As soon as Josh finished his little talk, Leo seemed to calm down and join them at the table to patiently wait for the village chief to deliver the documents. It was already closing in on the half-hour deadline Josh gave to the Chief.

“Milord, I was pondering what you are trying to find out from these documents. Gaius is a loyal man. His family has been serving as village chiefs for the past century.” Leo enquired.

Really?

“It’s just unusual back in my old world for one man to have complete control over the accounting of four villages, let alone when he doesn’t even own them. Even the purest of hearts get allured by the riches if enough time passes. Well, anyways, we’ll know in less than an hour how wrong or right I was.”

Hopefully, right. Because if he isn’t corrupt, then… I don’t even know. Though he’s definitely not staying as the village chief if it’s within my power.

“You are right, Milord, let’s wait and see.”

“They are coming back.” Elaria, who was silent for this whole debate, alarmed them with her eyes on the doors.

As soon as she alarmed them, the village chief entered the room holding a stack of papers, with a servant next to him holding another stack of documents.

I never really considered it, but the paper here is pretty good quality almost as good as the paper back on Earth.

“You can just leave them on the table, Gaius. Our Lord will browse through them, and you will be free to go by then,” Leo instructed the Village chief.

The village chief nodded in affirmation, then bowed as he approached Josh, left the documents atop the table, and went back to the doors.

“Magus Elaria, would you like to share a cup of tea with me as we review those documents?” Josh inquired.

“I’d be delighted, Ward Josh,” Elaria giggled.

“Leo, may you?”

“But, Milord,” Josh’s stern gaze made Leo reconsider from saying anything further. “It would be my pleasure, Milord.” He took a deep bow and left the room together with the village chief and his servant, leaving Elaria and Josh alone.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Shall we?” Josh turned towards Elaria. Instead of answering, she cast [Oculus Comprehensio] and took a stack of papers into her own hands. Josh, to not be left out, took a stack of papers for himself to read through.

***

The continuous sound of rustling paper filled the room.A room that otherwise would've been silent, two half-empty cups of tea laid on the table, obscured by documents and papers all around the cups. An empty plate that was once filled with pastries, now just left with crumbs, occupied the only spot that was empty of paper on the table.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Josh cried out in frustration, “Fifteen year’s worth of ledgers, and you have what, three gold coins missing?” He shouted again nervously, threading his fingers through the hair. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

I can’t be wrong about this. I just can’t.

“Any luck on your side, Lady Elaria?” he asked.

Elaria sighed. “Think about this for a second. I believe our past interactions proved you smarter than you are acting now.”

Of fucking course, who in the hell would hand in documents themselves that would incriminate them.

“We won’t find anything, will we?” he asked.

She clapped in response. “Congratulations, it only took you an hour and a half to realise,” she said sarcastically.

He threw the papers he was holding back to the desk. “B-but, if you knew why you didn’t tell me?” he grabbed her hand forcefully.

With no problems, she got out of his hold. After all, she was an elf, and magus both meant that she was physically superior to him.

“I’m your mentor, not your nanny.”

He slammed the table out of frustration, and the papers on the table instantly caught on fire.

“Calm down. You are burning your life force,” Elaria said as he grabbed Josh by the hand and pulled him in close. “I’ve played along today to your games. I’ll play along tomorrow or the day after. Keep in mind, though, that I will not be used, and if you want me to help you like I’ve done today or how I will help you tomorrow, you need to get a grip, Lord Josh.” She let him go. “Take this whole thing as a lesson rather than a failure. After all, you are still new to this.”

Josh sat down to think through the words of advice his mentor had just bestowed upon him.

Played to my games?

A game?

He broke into uncontrollable laughter.

Of course, it’s a fucking game that makes everything so simple.

Elaria’s eyes observed him questionably. He stood up, stopped laughing, patted Elaria on the shoulder, and gave his best smile as he said, “Thank you, Lady Elaria. I’m calm now. I owe you one.”

“You owe me nothing.” She sat down to take a sip of her cold tea. “So what are you going to do now?”

Instead of replying, Josh took a pen, grabbed one of the accounting documents that were on the table, and jotted in some numbers, which made it look like the village chief embezzled dozens of gold coins.

“Oh no, would you look at this?” he said, handing the document to Elaria. “It seems the village chief has embezzled dozens of coins. Could you help me to arrest him, Lady Elaria?”

“That’s a dangerous game you are playing,” she sighed. “But like I said, I will play along for now.” She stood up and started walking out. Looked back to him straight into his eyes. “Let’s go. We have one corrupt village chief to arrest. Don’t we?”

Josh took hold of the documents and frantically followed her. “Of course, we do, Lady Elaria.”