Chapter 4

The office is now cleared off people, relocated downstairs to new offices that the construction crew has finally finished renovating, with new equipment that would hopefully make the review of the documents much more manageable.

Several stacks of papers and files are still piled high by my table; however, waiting for my personal inspection.

The empty space at the left side of this large office was now filled up with a meeting table and revolving chairs that can seat eight people. The table is large, due to its extra features, holographic computers for each of the eight people, and the centre a large computer screen that is also a hologram projector.

As the head, I sat at the front, with Mike sitting at the left of me, and Will, on the right, the rest of the seats were taken up by the heads of the CIA, Accounting, Legal and Administration departments, the best minds in their fields in 2050s earth. With my secretary Moneypenny taking down the contents at the end of the table.

"Right. Let's start off with the meeting with the depressing news. Rhona, how much debt are we in?"

"We're still making the final calculations, but the total is currently 7 million ducals. Some say it might rise to ten once everything gets totalled up. And that's before the interest kicks in. we might have to pay at least 500 thousand ducals in interest alone."

(Rhona, Accounting Head)

"Christ. Why is it so high?" (Mike)

"The region has been using junk bonds for the last two years to paper over its financial woes." (Rhona)

And how much do we have to work with?" (Mike)

"Two million. No more than that."

"Fuck. That's impossible. We need more. Can't the Kingdom grant us more?" (Mike)

"Even if they wanted to, they can't. The entire Kingdom's economy is starting to stagnate although I'm not sure if they know that. Besides, Kalden is Persona non Grata in the eyes of the nobility. No one would want to help." (Nora, Director of the CIA)

"Taxes. How about that. Can we raise it?" (Mike)

"You can sure try. But with taxes already at 60%, any more would be inviting mass riots." (Jim Hackett, Head Administrator)

"The citizens are already on the verge of rioting, to be honest." (Will)

"Is there nothing positive about this region?"

"Selatapura is still a major trading hub. That's the only thing good about it. Tea imported from Osea flows through here. We are also the biggest exporter of sugar and cocoa." (Mike)

"You forgot the drug trade. We are the champions in that regard. 90% of Erusea's drug trade flows through Selatapura port." (Nora)

"And that is before we even get into the subject of corruption. My team and Rhona's have found significant discrepancies in the documents provided. Paperwork missing, contracts for items at completely inflated prices. Millions of Ducals, unaccounted for.

"Alright. Alright." I sighed, tapping the table lightly to get everyone's attention, "Right now all you guys are doing is saying what's going wrong in the region. No one is giving solutions. I gathered you all here to brainstorm ideas. Give me one."

"Abandon this region and live somewhere else?" Will suggested, albeit jokingly.

"Any, other suggestions?"

"We could try for the military solution. Have troops and police out in the streets." (Nora)

"But you just said the public officials are corrupt. Who says the national guard aren't? The police only serve the corrupt officials; anyway, they won't listen to us."

"No. Actually, Nora's idea is excellent for this situation."

"How?" Mike became silent for a minute, "You're not thinking of deploying the MPs, are you?"

"That is precisely what I am suggesting. It would solve both our corruption and economic troubles for the time being."

"How?"

"We disband the entire public sector. From police to the government officials. Replace them with our people and conduct a thorough investigation into the finances of each and every one of them. Seize the wealth of the corrupt ones and at the same time, cut the effective tax rate to about 20%."

"This… this would-" (Mike)

"This would be an effective solution to the problem. For the time being, but it won't last." (Will)

"First, we take care of the security issues before we move to economic. With widespread corruption, any reform or funds we invest would only disappear into the void. Anyone has any concerns with the plan they would like to bring up?"

The table stayed silent, collectively shaking their heads.

"Then this is the plan we are going with, Rhona, have someone type up the order and sent it to me. I'll organise the relevant departments for this. You're in-charge of the specifics."

====

It was late morning in the city of Selatapura, everyone had just got to work and were starting their day. At least the ones that do have work. For the officials working in the Ministry of Administrative Affairs, it was another day of more of the same. A new lord is in town. Still, so far everything has been quiet, besides the initial rush when his men demanded they hand over everything the government had been doing for the past five years.

They sent over piles upon piles of documents, for the lord to slog through. They were confident that the new lord would quickly be replaced anyway, hopefully after pumping whatever money from him first.

They were also confident they were secured from any arrest attempts since both the national guards and police are firmly in their payroll, not to mention the criminal organisations who pay them a mighty penny to look the other way or escort their merchandise.

It was the first day of the month, and the officials were about to start their day of partying, the prostitutes, food and drinks have all already been laid out in the meeting room when loud sirens outside the building pulled them away from their fun. A few seconds later, gunfire.

One of the armed police officers in charge of protecting them burst in.

"The lord has dismissed everyone in public service and has put out arrest warrants for each and every one of us!" he cried out.

"What? What is he thinking?" one of the officials in the far end of the room shouted out.

"How is he going to arrest us if he dismissed all the police officers as well?" another one sneered.

"The lord has his own people for that." A masked man growled, pushing the police officer further into the room.

More masked men in black marched in, herding the officials into a tight circle, shotguns and riot shields at the ready.

"What is the meaning of this?" another official demanded.

"Under Executive Order 19 issued by Lord Ruth, you are all under arrest on suspicion of breaking the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and Internal Security Act."

"I have never heard of those laws."

"They were just put into effect yesterday. Now shut up and get on the ground!"

Surrounded on all sides, the men could only comply, lying down flat on the ground, as the men carefully approached them, zip-tying their hands, lining them up one by one before marching them out the door.

To the horror of the officials, they were not the only ones affected, the entire stretch of white hall road was blocked by the same masked men, their friends in the other departments were too, being marched out, herded into the trucks waiting for them.

Journalists snapped away with their cameras, and people watched, some were even cheering at the sight of them being hauled into the trucks. It was a humiliating ordeal. But one the officials knew wouldn't last for long. They will have their revenge. Just the lord wait.

==================

"How's Operation Hangover moving along?"

"Quickly and smoothly so far. We faced light resistance in the Government District Police Headquarters. But SWAT together with Kommandos from the Enforcers Corp cleared them out quickly." (Will)

"Good to know. Keep me posted."

"Will do." Will nodded, grabbing a pile of arrest warrants that I have just signed and left.

I look down at the new pile of documents I had to review and sighed, it had been a week since the anti-corruption purge started and it was of course not all smooth sailing.

Sporadic Armed resistance has broken out within several districts in the city. The corruption investigations are taking a long time, despite summoning more lawyers to speed up the progress. Not to mention the reorganisation of the entire state government, that too was going to take some time. Weeding out the corrupt ones from the clean ones was much more complicated than anticipated.

Also, with only enough logistic capacity in the city for only 200 troops to maintain law and order in the large city was starting to take a toll on my men, having to act as a stop-gap for the police and participate in the many raids happening around the city.

All of that meant constant meetings and paperwork for me to deal with.

Another problem for is that summoning manpower instead of hiring local labour is that summoning takes a chunk of my stamina every time. There are only so many people I could spawn a day before I collapse from exhaustion. 200 is the absolute limit, and the consequences of exceeding it was less than ideal, something I only recently found out just two days ago. The amount of sick I threw up that day still surprises and horrifies me.

*knock *knock.

"Come in." I sighed, resting my head on the table as I waited for another stack of papers to be placed on the table.

"Erm Kalden?" A soft voice said.

I lifted my head up, looking up at the source of the voice and smiled. It was Ken, my personal Butler/ bodyguard. A job he insisted on doing on as repayment after I bought him in the auction house and destroyed his slave papers, making him a freedman.

And I had to admit it was a good thing too, Ken was a genuinely pleasant boy to be with, though he tries to keep up a mature image at all times, from time to time he lets his more childish side slip out. His attempts to cover them up are always an endearing sight to see.

"Well, what do we have here?" I cooed, leaning forward slightly, resting my head on both hands, resisting the urge to just get up and swoop the boy up into my arms.

I watched as Ken nervously picked at his fingers as he fidgeted around, his feet drawing circles on the carpet floor while his head swivelled around the room, taking in the sight, deliberately doing anything but look at me.

But I waited, keeping my eye on him, I did not mind the silence, slightly awkward yes, but the sight of a young boy being all nervous around you is kind of endearing to look at, amusing too if you're me.

Ah… I really want to hug him right now...

"Uncle Will told me you were stressed..." Ken said softly, keeping his head down as he spoke. "Do you need any help? I can make you some tea... I've been learning, or I could-"

"Yep. Can't take it anymore." I muttered, shooting up from my chair.

"Huh?" Ken looked up, only to be engulfing into my embrace.

I expected some sort of surprised reaction, maybe a kick or a shout of "let me down." But I got none of that, instead of his arms wrapped around me tightly as he returned the embrace, at the same time leaving a damp feeling on my chest.

"Ken?"

"I'm sorry." Ken quickly detached himself from me, wiping away his tears, "Just remembered my mother."

My chest tightening at the statement. Ken had already told me the story before, but it never makes it feel any worse. The death of his family at the hands of slavers was a tragedy that no one should go through.

"Ah. I see." I said, picking Ken up, placing him on my lap as I sat back down, ruffling his soft brown hair. "There is no need to say sorry about that. As the fief lord, I should be the one apologising." Pulling him into another heart pulling embrace.

We stayed like this for the rest of the evening, him sitting on my lap as I did my work, him watching me, asking the occasional questions which quickly turned into a fully-fledged teaching session.