Chapter 8

Chapter 8

“Bu… but… this money is too much for cleaning the garden!”

“I’m giving it to you in advance. Let’s say it’s roughly a month’s wages,” I dismissed his fears casually, “Right now, I’m giving this much to you, but after you’re done organizing it, I won’t give you more than the usual wage. Besides.. cleaning my house is an unusual job, so I paid more.”

Angel looked at the gold coin and at me alternately, blinking dozens of times, his mouth gaping slightly. He seemed to be thinking hard with his small head on why I was saying this. As I saw Angel still standing blankly I felt awkward and coughed.

“Then, take a rest today and come and work from tomorrow. You should buy meat for your younger siblings today,” I said.

Unable to overcome my embarrassment, I waved my hand lightly and hurriedly got out of Angel’s sight. Angel, still standing blankly in his place, looked like he was dreaming. For people like Angel, who can survive a month with one silver coin, these two gold coins were an amount of money that they couldn’t finish or earn for the rest of their lives.

How about giving him a decent home…Hmm?’ I contemplated, ‘If he cleans the mansion, there’s got to be a spare room after. I’ll give him a place to live. Wouldn’t it be better to leave the mansion’s cleaning to him in the future?’ While stuck inside the time magic, the house Angel lived in was so miserable that it was shameful to even call it a house. It was just enough for a person to avoid natural elements like rain and wind.

In spring, he was kicked out of the shabby house where he lived with his parents because he could not pay taxes. The shack was so small that three people had to curl up just to sleep. And when I saw the dirty blankets scavenged from the trash can, I was heartbroken. It was my fault that these small children were kicked out of the house. To be exact, it was because of Dalia!

When gambling reduced her wealth and she had little money left, she began to collect taxes in Acrab, which had originally been a tax-free place. This event happened exactly in the spring season! Of course, there was a lot of protest, but Dalia, who was drunk, only said with glazed eyes, 

“Tax exemption is a privilege granted by the imperial family because of the excellent trade in Acrab. But that’s a privilege that ended two years before my parents died. Who do you think paid your taxes in the meantime?”

Upon hearing the shocking truth, people of the territory were at a loss for words at the fact that the former Count Alshine silently paid taxes for two years and that the drunkard Countess in front of them did the same for two and half years later. 

Of course, I only happened to find out about this story by accident while hiding in the shadows of Acrab for a hundred years and watching people. Because this information didn’t come out in the novel.

‘Dalia, you d*mn Dalia. What if you cut off your privileges instead and collected taxes properly? At least do your job properly as Lord and then collect taxes after!’

There was almost no income from the territory itself because the Acrab merchant organization was not doing its job properly. What’s the use of having famous craftsmen from the empire gathered here when merchants couldn’t put out and sell anything? Income was bound to decrease gradually. 

Unfortunately, Acrab was far from the capital of the empire, and it was difficult to cross a huge mountain range to the capital unless it was a merchant group funded by a rich noble.

Divided by a mountain range from the Kalhai Empire, Acrab was a unique terrain surrounded by huge mines. Therefore, no matter what happened, it was hard to get help, and even if help arrived, it was often too late. It was also the perfect structure for the wicked villain to test out time magic.

But here’s what I think: if there is a mine, isn’t Countess Alshine incredibly rich?

Of course, that was also true, but there were too many monsters in the mine and developing it needed a big amount of funding. Actually, they had tried, but all of the money went to subjugating monsters, so there was nothing Dalia could do. Although the story was different when her parents, especially the predecessor Count Alshine, was alive.

All misfortune began with a carriage accident three years ago, when the former count and countess died. 

‘Who would have known that all the money needed for mine development was borrowed money?’ I thought glumly.

Furthermore, this sum was from the neighboring count beyond the mountain range. 

As soon as he heard the news that her parents were dead, he got over here immediately, collected all the mercenaries who were subjugating monsters in the mine, and demanded debt to be repaid.

Before Dalia could even cope with her grief, she had no choice but to pay off her debts by completely emptying her family’s fortune. Still, the wealth left behind by her thrifty parents was quite large.

However, the mine could not be developed because there were no mercenaries, and the number of goods produced decreased because crystals couldn’t be mined, and every time merchants of the Arcab crossed the mountain range, all goods were taken away by bandits, making finances worse.

Even so Dalia never gave up and sent the merchants, but frequently failed and her wealth continued to decline as she paid enormous land taxes instead of earning. Left with misfortunes after another, Dalia turned to alcohol to cope with her current predicament.

‘Even if you’re a drunkard with a tragic backstory, what difference does that make?’

I sighed deeply and shoved my trembling hands into my pockets. Eventually, half a year after inheriting the Count’s title, Dalia gave up everything. When it became impossible for her to gamble, the tax exemption, which had continued half a year ago, also changed drastically.

There’s a saying that if the loss is too great, the motivation also disappears. It was not wrong to think Dalia had experienced this. 

I shook my head and hurried my steps to deal with the next matter. Now that I met Angel, I also had to go save Mimi’s brother, Mickey. Mimi was a maid who had worked for Count Alshine for 10 years since childhood. The 25-year-old Mimi had a younger brother, who was similar to Angel.