a hint of mercy for the deceased.

—For the broken crates, we plan to replace them with other pieces of furniture from the house— Mateo explained, looking at the men working in the distance. He had no intention of getting closer to help with moving the deceased—We'll do the same with the carriages full of bones: we'll find a place in the dungeon where we can store them. As for the broken crates, we plan to sell the wood in the Ring City as fuel. Winter is approaching, and wood fetches a good price.

—Yes, do that, Mateo. Your idea is better— Apolo replied, remembering that the crates would end up floating, causing more problems with his neighbors—As for everything else, I need you to find someone in the capital willing to help me with a minor issue involving someone.

—Like the matter of the guard who always prevented our furniture from entering?— Mateo asked, somewhat worried. He turned around to look at Apolo with seriousness.

—You're quick, Mateo!— Apolo exclaimed with a smile—Yes, make sure the guardian of the southern cemetery in the Ring City is taken care of. I won't pay more than 100 crystals for his head.

—But why do we have to kill him? I didn't even know there was such a cemetery— Mateo asked uncomfortably. This was the worst type of task he could be assigned. While he only had to manage the hiring, the mere faces of the people he had to negotiate the deal with ruined his day.

—Based on what Orrin learned from the drivers: these coffins and bones come from that cemetery— Apolo began to explain—And from what I've been told, the cemetery guardian was preventing the construction work from progressing, indirectly hindering me from receiving another deal as good as the one we got. A thousand crystals and historically significant furniture, I won't turn down that heaven-sent gift from a stranger whose head will cost me less than 100 crystals.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

—But we don't know the cemetery guardian. He might have a family, a wife, and even children. Do you know what happens to people without...? — Mateo tried to say, attempting to convince Apolo. However, the young noble blatantly placed a finger on his lips to interrupt and continued with his idea:

—And while we're at it, we mess up the Ministry of Urban Affairs even more. That serves me well: I want that idiot drowning in his own mess, not sniffing around mine.

—As you wish...— Mateo responded begrudgingly, swatting away the finger from his mouth.

—Don't be so concerned about the life of that nobody, Mateo. We're just playing the magicians' game— Apolo replied with a cruel smile—And as long as we keep winning, we'll learn a bit more about magic. In the end, life is fair for people like us who fight for our goals, and even though they seem ridiculous now, they'll eventually pay off! And on that day, we'll look at this mountain of corpses and broken crates as the little treasures they always were.

—You're a very wise man, my lord— Mateo automatically praised, as if it were a prepared response rather than a sincere compliment. In reality, he was more concerned about the matters he had to attend to later.

—Anyway, was anything unusual found among the possessions?— Apolo asked curiously. He always found this part of buying lots of goods entertaining.

—We haven't finished checking all the coffins. This batch was quite large. The coffins we verified don't seem to have anything interesting, and if there's something valuable, it's probably in the pockets of the new servants— Mateo replied without hiding the fact that it wasn't uncommon for the new servants to get cheeky and steal some items from the property from time to time—We should do something about this issue: they don't even bother hiding it anymore, sir!

—No, no, it's alright. It motivates them to work harder: what's important to them often isn't to me. As long as they don't steal any furniture from the already furnished rooms, everything's fine— Apolo said with a cheerful smile as he watched the servants working in the distance.

Mateo looked at the calm smile on the young noble's face with a fair bit of fear. He knew this wouldn't end well and it was only a matter of time before Apolo's patience ran out. However, Mateo couldn't do anything to warn the new servants, and for now, he simply reminded them to never even enter the rooms that the young noble had furnished himself. He had been raised since birth and was positioned to be the next head butler of this family. Therefore, Mateo would never think of stealing from himself; after all, the reality was that the possessions of a noble were the possessions of their butler, especially for a lord as lazy as Apolo.

Mateo knew that if his father wanted to, it wouldn't be complicated for him to steal from Apolo. However, his father would rather die than do that, and it wasn't just a matter of honor: a butler's life was incredibly simple compared to that of the common folk. They had access to all the resources of a family, and all they had to do was fulfill the orders or, more accurately, hire people to fulfill those orders for them.