The Great Audit (13)

The Imperial Capital Grand Library underwent a comprehensive audit. Its severity and scale were such that several ministers and great nobles from the Upper City had specifically come to ask what was going on.

They cautiously asked what the Phoenix Count had gone mad over this time... Put more tactfully, which tactless fool had angered this respected old gentleman again?

When they learned that five counterfeit books, swapped in by someone, had been uncovered in the Rare Unique Manuscripts Collection Room of the Imperial Capital Grand Library, even these ministers and great nobles could no longer remain calm.

This matter could be as grave or as minor as one wished.

At its gravest, the Imperial Capital Guard, the Inspecting Knights Order, the Mirror Sea Guard, and the Truth and Spiritual Knowledge Departments would all be implicated. If Axel came out to condemn them, every department responsible for the Imperial Capital's defense and intelligence would be shaken to its foundations. Who knew how many people might be dragged out, beheaded, and hung up?

At its root, what this represented was that even within the Imperial Capital, guarded so tightly and protected by so many intelligence organizations, someone had still been able to silently steal prized collectibles from the first district—the most closely watched area, under layers upon layers of protection. What, then, were all those intelligence organizations even for? Where had all the Imperial Capital's funding and appropriations gone?

And at its least serious... the Phoenix Count himself would probably be fine. After all, he was already so old and no longer held an official post. But the current library director and all related personnel would likely be suspended on the spot and forced to atone for their crimes through service. They might even be sent to guard the Black Tide