Cthulhu Gonfalon

Chapter 665: Chapter 25

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“I can’t imagine there could actually be someone so unconscionable. Simply heartless!” said the bishop of the Church of the Void Mask of Dahl City, Kabbalah, as he angrily hammered the table. The rage in his eyes seemed to be able to practically set those green tea leaves in the cup before him on fire. “Those poor people had pulled through some difficult times to finally live a few days like proper humans should, he actually sent tax collectors here right away... whenever relief is required during the occurrence of natural disasters, why do we not see him reacting so quickly?”

“From the camp aura he exuded, we can find the answer. These fellows are from the Evil Camp; would they possibly do anything related to rendering relief in times of disaster?” an elderly priest said with a smile. “Although this camp aura is something that isn’t very reliable, most of the time, it won’t make unforgivable mistakes. So, we should not have even expected anything from him in the first place.”

“It didn’t matter if he wasn’t going to help, but it had never crossed my mind that he would stir up trouble instead.”

“Many lords are like that,” a young Sacred Warrior said. “This is why His Majesty has taught us to use our own pair of hands to push the world towards improvement.”

Bishop Kabbalah fell into deep thought for a long time, then nodded heavily and said, “All of you are right. It is in places like this where we are especially needed. Look at those poor people, if we don’t come forward to help them, what will become of them?”

“But now, the problem is, how are we going to get rid of those tax collectors?” asked another priest. “I feel that it won’t be long before they start taking out those documents on past levied taxes. By then, we won’t be able to find any more excuses.”

Kabbalah smiled coldly. With a trace of mockery in his eyes, he said, “What’s the use of tossing out those past documents on levied taxes? They must first be able to prove that those poor people were living in the city at that time and had not paid any taxes.”

“Eh?” that priest froze for a moment, then asked, “Haven’t they always been living in the city? And... they also did not have any money to pay their taxes.”

“My fellow churchman! When it comes to such matters, words alone don’t carry enough conviction to prove anything. We need evidence!” Kabbalah laughed and said. “Without evidence, who knows whether it’s true or not!”

“Isn’t there a ‘lie detector’?” asked a Sacred Warrior.

“My friends, just one look is enough to tell that you are all not from the Commonwealth of Gold Coins!” said another Sacred Warrior without waiting for Kabbalah to answer. He was already laughing away as he said, “We, from the Commonwealth of Gold Coins, have never believed in things like ‘lie detectors.’ Right here, there is a well-known rule—so long as there’s no evidence, then nothing has happened.”

“There’s no other way. Which businessman is guilt-free from engaging in activities on the low? How many businessmen in this world did business the proper way? Cheating and swindling is common sense to a businessman, everything will be fine so long as they don’t let anyone get ahold of any evidence against them,” said that Sacred Warrior. “Of course, at the moment, the situation is not good, but this is precisely the time for us to take advantage of this tradition.”

“The art of putting up a struggle is to keep abreast with the current situation at all times and make use of all available conditions to turn disadvantages into advantages,” said an elderly priest.

With that, everyone laughed.

“All in all, so long as those working for the lord are unable to produce evidence to prove that the poor had previously resided here and didn’t pay their taxes, then they don’t owe any taxes at all,” said Kabbalah. After a good laugh, he said sarcastically, “As a matter of fact, it’s illegal to collect taxes given such a situation in the first place. The reason why these tax collectors dared to bully the poor people is that they had the lord backing them up. With the lord’s backing, all they can rely on is nothing more than force. But I would like to see if they have any guts to use force against us!”

True enough, Baron Dahl did not dare to use force.

Although this group of people from the Church of the Void Mask were not considered especially strong, the most powerful being no more than a mid-ranked pontifex, Baron Dahl himself was similarly not very powerful.

Currently, under his command, he had three knights and two knights-to-be; one was middle-ranked, while the other five were only at the junior level. In addition, he had raised two capable generals, whom he had promoted from the status of adventurers, and they were both at the mid-ranked level.

On paper, he seemed to have a great advantage. But as everyone knew, there were not only ten people from Church of the Void Mask. Backing them up was a massive church with many Legendary Masters.

Using force? What use would that be if he could win against these ten people? He did not have an absolute chance of winning even if it was just confronting these ten clergymen.

His men could dominate by sheer force of numbers, but on what basis would they want to put their lives on the line for him? But those clergymen were different. For the god that they believed in and for the sake of upholding their god’s teachings, they absolutely paid no heed to death.

The Dahl family had a very important family motto, which was, “Don’t trust others, and don’t even bother pinning your hopes on others.” Baron Dahl would never expect anyone to do silly things like risking their lives for him, because lords who made that kind of mistake would mostly be done for.

So after hearing his tax collectors’ reports and although his blood was boiling, he did not fly into a rage. Only wearing a gloomy expression, he got the tax collectors to look up information of the past years to see if they could find any favorable evidence.

But he knew that they would most likely not be able to find any.

Aristocrats, in general, would not keep things like tax records because there was a possibility that these records might become evidence against them at some point in time. Baron Dahl was such a shrewd man, so of course, he would not make such a mistake.

Besides, how useful would it be even if tax records from the past could be found? Would these ruses that Kabbalah and his team of clergymen came up with not cross the mind of Baron Dahl, who was such an old hand at trickery and deception?

“Ah! I didn’t expect a group of clergymen to actually use such a method, this is quite a misstep!” he said with a deep sigh and shook his head. Enduring the feeling of oppression weighing him down, he put up a false front of nonchalance and gaiety.

He had to pretend to be like this as he could never be too sure whether someone in his castle might send out news. And when the news reached the ears of other lords nearby, it would in turn lead to something else.

Although he was not sure about what might possibly happen, Baron Dahl’s request was not to let anything unnecessary happen. For this reason, even if he might suffer a slight loss over some taxes, he still found it acceptable.

But this did not mean that he had given up!

A few days later, a new order was issued.

The lord had prepared to make use of this coming winter season, when the wild beasts and demons were lacking food supply, to carry out a mopping-up operation in places like the mountainous regions outside the city. All the adults in the city who did not have a proper profession had to accept enlistment into the mopping-up army.

Of course, there would be no salary paid with regards to this enlistment, but during the expedition, one meal a day would be provided.

As for those who rejected to be enlisted, they either had to pay a “subrogation fee,” or they had to leave Dahl City—what they could take away with them were limited to their personal effects.

This order was not unexpected, and it was quite common to carry out mop-ups of demons and wild beasts during the winter. But what the people had not expected was for the City Defense Army officer to bring a few soldiers over to the slums where he loudly read out this order.

After reading the order, he gave a cold look at the impoverished people. Then with a few uncomfortable and oppressive laughs, he left straight away.

It was without a doubt that these impoverished people would be the ones “without a proper profession.”