To Akemi’s great amusement, Viscount Dimitri’s sleeping chamber was greatly reminiscent of a wealthy middle school queen bee’s bedroom. His bed—made up with only the finest, fluffiest satin sheets—was decorated with a flowery canopy, several blood-red roses, and smelled like a candle from the discount section of a fragrance store.
It made her want to, in equal parts, immediately take a nap, and also throw up.
But her overpowering hunger for experience points topped both of those drives, luckily.
Besides the bed, there was a writing desk, neatly organized, two more closets full of robes and evening wear, a small, active fireplace, and another mirror, which she briefly paused before.
By Earthly standards, she looked a complete wreck, but people on Kodra didn’t seem to mind the look of someone who hadn’t showered in a couple days.
Deciding she'd eventually locate some soap, she attended to his desk, taking a seat in his heavily-padded chair.
The desk was empty except for an ornately decorated leather book—larger and thicker than a dictionary—and a letter.
Is this the ledger? She opened the book, and instead of any physical writing inside, it opened her System screen instead.
Grimguard City Ledger; Book of Numbers
Current Silvers Inflow {...}
Current Budget Allocations {...}
Paid Staff {...}
So this really is accounting. How boring.
Luckily, Akemi already knew what buttons she had to press. Pyre had told her as much on their walk through the sewers. It was nothing that required an advanced degree in business to wrap her head around. Just a keen eye for what would most outrage the public.
She brought up the current budget allocations, and expanded the view.
Current Budget Allocations {...} (Organized by budget allocation, descending)
* Infrastructure & Transportation
* Payment of Staff & Personnel
* Healing and Apothecary Services
* Enchanted Forest Maintenance
* Tax Administration & Collection
* Magical Research and Innovation
* Cultural Affairs
Tutorial Tip! To adjust funding for a sector, simply drag that sector up.
You may also create new sectors and specify their funding.
Akemi tapped a finger to her chin in thought.
How do I most efficiently orchestrate the downfall of the current government…
She smiled.
Oh. Yes. Obviously.
She dragged Tax Administration & Collection all the way up, awarding it sixty five percent of the budget. Taxes would now be one hundred and two percent higher, tax collection personnel would be the highest paid employees of the government, and there would be billboards around town advertising this fact; they would be posted starting tomorrow.
Give it a day, she thought, gleefully. This palace is going to be burning.
Quest Complete! Your Friendly Neighborhood Shadow Auditor
Requirements:
* Politely adjust the Viscount of Grimguard’s Book of Digits
Rewards:
* Rank 4 Shadow Auditor skills unlocked
* 1000 XP
You have leveled up! [Lv. 5 -> Lv. 6]
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
[+1 SP] [+1 STR, +1 DEX, +1 INT, +1 CHA]
Brilliant. She grinned wolfishly, already excited to invest that skill point. But I’m not done here.
She opened the Payment of Staff & Personnel tab, and navigated to where she could add a new employee. Then she opened the list of tax collectors, and added herself.
New {Tax Collector} added. Payment of salary to arrive 1st of the month.
Hmm. Not good enough.
Payment schedule changed for {Tax Collector: Akemi Nakamura}. Payment to arrive the next day.
Now, that’ll do.
Sufficiently happy with her mischief, she turned to leave, swiveling in the chair, when her eye caught that letter again. It was tucked neatly inside of its envelope, and had several stickers on the front of it, suggesting it had traveled a far distance. In very precise, scholarly handwriting, the sender was identified as:
Weatherman Brucif
There was no return address.
Akemi squinted at it. A weatherman? That seemed to be an odd person for someone as important as the Viscount to be in correspondence with.
Curiosity overtaking her, she peeled open the letter, and read the front page.
Greetings, dear Viscount. I am honored that you made this personal request to me. Here is the weather report you asked for.
Clear skies. Then cloudy. Then a bit of rain. Clear again, day after. Bit of rain on the last.
I’m sure you’ll have a beautiful vacation. Just remember to bring an umbrella.
There was a long paragraph break until the next series of words. As her eyes trailed down the page, she found that they began to hurt—as if they were being rewired, adjusting their focal length. Although her mind didn’t feel like it was perceiving a new language, she could tell by the subtle way the handwriting changed that the author had transitioned to a new tongue.
A tongue she recognized. The same tidy, neat lines of the writing on Nocturne’s ancient map.
My Dearest Dimitri,
I fear this will be my final letter to you.
I have wonderful news, and terrible news, my friend.
I will start with the terrible. The Runic Duke has discovered my research, and he plans to send me to Kyndra’s cleansing chamber at dusk. I have plans to escape, but I cannot disclose any details about my whereabouts once I do. I must go into hiding for some time, as he has eyes everywhere, as you know. He might even have eyes on this letter. So, for that reason, you must leave town as soon as you receive it. Do it discreetly. Don’t create much fuss. But be gone as quickly as possible.
Now, onto the wonderful. My research has birthed results. I was able, for the first time, to sell the soul of a hero on the Immortal Marketplace. Yes, you heard that right. As far as I understand, I am the first villain to do so. His name was Torkus, a holy knight belonging to the Duke, and he fetched me a stunning ten thousand silvers. My fingers shake just to tell you this—out of trepidation, out of fear, surely, but more so, sir, out of brilliant excitement.
This is a loophole, dear Dimitri. A loophole that will make us very, very rich.
Now, as you prepare to leave, one last warning: fear not only the Duke and his hero vigilantes. I sense a darkness looming over my shoulder—a cold one, late at night—and I fear to guess who that might have been. If it is not the Duke that finds us, it will be another. A friend.
I have attached my full research in this report. If you lose it, at any point, or if it has been confiscated already, I have created a second copy that you can find in our secret place. In …
In the Moonlit Fjord.
Yours, in the Immortal Marketplace and Beyond,
High Magistrate Serk
She stared at the paper, unblinking, for several minutes.
If she had read that correctly, this Magistrate Serk had uncovered some kind of glitch in the System. A way for villains to take advantage of the system that heroes used to gain experience.
Wait. Of course.
This is the real reason Nocturne sent us on this mission, she realized instantly. Not the ledger. This. He wouldn’t be able to translate the location name in the letter without me or Pyre. And if I go back to him, even if I try to lie about the location, he’ll just read my mind. I won’t be able to keep it from him. That cocky little bastard.
She scowled.
To top it all off, Nocturne had assigned her to this task, too. To ‘numbers.’ Not Pyre. And Akemi knew exactly why. Because if she were to try and run—to abandon the quest now, and search for the fjord herself—it would be betrayal by omission. Incrimination. She would have discovered something, and then stolen it in personal interest. The guild would have every reason to hunt her down.
This knowledge kept her neck under Nocturne's heel. It was an insurance policy. A trump card.
Not Pyre, though. Goody-two-shoes Pyre would have hauled the information right back to Nocturne, not caring the least if she could have used it for personal gain.
Or would she?
Akemi’s eyes drifted towards the other room. Through a sliver of space in the open door, she saw Pyre there, just staring at the closed entryway, fully focused, relentlessly concentrated.
She shook her head, and pressed her palms to her forehead.
This was a prime opportunity—a secret that no other villain, bar Nocturne, knew anything about. A secret that could make her incredibly wealthy. Heroes had to share their earnings amongst themselves, divvy it up and distribute it. But not villains. Not her. She would be able to have it both ways.
In fact, maybe it was this that the Avatar had been hinting at the whole time. That a villain in her unique position would be able to upset the delicate karmic balance between good and evil.
Is this that opportunity?
She knew one thing, as she stood, and headed for the door.
She wasn’t letting Nocturne take this from her.