"Now then, Vazgan Theoregrim was a knight who was publicly executed wrongfully, with even the people of Bultom he had sworn to protect not believing in his and his family's innocence.
He then turned into an undead after he was unceremoniously relieved of his head, and bore a grudge against the entirety of Bultom for his wrongful death.
Said grudge was further amplified when he became a higher level undead, and he has been biding his time ever since then, until an 'Oh so convenient' collaborator like the Eighth Finger showed up.
Sounds like a chance he's gonna take to settle his grudges, don't you think?"
"Indeed, it does.
But regardless of the reason for his grudge, more than a million people would die if we let him succeed, so he's to be put down."
"Yeah, he would, but you won't be the one to do it, though."
Evan replied to Sir Luke before pointing at Duke Charles and saying.
"Duke Charles over here would be the one to face Vazgan. Or rather, he's the only one who can 'cus Heinr and the two S rankers would have Vazgan's Lieutenants as their opponents while you and Ralphie can't show up until the Eighth Finger brings out the big bad bMv_ta/!4[f-C[E(."
"The big bad what now?"
"The big bad something I cannot say because for some reason only goddess Artemisia knows."
The young hero clicked his tongue and sat up before moving on to the next thing he came for.
"Hey, Your Majesty and Duk- 'Father', you guys are going to confiscate all of Count Falos' property and assets, right?"
[Of course, we are.]
"Good.
Then you might as well just confiscate the Eighth Finger's funds alongside it.]
[Pardon?]
"Falos was the Eighth Finger's right-hand man, and the one in charge of managing his funds, and he had most of the Eighth Division's funds inside banks in the Great Western Empire, both under his name, and the names of the Dummy business he had.
The both of you can ignore the court order proceedings required to freeze bank accounts and directly order the accounts under Count Falos's name to be frozen, right?"
[Yes, that is possible.
And we were planning to do just that. The former Count's entire family is also facing criminal penalties for being guilty by association.
If we discover that they had any direct connections, it's straight to the execution block for them.]
Duke Roger replied to Evan while turning his gaze to the Emperor who nodded in affirmation.
"Good, good. But all of that doesn't really concern me much. What I want to say is that you guys should freeze all the accounts of the former Count and his businesses.
As well as the Dummy Companies he was secretly in charge of."
[Dummy Companies, you say?]
Emperor Rudeus narrowed his eyes and leaned forward upon hearing Evan's words, with the young hero opening up his system archive and replying.
"Yes.
He had three Dummy businesses within the Great Western Empire, and a few others outside, for the sake of managing some of the Eighth Division's funds."
As he was speaking, his right hand was moving up and down repeatedly, as if he was trying to fan himself with his hand, but in reality, he was scrolling through the system archive for the information on Count Falos.
"Found it.
Thunder Mining Group, West Range Accounting, and Highguards Commerce.
Those three companies are related to Count Falos, I'm sure you'd figure it out if you did some digging.
Confiscating all the money in the accounts of these companies should net you more than a few million gold coins, enough to help recoup part of the money spent for mobilizing all these soldiers and adventurers."
Rudeus and Roger stared at Evan in silence, with the young boy looking back at them in confusion before Ralphie broke the silence.
"You haven't gotten to the part where you explain how you knew this."
"Oh, that.
Let's just say it's part of the perks of my 'Hero' title. I honestly can't say any more than that. Even my lessened restrictions would still net me a couple dozen levels lost if I talk too much."
Evan replied as he closed the system archive, before turning to Richard and addressing the Crown Prince for the first time.
"Yo, Sis-con."
Everyone present could audibly hear the sound of Richard's face twitching upon hearing Evan's words.
And as for the Crown Prince in question, he knew fully well that Evan only brought up the matter from their conversation over a year ago, just to spite him and get a reaction out of him.
[Look here you impertinent brat-]
The Crown Prince's words were interrupted when someone opened the door of the room where he was, with his gaze turning to the side to meet with a familiar pair of blue eyes.
[Laurene? Anything?]
[Nothing serious, I wanted to ask you for something and Mother said you were here so I came over.]
The new entrant, Princess Laurene replied to her father as she closed the door behind her and walked up to the three guys, greeting her brother and the Duke before offering her greetings to the people with Evan.
"Laurene."
[Hmm? Is there a problem, Evan?]
The princess tilted her head in confusion as she stared at Evan, with the young hero only heaving a sigh before the playful smile he had on his face when messing with Richard disappeared.
Almost immediately, everyone present could sense that there was something different about Evan's current mood.
"I heard you told them about our 'Hero' titles."
[Oh…that. I didn't directly say anything, they reached the conclusion on their own.]
"With hints you gave them."
[I only sped up the process.]
"…"
[…]
Everyone present just looked at the two heroes who were staring at each other in silence, until Evan finally broke it with his next words.
"Laurene, are you forgetting that I'm also a 'Hero' like you? I know how heavy the restrictions on us are, and I know about the conditions for us to receive repercussions just as much as you do.
Don't try to use wordplay with me."
The boy sat up and narrowed his eyes at Laurene, not giving the girl any chance to speak as he continued.
"You're not like me who has more leniency in what I can say or do, so don't try to push your luck.
You don't want the wrath of a universal law that even our predecessors were scared shitless of to bear down on you now, do you?"
[Why in tarnation would I want that?]
"Of course, you don't.
You of all people should know how they ended up due to that law's wrath after all."
Evan chuckled as he subtly hinted at the fact that the souls of their predecessors had been lost. Of course, he was not aware of the fact that the soul of the previous fourth had never been complete in the first place, but his point was still clear to Laurene.
"Anyway, I'm not trying to pressure you or anything. But please, tread carefully.
I don't want to be forced to use that 'authority'."
[…your words are having the opposite effect, you know?]
"Hmm? Maybe they are.
Still…you get what I'm saying, don't you?"
[I do. Now go get some sleep, you look like you haven't done so in days.]
"I'll have you know I had a nice nap yesterday afternoon. I did fight a bunch of undead and nearly got killed by Vazgan's skill right after though."
[I think anyone would need to take more than just a nap after that…]
"…
…I actually have to agree with you on that one."
◇ ◇ ◇
Adventurer's Guild Main Hall
Bultom Dungeon City
Cheverton Duchy
April 27th
Year 1052
While Evan and co were conversing with the Emperor and co, the adventurer's guild building of Bultom Dungeon City had welcomed a lot more than just adventurers on this day.
Knights, Soldiers, Holy Knights, Paladins, Mages of Kasteblum and a few Mercenaries who came to join the undead suppression force in Bultom.
They were chatting with each other over food and drinks, making friends with each other and so on.
On one end you could see one of the adventurers trying to woo a knight, and on another, you could see some of the soldiers and the mages clanking their beer jugs together as they'd found new drinking buddies.
Among all these, there was one particular table that was surrounded by a lot of powerful figures from each respective category, with each of them having levels no less than 280.
Peak B rank adventurers, A rankers, Senior Mages, Officer ranked soldiers, Top Mercenaries, High-level Knights, with a few lower ranked paladins in the mix.
(A/N; Paladins are ranked higher than normal Holy Knights so a low-rank paladin is actually at around level 250+.)
They were all drinking and chatting with each other while talking about various things that had happened over the course of the past few months, ever since the undead crisis began.
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