Chapter 619 619 Lost Funds
Chapter 619 619 Lost Funds
Once the Steward’s footfalls had faded, the Intelligence Minister smiled at Wolfe.
“So, did you corner him on his behaviour or did he corner you demanding that the spell be lifted? It’s no secret that he’s a pervert and much too fond of punishments. His behaviour when you mentioned the finding spell was interesting, though.”
Rail nodded. “You would have expected him to feel vindicated when his books matched in and out, but he didn’t, which strongly suggests that he knew that the amount of incoming money on the books didn’t match the amount that was allocated.”
The Intelligence Minister smiled. “We have a new Finance Minister because the previous one was elevated to the position of personal advisor to the King. He noticed the discrepancy the first week he was making distributions.
Both of them are cooperating with the head Investigator, so it will be interesting to see who is thrown under the cart in the end.”
A gentle tap at the door informed them that they had guests, an aging witch and a youthful Demoness.
“Greetings, thank you for coming on such short notice. I am Wolfe Noxus, Patriarch of the Noxus Magi Family. I was hoping that you could help me with something, using witch magic.” Wolfe greeted them.
“A Magi Patriarch is asking us for help? Now that is quite something. What, pray tell, might we be able to do that you cannot?” The witch asked sarcastically.
“Cast a finding on the chest of funds that was distributed to the Steward for the castle’s expenses. We need to know where every single coin is now.” Wolfe demanded, ignoring the snark.
His response got her attention. “The money for the Steward, you say? Do you have something that it touched?”
The Intelligence Minister put the chest that was used to distribute the funding on the table beside him and gestured to it with his chin.
“That’s the chest. We made it new for the last distribution, a replica of the old one so that there wouldn’t be any interference from past deliveries if we had to trace the problem.” He explained.
The older Witch picked it up, and Wolfe realized that despite her advanced age, she was actually the less powerful of the two. It was possible that her witch magic was stronger, but the daughter was Rank Three to the mother’s Rank Two.
The two of them examined the chest together, and then the older witch cast the [Finding] spell, while the daughter brought out a map of the Palace and town.
“We should be able to see where the coins are on the map. The more of them there are, the more brightly the area will be lit.”
The spell finished, and the map began to glow. Mostly it was small dots in the servants quarters, some larger dots in the guards and officers’ quarters, as expected. Some coins had already made their way to town from workers who had the day off, but that was all normal, with no signs of any shopkeeper having an excessive amount of this week’s pay other than the local tavern.
What wasn’t normal was the considerable portion of the allocated spending that was currently in a sitting room in the Ministers’ wing of the Palace.
It wasn’t a high traffic spot, and it should currently be empty, but it wasn’t completely disused like the Rose finch Sitting Room and the surrounding areas were at the moment.
The Intelligence Minister sent a message to one of his subordinates, then gestured to the map.
“Is there any way to tell exactly where in that room the coins are hidden?” He asked.
“There is. If I go there, I will be able to walk directly to them. The spell will guide me to the coins.” The half demon witch agreed.
Her mother didn’t have clearance to be in the Minister’s wings of the Palace, so someone would have to accompany her, but the hybrid was a Palace Guard, so she could be anywhere that she was told to be within the building.
There would be someone from the Intelligence Department there to meet her, so the Minister wasn’t concerned, except that someone might notice the guard sneaking into the sitting room alone.
If the perpetrator noticed that, they would know that someone was on to their deception, and that could end in various ways. The Minister did not like variety. Unknown variables were the bane of the Intelligence Department. Not knowing how the perpetrator would react could put their assistant in danger, which would make her reluctant to help them next time.
But he had a contingency plan for this situation.
“You will pass by my office on the way. One of the guards outside the door will join you and pretend to be sneaking into the room for a secret tryst. If anyone sees you two, keep up the act that it is no more than two guards from different departments looking for a good time.” The Minister informed her.
The younger Demon smiled and winked at him. “I don’t think that it will be any hardship pretending to be attracted to one of the Palace’s Intelligence Agents.”
The Minister chuckled at her suggestion and waved her out of the room. There was no particular rule against the guards fraternizing, as long as they weren’t on duty.
With that, she slipped out of the sitting room and headed for the Ministers’ quarters, while her mother tracked her on the map using the coins from her pay that she carried in her pockets.
That was actually a brilliant idea. They could tell where all the staff were, and with a bit of work on the spell, they could likely tell who was who. But for now, it was enough to know that everything was going according to plan, and soon they would have their witch in the same room as the pilfered money.
The question was: who put the coins there, and who all knew about the plot to skim off a substantial portion of the Palace’s operating fees on a weekly basis?