Provincial Cleanup (4)

Baron Bord's residence was surrounded by the Provincial Army led by Haddin, and thanks to them, his private army was quickly subdued. 　

The Baron, 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?"

"..."

Baron 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 Baron'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 Baron 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 Baron 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.

But looking at his values it can't be his plan alone, not with a 17 intelligence value.

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 Julius has only been lord for a short time, it seems that the dissatisfaction for the lord is just now beginning to pile up.

Julius's father had just died a few years back, which meant that it was only recently that Baron Bord had started to plunder the people.

I hope.

"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. Baron Bord has been in league with the Visigoth 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 Visigoth Kingdom instead of the Lunan Kingdom, right?

After he killed me, he wanted to give this land to the Visigoth Kingdom and become its lord?

All while probably siphoning off taxes and coin from my own citizens to help fund the invasion campaign.

"He even had connections with the enemy, right?"

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

"I see. Have Baron Bold imprisoned for attempted assassination of the lord, the 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 Visigoth Kingdom is a very serious conspiracy to commit civil war.

Of course, I have to create a scenario in which Baron Bolt was behind all of this and Julius, 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 Baron Bord schemes!"

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

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[The territory's assets have risen.]

[+15,000,000 Lunans]

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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.

And that's not even accounting for the assets he's already sent across the border to his new masters

Aquitania current assets are about 30 million Lunans, after adding Baron Bord's wealth to that, I get,

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[45,000,000 Lunans]

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