Let's Catch the Bad Guys

Thanks to Elza's treatment, we'd made a favorable impression on Ann's uncle.

Well done, Elza.

He put his healed foot on the floor and lightly stepped a few times.

He seemed to have no problems.

"Amazing. Almost no pain left…"

"Please rest, eat well, and sleep well for a while."

"I will. So, you wanted to ask me something? What did you come to hear? A priestess, and from the look of you, a merchant? As for those young ladies over there…"

"Hello. I'm Yohane. These two are my guard and her friend."

"I see. Looking closer, they're wearing adventurer tags. I'm Mike. Nice to meet you."

I shook hands with Mike.

I kept Princess Tianis's identity hidden.

Even though we'd established a friendly rapport, he might clam up if he knew he was talking to royalty, the very top of the administrative hierarchy.

He only showed deference to Elza, probably because she was a priestess.

"What I want to ask about is the recent market situation. Specifically, the flow of goods."

"Hmm?"

"Have there been instances where large quantities of goods flooded the market at once? Like the huge shipment of eggs Ann mentioned."

"Well, lots of products come to the market every day, but that's not what you're asking about."

"Right. Actually…"

I glanced at Princess Tianis to see if it was okay to share.

She caught my eye contact and nodded, so I continued.

"You know about the soup kitchen in the plaza, right?"

"Yeah. The one the king is running? Though I hear the reputation isn't great. Better than nothing, but the quality is apparently terrible."

Princess Tianis's face grew displeased.

Of course it did.

She'd fought with the council to secure an adequate budget, yet the diversion of ingredients… no, at this point it was outright embezzlement, and it had given the program a bad reputation.

"About that soup kitchen, it seems ingredients are being embezzled. That's why the meals aren't satisfactory. I've been secretly ordered to investigate."

"Why you? That's a job for officials."

"Because there's a high chance officials are involved. Possibly even nobles."

"H-hey now. Don't say things like that."

Mike looked around nervously.

If someone overheard this, it would be serious trouble. I understood his concern.

But there was no need to worry.

Finn and Alexia had secretly followed us, and Alexia was using magic to prevent our voices from leaking outside.

I'd asked Finn to watch for any suspicious characters.

So there was no risk of this conversation being overheard.

"That's why we're investigating secretly. Do you know anything? Anything at all."

"Well… but now that you mention it, I did notice food has been unusually cheap lately. People started showing up selling off large quantities of ingredients at low prices. Come to think of it, that started right around when the soup kitchen began."

"Were they selling these kinds of ingredients?"

I showed him the list of ingredients procured for the soup kitchen.

Mike scanned it quickly and handed it back.

"That's almost a perfect match. Those people were selling exactly what's on that paper."

"I see. Can you tell me more about these people?"

Apparently they'd been quite conspicuous.

Well, since they'd bought the goods with government money, the cost was essentially free.

They must have wanted to sell quickly at low prices and convert it to cash.

Those ingredients were purchased with money everyone had paid in taxes through hard work.

As a taxpayer, I couldn't let this slide.

I got details from Mike about their appearance and which days they appeared.

Apparently they started selling at the market the day after the soup kitchen's procurement.

They'd completely gotten a taste for it.

The group didn't seem to be very large.

Probably because more people meant smaller shares.

That was about all Mike could tell us.

More of a harvest than I'd expected.

Though I think it was just because the culprits had their guard completely down.

Bold enough to think they'd never get caught.

"Thank you. I've learned mostly what I wanted to know."

"If that's enough to repay you for the treatment, I'm glad. Ann! Give these folks a discount next time they buy something."

"Okay, got it. Thank you for healing my uncle."

"Not at all. Please take care."

Ann saw us off as we left Mike's house.

I hadn't expected to find a lead this quickly.

When we moved somewhere deserted, Princess Tianis stopped and wore a deeply exhausted expression.

"The market is open to everyone. That was decided to stimulate the economy. They exploited that. There are rules to prevent dangerous goods from circulating, but the soldiers enforcing them are busy collecting bribes. This is clearly corruption. The entire kingdom might be rotting."

"You've found something to work on."

"Don't talk like it's someone else's problem. I'm going to need your continued cooperation."

"Understood, Your Highness."

Princess Tianis gave a hmph.

"That's something I'll deal with separately. For now, let's focus on this case. The next soup kitchen procurement should be today. Which means the ingredients they obtain today will…"

"Be sold at the market tomorrow. We'll catch them there."

"Right. That's the plan. But the soldiers assigned to the market can't be trusted… I'll request backup from the guard corps just in case."

If there was one remaining problem, it was how to get them to admit their guilt from here.

Relying on confessions alone was unreliable.

They'd likely try to claim innocence, saying they were just selling goods cheaply.

We needed decisive evidence they couldn't talk their way out of.

We had a good idea of the suspects.

The soup kitchen procurement staff were doing their jobs properly and submitting reports.

They'd passed the budget committee's audit.

The criminals had to be the ones receiving the procured ingredients and transporting them.

So I consulted with Princess Tianis about something.