Chapter 190
As things gradually became more difficult, they would end up borrowing money from Nosh. And eventually, all of their property would be taken from them.
‘The method itself is terribly old-fashioned…’
But there must have been no way to avoid it. This place had been under Nosh’s control. They could abandon everything and run away to wander elsewhere, but it was not easy to throw away the entire foundation of the life one had built. In the end, it was a scheme people fell into even while knowing it.
And even those who did not run shops farmed the land. He had ruined that as well.
‘That’s the worst.’
Lynette frowned.
No matter how much he wanted to seize their property, ruining their farming was too cruel. It was no different from taking away their means to live altogether. It must have been even easier than causing trouble at a shop. Burning the crops they had worked so hard to grow would be simple.
“In this territory, most people had all their property taken by Nosh and were drowning in debt.”
Euphen spoke as if sighing.
They had all seemed to be living peacefully. Who would have thought they were all enduring such difficult lives?
‘Well. Even if it’s that hard and painful, they must still be trying to live normally.’
Living every day with a frown, repeating with how hard life is, would not be good for oneself either. After all, people had something called hope, and sometimes that alone gave meaning to living.
As expected, from the perspective of travelers merely passing through, it was difficult to know the detailed situation of a territory. When Lynette lowered her head and let out a small sigh, the man spoke, as if telling her not to worry any further.
“Fortunately, there was a ledger in Nosh’s secret place.”
Euphen smiled faintly.
“Then we’ll be able to properly return things to the people.”
“We’ll have to calculate exactly how much money is left, but we should still be able to return quite a lot.”
“That’s good…”
She let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed that Euphen and Eshar had run around working just as hard, if not harder, than her and Sillian had at the mansion.
After thinking for a moment, Lynette asked worriedly,
“But aren’t there still too many of Nosh’s subordinates?”
“Hmm. That’s true.”
It seemed he had already thought about that point as well. The man answered casually.
“They’re people who move for money anyway. And it seems Nosh doesn’t treat them as well as you might think.”
From what she heard in detail, it seemed that even while using so many people, he had not given them sufficient compensation.
‘To think he even tried to save money on that.’
Well, he hadn’t even hired the minimum number of servants necessary to maintain the mansion. To him, it must have felt wasteful to pay the subordinates who went around in groups acting like thugs.
Perhaps because of that, they had collected far more “protection fees” than Nosh had ordered. They had to make money for themselves as well. As a result, the burden on the people grew even heavier, and the vicious cycle continued.
“Later on we’ll have to capture all of Nosh’s subordinates as well. But right now we don’t have enough forces to arrest them all, so we decided it would be better to use them first.”
“Use them?”
“There are already many who are dissatisfied with Nosh.”
The reason for their dissatisfaction was obvious. They were not receiving as much money as they wanted.
But since Nosh had already taken the title of Count, they knew there was nothing they could do immediately. Their anger had simply continued to build up. If that man’s position were to disappear in such a situation, there would surely be more than a few people ready to tear into him at once.
“In order to keep them from fully understanding what he was doing, Nosh made sure his subordinates couldn’t communicate well with each other… so this time we made sure they clearly learned of each other’s existence.”
The illegal dealings he used to rake in money. The way he had exploited the people of the territory and seized their property. And even the other methods he used to accumulate wealth, including how he took the title of Count. They had leaked that information. So by now, everyone was probably starting to realize how Nosh had been increasing his wealth.
‘Since they can’t gather enough strength from outside to suppress him, they’ll make him collapse from the inside.’
Lynette nodded.
That was indeed the best approach. And considering the future as well, the current method was the most optimal. If Nosh’s subordinates fought among themselves and their forces diminished, it would be easier to suppress them afterward.
There might be some sacrifices along the way, but they did not have the luxury to lament that.
Besides, from the perspective of the territory’s people, it would probably only be satisfying to see those who had tormented them so terribly destroy themselves.
“By now… it’s probably become one of two things.”
Euphen shrugged.
Either they had all united to attack Nosh, or they were tearing into each other.
‘Even if they unite to attack Nosh for now, once their common enemy disappears, they’ll end up tearing into each other.’
Either way, it wasn’t bad.
While the two were talking, it seemed the letter had been finished. After melting the sealing wax and pouring it on, Eshar firmly pressed the seal into it.
“Even if we send the letter as quickly as possible, it will still take some time.”
As she said that, she placed the letter into her bag.
“Well. Even so, it’s important to reclaim the position beforehand before an official imperial order comes down from the Emperor. An investigator will be sent.”
Julia slowly nodded.
“It should be about time…”
Just as Eshar muttered while looking at the window covered with wooden boards,
a massive explosion sounded outside. It seemed to be somewhere not very far from here. The shockwave was strong enough to make the window rattle violently.
Startled voices and hurried footsteps could be heard outside.
“Shall we go now?”
Eshar spoke with a faint smile.
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