“Tax revenues are completely insufficient?”
About a week after Viktor’s banishment.
Dillon Stein, head of the Stein earldom, was receiving a deeply troubling report.
After Viktor disappeared, a new deputy had been dispatched to the town of Alfado without delay — but.
That man had shown up at the earldom’s main residence that very morning in a state of barely contained panic.
“Yes. With the golems no longer functioning, we need to replace them with human labor — but the minimum costs alone would require more than double our current tax revenue.”
“That’s strange. Alfado was supposed to be doing reasonably well. There’s no reason its tax revenue should be that thin.”
The Stein earldom held a broad swath of territory in the kingdom’s northwest.
Among its holdings, Alfado was one of the larger cities.
Its population comfortably exceeded thirty thousand, and the people’s livelihoods had always been reasonably prosperous.
He’d left everything to Viktor in recent years, but there had been no word of any particular problems.
“Well, you see — the tax rates that have been set are completely wrong. The poll tax alone is half the going rate, and the market tax and road toll don’t exist at all, apparently.”
“What is this! At those rates the city should be impossible to run! Say his precious golems were handling the manual work — what about administrative tasks!”
“Those were almost entirely handled by golems as well.”
“The guards? A city that size should have had a substantial number.”
“Also golems. And when that wasn’t enough, adventurers were hired on a temporary basis.”
With each piece of information, the furrow between Dillon’s brows deepened.
He’d known Viktor was making use of golems to keep the city running, but not that it had gone this far.
In Dillon’s understanding, golems were simply not capable of anything beyond simple manual labor.
Viktor had claimed to have automated the city’s operations through golems, but Dillon’s assumption had been that the reality was closer to simple neglect.
“Then can’t the golems be repaired? If they’ve stopped working, fix them.”
“I had our mages look into it, but they say it’s far too complex to handle. Also, it appears the shutdown wasn’t a malfunction — Lord Viktor deliberately shut them down when he left the city.”
“Good grief……what a nuisance……! Then there’s no choice but to raise taxes!”
“A sudden and large tax increase will cause riots. There’s also a real chance of people fleeing.”
“Then what do you suggest?”
Dillon glared at the deputy with a disgruntled look.
The deputy’s first instinct was to say the only answer is to bring Lord Viktor back — but he swallowed the words immediately.
Saying such a thing here would have gotten him dismissed on the spot.
As a senior retainer, he could all too easily imagine Dillon erupting in furious rage.
“……We should raise taxes incrementally, until the books balance. Gradually — increasing little by little to soften the blow on the people as much as we can. There’s simply no other way.”
“So that’s still what it comes to.”
“I have one idea, if I may.”
A young man’s voice cut in abruptly.
The door opened at the same moment, and a well-bred young gentleman stepped inside.
This was Wiesel Stein, second son of the Stein earldom.
“What, you were listening?”
“Your voice was carrying all the way into the corridor, Father. I couldn’t help overhearing.”
“And what is this idea of yours?”
“Yes. The minimum costs you mentioned just now — the amount needed to keep the city’s administration running — that figure assumes you hire the necessary staff, correct?”
“That’s right, but……”
The deputy answered, puzzled by where the question was going.
Then Wiesel smiled a smile that seemed to carry some deeper meaning.
“Then simply don’t hire them.”
“If you don’t hire them, how do you secure the manpower? Slavery is not permitted in this kingdom.”
“Oh, nothing so antiquated as that. We borrow them.”
“Oh?”
The earl and his son leaned forward slightly, listening.
Wiesel pressed on with a slight theatrical flourish, as if to say now we get to the real part.
“In our kingdom of Embance, there are long-standing customs and laws governing how nobles hire servants. However, those rules apply strictly to nobles. They do not apply when commoners hire from commoners.”
“Hmm, then could it be that you mean……!”
“Yes, most likely exactly what you’re thinking, Father. Rather than hiring directly, we enter a contract with a merchant to dispatch the personnel necessary to run the city. By doing it this way, we can skirt the law entirely and have people working for as little as we like.”
“Splendid idea! Contact the merchants at once!”
Dillon clapped his hands together and adopted Wiesel’s plan on the spot.
The deputy hurriedly tried to stop them.
“Please wait! Do you have any idea what could happen if you do this!”
“What possible problem could there be?”
“For one — we would become dependent on merchants to run the city! That will come back to cause us serious grief later!”
“Hmm, what can a mere merchant really do to us? There’s no problem.”
“Exactly, we are the earldom.”
Whether it was contempt for commoners showing through or not, Dillon and Wiesel refused to take the warning seriously at all.
The deputy felt himself nearing his breaking point, but pressed on.
“Then second — the restrictions on servants also exist to maintain a standard of quality. Pay rates well below the going rate will attract only the worst of workers!”
“This is a city that was being run by golems until now. It will be fine.”
“Quite right. And besides — do you actually have a better idea? I’d rather not be told no without an alternative.”
“That is……”
The truth was the deputy had no clever solution either.
He fell silent and could say nothing more.
“Then it’s settled! We’ll arrange it immediately! And from here on, Alfado will be managed under Wiesel’s direction!”
“Thank you, Father.”
“What! Then I am……!”
“Dismissed! I’ll inform you of your reassignment in due course — now get out!”
With that shout, Dillon sent the deputy packing without another word.
——The work that golems had been handling would now be covered by cheap workers dispatched by merchants.
It was the moment the town of Alfado — and with it the earldom as a whole — began drifting in a very bad direction.