Chapter 127: Morning in Rome (3)
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I looked down at Parsi as I waited for an exnation. Parsi was holding his head up slightly while prostrating like the other vigers. This was so that he could respond to me ordingly.
This guy……he definitely has a knack for politics. Despite looking like a bulldog.
‘I could probably use him if he learns how to read.’
It was a little unfortunate. I had an urge to send him off to study. Parsi was the same age as Laura. In other words, he was 17 years old. He was young, but he was also at an awkward age to start learning something. Well, people are usually able to effectively learn new things before they’re thirty. Let’s think about this slowly.
Parsi got up.
“Let me guide you inside first.”
“All right. Lead the way.”
I was led to a nearby wooden house. It was the vige chief’s house. It was a rather shabby ce for the person with the most authority in the vige to be living in. This meant that he wasn’t someone who cared about needless extravagance. Hm. I like him even more now.
“Now then, give me an exnation.”
I spoke as I sat down on the floor. Parsi let out a deep sigh after he sat downfortably. Overall, the way he held himself made it clear that he didn’t know the rules of etiquette. Despite this, it didn’t bother me or feel unsightly to me.
He would dly act servile if I demanded it; however, we both knew that there would be no sincerity in that. I want to be sincere with you since I believe you are qualified to receive my sincerity. ―Every bit of Parsi’s demeanor gave off this impression.
“Things have be messed up.”
“It doesn’t seem like another adventurer party caused a problem.”
“A couple of other viges conspired together and leeched off of yournd.”
Parsi made a serious look.
I’m sorry, but I don’t know what the problem is.
“Mynd? You are not talking about my Demon Lord Castle, are you?”
“I am talking about the viges that were destroyed because they worked together with the adventurers. They had fields they were cultivating. People from other viges took over those fields.”
“Hmm.”
I put my hand on my chin. I contemted the severity of this incident.
I thoroughly piged all of the viges that conspired with the adventurers. I distributed the provisions I took from them to the viges that were on my side. That was as far as the reward and punishment went. Everything else that wasn’t mentioned obviously belonged to me. Therefore, this meant that those vigers plundered my belongings…….
“Just punish the perpetrators. Furthermore, it seems that none of the citizens of this vige took part in that crime. Mm. I feel like the apology is more excessive than the crime itself…….”
“Damn it. It would be great if stealing from you was all they did. Unfortunately, it was the vige chiefs who took the lead and goaded their viges to cultivate yournd. Those vige chief bastards even went as far as to apply taxes on those fields as if they belonged to them.”
Wow.
I scowled.
“Are they insane?”
“They’re insane.”
Parsi nodded. I now understood the severity of the situation.
I rxed my posture and shifted my legs into a morefortable position. One should make their bodies asfy as their minds have be agitated. This was what this meant.
“What was the tax rate?”
“Seven-tenth of their harvest.”
“Christ……they really were crazy bastards.”
They took 70% of the harvest as tax. They went beyond normal thieves. Of course, taking 70% of one’s harvest is a verymon urrence in this era. You could consider it to be normal. It was so normal that a lord that only took 50% as tax would be praised as a lord brought down by the heavens.
The issue is the fact that this tyranny is only allowed forndowners. The vige chiefs acted like thendowners of mynd. In other words, they sinned against the lord. Theymitted treason.
I clicked my tongue.
“Tsk. A vige does not have only one or two people. I am certain that hundreds of people did not conspire together to trick me. Did the vige chiefs perhaps lie to them?”
Parsi’s eyes opened wide.
“How’d you know? Jeez. You could probably make it big as a fortune teller.”
“Put the needless banter aside and exin.”
“The vige chiefs apparently told their viges that they were going to give the tax to you.”
They even fabricated documents? This was getting better and better.
All of the mountain viges had submitted to me. They had an obligation to report to me whenever they cultivatednd. They call this a remation report.
During medieval times, there was a belief that allnd belonged to the king. You couldn’t cultivate however you wanted just because there was a lot ofnd. You had to give a detailed report about the who, what, when, where, and how of thend that was going to be cultivated.
In this era, how much farnd a territory has determined the strength of the nation……. If you start cultivatingnd without giving a report, then it wouldn’t be surprising if people used you of revolting. Vige chiefs aren’t for nothing. Vige chiefs are the ones who keep ledgers of ie and expenses and report to the lord about cultivatednd.
Despite all of this, these vige chiefs decided to t out not give remation reports. To make matters worse, they kept the taxes that they were supposed to give to me for themselves. This wasn’t something you would do if you had a brain.
It was needless to say that they deserved to be executed.
“I must have seemed like quite the pushover to them.”
A corner of my mind went cold.
It was settled that the vige chiefs were the masterminds, but that wasn’t the problem. This problem could very easily grow to an exponential size.
I could already think of two charges off the top of my head.
What were you guys doing while the vige chiefs from the viges over weremitting treason? Even if the vige chiefs were lying, the other vigers cooperated either way. How should I punish these vigers? Do I have to punish their entire viges? ……This isn’t a joke. I might have to punish every mountain vige indiscriminately for guilt-by-association.
To put it simply, this meant that I would be losing workers.
Currently, I have a total of 5 viges under my wing. Even if I decided to only punish a single vige’s worth of humans, I would be losing one-fifth of my total profit.
I had to wander about outside due to the war and now an incident like this had urred immediately after Laura nagged me into managing my territory. What did I do to deserve this?
If I apply guilt-by-association, then I would be losing workers. Nevertheless, if I decide to only punish the vige chiefs, then I would be harming my dignity. The lord is thew of thend. The lord’s dignity is thew’s dignity. There is no power in and where thew stands on unstable footing……. What should I do?
Parsi spoke up carefully while I was busy contemting my options.
“For starters, we already took the heads of those vige chiefs.”
“What? That’s good!”
I pped.
A justification is required if I want to prevent them from being implicated. I need an excuse that would put into consideration circumstances that made it clear that they were not involved. Parsi took care of the vige chiefs that hadmitted the crime. He personally dispatched the traitors. What political options were avable now?
It’s a good thing that he took care of the traitors; however, it wasn’t right of him to punish the traitors on his own without receiving the lord’s permission. There are merits and demerits, so now I have to figure out how I’m going to punish Parsi as the lord and judge.
I can’t praise Parsi here. I’d be giving him judicial power if I did. I absolutely have to punish Parsi in a situation like this.
However, I have to punish him on the outside while actually forgiving him on the inside.
I grinned as I spoke.
“I will now order you to lower yourself.”
“I will bow a hundred times in gratitude for your mercy.”
Parsi grinned as well.
“I should emphasize my authority as the lord so that something like this never happens again. You sneaky cur! Confess! I am certain that you have already decided what you will give up on.”
“I will offer my water rights.”
Parsi responded coolly.
Water rights was the rights to use reservoirs like waterways for farming and so on. For farmers, this was more important than their lives. For example, if there’s a year of bad harvest, then farmers would have no other choice but totch on to lords or priests who have water rights.
Lords and priests would allow them to use the waterways at the price of having their taxes increased by 20% for the following year. Farmers would have no other choice but to ept this exchange with teary eyes for the sake of surviving that current year. Simply having ess to a stream could make you wealthy in an instant.
The fact that he would give something as important as water rights to me would make his loyalty seem impressive on the surface, but…….
“What reservoirs are there even here? What a contemptible thing to offer.”
It’s obvious, but there’s only a shabby mountainous area around my Demon Lord Castle. Infrastructures like reservoirs don’t exist here. There are only a couple of small streams here and there.
Even if I gain possession of these small streams, the vigers would have to tacitly take care of the streams themselves anyway. If I apply taxes on the streams, then the vigers would immediately revolt. Gaining ownership meant that I could step forward as the mediator if a couple of farmers were to start arguing about whose turn it was to use the streams.
All sh and no substance.
“Would this not be the best thing to offer? Hehe.”
Parsi smiled slyly. I was probably making the same face.
Even if they didn’t alsomit treason, the other viges ultimately neglected the matter. Normally, it would only be right to wipe them all out due to implications; however, they quickly dealt with the traitors. I have to give them an appropriate punishment as the lord of the region.
I will order them to offer something up to me. They will all be moved by my magnanimous punishment. They will vow their loyalty to me again and offer their water rights in return for my magnanimity. I will ept this and promise to not give any additional punishment in regard to this incident.
Parsi and the vigers will be able to maintain their lives and I will be able to preserve my authority as the lord. It’ll be a win-win.
“I have a good idea to add to this.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“It is about the fields left behind by the destroyed viges. How about I hand them over to you guys under the condition of giving me 70% of the profits annually? You and the other vige chiefs can determine who to give the fields to.”
Parsi was moved.
“Wow. Are you showing us consideration since our situation might be worse due to the prohibition?”
“Of course, I will only be giving them to you. You must properly distribute them fairly yourselves. Only then will you guys be able to maintain your dignity.”
“Additionally, your reputation will also skyrocket by opening up privatend to the farmers. We’ll be happy to have more ess tond and you’ll be happy to receive more taxes. In other words, mutual benefit. I now understand why you’re a Demon Lord.”
I shrugged.
“Well, this much is normal.”
“But there is still one problem left. Even if you settle it like this with the viges that didn’t take part in the treason, what will you do about the viges that did? Their vige chiefs may be dead, but that doesn’t seem like enough as punishment.”
“Hmm.”
I’ve been thinking about that as well. What should I do?
“Hm. I do have an idea of my own.”
“I am looking forward to it. What is it?”
“To be honest, you have only promised us one thing. To stop goblins from invading. That’s it. Since they have gone against the promise they made with you, then can’t you ignore the promise you made with them?”
I let out a gasp of realization.
“I can order the goblins to attack them!”
“That’s right. Don’t attack them too aggressively, hehe. Just enough. If you y with them enough, then they should be able to grasp the severity of their situation on their own. O Your Highness Demon Lord, please forgive us for we have sinned. They’lle to you crying like this.”
“Ah ha. I can generously forgive them at that time. I’ll increase their taxes by 10% and use them for some forcedbor.”
The implications would be written off for those vigers. They will probably believe that they’re being let off the hook lightly. In the end, every problem will be solved with only the vige chiefs being killed and no one else being caught by implications.
“A splendid n! This is a splendid n! You have a good head on your shoulders!”
“Haha. You are praising me too much. I can’tpare to Your Highness.”
“Hahaha.”
Two men were sitting in the corner of a houseughing slyly. If someone saw us, then they would probably call us perverts. It didn’t matter, however, since we were busy feeling overjoyed. Referentially, politics are fun because of moments like this.
***
TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. It’s now that slow period where I can’t think of what to say here. I end up just sitting here for a solid 10 minutes trying to think of something. I feel like if it goes beyond 5 minutes, I should just do the usual “Head empty, got nothing to say”.
Welp, I’ll see you guys in the next chapter.