Meeting the Governor

Mathew felt exhausted, each step he took caused the pain in his feet to grow ever more. " I can't stop now..." He already could see the city in the distance, and he was just a few dozen meters away from the city walls.

He didn't know what time it was, but, the sun had already been up for quite some time. "It's almost noon, I bet." Mathew was almost in disbelief that he ran for so much time without stopping. " The perks of being a body cultivator I guess."

Mathew had arranged Sigebert's memories while traveling to the city. Sigebert was an orphan who was raised by a local monastery, he always dreamt of becoming a cultivator. He initially wanted to join a sect, but, he eventually ended up choosing to participate in the Imperial Exams, and surprisingly passing on the first try.

Mathew sighed as he thought about Sigebert's life, his first deployment as a bureaucrat was that small village, and little did he know that it would be his last too. " Such a young guy, and talented too." Even without ever joining a sect or school, Sigebert still achieved minor success in cultivation, breaking through the fifth level of the Blood Articulation Realm.

Mathew quickly entered the city, using his Imperial token to pass the gates without needing any checks, and went straight to the administration center. -" Where do I go now..." Sigebert had no memory of this building, so Mathew could only count on himself to know where to go now.

He entered the administration center and looked around, many people came and went, making Mathew even more lost. -" Excuse me! Where i can find the Governor?" Mathew stopped one of the men who entered the building and asked.

-" The Governor?" The man looked at Mathew's state and gave him an awkward state." Don't bother me! I'm too busy for this." The man thought that Mathew was just some random person, and left him hanging.

Mathew's face twitched in anger, he quickly stopped another person and asked the same question, but, this time he showed his Imperial Token.

-" Tsk! Just a Tax Examiner and you want to meet the governor?" The man gave Mathew an annoyed look and continued on his way;

-" Fuck! Wait!" Mathew had enough of how people acted and opened one of the scrolls. " I brought proof of a corruption scheme!"

Mathew's words made everyone in the hall stop and look at him, corruption wasn't anything uncommon, but, if they were caught they would be dealt with swiftly.

-" A Corruption scheme?!" The man who was talking with Mathew looked back at him and observed the scroll. " Where are you from? Who is your superior?"

-" I'm a tax examiner from the Hard Pine Village, the magistrate there is in cahoots with the local noble, and they are siphoning the tax away!" Mathew didn't want to reveal the reason he wanted to meet the governor at first, he had learned his lesson from the envoy, but, it looked like he didn't have any other way.

-" Hard Pine Village? Where is even this place?"

-" It must be a small village, the magistrate there must have thought that no one would discover it due to the village's size."

-" Don't listen to this man!" Ruffus rushed inside the administration center and quickly tried to snatch the scrolls from the man's hands. " He is a liar! He was the one who was caught embezzling funds!"

-" Ruffus? Why is he here?"

-" Wait! So that man was trying to fool us!"

Mathew almost fainted from shock as he saw the governor envoy, he never thought that the man would follow him. " No! This man is also part of the scheme! He is helping Nicolaus!"

-" You dare to slander me?! You know what is the penalty for slandering a bureaucrat?" Ruffus tried to snatch the scrolls from the man again, but, someone held him back.

-" Why don't we calm down first?" A Young man smiled at Ruffus and threw him back. " I'm called Curtis Alston, what about you?" The young tried his best to calm Mathew down.

-" My name is Sigebert, a tax examiner from the Hard Pine Village, and I bring with me scrolls proving that the magistrate Nicolaus, the governor envoy, and the local noble stole funds from the village." Mathew felt tense, he didn't know if people would believe him.

-" May I take a look at the scrolls? The young man grinned as he saw the scrolls. " I promise to take you to the governor if this document isn't forged."[

Mathew sighed, the scrolls weren't signed or had the Imperial stamp, and all that Mathew had to prove was Nicolaus' handwriting, he hoped that this would be enough proof for the man to take it to the governor.

-" Curtis! Don't meddle in this! This young man is from a village in my jurisdiction." Ruffus couldn't let the scrolls from in his hands.

-" He may work in your jurisdiction, but, he isn't there now, is he?" Curtis smiled as he took the scrolls, he always hated Ruffus, and he wouldn't waste an opportunity to get rid of him.

Curtis's face was full of emotions as he read the documents, three of them were accounted for the supposed stolen funds, and the other two were official documents that shared the same handwriting. " Stealing the tax paid by the citizens, embezzlement of the imperial grants... and even slave trade?" Curtis closed the scrolls and smiled. " I will take you to meet the governor."

Curtis's words made the hall fall into silence once again, they all looked at Ruffus with astonished faces. A magistrate siphoning some of the tax to their pockets was a common occurrence, but, almost no one ever dared to mess with the imperial grants, not to mention the slave trade accusation.

-" Thank you, Sir." Mathew was relieved that the man would help him, he quickly bowed to the man and followed him.

-" So Ruffus... Are you going to come with us? Or will you wait here?" Curtis asked as he began to walk.

-" Of course, I will come with you! I have to defend myself against this slander." Ruffus was enraged as he saw Curtis's smile, but, he quickly calmed down and began to think about what excuse he would give.

The three of them quickly arrived at a metal door at the end of the corridor, Curtis carefully knocked. "Allan? It's me, Curtis. I have something important to show you."

-" It's not a good time, go back." Allan, the governor, answered Curtis, a trance of nervousness could be felt from his tone.

-" This thing is really important." Curtis tried to insist, each moment that passed made it more likely that Ruffus would escape punishment.

-" I'm dealing with foreign matters now." Allan spoke once again, this time he looked even more nervous.

-" It looks like we have to wait."Curtis was about to leave when the door to Allan's study opened.

-" You have to the end of the day to find her!" An elderly man shouted and pointed to Allan before leaving the room.

Curtis was surprised as he saw the group, they all wore military uniforms, but not the ones from their kingdom. " Etruscian soldiers?" Curtis didn't understand what soldiers from the neighboring kingdom were doing here. " Did we disturb your meeting?"

-" It doesn't matter... They would leave anyway." Allan threw himself on his chair and looked to the ceiling. " We may have another conflict on its way."

-" What are you talking about? Who were they looking for?" Curtis's face grew serious as he listened to Allan.

-" Some nobles from their kingdom were kidnaped, and they are saying that everything is leading to our country." Allan massaged his face, the life of a governor sure wasn't easy. " Oh? Ruffus already came back? How did your survey go? Everything alright?"

Ruffus was frozen, Allan's previous words still clear in his mind. " A Noble from the Etruscian Kingdom was gone missing?" A very troubling thought crossed Ruffus's mind, he was sure that Nicolaus was selling foreign slaves.

-" Hey don't tell me that you guys were the ones responsible for this." Curtis's face quickly flashed in realization.

-" I don't have anything to do with that!" Ruffus felt like his world was collapsing, if Nicolaus had truly sold a noble from the Etruscian kingdom as a slave, no amount of excuses would save his life. " All I did was steal the taxes! I just learned about the slaves today! You can even ask him!" Ruffus trembled in fear, the punishment for stealing tax was just losing his position a few years in jail, but, slaving a foreign noble was totally different.

Allan felt like he was going insane by the pressure of being a governor." Stealing taxes? Slaves?" He almost thought that he had misheard Ruffus's words. " What are you talking about Ruffus?!"

-" Allan... It's best if you sit down." Curtis knew that it wasn't time to joke around anymore, even his hatred for Ruffus mattered little in this situation now. " You need to look at this."

-" Those are?" Allan's face was pale, he still couldn't understand what was happening.

-" Accounting scrolls from the Hard Pine Village, this young man brought them." Curtis passed the scrolls to Allan and pointed to Mathew.