Chapter 29: A Guy Who Likes Conspiracies

When we returned to The Pauper’s Crown, most of the bodies had been moved to the morgue.

Only the bodies had been cleared; inside was still full of hardened bloodstains, broken furniture stripped of its warmth, and dust to greet us. The whole place felt hollow, and it looked like someone had carried off everything of value. It was essentially an abandoned house.

I didn’t know if the guards had confiscated it or if the locals had picked the place clean, but Bodo, who was born and raised here, looked forlorn. I had Oscar stand guard outside while Hans went with Bodo to find the hidden money.

It was supposed to be hidden in the room he’d shared with his mom, buried so deep that nobody could’ve found it. Meanwhile, I activated the Searcher Scouter. In truth, I could’ve just sent Hans and Oscar, but when Bodo mentioned hidden money, I’d tagged along on a hunch.

The Searcher Scouter had a function to detect hidden spaces. I thought of it as a fun treasure hunt, but there were surprisingly many hidden spaces.

Crack!

When I removed the fifth step of the stairs leading to the second floor, an empty space appeared with a small box inside. Inside were copper coins. One, two, three, four, five. Hmm, 20 coins. Pocket change, but there was a definite thrill in finding ownerless money.

This time I headed to the kitchen.

Even the hearth pot had been stolen, so the kitchen was completely bare.

Would there be a hidden space in a place like this?

There was.

I found a groove in the corner of the ceiling. Hidden in a spot like this. Without the scouter, I never would’ve found it. I pried the groove open with my hand and pulled out a palm-sized leather pouch from inside. Hidden this well, thieves could search all they wanted and never find it.

The leather pouch was heavy.

I loved this feeling.

I checked the contents: copper coins.

Let’s see. One, two, three, four...

Counted them all—120 copper coins.

Nice haul.

When I’d worked as a site manager, daily wages were 100–200 copper, so this was a decent find. Should I set aside a day to search abandoned houses? This was genuinely fun, like actual treasure hunting. The owner of this money was gone, so it was truly finders keepers.

I searched most of the first floor but found nothing more.

So I headed up to the second floor.

I found a hidden space in the hallway too.

This time it was a broken table.

Amazingly, there was a small cavity inside the table. What a creative hiding method. Even though the table was broken, the contents hadn’t spilled out. The thieves wouldn’t have known about this either. So I simply smashed the table apart to get it out easily. Found 2 silver coins.

Total haul so far: 2 silver coins, 140 copper coins.

Just then, Bodo and Hans were coming out of the fifth room.

From Bodo’s bright expression, it looked like they’d found it safely.

"Find it?" I called out.

"Yeah. It was inside a rat hole," Bodo answered.

"Yeah? I guess the thieves didn’t search that far."

"It was hidden behind the bed. Here."

The leather pouch Bodo handed me contained 8 silver coins. A year’s living expenses for a commoner. Most of the money earned would’ve been taken by pimps or donated to the church, but she’d managed to save this much—probably for her son. I planned to keep this money safe and give it to Bodo when he got married.

This money was in my care, not mine.

"But what’s that?"

"This? Hidden money I found around the house."

Hans’s and Bodo’s eyes widened at the money I’d found.

The two of them perked up and searched thoroughly for anything overlooked.

Hmm, the scouter is the best.

I found another one. It was in the second-floor storage, hidden inside the wall. When I pulled out a brick, a spacious cavity appeared, and inside I found a leather pouch and a sheet of linen paper. What was this linen paper? I examined the contents: there was a drawing.

A windmill and the stream below it, with an X marked on a rock.

A treasure map marker.

Like most open-world games, Medieval Knight had treasure map content too. There were some connected quests through treasure hunting, but I’d never pursued them. It’d be nice to track it down someday, but with no way to leave the capital at the moment, it was just insurance.

If the amount was small, it’d be a complete dud, but if it was large, it’d at least be a windfall. More than that, I was more curious about how much was in the leather pouch. Let’s see, how many copper coins were inside? They were all silver coins. Stunned, I took out all the silver and counted.

Thirty-five silver coins. Seriously, jackpot. Then wouldn’t this treasure map on linen paper be worth just as much? It would’ve been nice if it indicated which village, but then it wouldn’t be a treasure map anymore. With this, my silver holdings exceeded 100.

A major jackpot—but why were this much money and a treasure map hidden in this storage room?

With all the people involved dead, uncovering the truth was impossible. Anyway, this money would be put to good use as Streit family operating expenses. Bodo and Hans searched hard but didn’t find so much as a few copper coins. They were stunned by the 35 silver I’d found.

"Wolfgang, how on earth do you find these things?"

"I’ve got a good eye. I can spot everything."

More precisely, it was thanks to the scouter installed in my eyes, but nobody knew that. So if I brazenly claimed it was my natural talent, that was that. Bodo guessed this money was what the madam had squirreled away bit by bit after paying tribute to the prostitution guild.

Whatever the reason, with no owner to claim it, I’d more than earned enough for the burial plot.

With this amount, it would’ve been smarter to deposit it in the Medici family bank. Oh, would the money’s origins as a pimp’s earnings cause problems? Probably not—I was dealing with the bank as a noble, after all.

After accomplishing our objective, I went to Kisling parish to consult with the priest about laying Bodo’s mother to rest in the church’s common cemetery. Father Luben was someone I saw every Sunday when I led my retainers to services. Originally I’d attended the plaza church but had switched to the closer Kisling parish.

"Hmm, brother. That’s difficult. There can be no funeral for a prostitute," Father Luben said.

"Although this child’s mother was a prostitute, she didn’t abandon her child, raised him properly, and consistently donated to the church. The child has now been taken in by me, a noble, and become an attendant. Shouldn’t she be worthy of receiving consecration and burial in the church cemetery, in recognition of that maternal virtue?" I argued.

"It’s not without precedent, but in such cases, you’d need to make a considerable donation."

"...So how much?"

Wasn’t demanding 10 silver coins as a donation highway robbery? Out of personal curiosity, I asked about individual burial plots reserved for nobles, and they started at 50 silver coins. Anyway, the total cost including the requiem mass came to 18 silver coins.

So on the third day after the deceased had passed, along with the requiem mass, Bodo’s mother was laid to rest in the common cemetery. My retainers carried the coffin. Bodo offered memorial prayers so his mother could rest in peace and comfort in God’s embrace until Resurrection Day. That’s how we held the funeral Bodo had wished for.

Only then did the somber Bodo manage a smile.

The brothel district incident still cast an uneasy pall, but gradually things were returning to normal. I was still saddled with a role I didn’t want, so I had to report to the finance offices early in the morning at Adelbert’s summons.

I felt bad about missing the breakfast Sabine had prepared, but what could I do when my superior called?

When I entered Adelbert’s office, there was also an unfamiliar man present.

"Welcome, Sir Streit. I haven’t had the time, so forgive me for only summoning you now."

In the few days since I’d last seen him, Adelbert’s face looked much worse.

Plenty on his mind, clearly. After Rüdiger had died, I had no idea how the internal reshuffling among inspectors had gone, because I was temporary and an unwelcome outsider. Honestly, no hard feelings. I just wished they’d cut me loose from the Finance Department.

"This is Sir Mort, appointed as the new Deputy Inspector General succeeding Rüdiger."

"Konrad von Mort."

Mort’s arrogant way of looking down his nose at me grated on my nerves, but since he was Rüdiger’s successor, he’d be my superior too, so I swallowed my irritation. Yeah, I definitely had a rebellious streak and disliked being under anyone. By the way—Mort?

Familiar name.

Oh, now I remembered. Oscar had told me.

The one who’d spurred the skeptical Rüdiger into action was Inspector Mort.

So it was this guy. I examined this bastard’s profile with the Manager Scouter. Just like Rüdiger—clear hostility and envy. And his disposition was conspiracy (neutral).

A man who thrives on scheming.