Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Officer Watkins grabbed the former contract with clenched fists until it creased, crumbled, and tore in a few places. He turned to Zach with a cramped expression.

It was obvious Zach had done something. There was no other explanation. Watkins knew Zach was behind the contract turning from an orderly set of lines and letters to a stick figure insulting him.

But if he wanted to keep his job, Watkins had to let it go. Even if he knew, there was no way he could prove it was Zach. Saying anything about it would mean he had added another charge to Zach's arrest but without any evidence. He didn't have any evidence of Zach's involvement in the smuggling now, either.

If Watkins tried to accuse Zach of tampering with evidence without evidence of said crime, he would be trying to falsely arrest Zach on several charges without sufficient grounds.

If it had been anyone else, he could have made the arrest anyway and looked for evidence later. If it was someone with a shady past, he could have thrown them straight into the slammer just based on his suspicion.

Smuggling dangerous goods into the capital and tampering with evidence were serious crimes, after all.

However, Zach was a member of one of the five most prestigious families in the Empire. Even with rock-solid evidence, he would still end up with a lenient sentence, and Watkins might not see many more promotions in his future.

Without so much as a scrap of paper to prove Zach's misdeeds, Watkins could forget working another day in his life if he tried to put Zach in prison.

Watkins bit his tongue to force himself quiet while glaring at Zach's smirking face. After staring at Zach until even Zach started feeling uncomfortable, Watkins turned around without another word and left.

"Wait." But Zach stopped him at the door.

"...What?" Officer Watkins didn't turn around, nor did he keep up any pretense of formality.

"What's your name, Officer?"

"...Why do you ask?"

"Oh, just curious."

"...Watkins." With that, Officer Watkins yanked open the door and left before Zach could say another word.

Zach hadn't been planning on saying anything else, though. Instead, he turned to Alzara.

She nodded.

"I have his scent," she said.

"Good. Follow him and keep track of what he does and who he interacts with after this. He will have to report his failure to someone who isn't his official superior."

"Yes, Master." Alzara nodded before disappearing out of the window and into the city to trail Officer Watkins.

There was no way someone like him would be in charge of an investigation into the illegal smuggling of dangerous goods, much less find a perfect piece of evidence pinning everything on Zach. Someone had either handed him the piece and told him what to do or led him to it.

Officer Watkins could just be stupid and easily manipulated. But he could also be corrupt.

Fortunately, corruption was like a disease. It left traces. If they could follow those traces and root out the corruption within the Capital Guard, they would have an easier time dealing with the merchants using that corruption to suppress the guild.

It wasn't the fastest and most efficient way of doing it, at least according to Zach. But it was a less risky one since they most likely wouldn't have to end up fighting against the powerhouses of the capital, who, undoubtedly, would be stronger than even Monolith.

Zach turned to Yanael, Nora, and Soara, the only maids left in his room. They had busied themselves with tiding up the place after Watkins left and while Zach was busy in thought but when they noticed him turn around, they looked at him patiently.

"I think I've got it," he said randomly.

"..." Yanael and Soara looked at Zach with blank faces. If he were going to elaborate, he would.

"Got what?" Nora couldn't be bothered to wait for Zach, so she asked directly.

"The name!" He said excitedly.

Gradually, the maids' eyes lit up in understanding. Zach could only be referring to one thing when he spoke like that. It was almost a shame that Alzara wasn't here to hear it at once. But looking at Zach's playful expression, it seemed he had intentionally said it when she was outside.

"Since Alzara is such a big part of the guild, wouldn't it be nice to surprise her a little?" Zach asked.

The other three looked at each other.

"I will do my best to keep the secret, Master," Yanael answered.

"Did you have something in mind other than a name reveal, Master?" Soara responded with a question of her own.

"...I think I have an idea of what we can do, Young Master. It will probably need to wait until we've established ourselves in the capital, but…"

"Sounds perfect!" Zach eagerly agreed. As long as they could do something more than just put the name on the building and show it to Alzara, he was happy. So, they seized the opportunity now that Alzara was out to start planning.

***

In another part of the capital city of the Empire, Spiros, in a poorly lit room, preventing anyone from seeing the faces of the handful of figures in it, a meeting was being held.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"So, those rats failed miserably," one person said.

"It's no surprise. We're up against an Evandiel, after all. If it had been that easy, we wouldn't be gathered here to deal with one upstart," a second person said.

"Did we get any confirmation on what he's doing all day and night?" A third person asked.

"No," a fourth person answered.

Enjoy new adventures from empire

"Do we need confirmation? It's obvious what he's doing," the first person said.

"How did your plan fail, then?" The third person asked.

"Those rats made a mistake. Don't tell me you think that brat had something to do with it?"

"Wasn't your plan airtight?"

"The plan was. The people weren't. Obviously."

"Focus," the second person said. They continued once the other grew silent.

"The goal with…that plan was to figure out how much influence that child has and is willing to use. If we could put him in prison without his family interfering, we would have nothing to worry about. Now, however…What if your rats didn't make a mistake? What if that child didn't act personally?" The third person asked.

"Are you saying…?" The first person began.

"...His family intervened on that short notice?" The second person asked.

"Can anyone here accurately estimate the power of a Duke and a duchy? Didn't think so. Let's assume the Evandiel child is off limits for now and focus on the other matters."

"We need to strangle production harder," the first person said.

"We're already making too much of a ruckus, and you know those potions. They'll sell no matter what we do. If we burn more warehouses, the guards will come after us," the second person said.

"Do something about the producers. I'll talk with the guards," a fifth person said, immediately settling the matter.

"V—"

"Quiet."

"Y-yes. Sorry."

"Dismissed."