I Regressed to My Ruined Family – 15

 #I returned, and my family was ruined (15)

Three days passed quickly.

During that time, Ethan was able to implant two more fire essences into his chest.

His wrists, arms, shoulders, and chest.

One pair on each side.

A total of eight fire essences were burning brightly. Not only were his achievements increasing day by day, but he also learned about the corruption committed by Baron Helmut from Hans.

He also heard from Hans about the corruption committed by the baron.

“The maximum number of private soldiers a baron from the Bongsin clan can have is five hundred, but Baron Helmut currently has nearly one thousand five hundred private soldiers.”

One thousand five hundred.

That was a significant number of troops for a baron of a small kingdom. How could he have gathered such a large force?

Ethan fell deep in thought.

“He must have created several groups like the Red Scorpions.”

They were like vermin, getting their hands dirty with all kinds of dirty work within the domain and sucking money out of it.

There was no doubt that there was more than one such group. Hans’ report was the same.

“There is a reason why he was able to increase the number of private soldiers so openly. I found out that he distributed the private soldiers to various places called ‘workshops’. The same groups as the Red Scorpions we visited last time.” “Really?”

Somehow, they seemed to have a certain sense of discipline and order for a group of thugs from the back alleys.

Ethan smiled slightly.

He was beginning to get an idea of how to slowly destroy the baron.

“As for taxes, they collect the standard tax rate specified in the contract and use the workshops to collect additional taxes as protection money.”

“What happens if they don’t pay the protection money?”

“In the case of shops, their business is disrupted, and in the case of ordinary households, the thugs we saw last time will raid them. Of course, the baron’s ‘official’ soldiers will ignore them.”

Ethan nodded.

The ten collateral branches.

It was unlikely that only the baron’s family acted this way. The other nine families probably also evaded the restrictions of their vassal contracts in this manner.

“What trash.”

Although they were part of the duke’s family, the territories ruled by the 10th branch were still part of the duke’s domain.

The more these vermin squeezed the people of the territory, the weaker the clan would become.

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Of course, it was unlikely that the idiots of the 10th branch would have thought that far ahead.

“The key is one thing.”

Whether he could prove the connection between the workshop and the baron.

That was the most important thing.

Of course, Ethan already had the evidence.

One of the workshops, the Red Scorpion.

The scene of the men and the baron talking amiably was stored intact in the memory correction device.

The rest of the workshops could be destroyed one by one. By smashing them, he would be able to catch another tail.

Ethan looked at Hans.

“Who is in charge of the lower village?”

“It is Haims, one of the minor nobles. He is known to collect taxes from the village chiefs of several villages, including the village of Beros, and deliver the money to the baron. He is one of the baron’s closest aides.”

A close aide.

Then he must have the tax records.

“Where is he?”

“It’s tax collection time, so he should be in the village of Beros by now.”

Ethan stood up.

“Lead the way.”

“Yes.”

The two left the annex.

* *

Heims.

A junior nobleman and one of the tax collectors of the domain, he was collecting taxes once a month in several villages, including the village of Beros.

No one from the domain blocked his path as he was accompanied by twenty soldiers and a knight.

The group of soldiers headed for the house where the village chief of Beros lived.

“Hey, village chief! Open the door!”

“Oh, you’re here!”

The old village chief bowed his head in fear.

With knights accompanying him, Haims was like a walking disaster.

“I assume you collected all the taxes for this month?”

“Well, that…”

“What?”

“I think the amount is a little short, tax collector.”

“Hey, village chief.”

“Yes.”

“Do you know how many times I’ve heard that nonsense?”

“…”

“The amount you owe is already more than twenty gold coins. How do you plan to pay it back?”

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The village chief broke out in a cold sweat at his question.

Thirty silver coins per household.

It was an amount that the small village’s serfs could not easily afford.

Furthermore, when the viscount’s domain surveyed the number of people who had to pay taxes, even children who were not yet adults were treated as adults.

Naturally, this structure resulted in high tax rates. There was no way they could pay the taxes demanded of them.

The back taxes alone were already close to twenty gold coins.

The village chief said in despair.

“We also paid protection money last month…”

“Hey, village chief! Do you think I came here to listen to your nonsense? If you don’t want to die, pay the taxes! Pay everything you owe!”

“Well…”

“Do you think we feed and shelter you for free? What are you trying to pull? Besides, didn’t our baron’s soldiers kill the red scorpions? Hey, James!”

“Yes, administrator!”

A soldier raised his hand.

“You were there when the red scorpions were exterminated, weren’t you?”

“Yes! They were extremely vicious creatures. It was quite a struggle to subdue them.”

“Can’t you see how hard the soldiers worked? What good is it for the baron to listen to the complaints of the peasants? They’re just worthless vermin who can’t even pay their taxes properly.”

The village chief looked stunned at those words.

“What a bunch of bastards!”

The village chief knew that the truth was completely different from what was being said publicly, that the baron’s soldiers had defeated the Red Scorpions.

This was because some of the villagers had witnessed the grand duke, who was staying at the hunting lodge, entering the gang’s hideout.

It was the village chief and the villagers who had carried away the fallen thugs.

However, because the baron’s soldiers were watching closely, they couldn’t spread the rumor that it was the grand duke who had dealt with them.

“Ugh. Village chief, this is troublesome. I’ve always told you that paying taxes is very important.”

“If you could give me a little more time…”

“No. It’s too late now. I’ll take your daughter first. They’re lowly people, so they don’t listen to reason.”

“Oh no! Tax collector, please spare my daughter…”

“You bastard! How dare you touch her with your filthy hands!”

Haim pushed the village chief forcefully. The old man fell down helplessly.

“Take her away!”

“Yes!”

“Tax collector! Please!”

“You should have paid your taxes when I told you to!”

Just then,

“Young master! It’s him!”

A voice came from far away.

Haim and his companions turned their heads. A man was pointing at him and shouting loudly.

Haim narrowed his eyes.

Then his eyes widened.

“Hans?”

Hans.

He was the man who had applied for the same administrative position in the baron’s domain as him. He was the one who had made a mistake in his connections and ended up being assigned to the hunting lodge, which was in the middle of nowhere.

Next to him stood a young man who looked a little thin.

Thud. Thud.

The young man began to walk toward them.

For some reason, the sound of his footsteps seemed to echo like thunder.

“What’s going on?”

Haims shivered from a strange feeling of pressure.

The three knights guarding the tax collector, Daykan, felt the same pressure.

“What is it?”

Daykan gathered mana in his eyes and heightened his vision, then flinched.

Mana was flickering around the young man.

It was like a raging fire.

“The amount of mana is definitely small…”

What on earth was this pressure?

His hand automatically reached for his sword. Ethan was getting closer to the group.

“Bunch of trash.”

He had heard the conversation clearly.

It was because he had used his mana to heighten his hearing. When his father ruled the duchy, such a thing was unheard of.

Back then, the laws of the family were strictly enforced.

“Haim.”

Just looking at his bulging cheeks, he could tell how he had lived his life. He had probably been squeezing the blood out of countless serfs under the baron.

He deserved a punishment more painful than death.

That was the moment he took a step forward.

“Stop! If you come any closer, we will consider it obstruction of the baron’s official duties!”

A knight blocked his way. It was the same man who had stood by silently when the tax collector had bullied the village chief earlier.

It didn’t take long to assess his level.

He was just a novice knight.

Just a mediocre knight.

Ethan smiled and drew his sword. The knight was enraged by this.

It was as if he had blatantly ignored his words. Even if he were a baron, he would not have mocked a knight so openly.

“How dare you! Do you want to die?”

“You’re the one who’s going to die.”

Just as Ethan replied indifferently, he turned his mana.

His new form instantly closed in on Daykan.

The double swords he held aloft were about to strike the knight in two.

“He’s fast!”

Daykan did the same and turned his mana.

Gripping his sword tightly with both hands, he slanted it diagonally.

“If he strikes like that!”

He planned to immediately parry the blow and counterattack.

It was just as he raised his sword above his head.

Daykan tilted his head.

“Huh?”

The sword that had been coming down as if to strike his head suddenly stopped in midair.

The double-handed sword was already huge.

It took tremendous strength to stop the sword that was coming down with all his might.

How could he do that with such a thin body?

He couldn’t help but be shocked.

In that moment, the sword, which had twisted like a snake, struck his side.

“Guh!”

Daykan was sent flying into the distance. He had been defeated without even landing a single blow.

Haim and the other soldiers were left speechless at the sight.

What kind of existence was a formal knight?

It was a level that could only be reached after years of grueling training with a sword in hand.

To ordinary soldiers, a knight was a disaster waiting to happen. And now, such a knight had been defeated without even swinging his sword properly.

It was impossible not to be stunned.

“He’s a master!”

Whoever he was, he was incredibly skilled. The young man who had so easily defeated a knight began to approach Haims.

“Stop him!”

Haim screamed in terror as he urged his soldiers forward.

“Damn it! Who’s going to stop him?”

The soldiers’ faces were contorted in fear. They wanted to turn and run, but if they did, they would never be able to return to the viscount’s domain.

The soldiers with their swords raised stared at the emaciated man.

“Stop approaching him!”

“Do you know who I am and still point your weapons at me?”

“Who are you…?”

“You bastards! This is the Grand Duke of the Ardan family! Put down your weapons!”

Hans interrupted at the right moment and shouted loudly. The soldiers tilted their heads at his loud voice.

“Grand Duke…?”

“No way…”

The Grand Duke of the Ardan family.

It was already known that he lived in this area.

The soldiers swallowed hard.

The Grand Duke was known to have crippled the members of the Red Scorpions.

Even if they tried to stop him now, they would end up crippled like the Red Scorpions. They had just seen him fight the knight a moment ago.

The soldiers quickly lowered their spears.

“You bastards! Stop him! If I get hurt, do you think the Baron will let you live?”

“I think so.”

“Hee hee!”

Haim screamed at Ethan’s face, which was now right in front of him.