章 58: Chapter 59. Domestic Affairs

Once Celia and I arrive in Rafen, Irijina heads straight into the building that looks like the feudal lord's mansion.

「Welcome, thanks for coming. I have received your notice and made preparations for your arrival.」

Adolph has set up camp at the previous feudal lord's mansion. He specially set up an annex close-by to live in, in preparation for my arrival at any time.

「Well~, I didn't hear from you so I thought you forgot about me.」

Sorry, I actually forgot.

「I was actually going to send a messenger or something to visit you, but as I thought, the Viscount has something for me right?」

As usual, he is flattering me or maybe he's making fun of me. Either way, I can't understand this guy.

「Aside from that, I heard from the villagers that you decided to exempt them from the head tax, and the tax on their harvest is 20%. Is that the truth?」

Celia didn't even drink the tea she took out and was ready to flare up. Recently, Celia has been reading every day and has collected a variety of books from somewhere gaining an unexpected amount of knowledge.

「Yes. That's true.」

Adolph answered with a smile as usual.

「What are your intentions? The tax from the citizens is Aegir-sama's precious income and you just decided to change that on your own; are you spoiling the citizens so that you can get popular!?」

Hm, it's true that the expense in this area is continuing. Up until now, I have been receiving rewards from the king so I wasn't strapped for cash, but after receiving the territory, it's normal for me to manage on my own.

「First, it was natural for me to decide things on my own. Aegir-sama has authorized me to do things like this.」

Adolph is imitating the way I usually speak. He's definitely the type of person who is hated by his superiors.

「He told me to make the citizens as rich as possible and make whatever decisions I wanted until he gets there. Then he gave me 100 gold and told me to produce the best results, so I was doing just that. I haven't created any debts at all either.」

He smiled, adding on that the citizens are in better shape than those in the north in Lord Radhalde's territory. It's true that he's not wrong, I remember saying those things.

But Celia is not convinced. He hasn't used the money inappropriately but exempting and reducing tax is close to breaking the rules. The diligent Celia has no reason to acknowledge him.

「Even an idiot can say that the citizens will be happier if you simply reduce the tax!」

「This territory is poor. If we return the tax as we have taken it, it won't develop as we wish.」

「That doesn't matter. Even if you don't return it to the people, it still becomes Aegir-sama's income!」

Adolph looked at Celia then to me, his expression seems to be saying 'good grief'.

「That is why I decided to increase the number of mothers. First I will lower the tax so that I can stabilize the disarrayed lifestyles of the people due to the war. Next, I thought about our expenses; If we increase the size of the farmland and amount of harvest, what would happen?」

「We would just lose money then!」

Celia is still flaring up at him.

「Wrong. In order for the other territories to profit from occupying them, they are imposing taxes, and our territory is the only one with light taxes and abundant land. If you were a farmer, where would you want to live?」

In order to increase the population, you are encouraging the couples at night. However, it would still take at least 15 years to see the fruits of that. Does Adolph plan to accumulate farmers from the neighboring lands? It seems it is for that reason he puts out a 'signboard' to tell them that taxes are exempted and reduced.

「But most of the feudal lords forbid immigrants. It will be useless if the farmers can't come.」

For any feudal lord, it isn't a good thing for farmers to leave their territory. It is normal for this to be strictly enforced, and if they cross over to their destination, it could turn into a war.

「That's why I'm doing it now. During the time that things are calming down, and just before things start settling down. Right now, it's hard to determine whether those that have died in war and those that ran away with their lives are refugees or not, since they haven't settled down yet.」

Adolph left a copy of a thick book in front of me.

「This is something I made. Starting with Rafen, it's an account of the citizens living in the surrounding villages. I have collected the information of where everybody lives and put it together. But it's still incomplete and has to be revised eventually. The reason is that Arkland's former ruling class instantly disappeared, so the information we have is inaccurate and the only way of confirming the people who aren't there is to ask those who live in the area.」

「Amazing...」

Celia flips through the book. Listed there are the residents' name and house, even age and family composition is mentioned. In some places, there is just a name listed, and a question mark was written for those whose details could not be confirmed. There are also many whose names are crossed out with a line; they are mentioned but have actually died due to war or famine.

「Please look at this extremely inaccurate resident record. This is something that I did and nobody else can do.」

He's speaking in a way that I can hear some arrogance, but being able to present something like this in such a short period, he is certainly talented. If it was me, I would have torn out one page and written Celia's name on everything. Like Celia 1, Celia 2, Celia revised, or something.

「So that brings us to now. Even now the feudal lords of the neighboring territories do not have a grasp over all the residents in their own occupied land. If some families went missing, they wouldn't know. If it was discovered by other people and they started protesting to us, if we are also confused, it would remain unknown.」

「Mumumu...」

Celia groans. Once she saw the book, she realized that her knowledge is not at a level where she could clash with Adolph, who has been doing this for many years. Irijina, meanwhile, seems to have stopped thinking somewhere in the middle. The biscuits that were brought out were all eaten by herself, and now she's eyeing Celia's tea.

「Talking about the issue regarding income, it is the same to take 40% from 100 people and to take 20% from 200 people.」

Well, I guess that's true.

「But if we are in a hurry, and need to demand money, it is much easier to increase the tax from 20% to 30% rather than 40% to 50%. There will also be a large growth in income. It will only be for a brief period where we experience loss, but the day will come eventually when we will be smiling!」

Adolph unusually puts some energy into things and emphasizes the point.

Then I think I should let him do it. Rather than letting me manage the territory with a half-assed understanding, it is better for him to guide it to a better direction.

「I understand. Let's do it according to your plan. Let me know if something happens.」

It seems Adolph is surprised that I didn't refer to any specific tax rates or policies.

「Didn't I say I would leave it to you? If there is something that must be prioritized over your ideas, then I'll take back control and give out orders, so until then you can do as you like.」

「Thank you very much. Then I have something to discuss right away.」

「Hm, what is it?」

「Currently we are using the gold to hire the villagers and they are engaging in flood control and maintenance of the small roads. This is causing them to actively participate in labor as well as giving the villagers some income...…」

「I understand. Just tell me what you want me to do.」

「I'm running low on money. So please give me some more.」

I'm thankful for the uneventful summary so far.

「How much do you need?」

「As much as you are willing, if it's 100 gold it would be sufficient, and if it's 1000 gold it would also be satisfactory.」

I want to hand it to him generously, but I actually don't have much to spare. I also need the expenses for all the women to move here. It's my territory so we can do something about the house, but it's not like we can live poorly.

The upcoming wedding ceremony will be the most expensive too. With Nonna as the legal wife, and Carla and Mel as the concubine, I will be setting up a ceremony for the three of them altogether.

I'm not going to throw a party and invite all the nobles, but I intend to hold a grand ceremony for ourselves. Mel and Carla were satisfied with just saying the vows, but my beloved wife Nonna looked at me with tears in her eyes. Recently, she has been crying a lot in front of me.

「She's smiling! This woman, she's looking down and smiling!!」

That's what Carla said, but when I looked at her, I could only see Nonna covering her face and trying to hold back her tears. These girls actually get along well, so it would nice if they got along with each other more on a regular basis.

She's getting a wedding ceremony after her house was destroyed, and after she fell into slavery and gave up. It seems like it's a woman's happiness so it's fine to let her have a little luxury. So, I was thinking that I need an appropriate amount of money to hold the wedding ceremony. Instead of giving it to citizens I don't even know, it's obvious that I would rather make my own women happy with the money.

「Sorry, but because of various things I can't give you that much. I'll give you double the original amount, 200 gold.」

It's not like I normally carry several hundred gold with me anywhere I go, so I promised that I would send it to him at a later date.

「Thank you.」

Adolph doesn't say a single complaint. I guess he does things if it's there and doesn't if it's not.

「Is that alright with you? Giving such a large sum...…」

「I don't mind. Right now I only need the money for the wedding ceremony. I think I'll be able to set up quite a grand ceremony with about 500 gold.」

「That is actually useless. ...…Nonna-san is really a spendthrift.」

If I wasn't a man who was prepared to accept that much, then I wouldn't be able to get her beauty and her giant breasts in my hands.

Oh right, I didn't come here just to listen to Adolph. I forgot one of my goals for this trip.

「Anyway, I'll become the commander of the eastern independent army but I am also planning to establish a private army....can I take some people?」

Even as it is, there is not enough people or funds, so it might be a bad time.

Adolph thought about it for a little and hit his hand.

「Shouldn't that be fine? There have been reports of a group of impersonating thieves too, and maintaining the peace will also affect the attractiveness of the land. Also...…」

「What is it? Say it clearly.」

「The army has nothing to do if there aren't enemies around. So I had them perform civil engineering since it would be no different from hiring laborers. Unlike the temporarily employed farmers, their ability will also improve, so you can expect a lot from them as elites.」

What can they do as elite civil engineers? First, if there are no enemies then they should be training. If the army does nothing but civil engineer work, then won't they just be a group of laborers?

I'll discuss that part with Irijina. She's a stupid child, but has an abundance of experience being in the army. The training and the application of their labor should be done decently with her in charge.

「Irijina, it's fine if you do something small first but make a prototype private army for me. I'll make it an expense to Adolph to manage it somehow, can you do it?」

「Leave it to me! Even if you say construction, the requirement is the same in building camps. It's an essential skill in the army!」

With that, I did everything I could for now.

「Next is to at least have a look around the territory. Irijina, come with me too. If possible I will also do some scouting for my private army there.」

「Alright!」

「Yes.」

With the two of us, we dropped by several villages in different places but all of them seem to have similar situations. There isn't a large population and they are living not-so-abundant lives. But there was no despair on their faces, and they aren't struggling to eat.

When we said we were recruiting for an army in Rafen, we got unexpectedly good responses. Different from the Arkland days, the rewarded wages are large.

「With this, then the citizens may actually come flowing in.」

「Yes, but is it alright? With the 200 gold and the expense for the wedding ceremony, thinking of our move, we will have nothing left on hand right?」

「I don't mind. I don't have a hobby of surrounding myself with money.」

If I run out, then I'll think about it at that time.

「And also, it might save me for a little bit...…」

「What are you talking about?」

No, it's nothing. Let's not have unrealistic expectations.

I look around, informing the people of my plans to assemble an army, and show my face as the feudal lord. I repeat those actions, and around the time when I was going to return to Rafen, I heard an unusual sound.

「Aegir-sama!」

「A battle-!」

Celia and Irijina also listens carefully. There is no mistaking it, this is the sound of blades clashing and a person's scream.

「They are sounds of a fight.」

Everyone held their weapons and completed their preparations quickly. We can not see it directly, but it isn't far away. It's inside a thinly spread forest.

「How many people can you do?」

「I can do 2...5 people!」

Don't push yourself, 2 people it is.

「I can take up to 5 people!」

Irijina is a soldier, she won't say something random. She should actually be fine with 5 people.

「This is a part of maintaining peace. Don't let the bandits escape. Crush them.」

「Yessir!」

「Yeah!」

With me at the front, Celia close beside me, and Irijina a little bit behind me, we line up our horses and charge in. Let's test out how comfortable it is to fight with this new spear.

–Third Person/Immigrant POV–

「I'm begging you, please stop! We don't have anything you want to steal-!」

「No way, there's lots here. The cart and also tonight's dinner...…and maybe your nice ass too.」

「Dammit, everyone run away. Break through them!」

There is no god in this world. I have never felt that as much as I did today.

It was a few days ago that we abandoned the village and decided to migrate. The ones who destroyed our hope of rebuilding the field destroyed by the war was the ones occupying us.....the acting official who came from Treia kingdom.

「The tax during the time of harvest is 40%, the same for our county, but you guys have taken up battle expenses during the war, so as compensation I'll have you offer a special tax for 3 years!」

Everyone screamed. Thinking about the new tax, it would not be any different from the burden they had before. For the amount of damage that was done to the fields during war time, your lifestyle suffered that much more...…no, you could no longer survive.

「If we cannot rebuild our fields then we cannot offer the tax. Please grant us with some deferment!」

The village chief desperately pleaded to the acting official but his reaction was cold.

「Shut up! We are the ones who freed you guys from the political pressure. It's only natural for you to pay the compensation! The people of Arkland are quite impudent along with the former king!」

The escort of the acting official kicked away the village chief.

「Listen! If you default on a payment then we can sell you guys off to retrieve the war expenses. So don't crawl around here and get to work immediately!」

We worked frantically but during the worst season of winter, my friends went down one by one. Even still, we could not possibly pay off the head tax in spring. Within this despair, I heard a single rumor.

「In the eastern Goldonia territory, it seems that Viscount Hardlett is accepting immigrants into his territory. There isn't a head tax for spring, and I heard that the harvest tax is many levels cheaper.」

In the end, it was just a rumor, normally it is unthinkable for you to abandon the village you have lived in for many years. But we had no choice anymore. At this rate we will starve to death until spring and die, even if we survive how will the acting official treat the village that can pay the tax ...…

I know that Goldonia is an abundant country. So we decided to bet on that chance.

With a few dozen volunteers, we loaded the bare minimum of supplies needed to survive onto a single cart and headed east. And we were on the way to Rafen, where the feudal lord was supposed to be, but we were attacked by bandits in the forest.

「Fight! Protect the women and kids!」

「Nobody will blame you even if you kill the immigrants! Go as wild as you want!!」

There were several returning soldiers among us, and we also had farming tools, such as hoes, so we are able to resist, but the bandits number around 20. We won't able to defend very well. I stopped praying to the gods and closed my eyes. The next thing that should be coming is either the pain of getting stabbed, or the feeling of the bandits tearing my clothes off.

「Gyaaa!!」

I hear an incredible shout. I immediately wanted to cover my ears but we don't have any companions whose voice is so vulgar.

When I open my eyes slightly, the bandit who was looking at me pervertedly earlier was sitting down close by. I wanted to scream, but when I looked carefully, he wasn't sitting down. He was missing his lower half.

「Who the heck are you?!!」

–Aegir POV– 1

Without giving a reply, I smashed his head smashed open. In addition, I cut off the hand that was holding the sword, after giving my spear a spin, and several people flew back. The fortunate ones are able to stand back up after rolling around, but the unlucky ones crashed into the trees and died.

「This feels comfortable to use.」

A new spear produces the best results. It's sturdy so it can naturally be used roughly, and it's also heavier than the previous one, so even if the blade isn't used to cut, enemies can still be defeated. It's also nice that the entire thing is long. Although if Lucy's scent was on it, then it would be the best...…

「It might also increase my own strength-!」

The intense thrust enters one of them through the chest, piercing through the leather armor, and the blade protrudes out from the other side. I outmuscle the man, who was stabbed and was desperately grabbing the spear, and pull it out of him. The man let out an agonizing cry of death before dancing in the air, causing blood to rain down on myself and on the companions around me.

「What a guy...…」

「Is he a monster-?!」

There are five corpses around my feet. Their fighting spirit is vanishing.

「The sixth person.」

The man sneakily circling behind me got a huge spear thrust right through the front of his face, and his face disappeared. I was going to toss him back and return him to his friends below while he was still stabbed, but when I lifted him up, his head tore off and it became a mess. Well, are they still going to come?

「Well, there are still 10 people left though?」

I smile and tried to invite them, but nobody came. These are some cowardly guys.

「Shit! We can't do anything about that!」

The bandits were about to withdraw, but they spotted Celia who was close to me.

「Get that small one, use it as a shield!」

The men are approaching Celia, who got off her horse and is getting ready for a melee. Long swords are swung and war hammers are slammed down, but Celia swiftly evades, sweeping their legs with her sword.

「Gyaa!!」

「My legs!!」

With Celia's arm strength, it is difficult to pierce through armor and to send heads flying. But their legs weren't protected, so if you slash the flesh on their thighs, then they won't be able to stand anymore. They can only fall and wait for someone to finish them off – a pathetic existence.

Just when Celia was about to stab the necks of the two men rolling on the ground, a sword swung at her from behind. She instantly blocks it, but perhaps it was due to the difference in body size, she got pushed back. Seeing his chance, the man swung his sword, but Celia dropped a sword, rolling it below the man's crotch.

「Tch-!　You bitch......aaah...Aaaah...…Aaaaaaaaah!!!」

Up until now, it was the loudest scream. Celia's short sword stabbed the man's crotch.

It probably got pushed up when it was rolling around. Celia has knives hidden in various places all over her body after all. The man had his precious place stabbed and it dug in all the way to his stomach, which without a doubt is a fatal injury. Blood bubbled up from his mouth and the man fell over.

It looks like Celia will be fine. When I shift my attention to Irijina, as expected, she was rampaging about.

「Fuun-!　Sei-!」

The tip of her spear was so fast that you could barely see it. As soon as they stepped forward, her spear dug into their chest and necks, and they fall down one by one.

「How's this! This shitty woman!」

One person grabbed the spear and held his companion who got stabbed by Irijina. If the tip of the spear gets grabbed then you won't be able to do anything. But he's looking down on Irijina.

「Uuuwaa!!」

Irijina lifts the spear along with the man who grabbed it. Surprised, he let go of his hands in midair and a ferocious strike befell the sacrifice. Penetrating the chest along with the armor, the man was thrown away, getting impaled by the branches of a dead tree.

As I thought, she's strong. She also has technique, but compared to an inept man, she has more arm strength suitable to match her large frame. Even on the bed, when I am doing her along with the other girls, I need to be cautious. From my intense attacks, Irijina forgot and nearly squeezed Maria to death with her hug. Celia is skillful so she should be able to dodge it.

Using the strength unimaginable from her usual idiotic behavior, Irijina has already slaughtered the promised 5 people. While she was twirling her spear with such speed, it was not easy to approach her, but due to the long reach of her thrusts, some of the bandits who kept their distance also got killed.

「It-it's no good already!」

「Run away!」

The three of us have already killed over half of their companions, and the bandits started to run away. But we had no intention of letting them do so. If we let them run away, then they will once again commit wrongdoings in my territory. We will not let such an opportunity escape.

I get on Schwartz and chase after them. The difference in speed is evident, and I catch up instantly. I guess Schwartz doesn't like it when I swing my spear on top of him, because before I was able to, he trampled over the enemies one after the other. A human's body is not able to withstand the weight of a large one ton horse riding over them, and they were crushed like rotten fruit.

Celia's knife stabs the back of the head of the last man, and the bandits are exterminated.

–Aegir POV–

「We took those guys out. You don't have to worry anymore.」

The ones who got attacked were immigrants, huh...…it seems they were immediately drawn by the signboard that Adolph put up.

「Th-thank you very much! We are, um, on a journey so!」

They think I'm a knight or something and are desperately trying to deceive me, since abandoning your home village is something unforgivable.

「I have no interest in where you guys come from. There are injured people aren't there? Let's hurry and go.」

I don't know which village I should be leading them to. Let's just take them back to Rafen and have Adolph look after them. He also wanted to have a grasp on the citizens anyway.

「Excuse me for asking, but who are you?」

A woman who got on the cart calls out to me. She's young and has nicely defined features, but she's too thin.

「I'm Hardlett. I'm the feudal lord over here so I won't lead you into a trap. Relax and follow me.」

The villagers were surprised, all of them were going to kneel but I stopped them. I just want to get back quickly.

「It's fine so hurry up, get ready and leave. To get to Rafen...…guess we'll have to wait a night.」

The sun is already setting. If we push our horses, we can get there, but it would be impossible to take them along on foot.

「What can we do to thank you...…We have nothing to repay you with though...…」

The woman lowered her head very deeply. You have something to give me. Why don't I take it while I'm at it.

「Nnmh!」

I immediately kiss the girl, inserting my tongue in too. The woman was resisting slightly in the beginning, but thinking that it was bad to oppose me and that having her mouth sucked is quite cheap to compensate for her life, she obediently surrendered her body.

The kiss continued for 10 more minutes, and the woman's hips gave out, but I put my leg between her crotch and forcibly support her. In addition to that, I push her body against a nearby tree, twisting my tongue in as deep as I can. While I'm at it, I might as well suck her mouth until we are ready to depart.

The kiss continued for another 10 minutes, the treatment of the injured seems to be over so I finish things up. When I separated with the woman's lips, she had a sad face, leaving her mouth open and her tongue stuck out, but we have to hurry out to the plains and get ready to camp for the night. There is possibility that wolves, bears and even monsters to come out at night in the forest.

「No way, leaving me like this after all that.」

(Light Novels Illustration: Celia not pleased)

The woman seems reluctant, but Celia pulled her along with an expressionless face and threw her onto the cart. I sighed and looked at my knee where I supported her crotch, seeing a wet stain made there. I'm sure the woman's crotch is flooding, what a waste I guess.

At night, we camp in the relatively safe plains, but we planned to return within the day so we didn't bring anything. The immigrants shouldn't have very much equipment themselves, so we warmed the meat and food on the bonfire, gathered around and slept.

While sleeping, I hear the sound of someone stepping on grass near my feet. When I wake up, I see the earlier woman. I'm not such an idiot to ask something so obvious like what she was doing here.

「...Go ahead.」

The woman spread her legs shoulder-width apart while still standing. From where I was sleeping, I can glance at the important parts using the light from the bonfire. If I look carefully, juices were sticking to her thighs.

「You couldn't bear it?」

「You tease...don't say it please...」

I sit cross-legged and open the front of my pants, taking out my cock which is still soft.

「Get it erect for me.」

The woman sits in between my legs and grabs my cock with both her hands, rubbing it up and down. It seems that she has absolutely no experience, and servicing me with her mouth is inconceivable to her. It's a little soon but her technique filled with sexual desire has gotten me excited and my cock gets hard quickly. The woman is surprised and stands up to look at my cock.

「It's alright now, come.」

She sits back down and grabs the rod.

「Please be gentle.」

The woman gets on top of me while I'm cross-legged and lowers her hips as if sitting down, but she seems to be struggling with the size. She's trying her best to push it against her vagina, but the tip of my cock is as large as her fist so it isn't going in that well. I help her out a little bit, picking her up and dropping her hips.

「Aaah-!!」

A sharp scream rings out, and the woman's body convulses. My cock pierces her completely into the deepest part, blood dripping from where we are connected. Looking at the amount of bloodshed, her insides aren't injured, it's probably just the blood from her virginity tearing.

Worried about the voice, I look over at where Celia and Irijina are, but it seems they are tired from fighting and they are sleeping quite soundly. Just in case, I had her bite my shoulder to cover her mouth, and then move my hips.

I move my hips as I like as I remain sitting, while the woman moans, leaving her bite marks on my shoulder in agony.

「Aauu...uuuu.」

Tears start filling her eyes. It's not like she doesn't like being called at night to be embraced, so maybe she's enduring the pain from being deflowered.

「Feel the sensation of my hands.」

I place my hands on her butt and slowly rub her through her clothes. Her waist, her stomach, her breasts, her neck, then her face. When I reached her face, I kissed her and lowered my hands once again. My other hand is already doing her breasts, rubbing them roughly together with the cloth.

「...aau...nnh...」

Her expression relaxes, and although it was just a little, she's starting to leak pleasure-filled voices. It seems it's fine if I move my hips too.

「The pain has disappeared...You are really skilled, aren't you.」

「I don't prefer to hurt women.」

When we kiss, she once again bites my shoulder. This time is not to hold back from screaming, it's to prevent her moans from waking those around us. When she whispers 'you're such a wonderful person' in my ear, my hips start moving more intensely.

Eventually I reach my limit. To decide what I should do, I look at the woman's face, but I don't want to dampen her mood, since she is enjoying her first cock to her heart's content and even using her hips. She's a woman who hid herself and came, so she should also be somewhat prepared, thus I decide to ejaculate inside of her just like this.

「Show me your breasts.」

I only said that much and suck on her lips. The woman who was embraced with her clothes still on, flipped up her shirt and exposed her breasts, and without delay I grab them. It feels good to fondle a woman's breasts while ejaculating.

I squeeze her breasts, and the instant she feels a little pain and her body shivers, my seed shoots out into her womb vigorously.

「Uu-! ooooh...」

「Aah-!　Aaaaaa...」

Our growing voices disappeared softly, and her womb was filled with my seed juices. Once I finished ejaculating, the woman slowly stands up, bows once to me, and wobbles back to her own sleeping place. Following the woman's steps, a trail of drops of pink-colored juices was left behind.

This time, I was able to take her virginity and embrace her without causing her too much pain. Thinking about it, I actually had quite the number of virgins as partners. I stretch a little, and after my work is done, I put my cock away and try to fall asleep once again.

At that time, Celia who was pretending to sleep, got her revenge on the snoring Irijina by stuffing her nose with dead leaves. The deed caused by her fit of anger was accompanied with a large sneeze and she was compensated with saliva being plastered on her face.