Chapter 31

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There were many issues that had to be dealt with now that Marquis Hunington and Commander Enriche had been arrested. A new commander had to be chosen among the Peacekeepers. Of course, they had to choose someone who would uphold the laws and not let themself be seduced by money. Fortunately, the task of selecting a commander fell onto the Clarissa, the overseer of Dorumhold, and not Elincia.

Well, it was fortunate for Elincia.

The matter of selecting a commander to lead the Peacekeepers in Dorumhold was not Clarissa's only problem, nor was it even the biggest problem.

Since Marquis Hunington had been arrested, Clarissa now had to take on the work that would normally be left to him. This had increased her workload several fold. Most of her days were now spent reading reports, signing documents, dealing with brown nosing bureaucrats, weeding out the rats within those bureaucrats, and helping the captured men, women, and children that Elincia and Caspian had rescued return to their homes. The amount of work she had was enough to give anyone a headache.

Elincia had a front row seat to this.

"Here." Elincia placed several sets of documents onto the desk. "These are the last set of documents that need to be looked over. After this, you're done."

"You mean I'm done for today," Clarissa corrected.

"Yes."

"Great." The woman released a strained groan that made Elincia give her a compassionate smile. Heedless of the look she was receiving, Clarissa continued to complain. "I'm beginning to hate that man even more now. Aside from kidnapping me and using me as his plaything, he completely neglected a good portion of his work as the noble in charge of governing in favor of expanding his slave trading operation. The amount of paperwork he has piled up. Some of this stuff dates back to over five years ago!"

Several days had passed since the incident regarding Marquis Hunington had been resolved, but because of how much paperwork that marquis had left her, Clarissa hadn't been able to leave this office. Elincia noticed the signs of stress on her new friend's face.

"By the way..." Clarissa began.

"Yes?"

"What is she doing here?"

Clarissa pointed at Chloe, who was lounging on the couch within the extravagant office like an indolent cat. The woman wasn't wearing her boots. Her stocking clad feet were propped up on the couch as she lay on her back and studied her newly painted nails. After Clarissa pointed her out, Chloe tilted her head and gave them both a smile.

"Since my ship was hijacked by Elincia and her knight and my people have been displaced, I don't have anything to do. I figured I would stick around for awhile. To be honest, I am a little interested in watching what you do from now on."

"Me?" Elincia asked.

"Yes. You."

"Don't lounge around in my office if you aren't going to do anything to help out!" Clarissa snapped.

She and Chloe had been butting heads frequently. Elincia caught them arguing a lot. Sometimes the argument wasn't even about something important, like this one time when they had been arguing about whether boysenberries made a good addition to tea.

When Chloe didn't respond to her provocation, Clarissa sighed and glanced at Elincia. "Anyway, where is your knight? Down in the training hall?"

"Yes." Elincia smiled and nodded. "I'll be joining him soon."

"I assumed as much." Clarissa nodded several times. "But before that, I need to tell you that tomorrow, I'll be making a public announcement regarding the matter with Marquis Hunington. It's going to be at the amphitheater. I want you and Caspian to join me when I make it."

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