Chapter 60: Chapter 60: The Noble Lords of Qimo Fortress

"Rest assured, Priest. Of course I trust you." Robson stood and walked over, gently guiding Bruce Priest back to his seat.

"We’re all in the same boat now. If the Marquis holds us accountable, none of us will get away clean.

The most important thing now is to quickly fix the ledgers...

I trust you have the old ledgers, Priest?" Robson said.

Hearing this, Bruce Priest hesitated. He certainly had the ledgers; he’d been working here for a long time, after all.

’But if I hand them over now, I’d be selling out all my comrades. I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t!’

"Sir... do our other colleagues know about this?" Bruce asked, his face grim.

He could only hope Robson hadn’t told the others yet. That way, he could still try to curry some favor.

"I’m not yet familiar with our colleagues at the fortress, so I’ll have to ask you to pass the message along, Priest.

Someone will be coming down in a few days, though, so you’d best act quickly," Robson added with a smile.

He had long anticipated Bruce Priest’s reaction.

This was exactly the reaction he wanted.

In all of Qimo Fortress, the highest-ranking noble was Viscount Leo, and only Viscount Leo knew a bit of the truth.

But Viscount Leo was his man. He had already spoken with him, so Viscount Leo naturally understood the stakes.

As for the others, the highest was only a Baron. The mere title of Marquis was enough to be a staggering blow, not to mention a Prince, personally appointed by the King.

In Robson’s previous life, this was an Imperial Envoy, one who held the power of life and death.

’Will they see through my story?’

Robson wasn’t worried. His words were a mix of truth and lies.

According to Valentino, news would get out in a couple of days.

Once everyone knew an imperial envoy was coming to audit the books, and after some preparations were made, someone would come down to start the investigation in another week or two.

However, Valentino’s advice to Robson at the time had simply been to maintain a good attitude. If possible, he should give some gifts in the name of welcoming the Prince, and the matter would more or less blow over.

Robson knew all this, but Bruce didn’t. At this moment, Bruce sighed inwardly.

"Rest assured, Sir. I’ll have everything delivered shortly."

"Then I’ll leave it to you, Priest."

....

After Bruce Priest left the office, he immediately had someone summon the nobles of Qimo Fortress.

The noble lords of Qimo Fortress were still oblivious, reveling in the elation of having survived the recent disaster.

As the saying goes, the greater the risk, the greater the reward.

These nobles had lined their pockets, and they were all riding high.

"Bruce Priest, why have you called us here?" Baron Dodger asked curiously, holding a wine glass.

If you had to say who had profited most these past few days, it had to be Baron Dodger. There were only four barons in Qimo Fortress, and Baron Dodger’s proximity to the warehouse meant he naturally took the lion’s share of the spoils.

Now that the crisis was over, the previous officers were all gone without a trace. How could the new commander possibly know what happened before? The dead can’t testify.

"I’ve called you here because the new lord has some matters to discuss..." Bruce took a deep breath. Just looking at this group made him fume. For every extra bit they had greedily taken, he, Bruce, would bleed that much more later.

"The new lord? Is it about the spoils from the Bear Race? Priest, you can tell him that we will completely follow his arrangements." Baron Dodger was taken aback for a moment, his mind turning to the spoils outside that were still being sorted.

He figured the iron from melting down the armor would only amount to a few thousand pounds. There was no need for Baron Dodger to get involved.

"Spoils? And here you are, thinking you’re being generous!" Bruce finally snapped. ’We’re about to lose our heads, and these fools are still thinking about that crap!’

With Baron Dodger being berated like that, the atmosphere in the room instantly grew cold.

"Priest, what on earth is going on?" Baron Dodger asked, a bad feeling creeping up on him.

"What’s going on? Don’t you know what you’ve done yourselves?" Bruce Priest slammed the documents Robson had given him onto the table, his cold gaze sweeping across the room.

Baron Dodger’s heart raced. He reached out and began to flip through the ledgers.

"This... this... how could this be? How could the deficit be so large?" Dodger’s pupils dilated after reading just one page. He couldn’t believe his eyes.

’I only took a little... I just mentioned it to a few friends...’

’How did the whole warehouse get emptied out?’

"I remember..." The more Baron Dodger read, the more terrified he became.

"’You remember’? You remember taking a little, he remembers taking a little—what did you expect would be left in the warehouse?!" Bruce raged.

"Well... how about we all chip in and give some to the new lord? I hear he’s a second son, so he probably doesn’t need much," Baron Dodger suggested awkwardly.

In his eyes, Robson bringing this up now could only mean one thing: he was green with envy and wanted a piece of the pie.

’Fine, we’ll give him a cut. Robson is my superior now, after all. It’s just like paying a little tribute in advance...’

"Chip in a little?! Let me tell you, you should all be thanking His Lordship for saving your lives!

Each and every one of you plucks a feather from every passing goose. Did you really think you were being discreet? The higher-ups noticed long ago. His Majesty has sent His Highness the Prince and Marquis Brant to investigate this matter thoroughly!

If His Lordship hadn’t given you this advance warning, you’d all still be smugly congratulating yourselves when the imperial envoy arrives!" Bruce Priest cursed.

This statement caused a huge uproar. The nobles present began to murmur amongst themselves, debating the truth of his words.

The higher-ups were investigating? They hadn’t heard anything. Shouldn’t this kind of news be given to the Commander-in-Chief of the fortress and then passed down?

Oh, right. They hadn’t had a Commander-in-Chief for the past few days.

"Is this true? Viscount Leo? Do you know about this?"

As soon as the question was asked, all eyes turned to Viscount Leo.

After all, among everyone present, the one most likely to have advance knowledge of such things was Viscount Leo.

Viscount Leo sneered. While his own hands weren’t clean, he was nowhere near as corrupt as these vermin.

Besides, he had only just taken office. When this swarm of parasites was embezzling funds, they hadn’t included him, so he had no reason to panic.

Moreover, Viscount Leo had been briefed by Robson and knew the full story, so of course he would cooperate fully.

"Only now you start to worry? It’s true. Marquis Brant is in Devil City right now, and His Highness Prince is already on his way," Viscount Leo said.

His words instantly extinguished any shred of hope the crowd had.

Although they hadn’t known him for long, everyone had a good read on Viscount Leo.

He wasn’t the type to lie. And considering his previous refusal to take a single coin, everyone concluded that Viscount Leo must have received the news in advance, which explained his unusual behavior.

"Anyway, figure it out yourselves. Your money or your life—it’s up to you." Bruce Priest threw out this last sentence and turned to leave.