Someone had already broken the rules this time, and the Five Elders had deliberately tolerated it.
Put plainly, they wanted Lofan to swallow this loss, at least on the surface.
For one, they would have given the Celestial Dragons their due and an answer; for another, they could see that Lofan could put the World Government first.
After all, Lofan's earlier actions had directly upset the balance of power at sea. The Five Elders were naturally unwilling to let go of such a top-tier fighter.
So rather than calling this a test of Lofan, it would have been more accurate to call it an interview for a promotion.
Or, to put it more pointedly: a reshuffling of power.
"I submitted a report on the actions taken before and after the Branch 199 incident. The exact figures listed there can tell you that every sum went through Navy Finance before being allocated to the Search Bureau."
"The entire procedure was legal and compliant. There was no personal embezzlement on my part."
Lofan had restructured the Search Bureau based on systems from his previous life, so naturally, every entry in those records had its own separately documented category.
The accounts were very easy to check, unlike this world's chaotic allocation of funds, which offered countless points to get tangled up in.
"These funds were all used with Fleet Admiral Sengoku's approval, so I believe we can put the first point to rest here."
The Five Elders looked at the report, their expressions quite a sight.
"As for the second point, the latter part of the report naturally addresses it. The reason I had the Navy use warships to collect passage fees from the various merchant associations was actually to use them as bait to draw out the big fish behind them."
Entrapment-a