I thought to myself.
I’m freaking terrified….
I wore a confident smile on the outside, but that was how I really felt.
It wasn’t as if I’d ever spoken like this in my life before.
But I can’t back down now.
I glanced around the room.
The Sterling Merchant Company employees were staring at me with horrified expressions.
I couldn’t afford to show even the slightest weakness if I wanted them to follow my orders.
Besides, I wasn’t bluffing, was I?
All these men had been sent by the Boss of the Barsen organization.
He’d lent every last one of them to me.
“T-This can’t be happening! I’ve devoted years of my life to Sterling…!”
“Two years, to be precise. You haven’t even graduated from college yet.”
“Master! Call the master! Where is Master Kevin Sterling?!”
“Don’t worry. I’ve made sure he’s being taken care of in a nice, safe place.”
Kevin really was safe and sound in his own room. I hadn’t laid a finger on him.
But with all these intimidating men filling the office, and one employee having just been forcibly subdued…
In this situation, saying he’d been taken to a “nice place” would sound suspicious to anyone.
Just look at their faces. They weren’t merely pale; they were practically blue with fear.
“Take him away.”
The moment I gave the order, the men dragged Patrick out of the office.
So this was the taste of power…
Yeah, right.
I was practically dying trying to keep my expression under control until the very end. My mouth felt like it was about to start twitching.
Still, I had to do what needed to be done.
“Now then, shall we continue the one-on-one interviews we left unfinished yesterday?”
When I flashed them a sweet smile, everyone’s shoulders flinched at once. There was something I wanted to ask them.
Have any of you ever heard of the prisoner’s dilemma?
***
Rashak nodded at his subordinate’s report.
“And what happened after she conducted the one-on-one interviews?”
“She started with questions about their work. She had the ledgers they’d submitted yesterday beside her, but instead of examining them, she asked about the employees themselves, such as when they’d joined the company and what duties they’d handled.”
“And then?”
“Every now and then, she’d point out, ‘So you must have worked on that with Patrick Rohan.’ Naturally, their expressions would stiffen.”
The smile lingering on Rashak’s lips deepened.
What an interesting approach.
“And? They wouldn’t have confessed right away.”
“The first person she interviewed did, actually. Looking back, I think she deliberately chose the employee who seemed the least courageous to question first.”
“……”
“I was standing in the office, and he’d seen Patrick Rohan dragged away, so… the employee spilled everything. Then she used that information to put pressure on the others, saying, ‘That’s not what the others told me.’”
By the time he’d heard that much, Rashak no longer felt the need to ask any more questions.
He could already picture exactly how it had unfolded.
She’d secured one solid piece of information, then worked her way through the employees one by one.
Whenever she noticed something suspicious, she’d unsettle them by saying, The others didn’t say that, then pressure them into betraying their accomplices.
Do you want to end up like Patrick Rohan?
She’d used the same tactic on the next person, and the one after that. By piecing together all the information she’d gathered, the truth would inevitably emerge.
Without having to search Patrick Rohan’s house or investigate his movements, she’d obtain testimony proving his embezzlement.
She could even identify accomplices by tracking down whoever had deliberately fed her false information.
“It’s a basic interrogation technique,” his subordinate added matter-of-factly.
Rashak knew that, too.
But it was another matter entirely for an ordinary woman who’d been running a failing magic potion shop to use it.
She said she’d received knight training. Did she learn it there?
Even so, knowing something in theory and applying it in practice were worlds apart.
She’d said she’d quit her training halfway through, so she probably hadn’t even had a chance to put those skills to use in a real situation.
And yet she’d pulled it off in a single day. Rashak had certainly given her a push, but it was undeniably interesting.
“What would you like to do? Should I have the intelligence squad look into the employees again?”
“Again? Why waste our resources?”
“Pardon?”
“Hiel Cavernon is doing her job well. She’s steadily uncovering evidence and has correctly identified the person responsible for the embezzlement.”
“But…”
“Do you know what the most powerful motivation is?”
Rashak’s lips curled into a crooked smile.
“Success.”
“……”
“Especially the first success you’ve achieved entirely through your own strategy, without anyone else’s help.”
“…It’s not as if she received no help at all.”
“Insisting on doing everything alone when you don’t have enough resources is foolish, too.”
“……”
“Recognizing exactly what you need is a skill in itself.”
“……”
“And Hiel Cavernon is handling everything remarkably well.”
At last, his subordinate fell silent. His expression wasn’t displeased. Rather, he nodded as if he’d finally understood.
Other organizations might wonder why Rashak was spending so much time convincing a mere subordinate of her worth, but he believed this process was necessary.
Respect only came when everyone acknowledged someone’s merit, and authority followed from that respect.
Without hiding his smile, Rashak asked,
“So, where is our brilliant interrogator right now?”
***
Late that night.
I was half-dead from exhaustion in the merchant company’s owner’s office.
“Um, Ms. Cavernon… Why don’t you take a break and have some dinner? I’ve brought you a sandwich.”
I couldn’t answer Kevin’s hesitant suggestion.
I’d spent so much time talking all day that even eating felt like too much effort.
This must be the most I’ve ever talked about in my entire life…
I struggled to rub my face and managed a smile.
“…Thank you.”
“P-Please don’t cry.”
I’m smiling.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know enough about any of this…”
Kevin bowed his head deeply as he offered me the plate of sandwiches.
Honestly, he wasn’t wrong… but I didn’t feel like blaming him.
His father had died so suddenly. How confusing must everything have been for him?
And on top of that, Patrick had sweet-talked him by claiming to have been his father’s friend. All the employees looked to Patrick, too, so Kevin hadn’t been able to get rid of him.
“It’s all right… You’re still young, Master Sterling.”
“But… if I’d known more, you wouldn’t have had to work so hard.”
“…That’s true.”
I was so exhausted that the honest words slipped out before I could stop myself. Kevin’s expression visibly fell.
Just as an awkward silence was about to settle over us—
“Pfft.”
At the sudden burst of laughter, Kevin and I both turned toward the entrance.
Rashak stood leaning against the doorway with his arms crossed.
“You still are quick to admit things.”
“B-Boss Barsen…!”
Kevin hurriedly jumped to his feet. I was so tired that I started to rise a beat later, but—
Before I could, Rashak strode over to me and asked,
“Is that enough for dinner?”
“Huh? Oh… yes, it’s fine.”
It wasn’t as though I had much of an appetite to begin with.
He sat down on a sofa nearby and asked,
“So, did you find evidence of the embezzlement?”
“Yes. We’ve secured witness testimony. Master Sterling was there and heard everything himself.”
“That couldn’t have been easy.”
“I thought we needed to finish everything today. If we let them go home, they might get together and coordinate their stories…”
That was why I’d kept conducting interviews and organizing the testimonies until this late at night.
If I kept them too busy to catch their breath, they wouldn’t have the time or presence of mind to come up with convincing lies.
“Then what will happen to Patrick Rohan?”
This time, Rashak turned his gaze toward Kevin Sterling.
Kevin hid his trembling hands behind his back before answering.
“W-Well, after comparing the ledgers, we found that the amount he’d embezzled was substantial. So we’re planning to r-report him to the Central Court, have his assets seized…? Yes, we’ll proceed with the appropriate legal action.”
Fortunately, thanks to my silent prompting, Kevin managed to finish his sentence. I added an explanation.
“We’ll also notify the merchants’ association. Patrick Rohan will be blacklisted from the industry.”
After saying that, I cautiously gauged Rashak’s reaction.
His earlier remark that we’re not running a charity had been bothering me.
But if we used Rashak’s men to seize Patrick’s assets by force, it might instill excessive fear in the employees.
This wasn’t some underworld organization. There was no need to run a merchant company through fear.
Besides, Kevin wasn’t going to manage the company for just a day or two.
“And handling it through official channels would also be better for the company’s public image…”
Gasp! I hurriedly clapped a hand over my mouth.
I’d only meant to think that, but I was so tired that the words had slipped out before I realized it.
Rashak, however, smiled.
“Exactly. You made the right call.”
“R-Really…?”
“But are you sure about that? You seem to have quite a grudge against the man. Don’t you want to break a limb or two?”
Rashak asked playfully.
“Or have you already broken them in secret?”
“No! All his limbs are perfectly intact!”
“You’re not disappointed?”
“N-No, I’m not.”
My pent-up anger had already eased somewhat when Rashak’s men forcibly dragged Patrick away.
And once he went to trial and all his assets were seized, Patrick would have a hard time returning to a normal life anyway.
“Still, if you block every escape route, even a rat will bite a cat.”
He smiled as if he’d read my mind.
“Then shall we call it a day? I’ll see you home.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I’ll take you home.”
I blinked rapidly before asking,
“But I haven’t written the report yet.”
He had just begun to rise from his seat when he looked at me in confusion.
“Why would you do that?”
“Huh? You don’t want a report?”
“I do. But why would you write it today?”
I thought about it before answering.
“…So you can read it first thing tomorrow morning when you get to work?”
“Don’t tell me… that’s how things were done at your previous job?”
I had no choice but to nod.
Besides, there weren’t even any computers in this world.
How long would it take to write a report by hand? Even if I started right now, I’d have to stay up all night.
Honestly, the time I was wasting sitting here talking was already…
“Come with me.”
“Huh?”
“I said, come on. Right now.”
When I didn’t immediately understand what he meant and just sat there, he spoke firmly.
“Hiel Cavernon. You’re off work as of this moment.”
Shocking. Modern-day mafia bosses also care about work-life balance.
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