Chapter 88
If one were to pick the strongest person in the Empire at this moment, everyone would naturally choose the Crown Prince.
If they were to pick the next strongest, they would naturally choose the grand general.
Then who is the third?
Since this was actually an unknown territory, the answers of the imperial citizens varied wildly.
Some would say the Black Mane knight orders, and some would say the Blue Flame Knight Order Commander.
Or there were those who said the now-deceased former Northern Region was the third in command.
However, if you narrowed down the target of the question and asked the knight orders, the answer came quickly.
“The Tax Collection knight order.”
“It’s unconditionally the Tax Collection knight order.”
“It makes sense that the imperial citizens don’t know them well, since they’re an entity you only meet if you stubbornly refuse to pay your taxes.”
“If you’re living a moral life, you’ll never have a reason to run into the Tax Collection knight order… so it’s natural not to know them. No, it’s better not to know them.”
The Tax Collection knight order.
Acknowledged by all the knight orders of the Empire as the third strongest in the Empire.
There were several reasons why the knight orders, who were strict about the rankings of martial prowess, acknowledged the Tax Collection knight order.
If one had to pick the most representative among them, it was naturally their tax collection skills.
“The Empire has maintained its history for quite a long time, cultivating countless sword masters. But naturally, the time comes for sword masters to retire as well.”
sword masters handled aura through the unification of body and mind, living their lives ignoring most minor illnesses.
Since mental illnesses also didn’t come often, it was normal for them to close their eyes peacefully in their later years.
However, there was no such thing as 'absolute'.
Extremely rarely, there were those among the sword masters who suffered from mental illnesses.
Such individuals generally forgot to pay their taxes.
When that happened, the Tax Collection knight order would go find them.
“knight orders earn a lot and spend a lot in proportion to their sense of responsibility, so their taxes have to be managed thoroughly.”
“Of course, they generally don’t pay it themselves and tend to have their subordinates do it, but…”
If the Tax Collection knight order visited.
Most knight orders knew the fear of that, and would barely overcome their mental illness to pay their taxes.
“…Who do you think would stay by the side of a Sword Master with dementia? Think about it, they’d spew aura from their hands at the drop of a hat and slice up their surroundings… Who would work under them?”
“Since no one works for them… they end up not paying taxes either.”
In the case of a Sword Master with dementia, no one would remain by their side.
Naturally, they would become unable to pay taxes, and collecting those taxes was also the role of the Tax Collection knight order.
Collecting taxes from a Sword Master who forgot in real-time whether they had swung their sword or not?
What if that dementia-stricken Sword Master thought of the Tax Collection knight order as an enemy and fought them?
“They’d have no choice but to fight, no… they’d have to use subjugation.”
A Sword Master who subjugates sword masters, the Tax Collection knight order.
Generally, subjugation was only possible when there was a clear difference in combat power.
Because of that, the knight orders speculated that the Tax Collection knight order was no ordinary Sword Master.
Vaguely thinking, they were a grand master, and no matter how low you looked at it, they were at the very peak of a Sword Master.
That was the level of martial prowess everyone thought the Tax Collection knight order possessed.
Therefore, the knight orders would always earnestly warn the squires who would succeed them.
“The wisest thing you can do in life is to never meet the Tax Collection knight order.”
“Pay your taxes well.”
If they wanted to live peacefully in the Empire, they were told to pay their taxes diligently.
+++++
The Empire’s public order could be said to be of a very high standard.
First of all, street kidnappings did not exist, and one could wander around drinking at night.
Recently, streetlights were being erected here and there, centered around the paths where the magic stone train traveled.
It was safe to say goodbye to the dark and gloomy night streets of the Empire from the past.
Furthermore, because money was being poured generously into cultivating talent and the education level of many people rose.
The cultural level naturally rose, and as a result, a virtuous cycle of improving public order was continuously taking place.
“Hah, it’s not even funny.”
Hearing this report, Asher snorted.
What did it matter if the public order was good? It was so lax that an external force could quickly take over the back alleys like this.
In Asher’s eyes, the Empire’s public order was just like a gift wrapper, decorated to look plausible on the outside.
When you actually tore off the wrapper, you could see that the inside was completely rotten, no different from any other country.
“Maselin seemed a bit different, though.”
According to the words of a woman he had met while wandering the desert a while ago.
She had said that if he came to Maselin, he would be able to know what true peace was.
Of course, Asher was more interested in making that woman his wife than in such things.
“She was an arrogant woman, daring to tell me, Asher… that if I wanted to have her, I should try swallowing a big place.”
If he had his way, he would have wanted to make her submit right then and there.
But he felt that doing so would be too boring.
And above all, she didn’t look like a woman who would break just because he did that.
“The bastards who claim to be the underground, the back alleys, the dark streets of this country are all too docile. Why do they all pay taxes?”
Asher decided to think about the distant future later and focus on the immediate situation.
“This guy and that guy, they all pay taxes… I laughed so hard a while ago when a lord came to me saying he would handle the tax processing himself.”
The imperial back alleys were so docile that it was on a different level from what one would normally think of as back alleys.
Should he say they just barely kept up appearances? At first, he honestly thought it was some kind of tourist course.
Generally, when one thought of illegal activities, they thought of secretly selling slaves or manufacturing and distributing drugs.
Among the organizations Asher had taken over so far, none of them were doing the aforementioned things.
They just collected protection fees and bought and sold goods.
They were called thugs, but it just looked like an interest group that actively ran sales and had loud voices.
On top of that, they paid their taxes diligently.
“What did they say again? When they came to me?”
“They said that if the organization reported taxes directly, there would be a lot of things to get caught on… so the lord would handle it as a proxy.”
“No, it doesn’t even make sense that they created an illegal organization in the first place, and the lord confidently barged into their headquarters.”
How hard he had laughed when he heard that the lord was stepping up to handle the tax processing for them.
He couldn’t understand why that was an illegal organization in the first place.
“There are no tigers, no wolves. Without any beasts in the dark… at most, it’s just cats or wild dogs. Is this the level of the Empire?”
It felt like he could take over a mountain of gold if he just showed a little greed.
How could only such faint-hearted bastards claim to be illegal organizations, really.
Just looking at that guy named Bankran he met before showed it.
If he was going to monopolize the supply of food ingredients, he should do it properly. Why was he competing on price with the surrounding merchants?
He could have just wiped them all out with force.
There were too many actions he couldn’t understand.
No matter how much of the outskirts it was, shouldn’t they at least have the minimum appearance to claim to be illegal?
“There’s no style at all, huh? I had high expectations because it’s the Empire, but there are only docile whelps, geez.”
Asher decided to take over the Empire in the exact same way he had swallowed up other countries.
Normally, he would have just wandered around causing trouble and left.
Now, he had made a plan to settle down in the country called the Empire and properly expand the board.
“Making drugs is easy. We sell drugs, take over the brothels, huh? And paying taxes like idiots? Why would you pay that? Never pay it.”
“Yes, sir!”
Now, shall we play properly?
+++++
The Empire did not do complete eradication of vermin.
Just as it was impossible to completely eradicate pests.
It was because they knew that wiping out all the thugs and gangsters who claimed to be illegal organizations was nonsense.
So they tended to only manage the situation to the extent that they could just close their eyes and let it slide.
If they openly coveted the light, they would be dealt with swiftly, but if they played among themselves in the dark, they were just left alone.
It was a feeling of not forgiving those acting like tigers or wolves, but letting it slide for the level of stray cats or wild dogs.
“It’s also troublesome to corner them too much, because then they’ll lose their minds and run wild.”
Just enough to let them barely breathe.
Just enough to let their nose and mouth barely stick out above the water surface so they could only breathe.
This was exactly how the Empire maintained its public order.
But recently, an imperial command had come down.
“An intensive crackdown period? Hmm, traces of an external group entering have been identified recently… so they’re saying to manage it strictly.”
A petty criminal imitating a tiger had crawled into the Imperial back alleys.
It meant to shoot them on sight regardless of the reason the moment they were discovered.
It was even said that knight orders would be actively mobilized.
Those who realized how serious the situation was spread this news widely throughout the Empire.
“Why are you doing this? Why are you telling us to stay hidden?”
“Stay hidden for a while. You, huh? We’re doing this because we’re thankful that you protect us merchants. Stay hidden! The knight orders are coming!”
“You haven’t missed any taxes, right? Just in case, just pay more, I’ll report it for you instead. Okay?”
The back alley forces that were in cahoots with the Lords or the citizens heard this news quickly and laid extremely low, but.
The new force that had truly recently entered the Empire hadn’t heard this news at all.
And so, at the point where about three weeks had passed since the imperial command came down.
“There’s a place that hasn’t paid their taxes recently, it seems? Of course, they’re only one month behind so far, but… to be behind on taxes even when an imperial command has come down? Does this make sense? During this period when the great little sun himself! Told us to focus! To not pay taxes for a whole month!”
At the fringe of the Western Region, marked in red on the map.
“Contact the lord, I need to find out why they aren’t paying their taxes.”
The Tax Collection knight order stared with a furrowed brow.