Chapter 10: I’ll have a brief inspection! – 1

Chapter 10: I’ll have a brief inspection! – 1

“Ugh… it’s dazzling…”

The second morning I’m greeted with in this world.

…Except for the fact that I wake up earlier, I don’t feel any particular difference.

“…It seems like the system isn’t activated yet? Anyway, it’s punctual for leaving work, but slow for coming to work.”

Last night, the system, which proposed ‘revival cost’ to me in a very uneasy nuance, ridiculously ran away, saying it was time to leave work.

I wondered if it should have explained it even if it made such a proposal with a conscience…

That didn’t mean that the system, which had already left work on time, would come back.

*…I was here all along. Stop making unnecessary slanders?*

“What, when did you come? Anyway, you’re unnecessarily fast only at times like this.”

*…Where are you going from the morning that you’re preparing so much…?*

As it said, I’m getting ready to go out now.

I’ve already finished a light wash, and now I’m quickly getting dressed.

The chilly spring breeze was not enough to go out in such light clothes.

“I have to go see Christie. I promised to come.”

*…Weren’t you trying not to get involved with the main characters?*

That’s right. Until yesterday, I was reluctant to get involved with the main characters themselves.

Especially with people like Elena and Christie, who can bring danger just by being next to them.

However, as a result of hearing about the ‘revival cost’ and the VIP format that the system said before leaving work, I changed my mind a little.

Christie is the richest person among the people who appear in this work.

Of course, it may be a little different now that the Duke is still alive, but soon after the Duke is assassinated, all the assets will belong to Christie, and she will quickly become the richest person in the empire.

…There were quite a few cases where the purpose of the assassination or kidnapping attempt against Christie was the wealth of her and the Duke’s family.

‘She’s described as having so much money, what’s the problem if I put a spoon on it?’

I’m a person who has lived very faithfully in a capitalist society.

The danger of getting involved with Christie? Of course there is. But on the other hand, it also means that you have a relationship with the Duke’s family.

I may become a target for the big shots who are aiming for Christie, but I will be able to suppress the mediocre guys with just one backing of the Duke’s family.’

So, getting involved with Christie has more advantages than disadvantages!!

…It’s definitely not because I just want to make money easily.

……Maybe.

*…Your intentions are all revealed in your expression… Well, it’s your life. More than that, Christie clearly told you to bring ‘things to sell’, so you have to make potions first…*

“Do you think I’m an idiot? I’ve prepared everything since you left work.”

Thanks to the fact that I’m definitely getting more and more used to it, the speed of making stamina potions and magic potions was getting faster and faster.

…Strangely, the quality was still the same.

“I definitely did what I was told… why doesn’t better quality come out…”

*Isn’t that because you need other ingredients?*

I was a little embarrassed by the texts that suddenly popped up in front of me, but I quickly regained my composure.

I was muttering to myself, reducing the sound as much as possible, but it seems that the system heard it again.

“…It was a monologue.”

*I can hear everything? And you should just think about things like that.*

“If you’ve been in a private hospital room for years, you’ll be like this. If you’re alone in a place with no sound or sign, it really feels like you’ve been forgotten.”

*No, I’m here now, and there are many places packed with people if you just go out a little…*

“Ah, anyway, it’s a monologue. Even if you hear it, pretend you don’t hear it and don’t react! Respect monologues!”

It’s an era where all tastes are respected, and monologues are also a taste.

Therefore, monologues must also be respected!

*…Yes, yes. I understand. Let’s go out quickly… I feel tired from the morning.*

Watching the system’s declaration of surrender, I lightly opened the door of the house.

The spring breeze was blowing very pleasantly today.

***

A classic and neat room.

A woman checking various documents inside an office decorated with luxurious furniture.

The woman, who had been checking the documents, suddenly checked the time.

“…She’s not coming, is she?”

It was still morning, but Christie, the commander of the city’s defense force, kept checking the time.

It’s not because of anything else, but because of a girl she met yesterday.

“Well, how many kids like that are there in this city? Children who have to live alone without parents or family…”

It was true, and it was the problem that Christie, as the commander of the defense force, was most concerned about.

They were clearly children or boys and girls who needed relief.

Even if they miraculously lived properly until adulthood, there’s no way such children can get a proper job.

In fact, the girl she saw yesterday was also selling unknown drugs.

As such, this problem was a serious problem for Christie and the biggest problem in the current imperial capital, where there was no external conflict.

It would be fine if it just ended with there being so many pitiful children, but it was a problem because those children formed gangs of thieves or criminal organizations that made the public order unstable.

However, there are also humanitarian and moral problems with unconditionally cracking down on them, and if they are left unattended, the security of the capital becomes unstable.

In addition, the nobles who want to keep the Duke’s family in check are constantly bringing up this issue, trying to reduce Christie’s authority and send her to the frontier altogether.

It was a problem that had to be solved for the sake of the empire and for her own sake.

And, since a girl who has not yet entered a strange path has appeared, it was not so strange that she offered a very unconventional condition to give the girl an ID card quickly.

Of course, someone in the same situation might say it’s an unfair privilege…

“But she said she would come in person… If she shows this much will, wouldn’t it be okay to give her some privileges?

She’s practically the only one among so many children in similar situations?”

She had her own logic and reasons.

The first case is important in everything.

If this girl easily gets an ID card this time and officially does business or works in the capital of the empire, what about the other children?

If you just spread the rumor that she easily received an ID card, wouldn’t they come to Christie, thinking, “Oh? Is it more doable than I thought?” and naturally reduce the number of vagrants causing problems in the city?

…Even while thinking that, she added very quietly, “…But there probably won’t be any kids as cute as that, right?”

“…Is she really not coming?”

However, such thoughts of her and the fact that the girl she met yesterday actually comes are another matter.

Frankly, a citizen without an ID card can be deported from the city at any time.

And she is the commander of the defense force in charge of managing the city’s security and safety.

No matter how sincere she was, it could feel like a trap from the girl’s point of view.

In the first place, what kind of person would want to meet the commander of the city’s defense force normally?

Typically, meeting the commander of the defense force means… that you’ve done something wrong and been dragged here.

“Well, even I wouldn’t have come. Who would want to have a one-on-one interview with the commander of the defense force.

Haa… Anyway, I’m not suited for this kind of work. I’m always the villain.”

Saying that, Christie recalled the girl she met yesterday.

A lively and slightly brazen girl.

Clearly, she looked like a noble if you only looked at her face, but her clothes were closer to a commoner, and in reality, she was a child who didn’t even have an ID card and wasn’t even a citizen of the capital.

And… a voice that captivates people, or to put it a little bluntly, bewitches them.

It was a cute and bewitching girl who was hard to forget because of her distinctive hair and eye color.

And Christie, who likes cute things but always has to be stiff and serious due to various situations, was naturally expecting and waiting for such a girl’s visit.

Of course, she was thinking in her heart that she wouldn’t come to her.

“But it would be nice if she came. I can treat her well.”

In fact, Christie was an ordinary girl who liked cute things, unlike the evaluation that she was upright and strong.

She was given the grandiose title of commander of the defense force, but she was only 24 years old.

Although she looked a little… stiff and emotionless, it was just because she resembled the Duke.

Therefore, when other nobles gave her stiff books as gifts instead of cute dolls, saying that she looked dignified, Christie resented her father for giving her such an appearance.

Of course, if the young masters who were fascinated by her appearance heard that, it was an act that would have praised her beauty, saying what are you talking about,

It was a useless beauty that only caused misunderstandings for Christie herself.

Anyway, if you’re a 24-year-old noble young lady in the capital,

Most of them were at the age to get married and go to social parties, or to go to parties to find a marriage partner, and Christie also wanted to do that.

She also dreamed of romantic situations and didn’t hate glamorous party venues.

That’s why she often went to parties and played with cute young ladies from other families, and imagined such days where she had unexpected encounters.

…Of course, in reality, Christie was holed up in her office dealing with piles of documents.

Christie always tried to process the documents as quickly as possible and go to the parties that were often held… but the work of the commander of the defense force was endless.

That’s why Christie became a person who voluntarily did more work.

People always praised her as a role model for nobles, saying that she always did her job silently, hating banquets and parties, looking at Christie’s expression, which was always expressionless and a little cold.

Considering Christie’s achievements as the commander of the defense force and the Duke’s appearance, who usually hates such parties and is only warm to his daughter,

It was a reasonable thought from the people’s point of view.

It was also because Christie’s external image was already fixed that way.

Therefore, every time such words came out, Christie shouted in her heart that it wasn’t like that and frowned, but…

Since her face was already cold and expressionless, it wasn’t very noticeable, so people thought she was just embarrassed by such compliments.

…As these various thoughts and complaints about her situation overlapped, it was natural that the work was not done properly.

“Ah, really. I can’t concentrate at all today.”

Saying that, Christie quietly opens a locked drawer.

It looked like she was taking out a very confidential document or a very precious item, but…

Inside were… cute and soft dolls.

And, Christie hugged those dolls very skillfully.

……It was a small hobby of the capital’s defense force commander, who was called the terror of criminal organizations, who had wiped out 80% of the capital’s criminal organizations, and single-handedly destroyed half of them.

And, just when she was about to give up on the lingering hope that the doll-like girl she met yesterday would come while enjoying healing time with the doll…

There was a knock on the door.

At that sound, Christie skillfully and quickly put the doll she was holding in and answered in a stiffer and colder tone than usual.

“What’s going on?”

“Um… a guest has arrived. She says she met you at the market yesterday, should I let her in?”

“H, huh? O, oh! Let her in!”

…Like a surprise gift, the girl she didn’t think would come arrived.