“...Convenient for me, though.” With an office like this, no one would notice if some papers moved around or even disappeared. That would be to Herscherik’s advantage. “Time for some internal investigation.”
Ryoko had worked in finance for a time. While she’d worked in that department, she had assisted in inspecting branch locations. She looked into things like whether they were making any decisions that ought to be made by headquarters instead, whether they kept all of their books correctly, whether they made enough sales, and whether they were making all their payments on time, for example. Ryoko inspected those branches with the thoroughness of a mother-in-law inspecting a new bride’s handiwork in the kitchen. On account of her tendency for thorough investigation, refusal to accept any excuses, and the terror she rained upon certain particular branches, Ryoko was nicknamed “Ryo, the MIL from Hellquarters.” Even after leaving the finance department, her nickname and everyone’s fear of her remained. “Mother-in-law” was the more offensive part of the nickname to Ryoko, who had never had a boyfriend, much less a daughter-in-law. In her opinion, she was never mean about the results of her investigation. She knew that any discrepancy she found in those locations would only tighten the noose around that branch in the end. For their sake, she purposefully made herself stoic and thorough. Unbeknownst to her, Ryoko’s honest inspections and subsequent advice had earned her great trust from branch employees, managers, regional managers, and even from people within headquarters.
As he recalled such things, Herscherik plucked a piece of paper from one of the desk-top mountains.
“Mm. It’s still too dark...” He tried reading the paper but then gave up. He walked up to a window so he could read it under moonlight.
Let’s see... These are foods, I think.
The paper appeared to be the list of foods the castle purchased on a regular basis. Next to each food, the paper listed their source, prime season, and price.
“...Uh oh. I can’t tell if these prices are fair or not.” Herscherik groaned. He didn’t have the knowledge necessary to tell if any of those prices were above or below market price.
He had learned about the currency in this world through one of his classes. All the countries in the continent shared a unified currency consisting of only coins: bronze, silver, gold, and white gold. One hundred bronze coins equaled one silver coin, one hundred silver coins to one gold coin, and one hundred gold coins to one white gold coin. Since a large amount of money would become cumbersome, people used certificates when dealing with a large transaction. Certificates worked mostly like a personal check, except that it required government permission to use.
Even though Herscherik knew the units of currency, he didn’t know how much anything cost in this world. “...I better keep looking.” Numbers didn’t lie. When people tried to force numbers to lie, there would always be a crack in the facade somewhere. The only question was how subtle the crack was. Herscherik kept pulling papers out of the mountains and read them by the window.
The night was thickening, and Herscherik rubbed his eyes as his eyelids became heavier and heavier. Wondering how many hours he had been in the office, he checked his pocket watch to find that it was past midnight. He closed the watch and opened it again from sheer disbelief. Herscherik sighed, realizing that he couldn’t stay up late in this body like Ryoko used to. His eyes seemed to tire much more quickly when reading under moonlight, too. He massaged his eyes with his fingers.
“...I’ll need some sort of light in here.” As he considered borrowing a lantern from somewhere on his next trip, Herscherik played with the watch. “If only I could use that illumination spell.” If that were an option, he wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of reading under the dim moonlight.
Recalling his magic lesson, he uttered the incantation. Incantations of magic were different from the spoken language of this world. Like Japanese to English or French, both the syllables and the spelling were completely foreign to one another. Herscherik had learned that magic spells were cast by uttering incantations and using one’s Magic Within. Those who used magic were called Spellcasters. A high-ranking Spellcaster, accordingly, could cast simple spells without incantations.
Even when Herscherik concluded the incantation, nothing happened.
“...Just kidding.”
There was nothing out of the ordinary about that result since he had no Magic Within. Still, Herscherik couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.
When he stood up, ready to return to his room, he felt a sensation in his body. It was something akin to a shiver running through his right hand. In that instant, a white ball of light appeared before him. Herscherik nearly screamed at the sight of it and hurriedly covered his mouth. He was in the middle of a stealth mission, after all. Everything would be for naught if he ratted himself out like this. As he covered his mouth, he let go of the watch. The instant the pocket watch hit the floor and made a little clank, the ball of light was gone.
“...Huh?”
Confused, Herscherik picked up the watch. He thought that the silver pocket watch had been faintly illuminated while the ball of light was floating before him. He uttered the incantation again. After the shiver, the ball of light reappeared. Herscherik took a few steps while holding the watch, and the ball of light followed him by floating through the air, keeping a set distance between them. When Herscherik imagined putting out the light, the ball of light vanished without a sound. He set the watch down and tried the incantation again. No shiver nor ball of light. There was only one explanation Herscherik could think of. The pocket watch was collecting Floating Magic and had activated the illuminating spell at his incantation.