Chapter 227: We Built a New Mansion (3)

"So, you thought, 'When else would we get to eat and drink like this?' and looted all the supplies in the warehouse for a party?"

"Cough! Yes... th-that is correct!"

The soldiers guarding the mansion and the Delmon territory representative were sprawled on the floor, covered in blood. The official, terrified by Eve showing no mercy, distanced himself from her. Elsi had climbed onto the carriage and was inspecting the fallen people one by one. Fortunately, no one was dead.

"But the mansion management is a complete mess, isn't it? If you're going to use someone else's supplies as one pleases, you should at least do a proper cleaning, right? Huh?"

"A-Ah, th-that is..."

"What is it, fuck."

The territory representative trembled violently at Eve's fierce glare. Hearing the explanation from the soldiers, he was just a village chief of a frontier village before managing this mansion. Because all the prominent local figures or semi-noble level individuals had been dragged away along with the lord, the village chiefs had decided on the territory representative among themselves, and he had won the draw.

"So what did you do?"

"Aigo, well... I thought, 'When else would we enjoy such luxury?' so I gathered the kids, moved just a little bit of wealth to the village, and thought we'd play just a little bit..."

"This is a little bit?"

The official's words turned out to be the right answer. The territory wasn't peaceful because it was managed well. A free atmosphere had formed within the territory because it wasn't managed at all. Eve grabbed the elderly person's ear and dragged him into the mansion. Elsi left the soldiers lying face down on the floor and followed Eve inside.

Eve looked for the lord's office inside the mansion. The first room she entered was the ballroom. It was the place that had brought the Delmon territory's fate to an end. As if reproducing the horrific scene of that time in a different way, the ballroom was a mess with half-cleared food and overturned drinking cups on the floor. Eve, who had been sniffing, pinched her nose and scrunched up her facial expression. Having repeatedly thrown drinking parties without cleaning up, a mountain of rotting food sat on the dining table, and vomit was scattered across the hallway.

Eve, who surprisingly had a rather neat personality, could not stand to see such a sight. Elsi, who was used to filthy things from working in the slave market, also turned her head and scrunched her face at the disgusting stench felt as soon as she entered the hallway. The village chief smiled awkwardly and spoke.

"Th-The servants all made their escape, you see. By the time I came in, they had already taken their share and fled."

"So you did nothing until it got into this shape?"

"Ehehehe..."

The village chief laughed like a fool. Eve grabbed his beard and moved her footsteps to the next room. She didn't even think about looking back at the stench coming from the kitchen. If the restaurant was in that shape, she didn't even want to use her imagination to picture what the kitchen would be like. It was as if they had eaten while throwing food on the floor; food scraps and trash were scattered everywhere.

"Fuck, are you beasts? Huh?"

"I'm sorry! Please just spare my life!"

"Fuck off, idiot. Where is the office."

"Th-This way!"

Feeling a threat to his life, the village chief urgently pointed to the office. Following his guidance, Eve violently threw open the door to the office.

"...Motherfucker."

Eve said that and habitually checked her surroundings. Elsi was walking over from a distance, opening up the surrounding rooms. The official had now entered the first floor, scrunching up his face while covering his mouth with a handkerchief. The village chief flinched his shoulders at Eve's violent reaction and began to read the room, slyly raising only his gaze.

The office looked as if it had suffered a bombing. The desk was cut in half, and the safes were all tipped over, blatantly exposing their contents. The bookshelves were all smashed, making it hard to even recognize their original shapes, and books were scattered everywhere, their pages fluttering.

It was to the point where one couldn't even tell what structure the office originally had. Eve grabbed the village chief's ear and hauled him upwards.

"Aaaaaagh! Aaaaaagh! Aaaaaagh! I didn't do it! I didn't do it!"

"Didn't do what? You fucking bastard. Then did the fucking office come to life and wreck itself by itself? Huh?"

"When the Knight Order came previously, they made it like this to do an investigation! I truly didn't lay a single finger on it!"

"You should have, you fucking bitch! You were sitting here to clean this sort of thing up!"

"I'm sorry! I was blinded by the wealth and neglected the management! It seems this peasant lost his mind in surprise at an amount of money he was seeing for the first time! Please just spare my life!"

Eve threw the village chief into the corner of the room. Tumbling over a bookshelf and falling flat on his back, the village chief clutched his back and let out a moan. Eve flipped through the papers scattered on the floor with annoyance. She needed to figure out the territory's current financial status, but there were no proper documents left. Eve barely managed to find the tax documents that were densely gathered near what used to be the desk. Because these were also in a jumbled order, Eve had to squat in place and look over the documents.

"Mermaid, is there anything to help with."

"Yeah. Go down below and check the barracks here. The soldiers' duty roster will probably be there. Bring that list."

"I don't know where it is."

"Ask the soldiers below and they'll tell you."

Not long after Elsi disappeared, Eve succeeded in organizing the documents by date again. As she looked over the documents, she scrunched her eyes once more.

"Hey."

"Yes! Yes!"

The village chief, who had been lying down and moaning, jumped up like a roly-poly toy and answered when Eve called out to him. Eve waved the documents in the empty space and asked.

"Fuck, the tax documents for this year are missing, so what happened? Looking at the cycle, they should have been collected at least two months ago?"

"Well..."

"Well?"

"I didn't collect them!"

"...Fucking bitch."

Listening to the situation explanation, there was a part of this that was somewhat understandable. Originally, it was an apologetic thing to personally visit the village chiefs he knew to collect taxes, and as long as his post was temporary, there was no reason to pour his passion and sincerity into tax collection. Since collecting taxes harshly now would only result in an unmanageable aftermath later, it seemed he thought it was right to pass the tax collection onto the lord who would arrive later.

"That, fuck, is only an excuse when you've done all your other work well. Right?"

"Uwaaaaaagh! Aaaaaagh!"

Eve stepped on the peasant's ankle and slowly began to apply pressure. The village chief's leg broke like a sorghum stalk before her overwhelming leg strength. Eve checked that the carpet placed on the floor was filthy, and asked the village chief.

"Where is the employee roster?"

"I-I don't know! Aaaaaaagh!"

Eve began rummaging through the office again. There were bound to be personnel documents, but finding them was a chore since the bookshelves were overturned. Eve felt her head already starting to ache. There was a mountain of work to do the moment they returned to the mansion, but there were more than one or two things that needed resolving here, too. Looking out the window, the official had a cigarette in his mouth and was asking something to the guards who were collapsed on the ground.

"Fucking bitch! Stop your bawling and find the personnel documents!"

"Aaaaagh... Heuheuk... Heuk...!"

At Eve's thunderous command, the village chief twitched and trembled before crawling around the floor to start looking for the documents. Eve left him alone and began opening the file folders one by one. From a business plan to the approval for the rogue subjugation case, to issues regarding the guards' salaries. Various documents had been neglected without even a seal stamped on them.

Eve gathered those documents and placed them all in one spot. The documents that needed approval alone filled an entire basket. Where was she supposed to start? Just looking at the documents gave her a headache. Only after rummaging through the office for about an hour was Eve able to secure the employee list.

The duty log had been entirely left blank ever since the lord was arrested. The personnel documents contained various personal details, and excluding about seven people marked with 'resignation,' they were all youths. Eve picked up these documents and stood up from her seat. In her other hand, she held the pending documents she had found in the mansion. Right on time, Elsi was walking back up the stairs of the mansion.

"Did you find it?"

"I found it."

At Eve's question, Elsi handed over the documents. The documents contained the soldiers' basic personal details along with their duty log, but as expected, the duty log was also full of blanks. Considering that this was the central part of the territory, she could predict that the territory frontier would be even worse than this.

Eve grabbed the briefcase whole and walked down the stairs with Elsi. She had Elsi drag the village chief, who couldn't walk properly, across the floor. He made an appeal in pain as his entire body bounded and banged against the steps, but Eve didn't even pay him any mind.

The official was on the first floor smoking a cigarette and staring at the floor. All the vitality seemed to have drained from his face. Eve held out the pending documents and rosters to the official. The official raised his head, unable to understand Eve's action.

"What is the matter?"

"We're not taking this. How are we supposed to handle this? Fuck, it only looks fine on the outside, there are more than one or two things to fix. Are you telling me to die from overwork?"

"...It is an order handed down by the King, yet you are going to exercise your veto right?"

"Fuck!"

Eve scratched her head in annoyance. Whether Eve threw a temper tantrum saying she wouldn't accept it here or whatever, this land was now the Peta territory. Signing the documents was just a formal procedure. Even if she didn't sign it, nothing would change.

"Aigo... Aigo...!"

A moan slipped from the village chief's mouth. Eve grew even more furious at that sound. Eve kicked the village chief, who still had breath in him, and spoke.

"You fucking bitch! You should! At least! Do! One thing! Properly! You fuck!"

"Eok! Eoeok! Aaagh! Aaaagh! Spare! M-Me... Ggeueuk...! Ggeuk...!"

"Calm down, Mermaid. He'll die at this rate."

Elsi held Eve back. Eve shook off Elsi's hand and spoke.

"Fuck, I hit him to kill him!"

The village chief trembled violently and spat out bloody foam. Eve smeared blood on the village chief's finger. Then, she pulled out the contract and forced him to stamp his thumbprint on the representative's signature block.

"Fuck, seriously."

Eve felt her head already starting to ache.