Volume 7 - CH 13

Chapter 13 – Persuading Labolt

Five days later, Eto was finally able to meet with the temporary Acting Lord Labolt at the castle.

In actuality, it is unusual for a person to request a meeting with a Lord and get it realized in just five days. Or in the first place, a Lord is not a person that an adventurer like Eto can easily meet. That fact alone shows how big Kamaran’s existence is. Because of that, Eto decided that he will never make Kamaran his enemy.

Upon arriving at the castle, Eto was guided to a room inside the castle by Kamaran. Looks like he is going to act as a butler forever, Eto thought.

There was a large table in the center of the room, while the walls and the room itself were modestly decorated, which made Eto think that it may be a room that is usually used as a conference room. Eto sat down near the entrance of the room and saw Kamaran started preparing tea for him, but he refused, saying it’s better to wait until all attendees were here.

A few minutes later, a man who seems to be in his late fifties to early sixties entered the room. The man has a medium build and brown hair, which was a characteristic often seen in the inhabitants of Veil. When the man stared at Eto, Eto almost got into a stance, as the man’s gaze was sharp enough, as if it could see through him.

“Eto-sama, this is Treasury Secretary Meyer.”

Kamaran introduced the man. As Eto looks at Meyer again, he can see that the man isn’t capable of martial arts. However, the sharpness of his sight and the oppressive feeling oozed from the man was quite something. That was likely because the person who is responsible for managing the finance of a city must have the ability to read people. Thanks to that, Eto once again braced himself.

After Kamaran had Meyer sitting in the seat on the left side of Eto in the back of the room, Labolt finally appeared. Eto had heard in advance that Labolt was in his mid-40s, but his youth was fresh to Eto, who had only met older people at that castle. The appearance of him gallantly walking with his long brown hair tied behind also looks pretty nice.

Labolt quickly sat down in the back of the room and calmly asked Kamaran for tea. Incidentally, Labolt was seated in a position facing Eto. The eyes of Labolt, which are staring at Eto for a moment, were that of bluish green color, which is the same as Margrave and Riesenbolt.

“I’ve heard about your request. It’s about the support for kidnapped victims, right?”

Labolt said, as if encouraging Eto to start the talk. The way he talked didn’t seem to be eager or anything, as if they’re making small talk.

With that sign, Eto stood up and bowed, before explaining his plan to support the victims.

“Today, thank you for giving me your time to hear my explanation about the kidnapping victim support project. Allow me to explain our plan immediately. The number of victims of the crime that happened in this territory is 75. Twenty-eight of them are protected in Veil, twenty-nine in the southern fort, and eighteen in Cyril. However, the victims protected in the southern fort and Cyril will eventually return to Veil. The number of victims who were assaulted when they were in captivity were not small. Some even suffer from those painful memories. This is, in fact, common symptoms of victims involved in crime, and until now the church has provided support to help them in the form of a self-help group. And in this plan, we are suggesting not just relying on the support from the church, but also the Knights, doctors, pharmacists, and the government to work together to create a more comprehensive support system.”

Eto then handed the documents for the plan to the attendees.

“To be more specific, I would like to ask doctors, pharmacists, and pastors to order the patients according to their symptoms, and request the authorities to subsidize the cost of medical examination, treatment, and medicine according to the order. I also would like to request to dispatch some female knights to participate in the self-help group where the victims talk about their experiences.”

“Looks like this support will not end only with the people involved in this case. In other words, the more victims join that circle of support, the more subsidiary aid needed. Do you intend to request assistance without an upper limit?”

After reading the documents for a while, Meyer asked Eto with a stern look.

“Before answering that question, Secretary Meyer, I would like to ask you what kind of support the authorities are planning for the innocent kidnapped victims.”

“…It is currently under consideration.”

Meyer replied with deep wrinkles between his eyebrows.

“In this kidnapping case, it is clear that the former Acting Lord is the mastermind. So, if the compensation for the victims is delayed, the anxiety of the people will not be resolved and the distrust toward the authorities will increase, don’t you think so?”

“Like I said, the countermeasures are under consideration.”

Meyer emphasized and stared at Eto.

“Which means, Secretary Meyer agreed to create a support system as soon as possible, right?”

“… Ee. However, as I said earlier, I cannot approve the request for subsidiary aid without setting an upper limit.”

“Of course, if the financial situation would be under pressure because of the subsidiaries for the treatment and medicine, we may need to cap the subsidiaries. However, if we start this project as soon as possible, we might only need a smaller budget.”

“What does that mean?”

Eto urged the attendees to see another page of the handed documents.

“According to those who had many opportunities to interact with crime victims, many of them suffered from insomnia. It has already been confirmed among the victims of this case that even if they could fall asleep once, they would dream of the incident and suddenly wake up in the middle of the night. And if their mind and body are weakened by insomnia, it will probably be difficult for them to live their life. According to past cases, many ended up drinking more to be able to sleep, which also made the number of victims who get alcohol addiction not small.”

Eto stopped his words for a while and stared at Labolt and Meyer. He was worried whether nobles like them would understand the suffering of common people or not, but they seemed to be listening seriously to Eto’s words.

“Responding before such cases happen will speed up the recovery of the victims, which should also reduce the burden on doctors, pharmacists, Pastors, and Knights. Wouldn’t it be better for society as a whole to have more people who can work than to have more patients suffering from insomnia and alcohol addiction? This is the advantage of giving subsidiaries for this victim support activity early.”

Labolt and Meyer seemed to think about what Eto said while looking at the documents.

“I believe I can understand regarding deciding on the outline of the budget early, but I haven’t gotten an answer regarding the subsidy limit yet.”

Meyer seemed to acknowledge some of what Eto was saying, but he still seemed concerned about how much the budget would grow if there is no limit.

“The people we currently want to save are the victims of the kidnapping incident. The number of victims that are already confirmed was 75, and even if we include those who are still missing, it should be around 100. As shown in the document, it is unlikely that the financial burden will increase sharply in the early stages. However, if we want to accept crime victims widely in the future, we will do it slowly while observing the situation.”

“Fumu. So what you mean is we should try it with them first, right?”

Hearing Eto’s story, Labolt nodded several times and asked, while looking at the documents.

“Yes, exactly, Lord.”

“You don’t have to call me that. You can call me Labolt.”

“Well then, Labolt-sama, regarding the total amount of subsidies, how about we, who are managing the support activity, and the authorities side regularly negotiate and decide the budget amount for the next year?”

“Meyer, is that possible?”

“Yes, there is no problem.”

“Now it’s about the self-help group. Do we have to dispatch some female knights?”

“Yes. The purpose of the self-help group is to encourage each other to get used to remembering their painful memories in order to control emotions such as anxiety, anger, and sadness by sharing each other’s painful experiences and stories to each other. There, it is important to give them a sense of security to make them think they are in a safe place, which could be realized by dispatching priests and collaborators who have been active in such a group for many years. However, some female victims are afraid of the men they meet for the first time. So, I think dispatching female knights will be ideal in that aspect.”

“I see. I understand.”

Labolt deeply nodded. Then, he asked Eto a question as if he was adding a little.

“By the way, why is an adventurer trying to help the victims of a crime? Eto yo, what is your aim?”

The previous attitude of understanding Eto’s story had disappeared, and Labolt’s gaze changed to something like a bow aiming at its prey.