Somewhere in an inconspicuous corner of the outer court of the Nishi Vassal state's palace.
"WHO SAID YOU COULD LAZE AROUND HERE YOU SCUM?!"
*Bang*
"GET BACK TO WORK!"
*Bang*
Two low ranking guards were beating up a dirty slave. He had been unfortunate enough to have been caught doing absolutely nothing during the working hours of the day. Under normal circumstances, this would have just warranted a warning and a light scolding. However, the two guards who found him happened to be long-term employees at the palace and, much like most guards from the old days, had a sadistic nature. Hence, seeing an opportunity to exaggerate the offence they dragged him into a more secluded spot where they could take their time trampling him. Unfortunately, for them someone came to intervene.
"Hey, guys! Ease up a bit, would ya! If you hit him too hard, you might break him to a point where he can't work!" Kenji, in his guard uniform said.
"WHAT?! WHY DO YOU CARE?!"
"YOU LIKE THIS LITTLE SLAVE SO MUCH, WHY DON'T YA MARRY HIM! HAHAHA!"
"You know, if he died, or couldn't work because of this, they might take it out of our paychecks!"
"Huh? Oh, right!"
"Tsk! Man, this sucks! First, we can't mess with the ladies, and now we can't mess with the regular ones! This job used to be so much more fun before the Dark Empire made all these stupid labor laws!"
"I get it, but at least we get paid more now, so that's something!"
While the disgruntled senior guards left, Kenji walked up to the dirty slave and helped him up and let him lean on his shoulder as he walked him towards the slave quarters.
"Hey, thanks for the help! Mr. guard!" Shinji said, his eye twitching and blinking in morse code.
"Don't worry about! Always happy to help!" Kenji replied, while trying to decipher it.
During their time in Shiro academy, Shinji, Kenji, and Aiko, had learned of morse code from their crazy professor and practiced communicating using their own version of it. Unfortunately, their attempts to hide any secrets from their professor had failed as Nox had noticed and deciphered it after about a week. However, it still came in handy for situations where they couldn't talk out loud like this.
Shinji was currently saying he found something useful, but with how weird it would look if they just kept staring at each other in silence, he neglected to say any more about it, while Kenji on the other hand, didn't say anything because he wasn't allowed to.
Truth is, Kenji was barely able to decipher this code even after spending a decent portion of his time in the demon realm on just that. In fact, Kenji was so terrible at speaking in code compared to his companions that he was both the reason for why Nox discovered they were using morse code during their academy days and what prevented her from deciphering it in less than half the time that she did. He kept fumbling around whenever he tried to use the code because he kept forgetting what was what, resulting in Nox picking up on what they were doing pretty quickly. However, his lack of consistency in his attempts to use the code caused Nox to get confused or misinterpret what they were saying regularly. Eventually, it was just decided that he would just focus on deciphering the code rather than using it himself for the foreseeable future.
"Anyways, I'll be goin! You try not to get into any more trouble! You hear!"
"Will do! Thanks!"
Shinji had wanted to try and eavesdrop on some of the officials that stayed in the outer court, however, the security in that area was a lot tighter than the rest of the outer court, especially at night. So, during their last secret meeting, Shinji, recognizing the danger of getting caught loafing around by some of these guards, had given Kenji some excuses to get him out of trouble if he was ever caught in this type of predicament, as well as the general locations he was going to hang around, just so he had some idea of where to look.
"Hello, Sir Arata!"
"Hello!"
"Have a nice day Mr. Arata!"
"Yeah! You too!"
"How about you come join us for some fun later, Sir. Arata?"
"Hehe! Maybe some other time ladies!" He said, recalling how it ended the last time he said yes to that kind of invitation.
Kenji, under his persona, Arata, the rooky guard, has not been limiting himself to just assisting Shinji. He has been actively helping out anyone he could, be they slave, servant, or guard, resulting in him getting rather popular with most of the servants and slaves around the outer court, gaining a reputation for being a goodhearted palace guard.
Had this been a few years ago, a guard like him would have been treated more like a fairytale amongst the slaves, as most guards here would either be a sleazebag when they became guards, or turn into one over time after being influenced by their surroundings. For before the Dark Empire took over the continent, there were precious few countries who had actual laws put in place to ensure that what little rights the lowest rungs of society had were not trampled on.
Debt slaves who were denied their freedom even after working off the money they owed. Servants who were starved, raped, or killed by their owners on a whim. Such transgressions were seen as wasteful or distasteful by the Dark Empire and were strictly banned and more thoroughly regulated within its borders.
However, it was only after a certain young and a little reckless individual pushed for it that these laws and measures were forcefully implemented in the empire's vassal states as well, which caused all sorts of trouble. Many of which that individual is still struggling with today, as he had been saddled with handling the aftermath due to being the one who proposed the idea. However, thanks to that, the life of the lower class improved significantly as time went on.
The winds of change were blowing by, as a new age dawned, and for those who stood at the top in the past, this change only appeared frightening.
"Hey! You! You're Arata, right?"
"Yes, Sir! How can I be of service?!" Kenji said while saluting.
The man in front of him had a token dangling off his belt signifying his status. Kenji couldn't remember what exactly the hierarchy of the military ranks were, but he knew that normal soldiers and low-ranking guards like himself, did not have any status symbol like that on their person, so it wasn't hard to guess that this man outranked him. Hence, he saluted like he had practiced and tried to be respectful.
"At ease! You are the new guard everyone has been talking about, correct! The good Samaritan that has even stooped so low as to aid the slaves in their daily chores?"
"Hehe! Is that what people have been sayin about me?"
As Kenji was nervously scratching his head, one of the guards escorting this higher ranked man, suddenly rushed forwards and punched Kenji in the gut.
*Bang*
"Ngh!"
"Hm? Still on your feet? Seems you are pretty sturdy for just a red core cultivator! This is a warning! Stop interfering with the slaves! It would be bad if they became lazy from being spoiled by you!" The man said before leaving with his entourage.
...
The next meeting after Kenji was punched and threatened.
"I was threatened by a high-ranking guy in armor, but aside from that, there wasn't anything particularly interesting going on this week." Kenji said to Shinji.
"Huh? So, who was he?"
"I didn't catch his name, but he wore some shiny new armor, and had a token with this symbol I think?" Kenji said as he tried to draw the symbol he saw in the dirt.
"Hm? I, Hm? Damn it! I wish senior Alex was still here! He seemed to have a better understanding of the social hierarchy around these parts! Trying to remember all the stupidly confusing titles they have here is making my head spin!"
Alex had disappeared a couple of days after the meeting they had about the 3rd princess, leaving his two juniors to try and figure things out for themselves. Rumor has it, he was taken to the inner court, but that's mostly hearsay, as nobody actually saw where he went.
"Anyways! I think that was either the supreme high general, or maybe the high supreme general, but it's hard to tell from this terrible squiggle, so it could just be a commander! He's definitely a high-ranking man in the military or law enforcement, so, worst case, it could be a military adviser or a royal inquisitor doing a routine check!"
"Which means?"
"Well, if it's any of the first two, then all you need to do is keep a low profile for a little while as the supreme high general and the high supreme generals mostly work outside the capital, only occasionally making trips in and out of the palace to give reports. If it's a commander, you just have to die it down a bit and maybe kiss some ass once in a while to get on his good side."
"Then what about the advisor and inquizasomthing?"
"If it's an advisor, he could have you fired or executed on a moment's notice, so if he has his eyes on you, then you'll have to lay low for much longer to throw off any suspicion! But if it's an inquisitor-!"
"You'll be thoroughly investigated and trialed for treason against the empire should anything remotely suspicious turn up! Like for example, plotting an assassination with a slave in the dead of night!" An ominous voice said as it walked out of the shadows.
The person who just appeared was the very man Kenji had been threatened by earlier that day.
"Oh, eh! Wait, we weren't plotting to kill anyone!" Kenji said, in a fluster as he caught on to what was happening as a bunch of soldiers suddenly came rushing into the room, either through the shadows, or through the door that they nearly tore off its hinges.
"So, theft then? Well, it does not matter! We will get a confession out of you two soon enough! NOW TAKE THESE SPIES TO THE DUNGEON FOR INTERROGATION!" The inquisitor said as before the men arrested Kenji and Shinji.
Seeing their cover was blown, Kenji resisted, punching an orange stage nascent soul through the wall, before one of the stronger soldiers knocked him out cold with a swift strike to the back of the neck. Shinji on the other hand, while he too was caught off guard by the sudden appearance of all these soldiers, he decided to stay eerily quiet as he cooperated for now, giving only one puzzled look towards the tiny spider golem fashioned from a crystal ball camera, pretending to take a sip from a coffee mug while quietly reading a scroll in the corner of the room without being disturbed, before being pushed out of the building in handcuffs.
And so, on their first week without a senior to guide them, the two young men, were discovered and captured.