Ch.4646. Confiscation

The Hero’s mouth opened.

He said he had been trading Cordana since before there was even a market for it.

Since the days when Cordana was quietly stored in individual nobles’ vaults or studies, when it was treated as a mere souvenir.

“Back then, I was actually spending money, you know? Well, technically it was money from the Prince’s pocket. To prove liquidity, I had no choice… Ah, if I explain it this way, you won’t understand… Are you listening?”

As he hesitantly glanced around, I slightly raised the sword placed in front of him.

Only then did the Hero flinch and continue talking.

The method the Hero used was called nominee trading, he said.

He would eliminate monsters terrorizing remote territories, package the news attractively (unlike previous generations of Hero parties who mainly operated in the Demonic Land, his party cared about common people), spread it to the imperial capital, and time it with the emergence of “demand” for Cordana.

“Remember? Back then, several foreign nobles approached imperial nobles asking for Cordana. Actually, that was…”

“They were people you hired.”

“Mmm.”

The early Cordana buyers were merely running errands for the Prince and the Hero, he said. To make people realize that Cordana could be a tradable commodity.

He claimed it didn’t even cost that much. Just a few hundred million at most?

‘So once you created the atmosphere, the nobles rushed in on their own.’

According to the Hero’s explanation, once the environment was set up, everything proceeded smoothly.

He persuaded the Prince to establish an exchange.

He secured accomplices so he could easily siphon money through nominees,

And with that money, he made donations to the Papal State, operated the Holy Knight Order, and built up achievements.

“Do you know how much I donated to the Holy See? …No, I’m not saying I did well, just that I was essentially a mercenary.”

“So you plundered without guilt, I see.”

Most of the Hero’s confession was what I had already suspected.

The court department had vaguely noticed the nominee trading. Some people who were presumed to have profited from Cordana had been suspiciously quiet.

Among them, some might have been cautious, but others were clearly just puppets of the Hero.

However, I hadn’t realized that everything had proceeded according to the Hero’s script from the very beginning of the market.

‘How much did this bastard look down on us?’

Of course, he had always called us primitive since being summoned, but this level meant he didn’t even see us as humans. If someone other than me had set up this truth room, there would be a blade in the Hero’s gut by now.

I tossed a writing implement to the Hero.

“Start by listing the accomplices you used for nominee trading.”

“If I write this…”

“Don’t expect anything in return, just write.”

“Huh? Okay… But my right hand.”

Write with your left hand. As I kicked his shin to hurry him, the Hero began writing several names in crooked handwriting.

But his attitude wasn’t exactly cooperative.

He suddenly went “heheh” and showed signs of suffering. It meant he was trying to pull something but received a penalty due to the Geas Scroll’s covenant.

‘Even now, you’re still the same bastard.’

To encourage the Hero’s courage, I drew my sword and pointed it at his groin. Only then did he smoothly write down the names.

The list the Hero presented shortly after was truly diverse.

First, there were foreigners.

Several nobles from the Kingdom of Lessotona, Kingdom of Microssia, and Kingdom of Ether.

These were small countries the Empire had left alone during its conquest era, deemed not worth the effort. Countries adjacent to the great forest, a union of small island nations, a country in mountainous terrain, and so on.

Unlike the Papal State, which had equal standing with the Empire, these were truly small nations.

“Even these countries have gold, you know.”

Next was the Magic Tower.

Retired elders, particularly those over seventy. Even an elder rumored to have dementia was included. He thought elder mages with money wouldn’t arouse suspicion. And indeed, they hadn’t until now.

Finally, there were nobles.

One prestigious but declining family, and another that had already fallen so far that its position was weakened.

One of them even had a connection to me, albeit distant.

The County of Delirose.

It was the count served by Baron Hyde, the uncle of my former fiancée Ember Hyde.

They were complete strangers to me, but I had heard about ten years ago that their territory’s resources had been declining, causing concern. I’d also heard that the current head of the Delirose family was in seclusion due to health issues.

‘It wouldn’t have been difficult to recruit them. Probably shared some money and borrowed their name.’

Up to this point, the news wasn’t actually shocking.

What was surprising was…

“House Neize?”

“Mmm.”

“Millia Neize’s father?”

“Huh? No, of course not the Count himself, but under the Viscount’s name. The Count’s cousin. It wasn’t much money.”

That was essentially the same thing.

Count Neize, though without real power, had once briefly served as the head of the exchange.

Now he was hiding in his territory, keeping his head down, but the fact that he had been the head couldn’t be erased.

Moreover, he was the father of a Hero party member. This alone made him considered trash of the Empire, and now to find out he was involved in nominee trading too.

“I thought you cared about your party members?”

“That’s why I didn’t directly involve her. Millia is a fifth cousin.”

His expression seemed to say, “Why… is that a problem?”

Though cornered, the Hero’s perception hadn’t changed at all.

Honestly, I didn’t have the luxury to criticize the Hero’s character. I didn’t have the capacity to worry about the well-being of each Hero party member right now.

Now I had just one question for the Hero.

“So, exactly how much did you pocket?”

In a way, this was the most important issue.

I didn’t think he would have enough money to fix all the chaos caused by Cordana. I knew enough about markets to understand they don’t work that way.

‘Still, depending on how much we can confiscate from this person, the situation might improve.’

The Hero hesitated before answering my question.

But he couldn’t hold out for long. Even now, the Geas Scroll’s covenant was pressuring him.

I’d heard that superhuman beings could overcome magical covenants, but the Hero didn’t have that kind of power. (He normally should, but…)

“Hero, don’t resist. Otherwise, someone else will conduct the interrogation. I could call in the senior who operated on you.”

“…!”

The Hero finally revealed the amount he possessed.

When I heard the figure, I instinctively punched him in the face.

“Gak!”

The Hero grabbed his nose and rolled around. Truly regrettable, but my anger wasn’t because the amount was too large.

***

An hour later. The Hero was trembling in unconsciousness.

In front of him were the assets he had taken out of his “inventory” at my instruction. Mages were present to prevent any trickery.

First, there were gold coins.

Not the ordinary 100,000 Lyra coins, but 1,000,000 Lyra coins. High purity, large gold coins.

In addition, there were gold bars and bullion used for large transactions.

The power granted by the Goddess. The Hero had used that useful and great power solely for asset storage.

‘Yes, it’s a lot.’

It was truly an enormous amount.

But it was nowhere near enough to cover the damage felt by Cordana investors.

Just counting the gold coins and bars, it was around 45 billion, and even including gems and ancient coins, it probably wouldn’t exceed 50 billion.

There were also several promissory notes guaranteed by financial officers of individual noble families, but those were just scraps of paper. If they had been issued by the Merchants’ Guild, it might have been different, but promissory notes from individual noble families were useless. Because those families had become poor.

The pursuit team members who watched the asset seizure with me had hollow reactions.

“Shouldn’t there be at least 100 billion in gold coins, or even more?”

“…”

“Say something, Inspector. I overheard, but couldn’t hear clearly. Is there more hidden elsewhere?”

I closed my eyes and finally spoke.

“…He apparently lived quite extravagantly.”

He said he had spent an enormous amount on his harem and lavish journeys.

And about four months ago, he had purchased an island from the Kingdom of Microssia under a nominee’s name. Not as a hideout, but as a place to stay with his harem after defeating the Demon Lord.

He said he wanted to create something like “Ibiza Island,” whatever that is. I could only guess it was a space for entertainment.

‘Crazy bastard. Buying an island.’

Even considering that, the money still seemed insufficient.

And the Hero himself explained why. He said it was a big misunderstanding to think he had gold coins equivalent to the hundreds of billions in damages people felt they suffered. He also mentioned that the gold standard was vulnerable to such problems.

The pursuit team members had blank expressions upon hearing my relay.

“So that means…?”

“The damage is severe, but there’s no way to recover from it, as I understand. He also said our response is more difficult because we can’t use something called monetary policy.”

“…And the Hero popularized Cordana knowing this?”

“Yes. He said he didn’t expect things to get this big, but he didn’t look particularly remorseful.”

At these words, everyone looked at the unconscious Hero with distorted expressions.

It was the moment they realized they had been thoroughly deceived by the Hero, but there was no scene of them rushing to beat him again.

It was due to an emotion that couldn’t be explained by the word “anger” alone.

…Like feeling like an ant in an anthill destroyed by a child. Or like a lab animal used in the Magic Tower.

If I felt this disgusted, how must others feel?

The silence that followed was broken by the Papal State personnel.

Elder Priest Edin suddenly left the inn with the Saintess. The bishop and holy knight naturally followed.

“…Elder Priest. Let’s go to the imperial capital together for now.”

I tried to stop him, but the Elder Priest firmly shook his head.

“No, we need to return to the Papal State as soon as possible.”

“May I ask why?”

“To petition the Goddess. To revoke that monster’s qualification as the Hero, and to withdraw all blessings given to that monster. I will hold a service in the cathedral with all priests and believers of the Papal State.”

In reality, the Goddess wasn’t an entity who responded to every priest’s voice. People believed in and worshipped the Goddess’s power because of the existence of the Saintess, the Holy Sword, divine power, and the Hero.

Of course, the Elder Priest wasn’t doing this out of ignorance.

“If she doesn’t respond, this might be the last service we offer to the Goddess.”

With these grave words, the Elder Priest immediately left the inn and mounted his horse. The pale-faced Saintess was forcibly placed on a horse by the holy knight.

I watched them leave, then turned to look at the remaining people.

Both the pursuit team and the Hero’s harem had expressions that were difficult to describe. Even the most rebellious elf had a hesitant look.

I instructed them to get some rest.

I told them we would reach the imperial capital by tomorrow.

It wasn’t actually a distance that could be covered in a day, but I intended to return to the imperial capital by any means necessary. I didn’t need to explain to the team members what would happen after that.