novelraw Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Chapter 10
We rounded up Corrupt Officials in large numbers!
That had been something quite meaningful to me.
It felt as though I had resolved one of the deepest-rooted problems in this country.
But the satisfaction vanished the moment I arrived at the residential district where the common people lived.
“What is this?”
A city less than a thirty-minute walk from the palace.
Should it not have been gleaming, at least by the standards of an ordinary city?
“You there! Move!”
The condition of the roads in this district was already atrocious.
Even near the entrance, I could see parts of the road that had caved in, and there was no distinction at all between the footpaths and the route for carriages.
It was only natural that the coachman had shouted a warning at me while I was walking boldly down the middle.
“What is wrong with the roads— no, what is wrong with the whole district?”
The walls of the buildings that looked like houses or shops were all stained with streaks from rainwater.
I could not tell whether that caused any functional problems, but visually it made the entire place look like a ruin.
To make matters worse, various kinds of trash were rolling all over the streets.
“I was not expecting pay-as-you-throw garbage bags or anything, but this is really...”
The road to the mining region I had visited before had been rough, and that village had looked desolate, but that had not been because it was rural.
Yeramerian as a whole was simply not being maintained at all.
I had always grumbled that the palace was shabby, but outside it was far worse.
“Do they even have clean drinking water here?”
Still in shock, I immediately started following the smell of food.
I should go to a restaurant.
I should see what kind of food they served, and what kind of water they used.
“It would probably be faster to follow the rats than to look for a restaurant.”
I quickened my pace.
And in the end, I really did find a restaurant by smell.
By the tremendous stench of food waste.
“Welcome.”
When I stepped inside, I looked around.
Apparently this was not a world without soap, since the owner’s hair was not plastered down in a revolting grease slick.
But the kitchen itself was caked in grease from end to end.
“What do you have on the menu here?”
“I will get you the menu.”
A variety of dishes were written on the menu the owner handed me.
But I could not focus on the food at all.
“Anything that comes out the fastest. And some water, please.”
I wanted them to start preparing the food as quickly as possible.
The hygiene was abysmal.
Then at least I should check the condition of the restaurant’s drinking water.
“We do not sell water here. It is not on the menu.”
But the owner’s brusque reply threw my plan off again.
“You do not have water?”
“What is this? Are you a foreigner?”
At my question, the owner looked at me as though I were the strange one.
Then he shook his head.
“Who has water these days? Beer or fruit juice, maybe.”
What was that supposed to mean?
Was Yeramerian perhaps one of those countries with extremely hard water?
In that case, drinks really might be cheaper than bottled water.
“I do not mean for free. I was going to buy it.”
Ah.
Judging by the owner’s expression, apparently that was not it either.
“Drinking water is sold at market price. How am I supposed to sell you that? Go buy some from a water seller and drink it outside first.”
That was honestly too shocking.
Most Koreans would be startled if they were handed tap water while traveling abroad, but here I was being told to go drink outside first.
Because of the market price.
“Then how do you wash the food if drinking water is sold at market price?”
“Ah, if you do not like it, leave. What are you even talking about?”
At my question, the owner looked as though I were giving him a headache, snatched away the menu, and immediately turned his back on me to sit back down at the spot in front of the kitchen where he had been sitting before.
Judging from both the size of the restaurant and the owner’s appearance, it did not look as though the place was on the verge of collapse.
And even so, things were like this?
“Sorry, but then where exactly can I buy water to drink? I really do not know.”
At my cautious question, the restaurant owner turned his upper body slightly back toward me.
His expression said, unmistakably, that he found me a nuisance.
“You just go outside and stop anybody dragging around a big water barrel. You should be able to find people who buy water in bulk near the border and bring it here.”
Ah.
“But honestly, most people do not die just from drinking ordinary tap water. Foreigners are just the ones who always freak out.”
What in the world was that supposed to mean?
They bought water near the border and sold it in their own country?
“I did not know Yeramerian was a country where drinking water was so scarce. I am sorry.”
For the moment, I gave the owner a brief apology for souring his mood.
He glanced at me, then let out a deep sigh.
“Officially, it probably is not. The royal family and the nobles have separate sources of drinking water they can access.”
What?
And what was that supposed to mean?
“There used to be facilities here and there that produced drinking water, you know? But they all broke down. So as far as I know, only the royal family and the nobles are still supplied through one or two of the remaining facilities.”
“You mean all the purification facilities broke down? Since when?”
“A year ago, maybe. But the king and the nobles probably do not know.”
“Why not?”
“Because the ones— no, the people responsible for managing and supervising them have kept their mouths shut.”
I was so shocked that I pressed a hand lightly to my forehead.
It was not just the ones who had openly embezzled money.
There were also those who had simply ignored problems even after they arose.
“When our prince said this time that he was going to start Killing Corrupt Officials, I thought he would sweep those bastards out too. But apparently they all got off for lack of evidence.”
Ah.
For a moment, I felt bitter all over again that we had not managed to drag every last one of them in.
How were bastards who worked like this still keeping their positions?
“They really should have been killed.”
“Exactly~”
The restaurant owner, grumbling right along with my muttering, shook his head.
“But they say so many administrators got arrested that some offices are practically paralyzed now.”
The problems truly never seemed to end.
“For example?”
“Did you not see outside? The streets are drowning in trash.”
Well, he was right.
I had followed the smell of food waste to find this restaurant in the first place.
The owner also seemed aware of the pile of food waste in front of his own establishment, because he gave an awkward cough or two.
“These days, there is no one collecting the trash either, and, well, that is how it is. They say it is because the administrators who used to pay them are gone.”
I see.
“I do not know the details, but still... why did you even come to see a country like this?”
So it was less a matter of private contractors abusing people, and closer to public institutions grinding to a halt.
I really needed to understand the situation in detail.
It was absurd to expect anyone to survive in a country like this.
“Thank you for telling me all that. It was an informative conversation.”
I handed the restaurant owner a gold coin, then quietly stepped back out onto the street.
After that, I walked around a little more and spoke to several other people.
I needed to confirm whether the owner’s words had been true or exaggerated.
“Ah, you saw that section of road sticking up at the entrance to the district, right? It has been like that for two years. Everybody knows they ate up the roadwork budget, and the person in charge keeps skimming from it regularly.”
“The sanitation workers? They say they cannot do the job because they are short on manpower. But that is because they have never been paid properly, so naturally no one wants to do it.”
“The purification facilities? They all broke down ages ago. I heard they have only been repairing the facilities reserved for the royal family and nobles.”
And it turned out there was not even a shred of exaggeration in what the restaurant owner had said.
It was horrifying.
Even from the documents, I had wondered what kind of country this was, but after actually coming out into the district, the reality was even more insane.
Haah.
So much for a hobby.
The Queen had not been asking too much of me.
No matter how busy I had been with audit work, the truth was that I should have kept working all along.
“Fuck, they all need to die.”
I practically ran all the way back to the palace.
At first I had even thought I might spend a night outside, but that thought disappeared completely.
Haah.
Have all the useful attendants already gone home?
The moment I reached the palace, I headed straight for my office.
My feet and legs seemed to be trembling slightly, but I could not stop walking.
“Ah, Your Highness! Would you perhaps like dinner—”
“Bring it to the office.”
“Your Highness! Shall I help you change—”
“Later.”
Every attendant and servant I passed said something to me.
I appreciated it, but this was not the time to be appreciating things.
“Would you like some tea or water? You are sweating terribly!”
The moment I heard the word “water,” a real surge of fury rose up in me.
I had heard that a person could die if they went even three days without water.
So what kind of country could call itself a country when even water was not properly drinkable?
“Someone who can bring me the list of purification facility administrators right now—hands!”
I stopped walking and shouted loudly at the people trailing after me.
They all looked at one another in confusion.
The list of purification facility administrators, all of a sudden?
“M-Maybe Sir Douglas might know?”
Perhaps because my expression looked particularly vicious, I could practically see them all thinking as fast as they could.
And among them, the guard with the quickest judgment timidly raised his hand and offered his suggestion.
“Douglas. Is Douglas still here?”
“I saw him entering the training grounds earlier.”
“Run and bring him. If you bring him back quickly, I will give you a gold coin on the spot.”
“What?”
The guard blanked out for a moment at my sudden words.
“A gold coin. I said I will give you one.”
“Ah. Yes!”
But the moment he heard the words gold coin, he snapped back to his senses and ran off like a madman.
Watching him, the people still standing there could not hide the envy on their faces.
So I added one more line for their benefit.
“The first person to bring me the list of purification facility administrators before Douglas gets here also gets a gold coin.”
“What?”
“The list of purification facility administrators. To my office. First come, first served. One person.”
They all looked startled at my words.
But whether they were startled or not was not what mattered.
What mattered was that the instant I turned on my heel and resumed walking, everyone behind me went crashing off in all directions.
“The bastards I catch this time are going to drink nothing but rag-washing water in prison.”
Muttering that vow under my breath, I entered my office.
Then I immediately began writing down the things I needed to do.
“Purification facilities, sanitation... Haah. What do they even call this in the terms of this era?”
Perhaps because my anger had still not faded, the tip of the pen bent, and even the cheap papyrus paper warped under the pressure.
“Damn it!”
I hurled the malfunctioning pen to the floor and sank down onto the chair.
Maybe I really had walked too much all day, because my legs had begun trembling openly.
But the trembling in my fists came purely from my anger.
“I have been far too lenient on them. That is the truth.”
Recognition?
Letting them save face?
I had never intended to give them that in the first place.
But this was truly beyond what I could tolerate.
Knock, knock, knock.
As I sat there trying to quell my rage, a knock sounded through the office.
“Who is it?”
At my voice, the office door opened faster than usual.
Douglas, who had clearly been in the middle of physical training, stepped inside while wiping away sweat.
Beside him stood a guard, panting for breath.
“I heard you were looking for me.”
“Come in. Ah, and give that guard one gold coin too.”
“Yes, sir.”
Douglas approached me wearing an expression that said he found the whole thing odd.
“Your Highness! The f-full list! Revised! The purification... that list is here!”
And at that exact moment, another attendant rushed into my office with documents in hand.
“Give that one a coin too.”
Douglas picked up two gold coins and handed one to each of them, just as I had ordered.
Then he stared hard at the documents the attendant had brought, and turned to look at me.
“So we are starting another overnight shift?”
At the sight of Douglas lifting the corner of his mouth, I gave him a slow grin in return.
“Bring that pile of documents over here. Let us go kill a few people for real.”