Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 477

Charlotte discovered that Port Mokna had been suspiciously requesting excessive food supplies for quite some time.

“Isn’t that because of the survivors...?” Harriet asked, but Charlotte shook her head.

“It’s natural to need stockpiles because they need food for the refugees, and not just for the personnel stationed there. But even taking that into consideration, it’s still too much.

“I understand that a lot of food is needed to feed the survivors before they come to Edina, but according to the data so far, and by my calculations, Port Mokna has been requesting about one and a half times more food than is actually needed.

“This isn’t just about feeding the combat personnel well. If you estimate the number of refugees at Port Mokna and the time period when they were at the base, you can project the amount of food resources needed. However, the base has always requested for and consumed much more food than the numbers indicate was necessary.”

Harriet swallowed hard. It felt like an unavoidable conflict was taking shape.

“Then... are you saying someone at Port Mokna is... embezzling food...?”

“... Well, I don’t know what they could possibly do with all the embezzled food since that place is practically a battlefield, but it’s true that they’ve been requesting more supplies than needed.”

“Could the site manager responsible for forecasting demand have deliberately inflated the numbers then?”

“That’s possible. But even if that’s the case, what personal gain could they achieve by doing so? Even if someone at Port Mokna amassed wealth for personal use, they would have to bring it back to Edina to actually use. How would they transport the embezzled assets back to Edina? Could they have used a few private ships? Even if they did manage to do so, the food would surely have rotted away after all that time.”

It was entirely possible that Riana, the person in charge, had simply signed off on the amount of supplies needed without much scrutiny. Therefore, it wasn’t impossible that the site manager was the one involved in this corruption.

But what reason would there be to hoard wealth in the form of food? After all, any gains could only be realized if that food were brought back to Port Mokna.

However, it was a fact that some form of corruption was occurring at Port Mokna, and there would be no corruption without a reason.

But what did it mean to request an excessive amount of food beyond what was necessary? It didn’t make sense from the perspective of personal greed. However, as was the case everywhere on the continent, food was a very precious resource in Edina. That was why corrupt officials in food-related businesses were dealt with severely.

Charlotte quietly studied the documents and numbers laid out before her.

“Hmm...”

There was a problem. To be precise, something problematic had been going on for a very long time.

However, neither Reinhart nor Harriet had noticed this issue. They weren’t even aware that food was being requested excessively.

Even if they had known, it wouldn’t have changed anything. They might have passed it off as the base trying to stockpile food in case of unforeseen circumstances because of its location in a combat zone.

Since they trusted Riana, they had allowed this to continue. There was no place for suspicion.

Charlotte wasn’t suspecting Riana of corruption. She just found the numbers strange. The confirmed numbers on the reports consistently showed abnormal figures. If these abnormal figures had persisted over such a long period of time, that usually indicated that something abnormal had been happening for a long time.

What had been impossible for Reinhart and Harriet was rather easy for Charlotte: finding suspected corruption from examining numbers.

Unfortunately, there was a problem. This potential corruption case involved Riana de Granz, one of the most important people among Reinhart’s associates. Even if Riana herself was not directly involved, investigating Port Mokna meant conducting an investigation within Riana’s sphere of influence.

If necessary, punishment had to be handed out. Did she have the authority for that?

“...”

That was why Charlotte had asked Reinhart specifically about this before his departure. She needed him to clarify the scope of her authority. Reinhart had not made a request, but had given Charlotte a command: to take control by any means necessary. As the regent of Edina, Charlotte had to do what Reinhart had instructed her. If there was corruption, she had to investigate, and if punishment was necessary, she had to mete it out. If Riana refused to comply with Charlotte’s instructions and orders, she had to make her comply.

“I need to visit Port Mokna,” Charlotte said.

If Reinhart had told her not to involve herself in that area, she wouldn’t have made such a decision. But since Reinhart had not specifically mentioned it and had assigned her a task, she had to carry out the task as diligently as possible.

***

Most of the Holy Order’s paladins were stationed at Port Mokna, and Riana was the person in charge.

Their primary mission was to defend Port Mokna. Their secondary task was to launch expeditions to nearby areas to rescue refugees who were fleeing from or hiding from monsters, and Riana often led these expeditions herself.

Riana had already saved countless refugees. However, she now believed that the strategic value of Port Mokna had diminished significantly, and wanted to establish another forward base in a different area.

They had been able to rescue a considerable number of refugees initially, but lately, finding survivors in the vicinity had become more and more rare.

Unlike the early days, when they had managed to rescue thousands, now, no matter how much they searched and how many expeditions they launched, they only managed to rescue fewer than a thousand people.

Putting it more bluntly, it meant that most of those who had just barely survived the monsters had now perished.

They had reached the limit to the number of people they could save in the area, and even if they moved the base, they might not find as many survivors as before. Port Mokna, as a forward base, was losing its usefulness.

Charlotte and Harriet arrived at Port Mokna via Mass Teleport cast by Lucinil, the head of the Wednesday family, who was stationed at the royal castle.

“So this is... Port Mokna...” Charlotte muttered. It felt different seeing this place, which she had only known about through documents, with her own eyes.

The base, which served more as a military outpost than a town, was home to a significant number of people. However, it was not a residential area, but a place used for temporarily housing refugees and a staging point for military forces.

Since battles with monsters were a daily occurrence, tension permeated the entire town.

“The refugee camps... They’re almost empty,” Charlotte said.

“Yeah... It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find survivors,” Harriet said, nodding at Charlotte’s observation.

There were still some refugees there, which showed they had managed to rescue some people, but they only numbered in the hundreds. The base wasn’t overly large, as a larger area would mean a larger perimeter to defend.

The base had only the necessary buildings, such as barracks for the troops, a temple for the paladins to pray, a dining hall with smoke rising from a chimney, and massive warehouses to hold supplies. The harbor was also large enough to accommodate large ships.

“There can’t possibly be any corruption here,” Charlotte said.

“Yeah, exactly...”

Only after seeing it with her own eyes did it dawn on Charlotte that there was no room for personal greed in this place, which was operating fully with fighting in mind.

Lucinil, the head of the family of Wednesday who had accompanied them to perform the teleportation, was also quietly taking in the sights of Port Mokna.

“Go ahead with your tasks. I’ll take a walk around,” Lucinil said.

“Oh, yes, head Lucinil.”

Lucinil walked off gracefully.

At the Temple, she had been thought to be a junior who had, for some strange reason, quickly become close to Reinhart, but it turned out she was a Vampire Lord who had lived an incomprehensibly long life.

Both Charlotte and Harriet had seen Lucinil at the Temple. They quietly watched her back as she walked away. The girl they thought they knew had now calmly become a member of the Senate.

A Vampire Lord who seemed like a child but was not a child at all, who would often stop and stare blankly at something, lost in thought.

As Charlotte absentmindedly followed Lucinil’s dazzling silver hair with her eyes, she seemed to remember the purpose for her trip, and looked straight ahead again.

“There’s no need to hide the fact that we’re here. Let’s go to the command center,” Charlotte said.

“Okay,” Harriet replied as she clenched her fists slightly.

She didn’t know what kind of conversation would take place, but given Riana’s personality, it was clear that it would hardly be a pleasant one.

Charlotte’s handling of the situation would be crucial.

***

“Your Excellency the Regent, the Thunder Queen is currently out on a mission. She is expected to return today, but I cannot say exactly when.”

“Then we’ll wait until she returns.”

As soon as they arrived at the command center, Charlotte had been informed that Riana was away, and so Harriet and Charlotte sat in the command center’s reception room, waiting for Riana to return.

Along the thick walls surrounding Port Mokna, paladins stood guard at regular intervals. Since no one knew when or where monsters might attack, the base was on a round-the-clock state of alert. Many battles had occurred here, and it was evident that all the troops were on edge.

Beyond just commanding these forces, Riana regularly patrolled the vicinity to exterminate monsters and also undertook missions to go on far-ranging expeditions to rescue survivors.

Charlotte was good with numbers, but she didn’t believe numbers were everything. Some things could only be understood by seeing them with one’s own eyes.

The overall tension around Port Mokna and the disciplined state of all the troops—these were things that couldn’t be expressed in numbers and had to be seen in person.

From her observations of Port Mokna, Charlotte reached a conclusion.

“It seems like Riana is carrying too many responsibilities as the commander,” she said.

The tasks assigned to Riana de Granz were indeed overwhelming.

“That’s correct. That’s why Olivia sometimes steps in to take over Riana’s duties for a few days,” Harriet replied.

“Ah... that makes sense.”

Olivia Lanche, the leader of the Unified Holy Order... Given her considerable strength, it made sense for her to occasionally take over Riana’s duties if Riana seemed too exhausted.

“She only takes a few days off now and then, even with such a heavy workload?”

“Yes, because Riana wants it that way... She says she gets restless even when she tries to take a break.”

Despite having someone who could take over for her, Riana was almost always stationed at Port Mokna. Charlotte crossed her arms and gazed out at Port Mokna.

“Did Reinhart frequently inspect Port Mokna?”

“No. As you know... Reinhart had so much to do. He couldn’t come to Port Mokna often. But he did come for an inspection once recently.”

Things moved quickly, and Reinhart barely had time to sleep while establishing Edina’s government. He had even faced assassination threats.

“Hmm...”

“Why? Do you find something strange?”

“Ah, no.” Charlotte shook her head. “I was just thinking that Riana essentially has full authority over Port Mokna.”

“Yes, that’s right. Riana usually makes the most decisions and resolves the most issues around here. However, for really important matters, we would discuss it with Reinhart and make a decision together.”

“What kind of matters are considered really important?”

“Mainly how to transport refugees and how to determine new operational zones.”

Charlotte nodded at Harriet’s explanation.

“What about the loyalty of the troops here at Port Mokna towards Riana?” Charlotte asked.

“Loyalty?”

“Yes, loyalty.”

Harriet took a moment to think. “They must have an extremely deep sense of loyalty towards her. I’ve heard that Riana always fights at the very front lines and tries to handle monster attacks herself, even in the middle of the night, to minimize casualties. With a commander who fights at the forefront, how could loyalty be shallow?”

“That makes sense, indeed.”

Charlotte continued to gaze out the window. Riana de Granz dedicated herself to the defense of Port Mokna. She fought at the front to avoid casualties as much as possible. Trust and loyalty towards such a commander couldn’t possibly be shallow.

Charlotte found Harriet’s words convincing.

“And compared to Olivia Lanche?” she asked.

“Huh?”

Harriet was slightly taken aback by the sudden question.

“Could the paladins here be more loyal to Riana de Granz than to Olivia Lanche, the leader of the Holy Order?”

“That’s... a very dangerous question, Charlotte.”

It was indeed a highly sensitive question. These paladins were under Olivia Lanche, the leader of the Unified Holy Order, but Riana de Granz had been assigned as their commander. If, over time, they became more loyal to Riana than to Olivia, tensions could arise.

Charlotte looked at Harriet, who hesitated to answer.

“Because it’s a dangerous question, it needs to be asked.”

“...”

“The answer must be clear, precisely because it is dangerous.”

Reinhart wanted Charlotte to fully take on the role of the Ruler of the Demon Realm. Therefore, she needed to know everything about Edina. She needed to understand any dangers at hand, no matter how sensitive the issue may be.

“I don’t know the specific circumstances of Port Mokna or the thoughts of the paladins. But... Riana has always fought for the people and worked hard to protect her soldiers. I don’t know to whom the paladins would be more loyal, between Olivia and Riana... but I think the paladins would be willing to sacrifice their lives for Riana.”

It was just an educated assumption, but it seemed the paladins’ loyalty to Riana was so strong that they would be willing to lay down their lives for her.

“Riana’s nickname, the Thunder Queen, is a title given to her by the paladins with respect and admiration.”

They had bestowed such a title on a commander much younger than themselves, only in her twenties, out of respect.

Charlotte nodded. “I see.”

Harriet was afraid of every one of Charlotte’s questions. Her intentions were unclear. If Riana returned and they began to converse, and something went awry, it could lead to significant trouble. That trouble could easily escalate into a conflict.

A regent appointed by the Demon King clashing with Riana, one of the Four Demon Lords, was likely to escalate and lead to irreparable consequences.

Ultimately, the final decision-maker in Edina, though not present, was the Demon King, Baalier. If a problem arose and wasn’t properly resolved, it could only be put to rest after the Demon King returned.

If a conflict arose and the Demon King returned, whose side would he take? No matter whose side he took, it would inevitably be problematic.

If he sided with the regent, it would inevitably foster resentment among Riana and her supporters, who were basically founding contributors themselves.

If he sided with Riana, the newly established regency would start off on a shaky footing. If she failed to properly manage the loyalist factions, that would be an indication that Charlotte couldn’t fully handle the task of overseeing Edina’s governance.

“Charlotte. This is... too dangerous to meddle with,” Harriet said cautiously. frёewebnoѵēl.com

“I know that,” Charlotte replied as she continued to gaze outside the window.

***

In the Sren Mountains, in the southwestern border region of Kernstadt...

Thunk!

I watched as a massive tree was split in two, crashing down and crushing other trees as it rolled down the mountainside.

I was panting hard, and cold sweat ran down my entire body.

I knew that the monsters from the gates were varied, but I never imagined there would be one disguised as a tree. It had looked exactly like a towering tree, which had prompted me to climb up and take a nap, but as soon as I closed my eyes, the tree had tried to swallow me whole.

I managed to protect myself by releasing my mana and blasting my way out through the middle of the tree, but if I had truly fallen asleep, who knows what might have happened?

It had been about fifteen days since I’d entered the Sren Mountains, and I hadn’t slept a wink.

Still, I had yet to find Rijaiera.