Draiss shrugged at the Emperor's initial dismay, before pointing out that some of the records the construct was checking were at least a hundred years old, maybe more so for some of them, and all of them were at least twenty years. The report also mentioned that it could tell that they had skimmed at least a hundred gold every year, the upper management, that hadn't been reported, and that several of their profits had been reported as 'losses' to further reduce how much they had to pay in taxes. The question wasn't were they cheating, but rather where and how much, which was why it was going to take so long. He then smugly noted that it would take at least a year for a humanoid, working alone like the construct, to get finished, rather than the current estimate of two months for the current merchant. He did recommend that the Emperor not arrest him immediately, as that would likely cause a rash of 'arson' and 'accidents' that just happened to destroy the books, the buildings being much easier to destroy and then rebuild than their careers if the Emperor found out.<br/><br/>He did ask for Tysinni's opinion on the matter, and was relieved that he got her actual one, rather than the wallflower one she usually was in such a gathering. He also got the crown prince's opinion, as he was sitting on the Emperor's other side, and could easily hear the murmured conversation, though all the children knew about the construct and what it was doing, and wouldn't spread the news. Most were outraged by the initial findings, and the deeper it dug, the more angry they got, though Draiss had to wonder whether it was due to the merchants cheating THEM or that the merchants were being that dishonest.<br/><br/>Once he left the palace, he easily dodged the young, hotblooded noblewomen, and some not so young, deliberately walking towards the teleportation circle, which had been opened to the public for free all day, so friends and family members could go and visit their relatives in Dragon's Roost rather than the other way around. The party in his town would likely be going for at least another day, but it was fine, as the plants could manage on their own for a day. He was just trying to invite an attack, to see if anyone had enough annoyance at him to try to physically remove him.