57

The Minister of Finance has a nasty habit of giving more work to people he likes.

I had a bad feeling, but still, hoping for the best, I spoke up.

“Minister of Finance, I’m still adjusting to the Chancellery, so I don’t know many people in other departments and I’m not familiar with the work. I’m worried I might make mistakes because I’m still lacking in many ways.”

“Ha ha, this is a chance to make connections. You don’t often get the experience of four departments working together. You were promoted quickly, so I took a special interest.”

It didn’t work at all.

‘If this is the Minister of Finance’s faction, it’d be better not to have been noticed.’

They’d surely watch closely to see how well the talked-about promoted newcomer works, and just the thought made me anxious. Besides, I’m still adjusting to the duties of a 2nd-grade Secretary, which made it worse.

“Lukan, help Secretary Cornelia a lot while she’s beside you.”

“Don’t worry, Minister of Finance.”

That fellow grinned from ear to ear like he liked everything.

That afternoon, the joint-department meeting for the seconded staff took place.

The messenger—whose usefulness I’d doubted until now—announced the meeting schedule and confirmed there were no issues.

“2nd-grade Secretary, shall we go?”

Lukan prodded me cheerfully. He used honorifics in official settings or before seniors, and relaxed into informal speech among friends or scribes; I hadn’t sensed anything strange, so I let it be.

The meeting was held in the main conference room. I saw many unfamiliar faces; it looked like two people had been seconded from each department.

“If everyone’s here, let’s begin.”

When the highest-ranking official, the Supreme Justice, Duke of Ariadne, gave the instruction, the aide sitting beside him—presumed to be Mr. Bull—ran the meeting.

“Greetings. I’m Iliya Bern, Senior Presiding Judge of the Ministry of Justice and aide to the Chief Justice. As I mentioned, the reason I convened this meeting with representatives from each department is to draft legislation to handle the case of former Chancellor Marcus and former 1st grade Secretary Dorian Vainglory’s concealment of overseas assets. His Majesty the Emperor has personally ordered that such a thing must never happen again. To expedite matters we’ve gathered the responsible persons from the relevant departments. Today is a brief session for an explanation of the work and introductions; starting next week, please report to the newly prepared office on the fourth floor. Three days a week you’ll work for the cooperative department, and the remainder in your original departments.”

I sighed.

“The fourth floor…”

The third floor would have been just right, but without an elevator in this building, the fourth floor was harsh.

At that moment, a balding middle-aged man I hadn’t seen raised his hand.

“It’s a cooperative department where we’ll be reporting for some time, but the vague name doesn’t stick. How about we decide on a name first?”

The Duke nodded toward the man as if to invite a suggestion.

“How about the Overseas Asset Concealment Department?”

‘It sounds less like a legislative task force and more like a specialized concealment department.’

But the Duke nodded indifferently.

“Do as you please.”

He didn’t care about the name at all. Lukan whispered softly beside me.

“This will be called the ‘Concealment Dept.’ by everyone, 100%.”

He was right. The name was long, so in less than a day everyone—even the staff—called it the Concealment Dept.

After listening to Mr. Bull’s continuing explanation, the Duke raised a hand to stop him and spoke.

“I, Vespera, the Supreme Justice, am responsible for this matter. I expect legislation that will satisfy His Majesty the Emperor to be drafted as soon as possible. That depends on your competence. Some of you may be strangers to each other, so introduce yourselves and let’s end here for today.”

Everyone had been losing focus under Mr. Bull’s long explanations. At the round table, introductions began to the left of the Supreme Justice.

The first two were Ministry of Finance employees I recognized.

“First-Rank Finance Officer Reyra Zanel.”

“Second-Rank Finance Officer Abel Wayne.”

They were the two from the Finance Ministry who always gave off a chill and clicked their abacuses menacingly whenever I visited. It felt like they’d spot any budget omission with hawk-like eyes.

“First-Rank Diplomat Simon Porte.”

“Second-Rank Diplomat Sean Larmes.”

They were foreign ministry staff I hadn’t seen before. The balding middle-aged man who’d renamed the team ‘Concealment Dept.’ was Simon Porte. He seemed outgoing and sociable, perhaps from frequent foreign travel—quite a contrast to the Finance people.

Then it was our turn.

“2nd-grade Secretary Cornelia Libertas.”

“Scribe Lukan Fairburn.”

All eyes in the conference room suddenly fixed on me. It was blatant scrutiny.

‘I expected it, but it’s not pleasant.’

They were probably curious who the woman who’d been promoted from assistant scribe to Secretary in a few months was. At that point, 2nd grade Diplomat Sean Larmes asked,

“Other departments sent First- and Second- grade staff, so why did the Chancellery send a Second- grade and a scribe? I understand Secretary Cornelia was promoted to Second-Rank only a few days ago?”

It was exactly the question I wanted to ask the Minister of Finance.

I was wondering the same, diplomat.

As I was about to answer vaguely, Lukan stepped in.

“Diplomat, embarrassingly, the Chancellery has had so many incidents that we’re understaffed. You understand, right? Please be understanding—”

“Ahem.”

Lukan chuckled affably and Sean didn’t press further. From the tone it seemed they were acquaintances.

‘Is there anyone not well-connected in the central ministries?’

Seeing how wide their networks were, I could only think how energetic and resilient they must be. It was a realm beyond even jealousy. I thought it would pass, but then an unexpected jab came from elsewhere.

“You said you are scribe Lucan Fairburn?”

It was the Duke. Lukan hurriedly bowed his head.

“Yes, Supreme Justice.”

“Sean asked Secretary Cornelia, so why did you answer? Did the Chancellery send someone who can’t even respond to questions as its representative to this cooperative department?”

The question was sharp. Sean himself looked surprised by the Supreme Justice’s response and shifted uneasily.

“No, that’s—Cornelia is still—”

“It’s fine. I’ll handle it.”

I signaled Lukan it was okay with a slight hand gesture and met the Supreme Justice’s eyes.

“I’m sorry. From now on, for questions directed at me I’ll answer personally.”

Then I turned my gaze to Diplomat Sean.

“You all sent First- and Second-grade staff, and I ask your understanding that we couldn’t match those roles. Unfortunately, the suspects in this case are former Chancellor Marcus and former First-grade Secretary Dorian, so the Chancellery lacks key personnel. Though we’re short on positions, we’ll do our best work-wise, so I would appreciate your generous understanding.”

When I smiled faintly, Sean cleared his throat and looked away. It was an embarrassing internal matter, but it needed to be addressed. His superior Simon Port burst into a hearty laugh.

“Indeed, befitting the talked-about figure these days! Don’t hold Sean’s remark against you.”

“No, it was a perfectly reasonable point of inquiry.”

Either way, it would pass ambiguously now and someone would surely pick at it later.

“Ahem. You seem an interesting one. Supreme Justice, let’s stop here. In my view, Secretary Cornelia can handle the work without issue.”

The Duke nodded curtly and rose from his seat. It was a different demeanor from when I had gone to him about the contract issue.

‘Perhaps it’s because we’re now doing official work on equal footing.’

From his presence and weight, he seemed difficult to approach—not just Mr. Bull but even I couldn’t be casual with him. Still, knowing his manner from Those Who Can’t Resign kept me from feeling intimidated or shrinking back.

‘I’ll just do my job.’

I decided to focus only on getting the cooperative project done safely.

Finally, it’s the first day at the Overseas Asset Concealment Department.

I climbed to the fourth floor of the central ministry a bit out of breath and was greeted by an office filled with tidy wood tones. The wood and gold accents in the interior paired nicely.

Beyond the desks divided by department, the Supreme Justice’s seat occupied the prime position.

“Hi, Cornelia.”

“Hi, Lukan.”

Lukan came in and greeted me as I put my bag down. Having at least one coworker nearby made me feel much more at ease.

A little later, as nine o’clock approached, seats filled one by one and work began.

“By the next meeting, each of you should think of ways to prevent nobles from concealing assets abroad.”

The Duke’s instruction was that simple. He seemed to think endless meetings without thought were pointless, and I agreed.

“What a headache.”

The directive was short but solving it was difficult. Each department’s staff scoured books in the library, wracking their brains. I watched them idly and flipped through a newspaper.

Perhaps because it was a meeting of staff from different departments, the office felt quiet to the point of suffocating. The suffocating part was probably due to the leader’s presence.

At six o’clock I closed what I was doing, grabbed my bag, and stood up.

“See you tomorrow.”

I bowed and was about to leave when—

“Wait a moment.”

The Duke stopped me.

“What are you doing now?”