Chapter Five: Kuro, the Secret Passage, and the Castle Town

“Oh. Good evening, Kuro.” Herscherik greeted the intruder, whom he could safely call an acquaintance at this point. The prince was newly turned four that spring. Despite the casual tone of the greeting, as if they were just two old friends that had run into each other on the street, the pair were standing in the armory of the Knights’ Order, nearly past midnight. “Working the night shift, again?” Herscherik remarked before returning to his own work.

The intruder, clad in all black to hide in the shadow of night, continued staring at the prince. A look of exasperation and bewilderment was discernible through the hood and long bangs that covered his brow. The prince had continued to address him as “Kuro” without once asking for permission.

This is the last place I expected to see this little prince...

Half a year had passed since their first encounter. While all children surely grew up quickly, Kuro had noticed that the prince was already a little taller and his face looked a little older in comparison to when they had first met. He had infiltrated the castle enough times for him to see the difference. Kuro would receive all sorts of missions through his underground guild—like reconnaissance, recovering evidence of corruption, etc.—to the point where he was practically sneaking into the castle every other night.

This time, the job was to deliver a letter to the lover of a certain noble’s wife. That lover happened to be a knight, so Kuro had snuck into this particular building that served as the knights’ quarters and equipment storage. After making his way into the building without a hitch, Kuro sensed a presence in the armory. He poked his head through the door to find a small silhouette scuttling about the room—and he knew that the little figure could be none other than the Seventh Prince. Kuro first went to the knight’s room to slip the letter under the door. He could imagine the color draining from the knight’s face upon reading the letter come morning, but ultimately that was none of his concern. Then, Kuro returned to the armory to find Herscherik scowling at a piece of paper.

I wouldn’t be surprised to find him anywhere, at this point...

Some locations of their previous encounters included the treasury records room, the office of the chief of castle security, and the royal pantry... Kuro would have demanded to know what the prince was doing in all those places if he hadn’t ironically been illegally infiltrating the castle himself. Despite always encountering the prince late at night and outside the exploration range of any ordinary child, Kuro was beginning to get used to these encounters.

Kuro guessed that the prince was researching the armory’s inventory. Herscherik continued to check things off on his handwritten list, but there seemed to be some discrepancies.

“They still don’t match... Are they just late, or are the orders inflated?”

“What’s wrong?” Kuro called to the muttering prince from behind.

Herscherik looked back up at Kuro. “Are you all done with your work, Kuro? Nothing bad for our country, right?” Through the course of their acquaintance over the past half year, Herscherik’s tone toward Kuro had become much more frank.

Kuro shrugged. “I wouldn’t say so. Just delivering bad news for a young man down the hall.”

To the young knight, there must have been no worse news than the object of his affair urging for a proposal. He had crawled into bed with a married woman, after all. Unless he could bring their affair to a discreet and agreeable conclusion, he wouldn’t remain a knight for long.

“Okay.” Herscherik didn’t particularly care as long as Kuro’s work didn’t jeopardize his country or his family. He also didn’t believe for a moment that Kuro would give up any more information even if he had asked. Kuro’s work had not caused any major effects within the castle so far, and Herscherik couldn’t ask Kuro to abandon his livelihood for him. So, Herscherik had put aside his curiosity for the details of the man’s mission and shifted his focus to solving the mysterious discrepancy. “Kuro... Say you’re running an ordinary business. Do weapons and combat equipment take a long time to make and deliver?”

“Depends on the goods. I’m sure the Knights’ Order and the military uses decent-quality stuff. That could take a while.”

“A while as in...half a year behind?”

Kuro fell silent. It was plain to see that he found that much of a delay to be suspicious.

Herscherik took his silence as confirmation. “Payments were made, but the products aren’t here, and there’s no evidence of them ever being actually used...”

That’s a fraudulent order if I’ve seen one. One-hundo percent. Herscherik rolled his eyes. The more he looked around the castle, the more unaccounted-for invoices and suspicious orders he found. If this was a corporation, we would have gone bankrupt already...

Since taxes and the national reserve still covered for the discrepancies, the treasurers hadn’t seen this as a problem. In fact, Herscherik would not have been surprised if the treasury was turning a blind eye altogether. Perhaps they simply planned to raise taxes when the reserve ran out.

Over the past half a year, Herscherik had been delving deep into the offices of every single governmental department and had found some suspicious things in each of them, although he only found them suspicious because of the intuition he had acquired from his life as Ryoko.

I just don’t have enough information or experience in this world.

He couldn’t help but wonder if some of the things he found suspicious were completely normal in this world. No matter where, any government was bound to have people with the sole duty of doubting the necessity of any taxpayer-funded expense.

What I need now is common, everyday knowledge about this world. Maybe it’s time to take the next step. Herscherik needed to fill that gap in his knowledge as quickly as possible. He turned to Kuro, who had been giving him a suspicious look.

“Can I ask you a favor, Kuro?”

“Huh?”

Herscherik was looking up at Kuro and craning his neck. He gave an innocent-as-can-be smile, fully utilizing his unequivocally adorable appearance.

On Herscherik’s first venture down into the castle town, the streets were bustling. Shops and stalls aligned the streets, all filled with products for sale, and workers were energetically calling people into their shops, left and right.

So, this is what our castle town is like!

Herscherik couldn’t stop looking all around him like a country boy on his first day in the city. His outfit for the day was considerably less extravagant than what he normally wore. Herscherik had asked Meria for a pair of clothes that he could get dirty; on top of the outfit, the prince wore a poncho-like layer with the hood drawn over his face. While his disguise didn’t quite make him look like one of the street children, Herscherik would have been happy with everyone thinking that he was some nondescript rich kid.

The other night, Herscherik had asked Kuro to show him a secret passageway from the castle out into the nearby town. Herscherik was sure that Kuro knew a hidden but safe passage in and out of the castle. No matter how good a spy Kuro was, there was no way that he could so easily come and go from the castle protected by a magical barrier without something like that. In fact, Kuro had stumbled in an attempt to deflect the question.

“I saved you when we first met,” Herscherik reminded him.

“...Well, I gave you some intel after that. We’re even.”

“And after that, I showed you where the paper was. That would have taken you a lot longer to find.”

After some back and forth, Kuro surrendered. He had figured out that Herscherik wasn’t going to take no for an answer. He pointed out one of the several rifts in the barrier where Herscherik could pass through.

The passage was behind a building that housed laboratories and archive rooms. Under the shade of a tree, there was an old underground aqueduct that had fallen out of use. The entire thing was neither noticed nor maintained by anyone, and this little tunnel was tall and wide enough for a child to walk through without crouching down. The end of the aqueduct was obstructed by metal bars, which easily came off on a hinge when Herscherik turned the specific mechanism Kuro had mentioned. Herscherik slipped through the barred gate with ease. The water in the tunnel seemed to have dried up decades ago, so Herscherik didn’t notice any moisture or odor. He turned the same mechanism on the metal barred gate on the other end of the tunnel, which was also shaded by a tree. Just like that, he’d made it out of the castle.

No afternoon classes today, and I told Meria I was going to the library. I’m in the clear.

If Meria decided to look for him, he would tell her that he had been playing hide and seek or had been holed up in his secret lair or something.

He had made his way into the castle town for the first time.

Are these prices lower than they were in Japan...?

Herscherik compared the prices on the items for sale with those from his previous life. The cabbage-like vegetable before him, for example, was sold for ten bronze coins a head. The pile of clothes labeled “clearance” at the front of the apparel store were 50 bronze coins a piece. Under the theory that a bronze coin equated to about ten yen, a hundred yen for a head of cabbage would have been a pretty good price in Japan.

But the castle buys them for two silver coins a head. There might be some markup for delivering them to the castle, but twenty times the market price is too much.

It was easy to imagine that the exorbitant profit was ending up in someone’s pocket. Just as Herscherik was sinking deep into his thoughts, a ruckus erupted from within the crowd a short distance away.

“Again?” the shopkeeper of a nearby general store asked a passerby.

“Yeah, looks like some constables are making up another ridiculous charge.” The passerby frowned. “The constabulary and the commerce guild have been butting heads, lately. That poor lady at the fruit stand... Her husband’s not there today, so they’re ganging up on her...”

Without waiting for the passerby to finish his sentence, Herscherik began to jog toward the center of the commotion. After squeezing his tiny body through the crowd with much effort, Herscherik emerged on the other side just in time to see a basket of apple-like fruit spilling onto the ground.

“Stop! Please!” a woman cried.

Herscherik turned to the voice to find a woman arguing with a few men in front of a tent that housed various fruits. She was a very healthy-looking and attractive woman who appeared to be in her late twenties. Her reddish-brown hair was tied in a braid, and the tan arms peeking out of her sleeves looked well-worked and ready for heavy lifting. Even so, her figure still sported feminine curves, giving the woman a particular allure that was in complete contrast with the queens Herscherik had met in the royal quarters. The woman looked flustered, surrounded by three constables.

“You know you can’t display merchandise outside of the designated areas, miss.”

“I haven’t!”

“We saw you doing it.”

“That’s what you keep saying! Where’s your proof!?” the woman shouted.

The three men snickered amongst themselves. “Where’s your proof that you haven’t? It’s best to ask for a witness in cases like this. Is anyone here willing to testify that none of her merchandise was displayed outside her allocated space?”

The constables surveyed the crowd. Everyone just averted their eyes and fell silent. No one wanted any part of this.

How clichéd...

Herscherik let out a quiet, exasperated sigh. He didn’t expect to encounter such a two-dimensional yet still repellent melodrama.

The constabulary was the governmental department tasked with keeping the peace within the country. As Herscherik understood it, they were the equivalent of a police force. Anyone in the crowd would have let out a sigh at the corruption on display from these constables if they could have. They were supposed to protect the citizens, after all. Still, no one in the crowd spoke up. Most seemed to feel sorry for the woman, but they didn’t want to put themselves in danger.

“We wouldn’t mind talking this over at headquarters, you know. Now, if you show us a little remorse...” With a vile grin, one of the constables gave his comrades a look before sticking his hand out. It was clear to see what form of “remorse” he was looking for.

Making a threat and demanding a bribe...?

Herscherik couldn’t take it anymore. He shuddered to imagine what the people thought of their royal family when the constables, who interacted with the commoners more than any other group of government employees, acted like this. “Each of you are the face of the company,” Ryoko had often been told at her job. A good interaction between a single employee and the company’s customers and vendors could build trust and generate profit. The opposite was also true; the attitude of a single employee could drag a company down. These constables were representatives of the government. How could the country earn the people’s trust when their agents acted this way? Moreover, people like this had always made Ryoko’s blood boil.

“Hello, Miss! I’m back!” Herscherik jumped out of the crowd as he threw back his hood, revealing a well-mannered and friendly smile.

The sudden outburst of a child’s voice halted the murmuring of the crowd. They were all staring at the little kid who looked as picturesque as a fairy straight out of a storybook. They noticed his blond hair that shone like a ray of sunshine, and his gentle, sky blue, gem-like eyes. He really did look exactly like some sort of fairy who had come to announce the arrival of a blooming spring. Everyone in the crowd noticed his clothes and concluded that the child was of noble birth. Most would have believed if someone had told them that the child was a girl, if it wasn’t for the hem of Herscherik’s trousers sticking out from under his poncho. No noble’s daughter would have been caught wearing pants. Still, some in the crowd might have mistaken him for an adorable girl just judging by Herscherik’s sheer beauty.

“What?” The woman looked down at Herscherik.

Before she could say anymore, Herscherik rushed to add, “Father won’t eat fruit from anywhere else! So he sent me out to... What’s wrong, Miss?” He looked around with a confused expression. He turned to the fruit strewn on the ground and immediately looked like he was going to cry, as if a perfectly blooming flower was starting to wilt. “All those delicious fruits dumped on the ground... What happened? I can talk to Father. He has friends in the military, so I’m sure he can help you!” Herscherik innocently proposed, as if it was a brilliant idea. He saw the constables all jolt, but he only looked up at them with a curious expression. “Are you constables? Father loves fruit. He’s going to be really sad.” Herscherik sulked dramatically.

Now, the constables were facing an obviously noble child, upset that his father’s favorite store had been vandalized. Not to mention that his father apparently knew people high up in the military.

I mean, I’m not lying, Herscherik silently disclaimed, keeping up his act.

His father was the king, after all. He knew (and commanded) everyone in the military. And he did like fruit. Herscherik hadn’t claimed that his father was with him, either. In his opinion, he didn’t tell the whole truth, but neither did he lie. Besides, he didn’t think the flustered constables would see through him.

“Well, we’re... Um...” Mumbling, the constables retreated back into the crowd.

Herscherik was relieved to see that the situation played out just like he’d hoped it would. The military and the constabulary had always butted heads. The military, composed of the national army and the Knights’ Order, was more in the forefront of the country’s image and diplomatic presence while the constabulary focused on keeping the peace within the country. Both institutions proudly believed that they were the most vital to the protection of their country.

Herscherik couldn’t believe how immature this conflict was. They were on the same side, after all, just with different job descriptions. Because of this conflict, there were communication issues between the departments now and again. This time, though, Herscherik had been able to use the conflict to his advantage.

“Are you all right?” Herscherik asked as he began to gather the fruit off of the ground.

The woman had been blankly watching the scene unfold before. She snapped out of it. “Please, sir. I can’t let you... And I would never want to disappoint your father...”

“I was just bluffing. Don’t worry about it. I’m sorry about your beautiful fruit...” Wasting food had always been a strict taboo in Ryoko’s upbringing. Herscherik frowned at the damaged apple in his hand. “What a waste...”

Someone in the crowd laughed. That wasn’t something some noble’s son would have been concerned about. The laughter spread like a wave through the crowd. The crowd wasn’t mocking Herscherik, but rather they seemed charmed by him. They had come to realize that Herscherik had simply pulled a stunt to help this stranger.

“Good job, kiddo!”

“Wait, isn’t that a girl? Well, he did such a good job, anyway!”

A middle-aged man came and ruffled Herscherik’s hair as a woman of about the same age applauded him. A flood of compliments poured out from the crowd and made Herscherik blush.

It took a considerable time for the crowd to disperse and for all of the fruit to be collected. Most of the fruits that had been spilled were now too damaged to sell.

“It really is a waste...” Herscherik repeated, looking into the box full of unsellable fruit.

How much time and effort do they think it takes to grow all these fruits? Not to mention money! Herscherik could feel his gut boil, as if the fruit was his own merchandise. He immediately calculated the amount of loss in his head, out of force of habit from his previous life, only to find himself even more enraged.

“I can’t thank you enough.” The lady of the fruit stand, Louise, handed Herscherik a piece of fruit, as if losing all this merchandise didn’t bother her at all. “A token of my thanks. I can’t sell these because they’re a little bruised, but you can still eat it just fine. They’re still delicious, too. I promise.” With a bright smile, she continued. “Those constables are the worst. They’ve been accusing people all over the market with nonsense charges so they can take our money. Boy, the look on their faces today!” Louise seemed genuinely relieved.

“I didn’t know...” Herscherik took the fruit from her. “Is it true that the constabulary and the commerce guild are fighting?” he asked, recalling the comment he had overheard.

Louise’s expression clouded. “Yes. Apparently, the higher-ups in the guild skimped on the peacekeeping fees we pay the constabulary. So, they come out to pick on the shopkeepers. It was starting to get really bad.”

Herscherik’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe the phrase he had heard. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. “Peacekeeping fees”? What is the constabulary doing here, running a protection racket!? He silently groaned. Peacekeeping was the whole purpose of the constabulary, so naturally, all of their expenses were paid for by tax money. What do they mean, “peacekeeping fees”!? Sure, they may make some under-the-table deals, but why would the guild even pay something like that!? It was also possible that this was just the result of a few of the constables working the field pocketing the money. In that case, Herscherik believed it would be their supervisors’ fault for letting such a scheme run amok under their watch.

If Louise was telling the truth, and Herscherik had no reason to doubt her, the constabulary and the commerce guild were in cahoots. The commerce guild organized the market workers, merchants, and artisans. Their main duties were to develop production and secure import and export routes, as well as regulate their members. One of their jobs was to tax their guild members and deliver that to the government. In regions outside of the capital, the lord or lady of the land taxed their people.

They had been paying the “fee,” but they must have cut back because of the recent recession and tax hike.

Some things were made easier by the existence of this kind of bribe. Herscherik couldn’t say that such a system offered no benefits at all, but it was outrageous that the constables refused to do their jobs just because they weren’t getting their side income anymore.

“We’re being taxed more and more as it is...” Louise let out a long sigh. “In any case, I better let the guild know. I’m closing up for the day so I can head over to the guild for a second, but can you wait for me here for a little bit? I really haven’t thanked you enough!”

After watching Louis leave, Herscherik sat on a wooden box that was lying around and took a bite out of the fruit that was given to him. It was slightly smaller than an apple from Japan, but it was very sweet with just the right amount of tang. Herscherik was too distressed to truly enjoy the fruit, though.

Things are really bad here.

Herscherik frowned as he nibbled at his fruit. Corruption had been found around nearly every corner he’d investigated so far. At this rate, some kind of catastrophe was imminent. When corruption was this bad in the capital under the nose of the king, Herscherik could only imagine how rotten things were in the countryside. If the people were to reach their limit and revolt, their anger would be directed at the royal family first and foremost. In all the fictional examples that Herscherik could recall, any king who made his people suffer was dethroned by violence.

That’s why the nobles... I mean, that’s why Barbosse doesn’t want to be king himself. Herscherik’s father endured all of this on that lonely throne just so he could take the fall for the crimes of his puppeteers in the case of a revolution. Knowing how wise his father was, Herscherik was sure that he understood all of that. Still, he knew that his father remained the king to protect his family and to repent for what he ultimately believed to be his own sins, when it finally came to that. I won’t let you do that, Father. Herscherik swore that he wouldn’t let his kind-hearted father be killed without a fight. His fingers tightened around the fruit in his hand.

“Anyone here?” a voice called from the front of the shop.

Herscherik paused his contemplation and stood up from his box. “Can I help you?” He peeked around the tall stack of boxes to find a middle-aged man whose head was already lacking some hair at the top.

“Are you Louise’s kid? I didn’t know she had one...”

“She went over to the commerce guild.”

“Oh, I see. Ah, what to do?” the man mumbled to himself as he rubbed the top of his bald head. “Had a little fruit emergency, so I ran over...”

“If you give me the money, I’ll give it to her when she comes back. What would you like?” Herscherik proposed.

“That would be great, little lady!”

“...I’m not a girl.”

As Herscherik continued to sell fruit to male customers, the crowd at the shop only grew. While it was easy for Herscherik to forget it while constantly comparing himself to his father and brothers, he was quite beautiful himself by any standard. He had Ryoko’s knack for customer service, too. To male customers of any age, Herscherik said things like, “This batch is really good. You look like the adventurous type. Won’t you try one?” while tilting his neck, and he said things like, “See, this one’s as pretty as you,” to female customers, adjusting the compliments depending on the person so it would never sound sarcastic.

From Ryoko’s experience of playing romance games aimed at male and female audiences, Herscherik managed to charm all men and women that came his way. He was pleasantly surprised to find an application for Ryoko’s knowledge. Maybe love really does make the world... go round, he jested to himself, as he kept pushing those fruits.

Seeing that an adorable child was working the fruit stand, many customers couldn’t help but buy a few extra items they didn’t actually need. It was only natural that the stand would do tons of business that day.

On the other hand, there were some that tried to pull a fast one on the little kid manning the stand by himself. For those that tried to shortchange him, Herscherik threatened, “You know it’s theft to take less than the agreed-on price, right? Who should I call, legislature, the military, or the constabulary?” and made them pay a marked-up price.

For those that purposefully tried to confuse him by making an order like, “Two of those and three of these. Oh, never mind the first ones, but I’ll take four of those. No, I won’t need the other ones but I’ll take...” Herscherik mentally kept up and charged them every last bronze coin with a smile. At the end of the day, he had even sold off the damaged fruit at a markdown.

By the time Louise returned, half of her merchandise was gone.

“Welcome back!” Herscherik greeted her with a smile and gave her the bag full of his sales and a piece of paper. “People came to buy fruit, so I handled all the sales while you were gone. I sold everything at the listed prices...” He pointed at the paper, nervously.

Louise looked amazed. For each fruit, Herscherik had detailed the number of items sold, their price, and total sales, with the grand total at the bottom. As far as Louise could recall, this was now her highest selling day of that month.

“I sold the bruised fruit at a markdown to a chef who said he’ll cook them into dishes, anyway. I did ask for his address, just in case.” He pointed to a margin on the paper where he had written the address. Herscherik took Louise’s amazed silence the wrong way. “...I’m sorry.” His face twisted in disappointment.

“Don’t be sorry! I was just amazed at how good you were, when you’re so young!” Louise rushed to clarify. “You helped me out of that jam and watched my store... I have to thank you somehow.” Loiuse contemplated. It wasn’t easy to think of a worthy gesture of thanks for a noble’s son.

“Then...” Herscherik spoke up with glimmering eyes. “Can I come over and help you with the shop again some time?”

Loiuse wasn’t expecting any suggestion like that. “Well, yes. I mean, of course...!”

“Yay!” Herscherik cheered with excitement becoming of his age.

Loiuse gave up on talking him out of it. It was his idea, after all. Far be it from her to tell this eccentric noble’s heir he couldn’t come by to boost her sales again. However, Loiuse still didn’t get the same condescending impression from Herscherik that she did from most nobles.

Herscherik took out his pocket watch. “Oh, I better head home.” He had left the castle shortly after noon, and it was already past four. The sky was beginning to turn orange above them. If he stayed out any longer, he might risk Meria finding out. “I’ll see you again, Miss Louise!” Herscherik began to run off.

“I’ll look forward to it! ...Kid!” Louise called. “Your name!?”

“My name’s Her...” Herscherik nearly told her his real name, but swallowed the remaining syllables. He didn’t think she would buy that he just happened to share a name with a prince. So, he decided to use an old name he had spent so much time with. “It’s Ryoko!” Herscherik called back and hurried on his way home.

Watching him leave, Louise repeated the name. “Ryoko... Ryoko... What a strange name.”

From then on, Herscherik sneaked out of the castle time and time again to help Louise with her shop and gather intel on the town. At first, the people of the castle town would take curious notice of the noble-looking child helping run a store on the streets. But once they got used to seeing Herscherik there, it seemed like the old fruit stand was incomplete on any day he wasn’t there.

As Herscherik was happily working the stand on one of his return visits, Kuro happened to spot him during a rare day off. Once he spotted the prince, the underground agent struggled to breathe from laughter for a while as he walked by unnoticed.