After investing in the knights, the domain’s profits increased.
Unable to understand the news, I asked Hart the reason, and Hart explained it well.
In the Middle Ages, there were many bandits between domains.
Commoners who had fled from wicked lords,
Criminals who had committed crimes,
Nobles or knights from fallen houses,
And other people with nowhere to go for all sorts of reasons—when they entered the mountains and formed groups, ta-da, a bandit gang was born.
Of course, some of those people who formed groups would create small hamlets and live quietly.
But with an extremely high probability, they became bandits who attacked travelers or merchants passing between domains.
Naturally, there were such bandits near our domain as well, and we had been suffering various damages because of them.
Until recently, that is.
“Listen up!! Let’s wipe out every last bandit bastard who dares invade our domain!!!!”
“For House Cron!!!”
“Uwaaaaaaah!!!!!”
Apparently, Captain Likain had led the knights and completely wiped out a bandit attack that, under normal circumstances, would have been moderately driven off or ignored.
They had gone beyond merely driving them away, tracked down their main base, smashed it to pieces, and the bandits had scattered in all directions.
As a result, the public order in our domain improved greatly, and nearby merchants began using the roads through our domain, causing toll revenue to increase significantly.
“So, to summarize, thanks to the achievements of our knight order, the number of bandits decreased, merchants began passing through our domain, and our profits increased?”
“Yes! That is exactly right, my lord!!”
“……………”
I took the report Hart handed me and unfolded it.
Five major bandit groups operating along the southern trade route subjugated,
Total bandit deaths: 165,
Due to the stabilization of the Cron domain trade route, the rate at which southern merchant companies pass through House Cron has increased by 60%,
Of course, protecting the lives of the people by dealing with bandits was something worthy of praise, but for the domain’s profits to increase this much because of it…
“More merchants will flock here.”
“Yes. The number of merchants currently passing through House Cron has increased by 60% compared to last month. In addition, thanks to the safe trade route, the merchants are transporting more than three times as many goods as before.”
“Tell the knights they did well, along with sufficient rewards.”
“Yes! Understood, my lord.”
Hart nodded and answered my words.
Watching Chief Administrator Hart leave in high spirits, I let out a sigh.
The money had started increasing again.
* * *
Three months had passed since the bandit subjugation incident.
During that time, a great many things had changed in the domain.
First of all, the wages of all the domain’s people had increased overall.
Tenant farmers, scribes, miners, and so on—everyone working in the domain wanted their wages raised.
So, in order to spend the increased profits of the domain, I raised everyone’s wages.
After discussing it with Hart, I raised wages across the board to a level each person would be satisfied with, and I thought that this would put the domain’s profits in the red.
But that did not happen.
First, as with the salt fields, overall labor efficiency rose like crazy.
The production of the farms and mines increased to the point that there was no longer any need to import large amounts of food and minerals from other domains.
Through the efforts of the scribes, all the tax evasion that had gone undetected until now was discovered and recovered.
As the people’s income began to increase, consumption of luxury goods such as taverns, clothes, and books began to rise.
When that met with the now-safe trade routes, many shops sprang up in a short period of time, and branch offices of merchant companies were established to operate those shops.
With the various taxes they paid, the domain’s profits ultimately increased by 102% compared to when I first possessed this body.
“And so, House Cron’s net profit for this month is 937 gold, my lord.”
“We earned quite a lot.”
“Yes, it is all thanks to your policies for the people of the domain, my lord.”
I looked at the box Hart had brought, filled to the brim with gold coins.
The steel chest, about the size of an adult man, was packed full of gold coins and was so heavy that four soldiers could barely carry it.
After roughly calculating it, it was worth about twenty billion won in the value of my previous life.
If this had been my previous life, I would have screamed with joy at the sight of this gold, but to the current me, it looked like a one-way ticket to death.
Was this how that certain great man felt when he said to regard gold as stones?
“I cannot be the only one with a full belly like this. See to it that everyone receives additional allowances.”
“They have already been paid, my lord.”
“…………”
Even after spreading it around, this much was still left… My head was starting to ache more and more.
At this rate, House Cron would become a plump pig stuffed full of gold, and if a civil war broke out, we would be eaten.
‘I need some other method…’
While pondering a groundbreaking method to reduce the house’s profits while still being loved by the people, I looked down outside the castle.
Compared to when I first possessed this body, many more people were walking about, and the streets were brimming with life.
Not only the workers and housewives I usually saw, but all kinds of merchants could be seen displaying various goods and doing business.
There were all sorts of daily necessities, fruits, books, and other luxury goods.
Now that I thought about it, it seemed like there were three times as many merchants as usual.
Wait… merchants?… This is it!!
“Hart!!!”
“Yes, my lord.”
Having come up with a good idea, I immediately spoke to Hart.
At my words, Hart knelt and replied.
“Summon the representative of the merchant company that has established itself in our domain.”
“Understood, my lord!”
Currently, the greatest factor among the increased profits was the taxes paid by the merchant companies.
What is the cause of the profit increase? Taxes!
I will destroy them.
* * *
The White Merchant Company.
One of the four great merchant companies that appear in World Archive, and a massive merchant company with the greatest influence in the southern part of the empire.
How important were they? In southern region missions, whether or not you received supplies with their help played a decisive role in whether the mission was won.
The representative of that merchant company’s Cron branch was none other than Noah White, a direct heir of the White Merchant Company.
Beautiful white hair that fell to her waist and amethyst-like purple eyes.
With an elegant appearance that anyone would take for the daughter of a noble family, she possessed beauty that captivated men’s hearts, but her true weapon lay elsewhere.
It was the blessing she had possessed since birth.
Thanks to that blessing, which allowed her to know whether the other party was lying or telling the truth, Noah had established herself as an absolute presence in the merchant company’s contracts.
It was impossible to use deception before her, and that was true even for lords.
Was that why?
To her, the world was a boring world of black and white.
Famous lords and renowned priests alike were all black-hearted old foxes on the inside.
In a world of greed where people deceived and were deceived by one another, at some point she stopped having any expectations of people.
This time was no different.
“My lord says he wishes to meet with the representative of the White Merchant Company.”
“Yes, I will go to see him at once.”
At the summons from the lord seeking her out, she thought what was bound to come had finally come.
‘It has come again this time…’
She could easily predict why the lord of House Cron had called her.
‘He must be demanding additional taxes from the merchant company or expecting a bribe.’
It was always the same.
When business in a region started to go well, the lords would call them in and demand all sorts of things.
Gold, treasures, food, magic tools, and so on—they demanded various things and extorted them from merchants.
House Cron had recently governed benevolently toward its people and had rapidly developed the domain.
Because of that, she had hoped he might be a little different from other lords, but seeing that he had called her like this, she was disappointed, thinking he was ultimately the same kind of lord.
‘Those called nobles are all the same in the end. They covet money and power and only look after their own interests… Well, I suppose we are no different.’
As always, she ordered her subordinates to prepare a treasure chest filled with gold to be given as a bribe.
What would follow was always the same.
Hand over the gold as a bribe, read the lord’s mind and find a point of agreement that would satisfy him, and safely maintain their business here.
Thinking that, she visited the castle of House Cron.
In the reception room she arrived at under the guidance of the servants, the lord was waiting.
The young lord who had become the head of the domain after the previous lord’s sudden death, Baron Calix Cron.
He had a youthful face that seemed around her age, the silver hair characteristic of House Cron, and an intense gaze befitting the title of lord.
Other than that, he did not seem very different from other lords.
At least, until now.
She bowed at the waist in greeting.
“It is an honor to meet you for the first time, my lord. I am Noah White, in charge of managing the White Merchant Company in the Cron domain.”
“I see. So you are the representative of the merchant company in our region?”
“Yes, that is correct.”
She raised her head and looked at Calix.
Then she gestured to the servant behind her and said,
“First, to bless this meeting with the lord of the great House Cron, I have prepared a small gift. Please accept it.”
“A gift?”
The servant carried a heavy pouch of gold and presented it before the lord.
When the pouch was opened, the heap of gold inside was revealed.
When they received a gift beyond their expectations at the first meeting, almost every lord was unable to hide the smile on their face.
Noah was certain Lord Calix would be the same.
And her prediction went wrong from the very first meeting.
Calix frowned and said,
“Your name was Noah White, correct?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Take back the gold coins you prepared.”
“……Pardon?”
Calix spoke as he refused the gold she had brought.
The moment she experienced, for the first time, something not going as expected, she was gripped by fear for the first time in her life.