At this moment most of the upper ranks of this city were with their families, getting ready to drift off to sleep.
The city lord, though, was in a high-class hotel.
"Heh heh heh, little darling. I've come to study a foreign language!" The city lord rubbed his hands together as he walked into the room, ready to have a good study session in a foreign language.
Foreign languages are good.
Master a foreign language, and you need fear nothing anywhere in the universe.
Just as the city lord was about to bring out his spirit of studying hard and making progress every day,
his handheld terminal lit up.
A communication popped up.
In this communication an order had been sent directly,
from the System Governor's Office.
When he saw this message, the city lord shot to his feet.
It should be understood that though he was a city lord,
on this planet there were fifty city lords like him, if not a hundred.
Ordinarily, how could he possibly receive an order directly from the System Governor's Office?
As for whether this message was genuine, he gave it no thought at all.
It bore the System Governor's Office's code, and he could also call straight back to confirm whether it was genuine.
Besides, the order in it was no special order either.
It only told him to go at once to such-and-such peace bureau,
giving the time and place.
An order like this would be of no value at all even if forged.
The time required was within ten minutes.
If he set off now, he expected to reach the destination in five minutes.
He at once contacted his driver.
"Have the car waiting for me at the elevator exit on the first basement level right away." Having said this,
this city lord, without another word, got dressed properly and left the hotel room,
leaving that foreign-language teacher in a daze,
not knowing what was going on.
Weren't they supposed to be studying a foreign language one-on-one?
How had it ended so fast?
At this moment the driver in the parking garage on the first basement level hung up.
He glanced at the time.
It had been barely ten minutes since his boss the city lord had gone up.
Counting the time to go upstairs, undress and shower,
that left at most two or three minutes.
Though he knew his boss the city lord usually lasted ten minutes at most,
today was surely a bit too fast.
Just as the driver was puzzling over it,
that hurried figure had already appeared at the elevator.
The car door opened.
"To the [redacted] Peace Bureau. We must be there within five minutes!" the city lord said solemnly.
"Yes, sir."
Going to some peace bureau in the middle of the night?
Could something have happened?
The driver did not dare ask more; his instinct told him something big had surely happened.
But his professional ethics told him that at a time like this he should keep his mouth and eyes to himself and just do what he was supposed to do.
Drive!
The vehicle sped all the way.
The city lord had demanded five minutes; he reached the gate of this peace bureau in under three and a half.
"Open the gate!" The driver rolled down the window and spoke to the guard at the gate.
"Show your identification. The peace bureau isn't handling any business right now," the guard said impatiently.
Why was there so much going on in the middle of the night today?
They had only just gone out to make an arrest, and now someone else had come.
Ordinarily, at this hour, he would long since have been slacking off asleep.
"The peace bureau runs twenty-four hours. What do you mean, you're not receiving anyone?" The rear window rolled down, and the city lord showed his face, looking at the guard.
The guard naturally knew their city's lord, and at once said with an ingratiating smile, "Oh, it's the city lord. I'm sorry, I didn't see it was the city lord. I was just talking nonsense, running my mouth. Please don't hold it against me. You've come in person; shall I go tell the chief myself?"
"No need; don't tell anyone I've come." The city lord thought back to that message.
It had only required him to come here within the time required.
It had not required him to do anything.
Anything extra he did now might cause trouble.
The cautious character of all these years made him think things through very thoroughly.
The vehicle stopped right there in the courtyard.
He noticed that the courtyard, which at this hour would normally be fairly empty, today actually still had a good many vehicles parked in it.
"A job on today? So many vehicles parked here?" The city lord looked at the guard and asked.
"Well… I… I'm not really sure," the guard hesitated, not knowing what to say.
The city lord could see this fellow was surely hiding something.
He said with an air of authority that needed no anger, "Is it that you can't say, or that you don't want to?"
The pressure in these words was already plain.
The guard swallowed and could only say honestly, "Tonight a report came in suddenly: the deputy city lord's son was beaten up by an outsider in a restaurant. Our chief took men straight there to make the arrest."
The deputy city lord?
An arrest?
Linking it to his own being summoned here just now,
the city lord felt uneasy at heart.
"Who are the people who were arrested?"
"Not sure; I think they're clerks at the Governor's Office. Their identity details were scanned," the guard said.
Clerks at the Governor's Office?
If they were only clerks at the Governor's Office, there could be no way it would cause such a stir.
Could they be from the Governor's Office's inspectorate?
The city lord at once thought of this, the likeliest possibility.
At once beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.
If it was an undercover visit by the Governor's Office's inspectorate, they had without doubt come to investigate them.
In that instant, his mind ran back over the bad things he had done lately.
Though he ordinarily took a little on the side and was a bit of a lecher,
and people would come to him to get a few things done too,
most of the time he kept to his bottom line.
Some especially outrageous things he would never do, and after taking a favor, most of the time he only went through the motions.
He knew very well that the Fierce Dragon civilization had only just set up the governorates, and a new official lights three fires.
At a time like this, one could not go too far.
But the lot under him were another matter.
Above all the son of that trusted deputy city lord of his, who was used to throwing his weight around.
Back in the Dax Empire civilization's time, the man had worked for a certain steward family.
Because that steward family was on the yellow list, he had not been executed.
If it really was that fellow's bastard of a son who had stirred this up,
then he had better think it through carefully,
and on no account let himself be dragged in by trouble stirred up by the people under him.
"And the people?" the city lord asked.
"The people are in the interrogation room. The young master said he'd put on individual exoskeleton combat armor and give those few a good interrogation," the guard said, telling everything.
"What?" The city lord was greatly startled, and made to walk into the peace bureau without thinking,
wanting to get the situation under control before the matter blew up.
But just at this moment,
a message popped up on his handheld terminal.
Again from the Governor's Office.
"Stand in the courtyard. Wait until everyone has arrived. That deputy city lord is to come at the same time. If he isn't there within five minutes, you know the consequences yourself."
It was signed: the System Governor's Office.
Wait for people?
Who else was coming?
The city lord swallowed.
Sure enough, behind this ought to be the Governor's Office's inspectorate.
It seemed it was time for him to cut himself off from that fellow.
Though he would lose a good deal of benefit, his career mattered more.
And he had warned him long ago that this son of his was throwing his weight around out there,
and would sooner or later bring trouble on him.
It was his own failure to raise his son properly; for himself now to shed the tail like a lizard was perfectly reasonable.
Having thought this through,
he collected his thoughts and contacted that deputy city lord on his handheld terminal.
"City lord, what instructions do you have for me, calling me so late at night?" The deputy city lord's voice on the other end was very warm.
"I'm sending you an address. You must be here within five minutes." The city lord's voice was now extremely cold, with no trace at all of the friendship the two had shared.
The deputy city lord sensed something wrong in these words too.
He asked tentatively, "City lord, has something happened? Could you give me some idea?"
"I've nothing to say. Deputy city lord, once some things have happened, there's no room left to undo them. All I can say is: if you don't appear before me within five minutes, you bear the consequences yourself."
With that, the city lord hung up.
He did not know whether he was being watched by the Governor's Office's people right now, so he could not say too much.
But inside, he had long since cursed this fellow a thousand times over.
You'd better come here like a good boy and settle this matter.
If this matter isn't settled properly and it hurts my career,
then you, and that little brat of yours, and your whole family, old and young, can forget about having an easy time!
This was what this city lord was thinking now.
The next few minutes were a long wait.
But what came first was not that deputy city lord;
it was a shuttle that dove straight down and landed on the peace bureau's landing pad.
The shuttle's hatch opened, and a figure appeared before everyone.
The guard had been about to go up and demand who dared fly a shuttle straight into the peace bureau,
when the city lord went up to meet it of his own accord,
saying most respectfully, "Lord system Executor, what brings you here!"
The city lord bowed low, his forehead covered in beads of sweat.
He could be sure now that the fellow's son had surely done something serious.
Bullying people and throwing his weight around?
Murder, arson and robbery?
Or something still more outrageous?
Never mind; tonight he must cut himself off from this fellow.
"Why have I come? How can you not know? I think your days as city lord are truly at an end!" The system Executor's face at this moment looked thoroughly ugly.
He had received a message from the Governor's Office.
The message was very simple:
a great personage of the Fierce Dragon civilization, while touring this planet, had been arrested outright and taken to a peace bureau by locals using their privileges.
That the Governor's Office had sent word directly:
the standing of this great personage was easy to imagine.
This pack of little brats really knew how to bring trouble on him; they did not leave him a moment's peace.
So he had rushed over without stopping.
Hearing the system Executor's accusing words,
the city lord's guess was eight or nine parts confirmed.
He said at once, "Lord Executor, I don't know what has happened either. I received the order from the Governor's Office and rushed over without stopping. If someone really has done something lawless and disorderly in the city I govern, I'll deal with it with the utmost strictness and won't let off a single rotten apple!"
"Hmph, it had better be so." The system Executor gave a cold snort and made to walk toward the peace bureau.
All he could do now was pray that things had not yet reached the point of no return.
Otherwise he truly had a mind to kill this whole lot.
It should be understood that he had received word
that because of his outstanding performance these few months, he had hope of becoming the Senior Executor of several planets, with several planets under his jurisdiction, and of holding a deputy governor's post at the Governor's Office concurrently.
If, just because of this matter before him,
his prospects were set back,
he would certainly cut this lot before him into ten thousand pieces, drink their blood and eat their flesh!
"Yes, yes, yes, yes…" The city lord made to follow quickly too.
At this point a vehicle came speeding in
and burst into the peace bureau's courtyard too.
This time the guard did not dare stop it.
He could see it now: tonight the peace bureau was a gathering of all the great and mighty.
There was not one of them he could afford to offend.
He had better stay put like a good boy and spare himself a world of trouble.
The vehicle came to a stop.
A middle-aged man ran out of the vehicle, out of breath.
"City lord, what is it you… Lord Executor! What brings you here too?" The deputy city lord saw not only the city lord but, of all people, their planet's Executor too, and looked as if he could not believe it.
"What brings me here? That's exactly what I'd like to ask you," the system Executor said through gritted teeth, looking at the two of them.
The city lord looked with killing intent at this deputy city lord he had ordinarily trusted so much.
"Just what has happened, that you'll have to ask that precious son of yours yourself."
Hearing the system Executor's and the city lord's hostile words,
the deputy city lord at once guessed something.
Could that wretched son of his have done something again,
and brought down the system Executor besides?
If that was really so, he had to find some way out.
The three walked into the peace bureau together.
The deputy city lord quietly came to the city lord's side and said in a small voice, "City lord, just what has happened? Could you tell me a thing or two? Afterward I'll be sure to thank you generously."
In the past, the city lord would surely have helped him.
But this time,
when the city lord saw him come close, he at once stepped back several paces as if he had touched something filthy,
and said in feigned surprise, "What do you mean by this? I don't know about this matter either. I can't help you with anything. Once we go in and see, we'll naturally know. Whatever it is, we'll naturally deal with it according to law, and won't let any guilty person off."
This was bad.
Something big was about to happen!
The deputy city lord at once smelled something wrong.
In a situation like this, the city lord drawing a line between them outright was proof enough of his attitude.
That little brat of his had probably provoked something tremendous.
His mind began to race.
He thought of his brother-in-law, who held office at the Governor's Office.
The reason he had stood out among several deputy city lords to become the candidate for future city lord
was in large part that he had this brother-in-law behind him.
That brother-in-law was a favorite at the governor's side.
If this matter really was very serious, then all he could do was use this brother-in-law connection.
He quietly pressed a few keys on his handheld terminal and sent his elder sister a message:
Sister, your nephew is in trouble; ask your husband for help, quick!