Knights, Let’s Smash Them

129 – Now this tithe is ours (5)

“Agent Lord, it is said that a negotiating delegation is arriving from Rupel Mansion today.”

“A negotiator?”

“It seems that he is coming to negotiate directly.”

“Negotiation… ….”

The lord’s deputy, Farneri Cara, sniffed him.

Saken, the capital of the Marquis of Karahan.

From noble mtl dot com.

A gigantic fortress that appears when you pass the high outer wall and reach the inner wall that is even higher than that. Even though the fortress was built hundreds of years ago, Saken was still proud of its majesty.

Originally, the title of Marquis in the Boliver Empire was a position comparable to that of a Margrave. In the first place, the moment he became Marquis, the imperial family was bound to confer the title of marquis.

Before the west of the empire was developed and the existence of elves living in the great forest was known, the Marquis of Karahan was the frontier territory in the northwest of the empire.

However, as time passed, the empire stopped expanding westward and pursued a policy of appeasement while actively making peace with the elves.

As a result, naturally, the influence of the Marquis Karahan was not as good as before.

His father, Saxony Karahan, said that this was also a natural reason and wanted to be satisfied with the current environment, but the lord’s successor, Farneri Karahan, had a different idea.

If we continue like this, we will only fall.

After watching the words of the fallen nobles, especially the marquises who were crumbling because they could not afford overwhelming armaments when peace came after the Great Expedition, Farneri decided that he should no longer remain as a mediocre feudal lord.

Will the imperial family pay attention to a worthless Mugol family on the outskirts?

So he tightened the waists of the locals even more and collected wealth.

In order to further solidify the ties with the central government that had already been put in place, and to respond flexibly to unforeseen circumstances.

And part of the plan involved the absorption of the neighboring county of Rupel.

The county of Rupel is a noble family that has fallen precipitously after the great expedition mentioned earlier.

It wasn’t enough that the territory, which once threatened even the status of a marquis, became a beggar overnight, and by the time he ascended the throne, the situation was getting worse and worse, let alone recovering.

Isn’t it the perfect manor to absorb?

So he happily handed over the loan, and he smiled as he watched as he was not able to pay back the money and only the interest was called out.

Until a dog bone named Luvern Ayloy rolled in from somewhere.

At first, when I heard that a guy from the Imperial Black Lion Knights had been appointed, I ignored it, thinking how much it would change if I changed the already ruined territory.

If I had a chance, I had the idea of subtly persuading him to join the marquess.

That would be the case with the Knights of the Black Lion.

It was not simply a military aspect, but in fact, it was the knights with the strongest influence in the Boliver Empire, excluding the central organization that could directly intervene in the imperial family.

I don’t know why such an administrator of the knights crawled all the way to this poor village, but he was too talented to rot in the Rupel estate.

However, Farneri’s prediction was wildly wrong.

Rupel Territory began to develop at an insane speed, frightening when Lubern Alroy took office.

Those who struggled because they couldn’t pay interest were paying back every month with interest plus principal.

According to the rumors he heard from the merchants passing through the marquis and the nobles living nearby, they praised the land that had been like a wasteland, and said that it had changed beyond recognition.

-This may shake the grand strategy.

-What’s the problem? At least it’s Rufel.

The county only needs to fly and crawl.

He did not feel much of a sense of crisis as he wondered how long the fallen territory could develop.

To be precise, he decided that it was not worth feeling.

-I’ll leave it alone for now. I still have a lot to receive from them.

It is better for the national interest to devour a fruit that is somewhat ripe, rather than a land of garbage that has nothing.

It wasn’t until the end that Farneri, who had been neglecting development with such an easygoing idea, was in a position to threaten even the unified parish held by the Marquis of Karahan.

-Look at those bastards right now and tell them to stop!!

I was aware of the reality that my plan was going awry.

“How would you like to do it, Assistant Manager Yeongju?”

“Didn’t I tell you to call me Lord?”

“…… I’m sorry, lord.”

“Yes, it should.”

After pointing out the title of his vassal, he tapped his finger on my desk and fell into trouble.

“Still, it’s a negotiating group in its own way, but it would be good to hear the story. It doesn’t look very good if we unilaterally kick them out.”

In the battle between the modern territories, the winner and the loser were divided according to who achieved the three elements faster.

The first was justification.

The second is the influence in aristocratic society.

And the last thing was money.

And the most important of these is, of course, money.

Influence? Justification?

Those things can be easily solved with wealth.

If you lack a cause and have little influence to support yourself, that’s just because you paid less.

The world’s reason and justice flowed along with money, and that was the value that everyone, whether commoners, nobles, or emperors, had equal values.

Better a commoner with a lot of money than an aristocrat with no money. That was Farneri’s theory.

Even if the Rupel estate continues to develop, it will not be comparable to those who accumulated wealth a few years earlier.

Assistant Yeongju laughed at his own victory.

“Looking at that handsome face.”

However, it did not take long for a shadow to be cast over the confident face of Farneri.

As the negotiating party arrived, the deputy lord, who was watching the group from the terrace with other vassals, asked with his eyes wide open.

“…… Isn’t that the flag of San Mariano?”

A free city developed by the magnate Marco Firenze.

In the south, it is a city that accumulates more wealth than any county, so the guild that bears its name was Marco Firenze’s hands and feet.

“That…… Recently, I heard that the brewing business is underway at the Rupel Manor.”

“What? That Marco Firenze??”

“Yes, sir.”

One of the vassals made another mistake, but Farneri’s mind had already gone blank, and he was not in a state to pay attention to such trifles.

“Wait, and I…… What are the priesthoods?”

It wasn’t just the proudly waving flag that caught his attention. They were dressed in black from head to toe.

It was not difficult to see that he was a priest, but the one at the head of the priesthood was wearing a more special outfit.

A black-haired woman with a crown of thorns on her head. To be precise, she’s just taking the shape of a thorn, though not really a stinging thorn.

That crown had only one meaning in the empire.

“The saintess came directly!?”

Where did the principle of separation of politics and religion be sold? It was Farneri who thought that he should immediately contact the Inspection Department of the Imperial Office of the Law and catch the pod with this, but the judicial officer accompanying him shook his head and stopped him.

“That’s not why you’re here. There is nothing to do in Rupel anyway until the permission of the exclusive parish is officially issued, so he said he came on a pilgrimage to the neighboring territory, the Marquis of Karahan…….”

Everyone knew that it was just bullsh*t, but no one, including Farneri, dared to think of uttering it.

Plain blasphemy.

Moreover, even justification is sufficient and overflowing.

Originally, the saintess had the duty to take care of her followers by making pilgrimages throughout the empire, and the Marquis of Karahan had never received such a visit from a saintess.

If someone hastily cursed at me and someone here reports to the Emperor’s Office…….

It was clear that blocking the parish would not only cross the water, but also cause more serious problems.

But even that was not the end.

In front of Farneri, who was about to convene his vassals and hold an emergency countermeasures meeting, the head of the Marquis’s house ran urgently.

“Hey, lord!!”

“What is it? If it’s boring, I’ll put it off until later, because I’m busy right now.”

“Oh no!! It is very urgent!”

The owner of the house waved his hand sadly with a blushing face.

“I heard that Lady Lilia Hebron of the Duchy of Hebron is accompanying the negotiating group from Count Rupel entering the castle right now!!”

“The princess of the duke?!”

“I also checked the letter from the dukedom a while ago. It was an autographed letter from Lord Hebron asking for her safety as much as sending his daughter to the negotiating group of the Countess of Rupel…….”

It took an instant for Farneri’s skin to discolor in the same way as the butler’s.

***

“Wait a minute, why are the books empty here?”

“That, that…… I’m fine too…….”

“Call the parish priests. Who is the Auxiliary Bishop here?”

The first place to be robbed by the negotiators who entered with pride was the church in Saken, the capital city. To be precise, it was robbed by St. Catherine, who was clinging to the negotiators.

“Why are the children at the monastery so skinny?”

“Originally, kids of this age are not skinny. Because there is a lot of activity.”

“Then you should increase the amount of food you eat. It means that nutritional supplementation is not working properly.”

“…… I’m sorry, lady. I will correct it right away.”

From a church to a monastery and an orphanage affiliated with the monastery.

As soon as Saint Catherine Cissella laid her board, she started to play with rat fire excitedly, and the parish of the marquis, which was already a mess, burned like a dry branch.

“What are you doing now! You’re intervening the Imperial Court!”

Some marquis officials protested against me, but I shrugged my shoulders and held out my flippers.

“Eh? Is this an intervention? No, the saintess wants to tour her parish, but by what authority do I stop her?”

“I-Oh…… !!”

“And if it was a normal parish, it wouldn’t have been robbed like that. You should have known better from the start.”

As soon as I plugged in the facts, Karahan’s side didn’t have anything to say, so they just glared at me with a red-hot face.

Ugh, that’s scary.

But this must be the end of making such a face?

“According to Article 38 of the Imperial Law, the Act on Interest and Transactions, unless it is a territory for which special authority has been recognized by the imperial family, the maximum interest rate that can be set for transactions with a territory is 5% per year.”

“But the county has agreed!”

“Just because the other party agreed, there can be no change in the interest rate set by imperial law. That is entirely the responsibility of the Marquis.”

After the Emperor’s Office, the true education began with the treasurers personally organized by Marco Firenze.

From noble mtl dot com.

They pointed out the imperial law piece by piece, and so far, they had driven a wedge into the fact that the Marquis of Karahan was taking a serious profiteering in the County of Rupel.

There was no way he didn’t know that as Karahan’s treasurer, so the fat Grundel Trianis properly kept his mouth shut.

The Marquis’ vassals immediately fell into a state of incapacity.

These bastards only knew how to get hurt, but didn’t seem to have prepared any countermeasures in case they got caught.

Well, who in the North would have thought that true education would go this far?

And among them, the best reaction.

“…… Big!”

It was the lord’s deputy, Farneri Kara, who couldn’t bear to get mad at me because her princess, who was of a higher status than herself, was in front of her, and her face was clattering like a chameleon.

Are you uncomfortable?

If you feel uncomfortable, sit back and sit down, you bastard.