Hero of Darkness

The very next day, Kahn relayed his orders throughout the Verlassen fiefdom that soon, he will begin visiting all the major prisons situated in the important cities and also the areas controlled by the military.

This news shocked many among the populace as this was something unheard of because till now, they only knew that the government transferred most heinous criminals who had been given a death sentence throughout the empire and used them to fill the numbers in the military to fight against the monster tide.

But most of the time, this idea had backfired as these people were so erratic that it created chaos amongst their ranks. And if not for the powerful semi-saints commanding the armies, it would've caused mayhem instead.

So Kahn's motives through this declaration had greatly piqued the curiosity of the general public.

And the first prison he would start with was the central prison placed in the capital Aesir itself.

At the time of noon, Kahn and his entourage of royal guards descended from their warship in the middle of this 10 kilometer wide prison which facilitated more than 20 thousand prisoners. And this wasn't even the biggest prison settlement in the Verlassen fiefdom either.

Other prisons that were made hundreds of years ago, housed 10 times the numbers while keeping all these criminals away from the general population. So Kahn started with the closest one and soon, he planned to visit all of them one by one.

After he exited the warship, Kahn was greeted by the prison management and the main head who was a beginner rank grandmaster halberd warrior.

One thing Kahn had noticed so far was that despite there being a great need of high-ranked warriors, the Verlassen mountain range that was now the Verlassen Fiefdom had a limited number of semi-saints and grandmaster rank warriors as if the government itself didn't want to provide it a helping hand.

Behind Kahn, a long batch of hundreds of soldiers dressed in gray armors walked in a disciplined manner. In their hands, were wooden crates.

Soon, the total number of soldiers piled to a thousand and even the jailor and the management people felt a sense of dread as if a war was about to happen here.

Soon, everyone kneeled in front of Kahn and introduced themselves. Kahn on the other end asked them about the functionality of the prison and started a discussion of his own.

"Tell me.. How are you managing it? Are the funds allotted to you are enough?" he asked the jailer.

The next second, however… the beginner rank grandmaster snakekin had an aghast expression as if he didn't dare to answer the question.

"Don't worry. You have nothing to fear about. You're under my protection." spoke Kahn as he affirmed the jailor who seemed conflicted.

"To be honest, my lord. On the record.. We have millions of gold coins in the annual budget to use for maintaining our prison. But in reality… we haven't even been receiving one-third of it every year from decades.

Yet the documentation is always filed with the full amount mentioned. I dare not point fingers at anyone but.. But those who tried to expose this matter before me all disappeared.

So I couldn't dare to speak about it… before you came." revealed the snakekin with honesty.

He too was one of Kahn's supporters and after hearing Kahn's moving speech yesterday.. He dared to come forth with the truth.

Kahn nodded and understood the situation.

"Mister Rotich!" called out Kahn.

Soon, a green thrall dressed in aristocratic clothes ran towards them and stood straight in front of him.

This was one of the people who were in charge of informing Kahn about the happenings of the fiefdom since he was new.

"How much of our annual budget is spent on managing all the prisons in Verlassen?" asked Kahn with a serious tone.

"My lord, more than 20% of the annual income is spent on the management of these prisons throughout the Verlassen mountain range in hundreds of cities.

If I'm not wrong, it's nearly 200 billion gold coins every year." spoke the thrall.

"That much?.. Yet why aren't they receiving the funds?" asked Kahn.

Because despite that much allotted money, the situation here seemed worse and didn't appear like the prison was well maintained given the sheer number of people it housed.

The prison labor wasn't enough to fill the cracks in the walls if they didn't have enough money to buy the construction materials at all.

"My lord.. That's.. That's.. In the hands of ministry of finance." he spoke with a shuddering voice.

"I see. Those bastards not only sent the scums of society to live here.. They use these folks to swindle money in the name of managing these prisons.

If not for me taking charge here.. No one would've found out either." spoke Kahn in an exasperated tone.

There seemed to be no end to the scams and money embezzling in this region of the empire.

"My lord.. The situation is even worse in other major prisons. We receive at least that much because this prison is situated in the capital.

Compared to this.. Other places that house more criminals don't receive enough money.

Every year, there are plenty of cases when those prisoners escape because of worn down constructions and not enough men to stop them." revealed the snakekin again.

Kahn clenched his fist in anger after hearing this fact. Because these prisoners were mostly filled with rapists, murderous and some who even did acts such as cannibalism.

Yet to risk the lives of common people because of their greed was something he found as crossing the limit.

"I see. Well, I will soon take care of it. But first.. Gather around all the prisoners in the main grounds and arrange a podium where I can speak with them all at once." commanded Kahn in his gray general-like attire.

"Yes, my lord." spoke the snakekin jailer and left to make the arrangements.

Kahn looked at the open ground with his eyes full of wrath and spoke in a grim voice.

"Let's see how many of these sinners are useful."