This was the fual reason Charlot Meburg dared to lie so boldly. To iigate an Imperial bureaucrat’s background required a thh review of records. In the Fars Empire, where catalog indexing was not yet widespread, bing through records was a borious task. No one could expose his lie on the spot.

  Charlot also didn’t believe anyone would ter bother sifting through the archives just to catch a “parasite” like him. Doing so would offend far too many people; the entire bureaucratic system would resist such “corres.”

  Charlot first returo the tral Gover Office. On the way, he bought some bagels for breakfast. Unfortunately, there were no street vendors selling fresh cow or sheep’s milk anywhere in the Fars Empire. Otherwise, his breakfast would have been perfect.

  As he munched on a bagel, Charlot pushed open the office door and presehe transfer order he had received the previous day to Mrs. Aldegonde.

  Mrs. Aldegonde was quite surprised. She even made a rare attempt to dissuade him, saying, “The w ditions and promotion opportu Kilmainham Prison are nowhere near as favorable as those here at the tral Gover Office. Are you sure you don’t want to resider?”

  Charlot shrugged helplessly and replied, “If I had any way to refuse, I would’ve done so already!”

  Mrs. Aldegonde sighed and signed her name on the dot.

  In the office, Charlot’s colleagues all had schadenfreude written across their faces. Several of them secretly thought, “Good thing it’s Charlot going. Otherwise, the unlucky person transferred to Kilmainham Prison might have been me.”

  The transfer order did not specify Charlot’s exact position at Kilmainham Prison.

  Charlot had no iion ing about it.

  Such childish behavior would only cause unnecessary trouble for his career.

  He quickly left the office where he had worked for two years ao the personnel department. Ihan an hour, he had pleted all the necessary procedures, left the tral Gover Office, hailed a public carriage, and headed straight for Kilmainham Prison.

  ...

  Visiting the Empire’s oldest prison for the sed time, Charlot navigated it with practiced ease.

  With the help of Mrs. Pascal, the receptioary, Charlot pleted his onb process and officially became a first-css Chief Clerk in the Kilmainham Prison Warden’s Office, rahirty-seventh among national civil servants.

  As a former first-css civil servant of the forty-first rank, Charlot’s weekly sary had been one flor ay times.

  Now, as a Chief Clerk, a thirty-seventh-ranked civil servant, his weekly sary had increased to six flor and fifteeimes—about 3.6 times his previous ine.

  verted to Earth’s purchasing power, this equaled a monthly sary of nearly 50,000 yuan, pg him firmly in the high-ine bracket.

  After pleting all his work-reted formalities, Charlot thanked Mrs. Pascal and politely asked, “Where should I set up my office?”

  He certainly couldn’t share an office with Miss Menielman; that would be against regutions.

  As a Chief Clerk, he was supposed to have his own private office. Charlot eagerly anticipated seeing his new work enviro.

  Mrs. Pascal smiled faintly and said, “You still o collect your prison guard equipment, whicludes a pistol, a baton, and a sword. Although you’re a clerical staff member, you’re now part of the prison army, and you might enter threats and bat situations. These items are essential.”

  Charlot couldn’t help but ask, “Do violent is occur often at Kilmainham Prison?”

  Mrs. Pascal smiled faintly and replied, “The st violent i in the prison occurred long before the Lady of the Bck Moon’s era. However, I urge you not to dee the ons.”

  Charlot smiled faintly and responded, “I have no iion of deing.”

  Haviransferred from the retively danger-free tral Gover Office to a prison uhe jurisdi of a state’s violent apparatus, carrying ons was aability.

  Of course, Charlot didn’t believe he’d fay real danger here. There were few pces iire Empire safer than Kilmainham Prison.

  He followed Mrs. Pascal to the armory.

  A middle-aged man with a full beard muttered, “Another newer?”

  Mrs. Pascal replied, “This is the Chief Clerk personally appointed by the Warden.”

  The bearded man chuckled and said, “The’s take good care of this little fellow!”

  “Follow me.”

  Mrs. Pascal said, “My work here is done. Good luck. Your office is o the Warden’s, and your name is already on the door.”

  Charlot turned back quickly, a polite smile and bidding farewell to Mrs. Pascal. He watched her leave before turning to follow the bearded man.

  The bearded man waited for a moment and then asked, “Do you want standard-issue ons, or would you like to piething special?”

  Charlot raised an eyebrow and asked, “What’s the difference?”

  The bearded man replied, “The armory tains fiscated ons that are of slightly higher quality thaandard-issue ones.”

  Charlot asked, “ I take a look myself?”

  The bearded man chuckled. “Be my guest!”

  He led Charlot into the armory, poio a se, and said, “These are the standard-issue ons. The small room in the back tains the fiscated items.”

  The bearded man’s hint was clear: the small room held extraordinary ons.

  In this world, there were gods, mythical creatures, forbidden a artifacts, giants, shamans, vampires, magibat energy, alchemy, and supernatural beings as well as extraordinary items.

  The armory of Kilmainham Prisoainly wouldn’t have the fi extraordinary ons—those would have long been cimed by the powerful and iial. However, the remaining items were still incredibly valuable, far beyond what could be easily obtained elsewhere.

  Siransmigrating to this world, Charlot had yet to see araordinary item. In his memory, every such item carried a prohibitive price.

  For instahe most on a expensive magical artifact—a simple illumination mp—cost twelve écu, far exceeding his sary.

  Extraordinary ons used in bat often cost over one hundred écu. verted to Earth’s purchasing power, this was roughly two million yuan, equivalent to the price of a mid-tier apartment in a medium-sized city.

  Without a signifit windfall, Charlot would never sider purchasing such luxury items in his lifetime.

  Outside, the on racks were filled with various firearms.

  The development of firearms teology in this world was rapid. Gunpowder-based ons had performance levels parable to those of Earth during World War I, while their designs even surpassed Earth’s firearms from the 2000s.

  The Empire had no police force as a distinstitution. All tasks typically handled by police were carried out by the military. Those stationed in prisons were officially referred to as the prison army.

  The standard-issue pistol for the prison army, officially he Magnum Mauler, had aeen-round capacity and excelled in close bat. There was also a shotgun-like firearm called the Thundercp Gun, which fired explosive rounds and was a favored on for “close-quarters heavy firepower” among the prison army.