I Stole The Duke - Chapter 126

“It looks like you’re ready now.”

Judging by how quickly the documents were being sorted and stacked, Iadis had fully adapted to the role. Michalis set down the hand mirror he had been holding and stood up. It had already been an hour since the infiltration began.

“Yes, Your Excellency. Everything’s in order.”

The time had been enough for Iadis to grasp the Mage Tower’s administrative structure just by reviewing the paperwork.

“Sir Iadis, what is the most important thing for you in this mission?”

“Safety.”

“If you’re even slightly suspected, or if your safety is at risk…”

“I’ll retreat immediately.”

“This card contains a teleportation spell. Use it without hesitation if necessary.”

Satisfied with his answer, Michalis handed him a magic card—a teleport card with three uses remaining.

“Imperial Polymorph Other.”

The transformation spell followed. They now shared identical appearances and stared at each other.

“The spell seems to have worked.”

“I’ll report updates through internal memos disguised as cooperation documents.”

After double-checking Iadis’s appearance, Michalis took off the Mage Lord’s robe and handed it to him.

“If nothing critical comes up, feel free to skip the reports. I’ll see you in a month.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

“Imperial Teleport.”

Leaving his most trusted subordinate in place, Michalis vanished to continue the mission alone.

Sigh…

Five hours. That’s how long it took Iadis to sort through the towering stack of documents piled up to the ceiling. Letting out a faint sigh, he slammed the magical call bell repeatedly. From the irritated rhythm, it was obvious he was annoyed.

“Master, did you call?”

A clerk burst in, startled by the urgent bell. His eyes widened as he saw the room. The pile that had once reached the ceiling was now neatly sorted, as if all the approvals had been completed.

Wait… there’s no way all of that got done already.

“You there. What was your name again?”

Iadis rubbed his temple with a finger and reached for the glasses resting on the desk.

“Ernst Kugel, sir.”

He had introduced himself when they first met, but clearly, that memory had been lost somewhere in the Master’s mind.

“Ernst.”

The clerk stiffened. The Master usually just said “you.” This was the first time he’d actually used his name.

“Yes, Master.”

“Are you just a delivery boy?”

“Uh… no, sir. I’m not.”

Ernst was visibly flustered. He had no idea what mood the stormy Master was in today to be asking such a question.

“You didn’t come here as a delivery boy, and yet this is the quality of your work?”

“If you let me know what’s wrong, I’ll fix it immediately.”

Ernst shut his eyes for a moment, bracing himself. This might be the start of today’s verbal storm—more bluntly put, today’s tantrum.

“If you have eyes, look at this.”

“…Yes, sir.”

Ernst accepted the document the Master shoved toward him.

“Can you even tell if this was written by a person or stomped on by a pigeon?”

“…Well, Lord Gweibaseba’s handwriting is notoriously awful…”

Normally, the Master would use translation magic to read documents like that and then approve them. But today was different.

“If you’re not just a messenger, then from now on, screen out illegible writing before it even reaches my desk. Make sure this kind of mess never shows up again.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Also, reject all documents filled with meaningless doodles. Anything that lacks basic respect in presentation should be stopped at your level. These over here have been rejected for exactly that reason.”

Iadis pointed to a stack of papers about 20 centimeters tall beside the desk.

“Yes, sir.”

“For all documents, allow up to four official languages—but the font must be printed and standardized. No decorative or cursive fonts. If anything like that shows up here again, it’ll be rejected on the spot.”

“…Yes, Master.”

To Ernst’s surprise, the Master wasn’t raging. He was calmly explaining what needed to be fixed.

“Ernst Kugel. Did you come to the Mage Tower to stack towers out of paperwork?”

“No, sir.”

Ernst suddenly tensed again. Now it really seemed like the storm was brewing.

“Do you have a brain or not?! Why are these documents stacked like this with no sense of order? Do you even know what the word ‘classification’ means?”

“…I do.”

The nitpicking had begun.

“I’m not even asking for subcategories—just major ones! If you keep piling stuff like this, the entire system falls apart. If you’re not going to organize them, then why do we even have sorting trays?”

“……”

As the rant continued, Ernst realized something. This wasn’t just nitpicking. It was actual feedback. He started to feel like… maybe he really had been doing everything wrong.

“From now on, all research proposals and budget extension requests must be submitted in white folders. Final research reports go in black folders. Ernst Kugel! Do you trust your memory? Take notes!”

“Yes, Master!”

Startled, Ernst fumbled to grab a notepad.

“All final reports must be limited to factual observations only. Any emotional reflections—like how moving the experiment was—should be written in your personal diary, not on official documents!”

“Ah, yes, sir!”

“And the formats must be standardized. This is the template I’ve prepared. Any documents that don’t follow this will be rejected. Tell the other mages.”

Ernst’s eyes widened as he looked over the template the Master handed him. It was clean, neatly organized, and only included the essential fields.

“All documents must be kept under five pages unless there’s a special reason. If new formats are needed, I’ll provide them later.”

“Yes, Master.”

“These are the approved documents. The rest—reject them all. Take them.”

From the stack that had once reached the ceiling, only about 40 centimeters’ worth had been approved.

“Yes…”

Ernst hadn’t been cursed at, yet somehow, he felt like he’d just been scolded hard.

“Ernst Kugel.”

The Master called his full name again.

“Is this the real storm this time?”

Ernst, who had been neatly stacking documents on a two-tier trolley, suddenly felt a cold shiver down his spine.

“Yes, Master.”

“Explain why the Tower’s purchased goods are coming in at prices more than 10% higher than the market rate.”

“Uh… well…”

The Master was clearly set on dealing with him today. It felt like they were going to bleed him dry.

“Are you not going to answer properly?”

Iadis widened their eyes dramatically, mimicking Olive’s expression. Almost 80% of the whites of their eyes were showing.

“U-uh… well, the thing is…”

“Are you the one pulling strings behind the scenes, Ernst Kugel?”

“No, absolutely not! I don’t have that kind of power! Never—never, Master!”

“Then explain it in a way that makes sense.”

“This arrangement with the Fog Trading Company has been going on since the previous Master’s time, so…”

“So it’s tradition?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Then bring me the contract documents and the double-entry ledgers from the past ten years. I’ll review them myself.”

Once the ledgers were examined, it would become clear whether someone was skimming money in collusion with the traders—or if the Tower had simply been getting scammed.

“Yes, Master!”

Completely deflated, Ernst grabbed the trolley and fled the room. Somehow, after a five-night, six-day trip, the Master had returned feeling overwhelmingly competent.

“I need to find proof of embezzlement, cancel the contract, implement a bidding system next, and then…”

Iadis shook his head as he watched Ernst disappear down the hall.

“How is it possible that I don’t like a single thing about that guy?”

From his perspective, the Tower was a centuries-old organization slowly rotting from within. Because everything was structured around the convenience of mages, proper order and discipline had crumbled. Their lack of worldly experience left them vulnerable to fraud—or worse, collusion and embezzlement—by their suppliers. And to make up for the financial losses, they simply raised prices on magical tools and travel expenses.

“This is my first special mission as a knight, and yet… what am I even doing here?”

Some of Iadis’s excitement for the mission faded. Sure, it was a “special undercover operation,” but why did it have to be an office job? Either way, the stagnant waters of the Tower were on the verge of being overturned—by a fake Tower Master.

“What do you think, Amy?”

Eliana gently lifted the hem of her coral dress, admiring herself in the mirror.

“Hmm… you look like a tourist from the North,” Amy said quickly, placing a wide-brimmed bonnet on Eliana’s head. No matter how they dressed her, Eliana’s pale skin gave away her Northern origins.

“Really…?”

Eliana checked herself again in the mirror. She had tried to choose something modest—an outfit that wouldn’t stand out and would blend naturally into the crowd.

“There are lots of tourists in Flencia, so it should be fine, don’t you think?”

“Yes, as long as we don’t draw attention.”

Eliana was clearly excited about heading into Flencia’s city center.

“It’s an honor to be at your service again, My Lady.”

“It’s been a while.”

As Eliana and Amy came down to the lobby, fully dressed for their outing, three knights stood waiting and bowed politely.

Thanks to the instruction “No wearing knight uniforms. Avoid flashy clothing,” it looked like everyone had come up with their own outfit concept.

“It’s been a while, Sir Roanes.”

Sir Roanes (5th rank in the Blue Knights) wore blue trousers, a white shirt, and a brown vest. A curved dagger hung at his waist—he was probably disguised as a sailor.

“And Sir Ista.”

Sir Ista (7th rank) wore a loose striped shirt and black pants, with a simple longsword on his belt. He looked like a free knight with average skills.

“And Sir Joel… what are you supposed to be disguised as?”

Eliana looked at Joel, who was as flashy as ever.

“The son of a wealthy merchant,” Joel replied.

No matter what he wore, he gave off a luxurious aura. So, instead of trying to hide it, he just embraced it. It wasn’t strange to see a rich young heir strolling through town.

“Hmm… Today, I’ll have Sir Ista as my close escort.”

If she stayed beside Joel, they’d look like a rich couple and attract way too much attention.

“It’s an honor, My Lady,” said Sir Ista, smiling quietly.

“…”

“Close escort duty was supposed to be mine…”

Joel, well-known for his excellent fashion sense, had lost his spot today because of his clothes.

“Young lady! We just got in some beautiful jewelry from the Eastern Empire—come take a look!”

The market near Flencia’s harbor was buzzing with merchants from four different countries and a swarm of tourists.

“Once-in-a-lifetime find! This is the legendary perfume of enchantment from across the sea in Xaiphen! Just one spray and you’ll have a lover, guaranteed—man or woman!”

“You there, Northern miss! If you want a souvenir from Flencia, these pink pearls are the best you’ll find!”

Merchants shouted from their stalls, trying to catch Eliana’s attention from every direction. It seemed she’d successfully blended in as an ordinary tourist.

“Sir Ista, is the market always this crowded?”

The Flencia market was livelier and louder than Eliana had imagined. She had come out under the pretense of inspecting her domain, but there were so many fascinating things to see that she was caught up in people-watching and window shopping.

“Yes, My Lady. Since goods from all four nations pass through Flencia Harbor, both merchants and tourists flock here all year round to get imported goods at good prices.”

The crowd was so thick that Sir Roanes had to walk in front to clear a path. Sir Ista stayed at Eliana’s side as her escort, while Joel sparkled at the rear—drawing the attention of every pickpocket in the area like a beacon.

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