The Top-Tier Butler of the Marquis Family Chapter 68 : Chapter 68

Chapter 068

The tax audit proceeded smoothly.

I mixed threats and persuasion in proper asure, just as I had intended from the beginning, and, as expected, the owners who had been squeezed dry by the Black Pig Gang from the powerless side of things poured out their grievances and begged for their lives.

Every last one of them had secret ledgers.

Funds of uncertain origin had moved through illegal channels, and they had also cleverly avoided paying the taxes that should have been levied on their operating profits.

Naturally, I seized not only all of their property, but also every bit of the protection money that was about to be sent to the Black Pig Gang.

As a result, the cargo wagon was piled high with Gold Coins.

“Business is booming, huh? This is a complete jackpot.”

Arthas grinned as he looked at the wagon heaped with Gold Coins. I found myself grinning as well. There was only one reason we were both in good spirits. We had lived our lives being looked down on as re apprentices, but out here, things were a little different.

This is why the mont you strap a single armband of authority onto a man’s arm, his frontal lobe stops working.

“How much did we collect in total?”

“Around 2,500 Gold.”

“Huh...... That is enormous. I would have to spend my entire life living as a Knight to earn that much.”

The ransom I had set for Blackship was 6,000 Gold.

Compared to that, this still fell short, but the Black Pig Gang would have money of its own circulating sowhere, so one way or another they would scrape the amount together.

But what if they could not gather the protection money?

Then their whole plan would fall apart.

The Black Pig Gang would have to ask us for an extension on the negotiations, and with every territory under their control now facing suspension of business, their strength would continue to weaken.

At that point, all I would need to do was spread a few rumors, stir up confusion, and then sweep them away when the ti was right.

“Really? Then what is a Knight’s monthly pay, usually?”

“That depends on the situation. Sotis they are paid in land, sotis in grain. If you convert it into Gold, an entry-level Knight usually gets around 5 Gold.”

So an entry-level Knight earned 5 Gold. Given the status of Knights in this world, that was roughly comparable to working at a major corporation where I ca from, so perhaps around four or five million won a month after taxes.

Of course, that was not exact. At the mont, all I could do was estimate the value of money through indirect information like this. Once more ti passed, I would be able to figure it out more concretely. If I could learn the scale of the Territory’s economy or its annual budget, then I could roughly calculate the value of its currency.

That was sothing I would look into slowly later.

In any case, if 5 Gold equaled about five million won, then 2,500 Gold ca out to 2.5 billion won. We had effectively added a first-prize lottery payout straight into the Territory’s coffers.

“This could beco a headache if we get attacked. We should call for reinforcents. By the way, where does the confiscated money go?”

“Obviously it has to go back to the lord of the Territory.”

“What a sha. Nothing is going to trickle down to us, is it?”

“Wake up and stop dreaming.”

Of course, I had no intention of delivering it to Marquis Chronos personally.

This administrative action had been led by Young Master Hal. The best appearance would be to place it in his hands first and let him present it to the Marquis himself.

I had no desire to have my own na brought up in this matter.

As long as I secured the practical benefits, that was enough for .

Besides, if my na got dragged into this and I ended up entangled later with so noble who had taken kickbacks from these people, it would beco troubleso. Better to hand both the credit and the bomb that might explode later over to Young Master Hal together.

I checked the paper containing the list of businesses one more ti.

“Only one place left now. Its na is Burning Sun. There is sothing suspicious about the na from the start. We investigate this place, then return to the mansion imdiately.”

“All right. I will request support from the Knight Order first.”

“Not the Knight Order. Call the Village Guard. The Knight Order takes too long to move.”

Arthas nodded and called over one of the Soldiers assisting him. A mont later, the young Soldier, having received his orders, ran off sowhere.

If nothing had happened so far, I would never have considered the possibility of an attack.

But these were bastards bold enough to try kidnapping Young Lady Sapiela. By now, word of the seizures would have reached the Black Pig Gang, and they would be seeing red.

If that was the case, then I also had to account for the possibility that they might attack us, steal the Gold Coins, and flee under cover of night.

Of course, I had brought the Mana Pistol in preparation for such an unfortunate event, but if possible, I did not want blood on my hands.

If a fight broke out and the Black Pig Gang collapsed before the Avengers moved, then the profit we could take for ourselves would be that much smaller.

Just as the finishing blow matters in every ga, the finishing blow matters in the underworld as well. If we wanted to absorb their forces whole, we absolutely had to seize their Base of Operations ourselves.

“We have arrived at the destination.”

One of the investigators made his report. Burning Sun was a tavern in a quiet corner of the comrcial district, and it did not look like a place that did much business.

But the atmosphere was strange.

Bleak, sohow. The sort of place that looked as though sothing might jump out from inside at any mont.

Instinctively, I felt that sothing might happen here.

“The investigators will wait here for the mont. Arthas, co in first with .”

“All right.”

SHING!

Arthas drew his sword. It seed his own instincts were telling him as well that sothing might be lurking inside.

BANG!

We flung the door open roughly and stepped into the tavern.

“It is quiet.”

“I do not like the feeling of this.”

The inside was empty.

But traces of human presence were easy enough to find. Half-finished food and drink had been left scattered across the tables. It looked as though they had fled without even having ti to prepare.

The two of us began cautiously surveying the area while keeping our backs to one another.

Old buildings in the comrcial district had complicated interiors and many places suited for hiding. If soone with Kalmond’s level of skill launched a deliberate sneak attack, there would be no way to avoid a fatal wound.

I asked,

“Did you not dispatch the Village Guard over here? I was told orders had gone out to prevent them from shutting the place down.”

“Well, it is one of two things.”

Arthas began that way, gripping his sword tightly. Then he said with a grin,

“Either the Soldiers have not arrived yet, or they already ca and got taken out by these bastards.”

“......And the possibility that they simply have not arrived yet?”

“Not very high.”

I agreed with him. So I drew my sword as well.

Arthas did not know how to use mana. Knights used sothing called aura, a transford form of mana, but even if they used aura, they could not sense small quantities of mana.

So, careful not to let him notice, I let a small amount of mana flow out and searched the surroundings in finer detail.

Once you understood the applications, mana could be used in endless ways. I gave myself a kind of thermal detection no ordinary living creature could escape, and scanned the area.

“As expected.”

Markers conjured by mana rose up all around . Like augnted reality on a smartphone, markers appeared across hidden walls and even inside wardrobes.

I counted them calmly.

One, two, three, four......

Exactly six n were hiding.

I could not tell what they were holding, but given the way they were staying still, there was an extrely high chance they were carrying concealed daggers.

But once their positions were exposed, they were no great threat.

“What is it? Did you find sothing?”

“Looks like a few rats are hiding.”

“Where?”

I took a steadying breath and pointed out each location where they were hiding, one by one. Arthas stared hard at those spots and morized them.

First, I gave them one last warning.

“Anyone who remains hidden will be treated as resisting us, and will be subdued without exception! Co out now and submit to the investigation quietly!”

The surroundings remained silent, without even the sound of breathing. No one ca out.

“I am warning you one last ti. I will count to five, so co out now! Five, four, three, two, one......”

I had shown enough rcy.

We exchanged a look and spread out wordlessly.

The opening move was mine.

I held my sword parallel and drove it deep into the wardrobe.

THUNK!

“Kugh!”

Blood sprayed out with the scream. Proof that there was soone inside. I kicked the wardrobe door apart and dragged the man hidden within out into the open.

I subdued him easily enough. In the process, I confird that he had a dagger in hand.

“Arthas! These bastards are ard!”

CLANG! CLANG-CLANG!

My warning ca too late. Fighting had already broken out behind . Harsh tal rang out as Arthas swung his sword at two assassins charging him.

“Damn it! Would it kill you to tell a little earlier?”

Arthas ground his teeth.

It was an ambush, but because I had pointed out the exact spots they would erge from, he was not being pushed back in the slightest. On the contrary, he was cutting them down one by one with precise, clean Swordsmanship.

SLASH!

One man fell.

SPLAT!

Another man’s head rolled across the floor. Perhaps because he was an Apprentice Knight, unlike Arthas showed no rcy. Everyone who rushed him, he either killed or maid.

Unable to watch any longer, I shouted,

“Stop killing them all! We need to keep a few alive and find out who is behind this!”

“And what if I die while trying to do that? Capturing them alive is sothing you do when you have the chance. Mind your own side!”

SLASH!

This ti, a perfectly healthy arm dropped to the floor. The man who lost it rolled across the ground screaming. First, I bound the man I had subdued tightly and stuffed a gag in his mouth.

Then, while still letting mana flow, I looked upward.

There was one more man hiding. But his movents were strange. Was he trying to run?

I rushed up to the second floor at once.

WHISH! WHISH! WHISH!

The mont I thought I had reached the top, concealed weapons ca flying at .

“Damn it!”

If I had not possessed exceptional dynamic vision and reflexes, at least one of those concealed weapons would have embedded itself in my chest. But I rolled across the floor to avoid them, then imdiately drew the pistol from my waist.

BANG!

“Ugh!”

One shot was enough to make the bastard who had ambushed scream. He took the bullet in the chest, staggered, and collapsed, and I used the tools I had prepared beforehand to bind him.

That made two assassins captured alive on my side. Arthas, on the other hand, did not seem to be considering live capture in the least. A few of the bastards were still alive with severed limbs, but they would likely not survive the blood loss.

I shouted down toward the first floor,

“Arthas! How is it over there?”

“I have dealt with four! Reinforcents just arrived, so do not worry!”

So that was why it had beco noisy. In any case, they got here quickly. As expected, it had been the right choice to call the Village Guard rather than the Knight Order.

I swept my gaze around. Since there were no more heat signatures, I dragged the man I had bound with and headed back down the stairs. As I did, I asked him,

“Were you sent by the Black Pig Gang?”

“......”

The bound man did not say a word. Irritated, I smacked him on the back of the head. He had aid for my life, after all, so surely I was allowed to hit him a few tis.

“You bastard. When soone asks you a question, you answer. What a rude piece of trash. We will talk again once we get back to the mansion.”

When I ca down to the first floor, it was full of ard Soldiers. I gathered the bound n together in one place and then ordered a Soldier to watch them carefully.

Off to one side, a middle-aged man who seed to be the commander was speaking with Arthas. So blood had splashed onto him, but fortunately Arthas did not seem to have suffered any serious injuries.

“Dilen! Co here. This is Captain Womoff of the Sixth Village Guard. Greet him.”

It seed the two of them knew one another. I bowed my head to Womoff.

“I am Dilen, a Butler Apprentice of House Adeline. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Not at all. We rely did what we were supposed to do. Are you injured anywhere?”

“I am fine. Thank you.”

In truth, I was not all that thankful. We had already cleaned up the situation ourselves. These n had simply arrived late to pick up the fallen ball.

As I had expected, there had been exactly six assassins.

At that mont, a Soldier ca running up and made his report.

“Captain! We found sacks of Gold in the storeroom!”

Most likely it was the protection money they had planned to send over to the Black Pig Gang after disposing of us. Showing interest, the Guard Captain asked,

“How much?”

“Around 1,000 Gold!”

They had been stuffing themselves very well indeed. It did not seem likely that all of that money had co from this place alone. Most likely it had been collected from other establishnts they had their claws sunk into as well.

1,000 Gold. Certainly enough money to tempt an ordinary man.

Perhaps the Soldiers who found the Gold had already skimd a few coins off the top.

The Guard Captain seed to be thinking the sa thing. Greed settled into the eyes with which he looked at .