Novice Alchemist 5-33 part 2

 

Chapter 5-33 : Dealing With The Client Ⅲ (part 2)

 

「Hah! You finally come out.」(Baronet Kirk)

「What do you want from me this time?」(Sarasa)

I frowned and asked the sly man who was mischievously smirking at me.

He then pointed his index finger at me and shouted.

「Sarasa Feed, I demand an apology and compensation from you!」(Baronet Kirk)

「Huh? What are you talking about?」(Sarasa)

I should be the one demanding an apology from him, not the other way around.

He should apologize to me for trying to kill me.

「Many of my private soldiers got seriously injured the other day because of you!」(Baronet Kirk)

「Hold on. I’ve been away for a few weeks. I didn’t do anything to your private soldiers.」(Sarasa)

「You may not have done anything to them, but your house did!」(Baronet Kirk)

「My house? Ahh, I see now…」(Sarasa)

I didn’t know what he was talking about at first, but then I figured it out after he said that my house did it.

When I returned from the snowy mountain, I noticed the amount of magical power consumed by the engraving seal in my house was unexpectedly high. Judging from it, I got a slight idea about what happened while I was gone, so I wasn’t surprised.

Because the magic formula of the engraving seal was complicated, I didn’t know exactly what the seal did to Baronet Kirk’s men in order to protect this house, but it probably released some kind of magical blast or something and hurt those men.

Whatever the seal did to those men wasn’t my fault. It was theirs for trying to destroy my house.

「Hmph. Seems like you have realized what happened. Now you have to pay for it!」(Baronet Kirk)

「Wait… so you say that I have to apologize to you and give you something as compensation because your men got injured after they tried to destroy my house…?」(Sarasa)

「You do understand what I’m talking about. As compensation, I want you to give me half of your sales as tax every month and I want you to hand me the eldest daughter of the Lotze Family. I heard that they owe you a huge amount of money, so tell them that you will clear their debt to you if they hand me their eldest daughter. After that, I want you toー」(Baronet Kirk)

「ーDon’t be ridiculous! Do you think I will do what you say?」(Sarasa)

Thinking that listening to his absurd demands was a waste of time, I interrupted him.

「Huh?」(Baronet Kirk)

「I think I’ve already told you that alchemists are not obliged to pay taxes to the local lords, so I don’t have to give you anything and I don’t have to apologize to you for anything.」(Sarasa)

If he was a good lord who would use the tax money for developing this village or helping the villagers in need, I would gladly pay even though I don’t have to, but there’s no way he would do that, not in a million years.

He never helped his own people when they were in trouble, instead, he raised the tax and caused more trouble for them.

I would rather die than pay taxes to a scumbag lord like him.

Of course, I don’t have any intention, not even for a moment, to hand over Iris-san to him either.

I wish I could put a rock into his mouth which could say nothing but nonsense so he would shut up.

When I glared at him with that in mind, he gave me a disgusting smirk and started talking with confidence.

「Yeah, you’re right. Certainly, you have no obligation to pay taxes to me, but there won’t be a problem if you pay voluntarily, right?」(Baronet Kirk)

「…What do you mean? Do you think I will voluntarily hand you the money I earned from my hard work?」(Sarasa)

「Yes, you will.」(Baronet Kirk)

When I asked while frowning at him, he replied to me with a grin as if he was really confident of what he said.

「I heard that you are on good terms with the people in this village. The merchant family who owns the general store, for example. If I’m not mistaken, their daughter is working for you as a clerk, isn’t she? You know, I can doubleー No, triple the tax they have to pay whenever I want. Ahh~ I wonder if they’ll be able to keep food on the table if I do that to them~」(Baronet Kirk)

「……..」(Sarasa)

His grinning face while he was saying that really pissed me off.

If he wanted to harm Lorea-chan, I still could do something to protect her because she is my employee, but this man was using her family as a hostage. That’s beyond my limit…

As the feudal lord of this territory, Baronet Kirk can multiply the taxes that Daruna-san has to pay to him. It doesn’t go against the law of the kingdom.

If that happened, all the money Daruna-san earned would be used only to pay taxes. As a result, Lorea-chan would definitely be sad.

Imagining Lorea-chan was sad because of this scumbag, I scowled at Baronet Kirk with more hatred.

Not only Daruna-san, but the other villagers might also be in trouble too if Baronet Kirk raised the taxes.

Well, if this man had a decent brain that works, he should understand that if he raised the taxes too much, the villagers might leave this village and his noble status might be in danger of being revoked as a punishment for failing in governing the territory.

However, he looked so confident. Perhaps he thought that the villagers wouldn’t leave.

I would say, he’s probably right. After all, leaving this village and adapting to a new place is not easy, especially for the people here who have been living in this village since they were born.

For example, Lorea-chan’s dad, Daruna-san. As a merchant, Daruna-san would have a hard time if he had to move to another town. He can keep selling goods in this village because the villagers trust him. However, gaining people’s trust in a new place as a merchant is not easy at all, especially if he had to compete against other merchants.

Daruna-san and the other villagers here are kind to me. I feel like they are more than neighbors to me, and I don’t want them to be in trouble.

「Khu khu…! Seems like you know what I’m thinking. If you don’t want the villagers to suffer, you have no choice but to do what I say! Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask you to give me all your money. You can still have just enough to survive and continue your store. I’m a generous lord after all. Gaahahaha!」(Baronet Kirk)

Baronet Kirk laughed, showing his wicked smile to me.

I felt like there was a thin strand of thread in my head, and it broke the moment I saw his disgusting smile.

I reached my limit.

I can try to persuade him and his men to leave or… use force to drive them away.

Of course, they won’t leave even if I tell them to leave, so it seems that I have no choice but to choose the latter.

「Aa-ahh… I might end up in jail after this, but… someone has to teach this scumbag a lesson, right?」(Sarasa)

「Hm? What the hell are you talking about…?」(Baronet Kirk)

Baronet Kirk looked at me with a puzzled face when I muttered to myself.

I looked around and quietly counted the number of ‘enemies’ in front of me.

There were four people; Baronet Kirk and three thugs who seemed to be soldiers of his private army.

The soldiers look strong. They seem to be able to fight, but I don’t think they’re a threat to me.

ーーAlright, let’s do it!

I made up my mind and used Body Strengthening Magic to power up my physical strength.

However, before I could attack them, Prince Ferik came out from the drawing room and stepped into the shop area.

「Baronet Kirk, I thought a busy person like you wouldn’t have time to come to this remote area just to mess with a novice alchemist. I heard you talk about something very interesting. Would you let me join the conversation?」(Prince Ferik)

「…Who the hell are you?」(Baronet Kirk)

 

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