Chapter 14: Rogue Lords (14)

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Viscount Bord’s residence was surrounded by the Territorial Army led by Haddin, and thanks to them, his private army was quickly subdued. The Viscount, who was brought before me, looked as if he was not at fault at all.

“Sir, what is this?! How could you do this to me?”

“What are you talking about? The two women you sent over have already confessed to everything.”

“Oh, no!”

Viscount Bord’s face instantly turned pale, but he quickly became nonchalant and shook his head.

“You’re wrong! I didn’t intend to poison you! That would be a conspiracy!”

“Poison me? I thought I said they confessed. How do you know that?”

“……”

Viscount Bold, who was about to speak, fell silent. He was dismayed with himself.

“Yes, that’s…….Ugh, I’ve heard rumors!”

“Well, even if you hadn’t, I knew there was something fishy about it. I’m going to investigate, so you’d better be quiet.”

“This is tyranny! Hey, let me go!”

Naturally, instead of being quiet, he began to make a scene.

“Check the mansion’s books and papers. And Haddin, you are to locate and tally the soldiers and the Viscount’s entire estate!”

Of course, I didn’t care about that and ordered a search of the mansion. As the soldiers and vassals hurriedly began to search Viscount Bord’s house, his complexion began to deteriorate.

“Hmph, screw you! Get the hell out of my house right now!”

In proportion to their footsteps, numerous gold bars and treasures, as well as land titles, were soon tallied. In addition to that, a warehouse full of grain and unspeakable luxuries.

There were many discrepancies between the account books at the lord’s castle and the ones seized from Viscount Bord’s house. In other words, the Viscount had been embezzling a considerable amount of taxes.

There was a reason why Viscount Bord had refused to raise taxes when I had suggested it. Viscount Bold had not only raised the tax rate to 80%, but he had also been robbing the people behind the scenes to collect almost 100% of the profit. The additional money he took was put directly into his own pocket. He was probably using the money to conspire against me.

However, despite such heavy taxes, there has been no revolt by the people. The reason for this is the fear that comes with a strong class system. No matter if they revolt and kill their lords, the kingdom will eventually intervene. At any rate, the end result is death.

Still, if so much taxation had been imposed for a long time, something should have already happened, but since Erhin has only been lord for a short time, it seems that the dissatisfaction for the lord is just now beginning to pile up. Erhin’s father had just died, which meant that it was only recently that Viscount Bord had started to plunder the people.

“My Lord, my Lord!”

Haddin came rushing to me, foaming at the mouth. The way he looked at me had changed drastically since the war. I can feel the respect in his eyes.

“What are you making so much noise about?”

“Take a look at this letter. Viscount Bord has been in league with the Narja Kingdom!”

I see. That’s certainly something to make a fuss about. Of course, it was somewhat predictable. If he wanted to kill me and become the lord, he would need the power of the outside forces.

In other words, he was using the money he had confiscated to lay the groundwork for the Narja Kingdom instead of the Lunan Kingdom, right? After he killed me, he wanted to give this land to the Narja Kingdom and become its lord?

“He even had connections with the enemy, right?”

When I said this while looking at the letter, Haddin nodded vigorously.

“I see. Have Viscount Bold imprisoned for assassination of the lord, conspiracy of civil war, and tax theft!”

What makes me angry is that even such a person is still a noble. This is not my country, but the territory of the Lunan Kingdom, and according to the laws of the kingdom, any punishment worthy of the death penalty, such as civil war conspiracy, requires the permission of the king.

But even so, with this much evidence, no matter how corrupt the Lunan Kingdom is, it will have no choice but to hand down the death penalty. The fact that he was in league with the Narja Kingdom is a very serious conspiracy to commit civil war. Of course, I have to create a scenario in which Viscount Bolt was behind all of this and Erhin, who had just become lord, knew nothing about it.

“Also, according to the laws of the kingdom, all the property he has appropriated shall be vested in the estate!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Please inform the entire territory that all vassals who continue to torment the people will be punished in this manner. Also, tell the world about Viscount Bord schemes!”

As such, l took care of Viscount Bord and seized all his property.

[The territory’s assets have risen.]

[+15,000,000 Lunans]

The estate’s assets have risen dramatically.

The cost of running the territory for a year is 10 million Lunans. In other words, he had embezzled more than enough money to spend on running the territory for a year.

Aintorian current assets are about 30 million Lunans, after adding Viscount Bord’s wealth to that, I get,

[45,000,000 Lunans]

It was a considerable amount of money for a personal fortune, but it was not enough to fund the operation of a territory.

It’s enough to run a territory, but it’s extremely scarce when considering that I need to raise an army for future wars.

It costs money just to conscript people and there are restrictions on conscription. If the population of the territory is small to begin with, it is impossible to increase the number of conscripts.

If I build a livable territory, word will spread and the population will flow in, so I need to cultivate farmland even if I have to spend a lot of money.

Of course, the money added now will help a lot. Because what the territory needs the most right now is troops. After the battle with the Narja Kingdom, the number of troops was quickly reduced. The current size of the territory’s army is about 3,000 men. It is completely insufficient to defend the territory.

[Do you wish to conduct a draft?]

[Current draft limit: 15,000 men]

First, I activated the system to check the cost of conscription. Then, I set the number of conscripts to 1000.

[Use 2,000,000 Lunans]

If 1,000 people cost 2 million Lunans, 10,000 people cost 20 million Lunans. I knew it would cost a fortune. But this was money that should be invested. To build an elite army, I would need at least 10,000 men. Considering the money I have now and the limitations of the population, a realistic number would be exactly 10,000.

However, the moment I draft people, the people’s spirit will go down. I have to be prepared for that.

“Haddin.”

“Yes, my lord!”

“The invasion of the Narja Kingdom requires an unavoidable increase in our forces.”

“I agree, my lord.”

Haddin nodded.

“I’m thinking of drafting about ten thousand men, and I’d like you to train them.”

“10,000 men all of a sudden?”

“We have enough provisions from the property we seized here. Our priority is to protect this territory somehow. We can’t let our people become slaves of the Narja Kingdom, can we?”

“Of course. If you leave it to me……I will build a strong army even if I have to sacrifice myself! So let’s go to……which is what I said before I was relieved of my command…….”

I was about to say something when Haddin suddenly fell silent and started to look at me. He seemed to think that he had wasted his time talking. With his command ability he can deal with 10.000 men.

“Good, I’ll leave it to you. Gather 10,000 soldiers immediately and make sure they are thoroughly trained. The same goes for the training of the 3,000 men who are the original Territorial Army!”

“Yes, my lord!”

[Do you wish to use 20,000,000 Lunans?]

[Aintorian territory army strength increased with +10000]

[Territory army’s training level reduced to 10]

[The morale of the territory’s army has been reduced to 20]

[The people’s spirit has been reduced to 20]

As such, the entire army numbered 13,000. The somewhat rising people’s spirits dropped all at once.

This was inevitable because of the sudden large-scale recruitment, no matter how much war there was with the Narja Kingdom. The sudden rise in people’s spirit was probably due to the hope that the war had been prevented, and even more so because it didn’t change the way people looked at the villainous lord.

Furthermore, in an instant, the territory’s funds were cut in half. Huh……..Money is still important in this world. It’s very important, but I can’t remain as a corrupt lord. If the tax rate is adjusted to 50% again, the source of funds will also be reduced. It’s good that I got rid of Viscount Bord, but I still have a lot of problems.

On top of that, there was the matter of raising the people’s spirit.

* * *

In fact, 10,000 people is a small number for the unification of the world, but I have to be satisfied with this for now.

There are various restrictions. I don’t have enough people to begin with, so even if I wanted to increase the population, it wouldn’t be possible. The current population of Aintorian is not that large because of the dangers of borders. So there are more than one or two things I need to do to achieve world domination.

I don’t know where to start. I don’t have enough human resources, money, or levels. In order to raise my territory, I need to raise my level first. There is so much to do. Since there is no set route, it is even more difficult to find an answer.

I returned to the lord’s castle in a daze and immediately headed for my bedroom. I had been so busy moving around all night that I was sure I would fall asleep as soon as I lay down.

At that moment, however, the chamberlain who had been walking behind me suddenly came out in front of me and got down on his knees.

“Master……”

The chamberlain took an unexpected action. Why is he suddenly on his knees?