Chapter 43

As Rodella looked blankly in disbelief, it was Lorenz who answered.

“You told me to rip it after the next incident or so.”

…He wanted to rip the clothes bought with dignity expenses?

“That’s a criminal offense against the imperial family…”

Since the garments were essentially provided by the royal house, they could easily twist this into a charge of insulting the Crown.

But then—

“The Commander never buys clothes. He spends it all here.”

Aivert pointed at the military supplies. Rodella pressed her fingers to her forehead.

“Then what about the money that should have gone to armor?”

“It went into paying for damages.”

So they were plugging holes with borrowed money?

Rodella stared up at the ceiling, speechless, and Aivert drove the nail in.

“So it’s not insulting the imperial family. It’s fraud.”

Fraud was worse! This was a nightmare!

Rodella clutched her head.

***

Granted, there was room for leniency with the “fraud against the imperial family” charge.

After all, Latine hadn’t intended to deceive the royal house—he’d simply used the funds to support the Crown’s own soldiers, sacrificing his own standing in the process. Besides, he hadn’t destroyed official uniforms or anything like that. He was still a dignified man in his middle age who wore his uniform with pride.

He’d done his job, just misallocated the budget. If they explained things carefully in the report…

Rodella began thinking up a few good phrases for the paperwork.

The real problem was the amount. Dignity expenses for a knight commander were already quite high, but between the supplies they had, the ongoing orders, and the sheer volume of things bound to be destroyed in training or missions, it wasn’t even close.

Most of that money had surely gone into damage compensation. And it probably still hadn’t been enough.

They weren’t handing out tens of billions of gold just for appearance upkeep.

So where had the rest gone?

“It’s time you knew.”

Latine spoke gravely.

Then, in a tone that suggested he was about to share a tragic, unspeakable burden, he began telling her—

The Azure Knight Order’s dark secret.

***

Rodella was speechless after hearing the “corruption” of the Azure Knights.

“This isn’t corruption… it’s just…”

Double books were usually made to steal money—not to donate it.

But the Azure Knights were doing exactly that.

Of course, even for military groups, injecting personal funds could become a crime—if it swayed loyalty from the Emperor to the person funding the group.

But that wasn’t the case here.

Latine’s personal funds went directly to civilians—in other words, donated for their relief.

And yes, the missing gaps were patched with Knight Order funds, but they were also refilled, just through creative methods.

That creativity was something else entirely.

“It’s frugal, is what it is!”

Rodella was baffled, but the thing that truly stunned her—

“If donating to the public isn’t even a problem, why hide it in a second ledger?”

It would’ve improved their reputation!

Latine and Aivert answered at once: “Because the Red Knights might find out.”

“And that would be humiliating.”

“…”

This… was the Empire’s proud military order?

Was the world running on nonsense?

“You’re already rumored to leave ruins wherever you go. What’s the point in hiding more broken stuff?”

“One billion or ten billion, there’s a difference.”

Latine’s answer was solemn.

Shame was one thing—but revealing how much they destroyed was another.

Rodella understood that the Red and Azure Knights didn’t get along. The two were practically raised in opposite systems. Intermarriage was unheard of. Their performances were constantly compared. Some said if their uniforms so much as brushed, one group would burn theirs out of disgust.

The Red Knights burned theirs.

The Azure Knights just… washed them.

“Even if you’re rivals, isn’t this a bit much—”

“I am NOT his rival!” Latine snapped. “He’s the one with the delusions. I refuse to be considered in the same league as him!”

Rodella cradled her head. He was very defensive for someone who “didn’t care.”

“Anyway—putting that aside—are you saying you’re selling these goods after removing the Azure Knight insignia?”

That sounded illegal.

“Not exactly,” Aivert said. “A lot of the items that come in have poor weight balance. They fix them, then sell.”

Sell them for more, that is.

Rodella summed it up flatly: “So you’re upgrading and reselling them. What about the gear for your own knights?”

This could be a serious problem—if the Knight Order was keeping the bad gear and selling the good ones.

But—

“Of course only the highest-quality weapons and armor go to the knights!”

Latine was practically foaming with passion. At this moment, he was less of a knight commander and more of a master blacksmith.

“…Wait. Were you a blacksmith at some point?”

Rodella’s question made Latine wince.

“During the war, I had to fix all kinds of awful swords. Eventually, they started selling as ‘legendary blades.’”

He shrugged.

“So I thought—why not sell some more?”

Rodella remembered something.

There had been rumors during the monster war—of a mysterious “Nameless Blacksmith” whose touch could turn even rusted junk into masterpieces. No one knew where he was now.

“Don’t tell me you were that blacksmith?!”

Latine scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“It’s a secret. Government employees aren’t allowed second jobs.”

‘You were?!’ 

That meant even that money was earned through his own skills!

“I’ve learned way too many secrets today.”  Rodella reeled.

And then—

“One more won’t hurt.”

“Huh?”

Latine looked embarrassed—truly embarrassed—for the first time.

“Actually, I’m also the ‘Legendary Mercenary.’”

“…Excuse me?”

Rodella had definitely heard of him: the mysterious S-rank mercenary who appeared whenever a huge monster needed slaying, then disappeared without accepting payment.

They’d even hired him once in House Syveric.

“So that’s why you didn’t take the money…”

He was friends with her father!

The Azure Knights weren’t just frugal. They were exploiting Latine.

“Congratulations on becoming an accomplice, Rodella.”

Aivert’s words made her look up at him in disbelief.

Being part of this philanthropic crime ring didn’t even feel scary.

“You could’ve helped him out a bit, you know.”

“He refused.”  Aivert replied immediately.

That made sense. The Royden dukedom was strictly audited—if they funneled money into the Azure Knights, it would trigger an inspection and all of this would be exposed.

“So you patched up all the funds, cleaned up the books for auditing, and stocked this place with the original, low-quality items—was that all Lorenz’s doing?”

“It’s an honor,” Lorenz bowed deeply.

And it probably was.

“Can we even call this corruption?”

What were they even hiding, really?

Her mind was flipping upside down. Rodella was overwhelmed, and Aivert laid it out in one sentence: “We’re basically stealing nicely.”

This wasn’t the kind of official language you’d expect from a duke and vice commander of the empire’s elite knights—but she didn’t have the strength to argue.

Rodella closed her eyes briefly.

She needed to chill. Chill and think.

When she opened them again, she said:

“So this… this isn’t corruption, technically. But if someone wanted to use it against us, they could.”

Knight Order audits fell under the jurisdiction of the Administration Bureau.

And since Rodella—who had plenty of enemies in that ministry—was now working here, those enemies would definitely be trying to dig up dirt.

So the conclusion was obvious.

Rodella swept her hair back.

“Lorenz, hand over everything. All the related data. I’ll rewrite it all myself.”

And just like that, Rodella stepped into the shadowy side of the Azure Knights.