The 162th chapter ”General 250” (part 1)
The imperial Inspectorate prison is commonly known as the “nursing home of death“ among the circles of nobilities. In accordance with the laws of the Empire, the inspectorate department has the right to monitor and collect evidence of any wrongdoings made by any nobles or officials of the empire, but other than that, this department does not have the right to give the final judgment.
Known to all, the inspectorate department is actually divided into two sections – inner and outer. For the outer section, they are responsible for accepting various and anonymous reports made by the public. Also, there is a mysterious and secretive task force specializing in espionage and supervision of various officials throughout the empire. Despite all of these burdens, the real core of this department is actually the inner section because whenever some important figure in the capital falls to ruin, they would always be sent to the inner section to be processed.
In other words…. If you are just some unimportant official within the empire, even if you are found guilty of treason, you would still not be qualified to enter the inner section. Whenever someone gets sent to this “nursing home of death”, the person in question has to be either a prime minister or senior military official.
Fate is never certain, who knows when tomorrow one would fall into ruins and the next they would walk out of prison with full honors restored? So, in order to not offend any of these once influential individuals, the bosses in control of the inspectorate department would always treat their inner section prisoners exceptionally good. This not only applies to their living quarters, but also the food and daily health care they use.
So more often than not, the prisoners held inside never have to worry about their comfort of living. In fact, if they are willing to spend some extra money, they can even have some of the guards bring them women from the outside to enjoy!
In truth, everyone in capital already knew of this practice inside the inspectorate department. But since the bosses in charge of this place are turning a blind eye anyways, then why should someone from the outside bother going around poking at other people’s business? If by the off chance they offend the wrong person, who knows what kind of enemy they might make in the process.
Therefore, the conditions at this place is extremely good for a prison and that is also where its ‘nursing home of death” nickname came from. Nonetheless, every single of these individuals is being charged with a serious offense, whether they can make it out alive and regain their status or die a pitiful death will all depend on their own doings.
Before coming to this prison, Du Wei also caught wind of these hearsays. But when he actually saw it in person, he discovered it wasn’t actually as extravagant as what everyone outside made it out to be.
Located at the southern end of the capital, the main office of the inspectorate department is only a building with three to four floors. Maybe it was because the surrounding area is filled with exceptionally large and tall buildings, the road and size of this structure seems rather dull and small to the naked eyes. In fact, the atmosphere this place gave off was even somewhat gloomy and had a hint of decaying flavor in the air. This was especially true for the main gate in the front door due to the chilling sensation one would feel when looking at it.
Normally, any imperial institution within the capital would always try to keep their outer appearance look as magnificent and majestic as possible. Yet, the parking lot of this nation class level institute could only house 3 to 5 carriage at one time.
Then again, it is quite understandable for this to be happening. Under any circumstances, who would want to get involved with this place?
After the coup d’état, the inspectorate department is currently housing a number of nobles and ministers later found to be a part of the Crown Prince’s faction. Though these people didn’t actually step forward at the time, but it didn’t take much for the evidence to spew out with a little digging. Faced with a sudden influx of prisoners, this place somehow felt a bit livelier compared to before.
Maybe it was due to his newly appointed status and titles, but when Du Wei came to this place, the department head was somehow not present at the time. In his stead, only a steward came out to welcome him.
Riding a white horse and followed by two Red robed court Mages – these two are special entourages lent to him as bodyguards for the time being – Du Wei came up to the person welcoming him and said: “it must have been hard for Mr. Luobosiji”
“Your lordship, you came today for……” Being a member of the inspectorate department for so many years, this Luobosiji is already a master of reading the situation. In his mind, he is already speculating what could be the reason for such a heavy weight to appear so suddenly: “Could it be that the Regent requires something?”
“No.” Du Wei shakes his head first to reassure the other party: “This is private matter. I want to see Earl Raymond>”
Luobosiji’s face immediately showed signs of clear understanding because right now, everyone with a grasp of the political situation would know of this newly appointed Duke’s origin. For a child to come meet his father is quite understandable. Hurrying to dismiss the entourages, Luobosiji personally led the way inside for Du Wei.
From afar, the hall within the prison looked just like a narrowly built boulder castle with three floors. From what is known about this structure, the castle has quite an interesting history.
Prior to the unification of the Roland Empire, the imperial capital is only the capital of a small nation in the central region of the continent. Furthermore, this miniature structure of the inspectorate department just so happens to be the palace of this now ruined country. It was only after Aragon established the empire and appointed this place as the imperial capital that this already abandoned castle was reused. On top of this, when Aragon needed to construct the city walls, he had most of the palace stones removed for his project.
Seeing such a dramatic change really does cause quite a stir in one’s emotion.
Walking in, the first impression Du Wei felt was a damp and spooky castle. Despite this, just about every corner was being patrolled by heavily armed soldiers; clearly this place is still heavily guarded by its keepers.
As he made his way through the big iron gate, the first thing he noticed as he walked inside was the doors. Each any every one of the holding rooms had small mouth, most likely used to pass on a small amount of daily rations to the prisoners.
“Earl Raymond’s identity is abnormal; therefore, I had already made special arrangements for him to be held in an extra spacious room.” Luobosiji is smart and didn’t miss the chance to suck up to the newly appointed Duke: “In the past, I was also acquainted with Lord Raymond, so his daily necessities are well taken care of. The only problem is that the Earl’s mood doesn’t seem to be very good these past few days. Other than drinking tea and reading a book called the “Continent’s History”, he doesn’t speak much otherwise.
Right now, it should just be the right time where he is drinking tea and reading a book……”
Du Wei sighs and looked over at the steward. Smiling, he said: “Thank you inspector.”
Turning down a corridor, Du Wei suddenly stopped. From around his shoulder, he could vaguely hear the voice of a woman chuckling from behind a door, clearly that of a prostitutes.
Immediately, Luobosiji face changed and looked somewhat ugly. Although these kind of activities in this place are already common knowledge among the high class society, but Du Wei is still a newly appointed Duke. If by the off chance he decides to go back and report this to the Regent……..
Thinking of this, Luobosiji immediately started to pour cold sweat out of his back because it was he who took the 500 gold coins from this prisoner. Now, he is secretly regretting everything. *** Normally, it would only cost a prisoner 300 gold coins to get the prisoner warden to arrange a hooker from the red light district to come. Needless to say, the extra 200 gold coins Luobosiji got ended up in his pocket.
Du Wei just lightly smiles, leisurely asking: “It seems that the rumors were true. ‘Nursing home of death’ really does fit this place. Casually, Du Wei points to where the woman laugh was coming from: “Which Lord is imprisoned in this room?”
“Yes ……” Luobosiji wipes the sweat off his forehead as he spoke: “It is General Longbottom.”
Du Wei originally asked without any ulterior motive, but the answer he got piqued his interest quite a bit: “General Longbottom, he is actually still in here?”
He may not have a wide understanding of the capital’s noble circle, but even Du Wei has heard of General Longbottom’s name.
Speaking of this, the guy can even be considered a special.