Chapter 13. Using other people’s logic as a weapon. (5)
“-!”
Tyler’s red face instantly turned pale. He unconsciously looked to his side.
“…….”
And then I met Carlo’s cold, frozen eyes.
‘Delivery corruption.’
Carlo immediately understood Abel’s words.
Tyler played a role in distributing blue pearls, a specialty product of Sud territory. Abel was hinting that he had played a trick on the ledger.
“Well, that!”
Tyler let out a loud scream and then closed his mouth. If he was really innocent, he wouldn’t have been this embarrassed.
“……Hmm, hmm, hmm.”
Tyler quietly sat down, avoiding Carlo’s eyes.
After that, several lords additionally attacked Abel, but he did not flinch.
“Lord Benjamin, you run your territory very frugally, right? The reported income is different from the income you actually spend?”
Tax evasion.
“Lord Harrison, you have a lot of stolen goods left here and there. Where do you find such precious treasures?”
Trade in stolen goods.
These were all provisions banned in the empire.
It was a level of seriousness that was incomparable to the problem of simply being corrupt in the estate and having a dirty personality.
The weapons Abel unleashed were enormous. All of the lords suffered fatal blows and had to die heroically.
Abel’s finely folded eyes were asking this question.
‘Are you going to continue like this?’
The lords exchanged looks with puzzled faces.
‘No, how on earth do you know these things?’
‘Didn’t you just come up to the capital?’
‘I’m afraid how much you know.’
Instead of waiting to see what kind of bomb would explode from Abel’s mouth, they chose to remain silent.
“……haha.”
Emperor Theodore was watching the conference hall with a faint smile. Rather than preventing Abel’s bombardment, he was willing to watch.
‘It’s fun, it’s really fun.’
Even yesterday, it was fun to see the nobles criticizing and keeping each other in check.
Moreover, if there was a 20-year-old young man attending for the first time today at the center of the event, the fun would be doubled.
“…….”
The conference room was filled with complete silence. There were no more lords who raised their hands to attack Abel.
“Car, Lord Carlo….”
“What should I do with this?”
The lords sitting behind Carlo whispered anxiously.
“……after.”
Carlo clenched his fists under the desk. He wiped away the anger and embarrassment that appeared on his face.
And it calmed my boiling heart.
‘Let’s calm down.’
If you act out of emotion, you will end up doing things wrong.
For now, I erased from my mind the fact that I was stabbed in the back by the man I had trusted, and the fact that the lords who had come forward were sinking one after another.
‘How much does this guy know?’
In fact, Carlo was not a very clean great man either. In order to accumulate a huge amount of wealth in a short period of time, you have to do more secretly than you think.
But for some reason, Abel kept smiling at Carlo.
It was the smile of a hunter waiting with a trap ready. The intention is for the prey, who has lost his mind due to excitement, to fall into the trap himself.
‘Could it be that he doesn’t even know about the Mare Guild?’
The circumstances were not conducive to testing it. It was unreasonable to gamble here.
Instead of checking Abel’s weapon, Carlo decided to step aside.
‘We’ll see.’
It was not because I was afraid of Abel, who was smiling playfully and leisurely.
‘Because today is not the only day.’
But next time, definitely!
Carlo tried to comfort himself like that.
When even Carlo, who had the strongest say, kept quiet, the lords who followed him also became quiet.
An aide came forward as the silence continued.
“I think the conclusion has been roughly decided.”
“hmm.”
Emperor Theodore nodded. The aide looked around at the lords one last time.
“Then, as Prince Abel suggested, we will introduce a new method of calculating taxes at 10% of the net income of the estate minus expenses.”
Mikel stroked his beard and spoke in a powerful voice.
“I agree.”
Things were going in my favor, and it would have been foolish not to jump on the bandwagon.
“I agree.”
Bennifer spread his hands wide so that his bright red fingernails were visible.
“I think this method will be helpful to the empire. It is also desirable in the long run.”
After asking the opinions of most of the lords, the aide looked at Carlo.
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“I agree, too.”
Carlo said with an expressionless face.
“However, I think we need a more detailed discussion on which items to set as income and expenses.”
The aide nodded and proceeded with the vote.
“Okay. Then, if you agree, please raise your hand.”
Suk, Suk.
Hands went up here and there. It was a bit slow at first, but soon 53 hands were soaring into the air.
“Then, considering that there is no objection, I declare that the tax calculation method has been changed to a percentage system.”
The aide picked up the hammer on the table.
“Discussion of income and expenditure items will be added to the agenda for the next meeting.”
Bang, bang, bang.
The hammer was struck three times.
That was the biggest change brought about by this meeting, and Abel’s first step to take advantage of the turmoil that would swirl among the nobles and devour everything.
❖ ❖ ❖
Tap, tap, tap.
The carriage crossed the road with great momentum.
“Okay.”
The man sitting inside, Philip, kept making groaning noises.
“I’m dying….”
As always, he had many sleepless days because of Abel. And it was still going on even when Abel was not around.
“No, did you really go to the capital?”
Even thinking about it again made me go crazy and jump.
The first day Abel disappeared, Philip thought that he had really stolen the seal and hid it somewhere in the estate. Or maybe he went to a nearby estate to have fun.
‘How far would I have gone if I had gone with a half-baked body?’
He thought about it and rather enjoyed this time.
The castle without Abel was so peaceful. Now that the person who had been catching the workers every day disappeared, there was literally no other paradise.
But after people searched everywhere and even Jonas, who had been harassing him, left.
Abel was nowhere to be found.
‘X done.’
Only then did Philip realize that the situation was unusual.
It occurred to me that Abel had really gone to the capital with the seal.
‘What do we do? ‘What shall I say to the lord?’
He had already provided decisive help to Abel in stealing Jonas’ seal. Even if it wasn’t an intentional action.
Philip was, and still is, a man who put his own safety first.
‘Let me live first.’
So, I did not hesitate at all to dramatize the facts and convey them to Diego upon his return.
“What? Abel stole the seal?”
As expected, Diego was furious after hearing the whole story.
“You crazy bastard, how dare you know what it’s like!”
He slammed his fist on the desk.
“Jonas, you foolish guy. Scented candles! In such shallow water….”
“I’m sure Jonas didn’t expect it at all.”
Philip bowed deeply with a serious look on his face.
“It’s my fault for not being able to assist you properly. I’m sorry, my lord.”
In this way, Jonas became a fool who fell for Abel’s tricks.
“No, I guess not.”
Diego touched his throbbing forehead.
“That guy decided to do something, so how can we stop him? He must have been very concerned.”
“No. I’m sorry, my lord.”
“What on earth is this guy thinking….”
Diego ripped out his hair. Then he stopped his hand and looked at Philip.
“Hey, the document processing speed has been slow lately. Was this because of this?”
In response to Diego’s question, Philip rolled his eyes again.
‘That’s because Master Abel isn’t there… … .’
It was impossible to say that.
“I’m sorry, my lord. I really don’t have anything to say.”
I had no choice but to lower my tail with a pitiful expression.
“There was a lot to take care of inside and outside the castle. I will try harder.”
“I understand. Please try harder.”
Diego’s face was still dark.
It was worth it. No matter how much she sat at her desk, she couldn’t finish her work.
It was a side effect of the disappearance of Abel, who had been processing documents at an incredible speed.
“What should we do with the next tax? There is no place to raise the budget.”
Diego sighed deeply.
“This is crazy. Among this agenda, there is a tax-related agenda.”
Lament soon turned into anger.
“What are you going to do in such an important position? Wouldn’t it be better if you didn’t make it bigger?”
In the end, Philip had to get on the carriage to the capital, crying.
‘I will only trust you. ‘Tell Jonas that he can grab Abel by the collar.’
Diego’s angry voice still rang in my ears.
“Ugh, if I can’t take Master Abel, I might die.”
I was extremely worried. It seemed like I had to go and look for Jonas first.
“Oh my, a carriage trip to the capital at this age.”
My back was sore and my stomach was sore that I felt like I was going to die. Sitting all day in a rattling carriage was very tiring.
“But if I go, I can see my daughter.”
His daughter was a student at the academy in the capital. She consoled herself by thinking that she was going to see her daughter’s face for the first time in a while.
So Philip arrived at the next territory in pain. He stopped the carriage in front of the gate and opened the window.
“Let me ask you something.”
Two tired security guards approached. One person checked Philip’s identification card and asked.
“What’s going on?”
“Did Abel Ovest Kindreal pass by here?”
“Abel Kindreal?”
The expression on the security guard’s face as he asked the question was unusual.
Philip’s heart dropped.
‘You’ve done this well.’
Abel had a temper that went crazy if he didn’t have blood on his hands for three days.
There was no way he could have quietly gone up to the capital.
‘Damn, how many people did you kill? If this spreads, I’m done.’
Philip opened the carriage door with his hands shaking.
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry!”
He quickly jumped out of the carriage and bowed down to the guards.
“Ho, how many victims are there? Didn’t the rumor spread to other territories?”
He searched his chest and took out a bag of money. It was money that Diego had prepared in advance before leaving the estate.
“Once you receive this money, please….”
“Wait, wait.”
The guards waved their hands.
“What victim are you talking about?”
“Abel left immediately after taking charge of the identity card inspection.”
A look of confusion was evident on their faces. It seemed like he didn’t know anything at all.
‘what?’
Only then did Philip realize that he had made a mistake.
‘Didn’t Master Abel have an accident?’
I quickly changed course and asked a question.
“For that matter, you don’t look very good, do you?”
“……Actually, I was in a bit of trouble because of someone else.”
“What if it’s someone else…?”
“Why, he was a member of the Ovest Knights. His name was….”
“Was it Jonas Klein?”
When another guard answered, the guard who was talking nodded.
“He was a very violent person.”
“Really, after only a few years of working as a security guard, I was like that… Hmm, anyway, that was reckless.”
“Besides, he was running towards me while calling your name wildly. Is that okay for someone who is known as a knight?”
“yes?”
Philip widened his eyes.
‘How did this happen?’
Incomprehensible things were happening. There are more reasons to hurry to the capital.
fantasy,
