Misunderstood

Walking out of the saloon, I begin to let my mind run. How am I supposed to make a noble that is taxing his people too much stop taxing them? Should I kill him? It would be easy, sure, but then there would be nobody left to take care of the land, and it's morally wrong in my opinion. Is there something I could give him? Actually, I don't want to go down that road. Could I find someone to replace him? That sounds easier said than done. What should I do then?

I had arrived right in front of the mansion before coming to a conclusion. Oh well, I'll figure it out. I then knock on the door. At first, no one answers. I could hear someone moving around on the other side of the door, but it seems like they're ignoring me. I knocked again, this time even louder than before. Again, the same response. Well if you won't answer, you won't mind if I let myself in, right?

I put my hand on the door handle and twist, and surprisingly, it opened. Aw man, I was kind of hoping to get to kick it down. Oh well, that doesn't matter. What matters is how terrible the inside of this mansion looks! From the outside, it looks beautiful, clean, and refined, but from the inside, it's dirty, empty, and dusty. I was expecting elaborate furniture and pretty chandeliers, but instead, there were empty rooms and dusty floors.

The person inside who had been ignoring me wore an old torn uniform. It seems he was trying to clean until I interrupted him by letting myself in. He had a small grey mustache with grey hair.

"Who in god's name are you, and what are you doing in this manor?"

Despite his appearance, he spoke with a refined tone, like a butler would. Is he a butler?

"Uhm, I'm Estelle. I was knocking at the door, but no one answered, so I let myself in."

"A girl? I thought all the ladies left town a few months ago!"

"I was just passing through. I don't actually live here."

"Ahh, that makes sense. Well, can I help you with anything? If you're looking for the master, I could take you to him, though you may have to wait a bit considering how busy he's been.'

"Yes, that sounds good."

"Okay then, follow me."

Doing as I was told, I followed the butler through the manor to a wide open room with only two wooden chairs.

"Please wait in here. I will inform the master that you are here, and he will meet you when he is ready."

"Okay, thank you."

At that, the butler left the room, leaving me to myself. For eight hours.

WHO THE HECK LEAVES SOMEONE WAITING EIGHT HOURS!?!? Do you have any ideas how boring it is to sit in an empty room with no entertainment? Very. No matter, I will just look for the master or whatever he's called myself.

I then got up from the chair I had been sitting on and left the large room, going out the door that the butler had gone through. If I can retrace his steps, I should be able to find the correct way to go. It should be easy too, considering how dusty the floors are. In fact, it was super easy. His path stood out clear as day. Following it, I quickly reached a small room. Is this it?

Opening the door, I take a peek inside. In the room, there is a man sitting on a wooden chair behind an old wooden table. On the table are countless prices of paper that the man is looking through. The man looks desperate and tired.

"Hello?"

The man looked up from what he was doing, but quickly looked back down again, continuing to look through the countless papers.

"Can I help you? If not, I would like you to leave, as I am very busy."

"Actually, you can. I was hoping to talk to you about how much you are taxing the townsfolk."

This caused the man to look up from the papers he was looking at. He seemed relieved for some reason.

"Okay, a small break sounds nice. So tell me, what is it you want me to do?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could lower the taxes."

"No, I can't. If I could, I wouldn't tax them at all."

"Then why are you taxing them?"

"Because my hands have been tied."

He looked down again, a dark look crossing his face. He was clearly upset about something, but what exactly?

"Do you mind explaining?"

"Sure, I'll tell you. Ever since the drought that started about five years ago, this town hasn't been able to make money. Because we can't make money, I've been having a hard time affording necessity's for everyone. Because of that, I raised taxes to pay for them, which has caused us to become even more poor. Because we got to be so poor, I took out some loans from a bad group of people to try and keep us running, and now, here we are. Stuck in a hopeless situation."

Wow, so he isn't actually a noble taking advantage of the people, but a noble trying to do everything in his power to help them. But there's still one more thing I don't get?

"Okay, then why is the outside of your manor so clean?"

"Because my butler doesn't want the people to know that their leader is poor. Honestly, that butler is more than I deserve."

What a devoted butler. I feel genuinely bad for this man. He's putting everything he has into protecting his people, but in return, he is beginning to look like a bad guy.

"Tell me, when is this group of bad people supposed to return to collect money?"

"Tomorrow. Why?"