Chapter 166

The Kind of Nobles That Can be Found Anywhere
The village square was piled with wyvern corpses. The number of wyverns that attacked was 43. Helios had gone to take down the boss of the wyverns, and apparently, the reason for their attack was that their nest had been taken over by another dragon, leaving them without food. When we followed the Flying Drake that fled from Helios, it seemed to have been killed by a pair of Brave Dragons.

Brave Dragons are also called courageous dragons, but in reality, they’re just foolish creatures that attack anything they see, regardless of strength. They have no elemental attributes, but they are stronger than Flying Drakes.

As expected, even though they realized Helios was an Ancient Dragon, they still charged at him and were promptly defeated. When Helios returned in his human form, dragging the tails of two Brave Dragons behind him, the villagers were horrified. Normally, no one could just carry those around.

“My Lord, it seems these creatures had gathered quite a bit of treasure. The Brave Dragons’ hoard has also been moved to their nest!”

Helios had found something unexpected. He was trying to show off to Mr. Coote that he was more useful.

Hearing that, Mr. Coote let out a frustrated growl.

“If I could attack their nest, I’d find treasure too!”

When I patted Mr. Coote to calm him down, he sulked and turned away.

“Now that I think about it, Helios, you probably have a treasure hoard in your nest too, right?”

Come to think of it, dragons love shiny things, just like crows.

Helios looked startled.

“Now that you mention it, I have been gathering treasure in my nest. Very well, I shall bring it all later.”

“Are you sure?”

It was probably all stolen goods, but it still belonged to Helios.

“I don’t mind. I only collected it without any use for it. For us, gathering treasure is merely a hobby. The treasure in my nest should still be there.

No one would dare touch my nest.”

Alright, then we’ll add it to the kingdom’s funds. This will allow for more public works projects. Helios has probably amassed a huge amount of treasure. I’ll have to thank him later.

“… If you just order me, I can steal as much as you want.”

“Mr. Coote, where exactly would you be stealing from? If you start causing trouble, you’ll end up as a target for extermination.

You and the others are already doing plenty, so you should take pride in that.”

When Helios is in his dragon form, he stands out too much. In his human form, he’s just a shield. On the other hand, Mr. Coote and the others can scout, guard, and even detect ambushes with their keen sense of smell, making them excellent bodyguards.

After a while, the village chief came out. There had been some casualties.

The wyverns had mostly targeted livestock, but a few people had been eaten or crushed under collapsing buildings.

“Thanks to you, the damage was kept to a minimum. We are truly grateful.”

“We’re the ones who should apologize. If we had arrived a little earlier, we could have prevented any losses.”

If we had gotten here just one day earlier, we could have wiped out the wyverns without any casualties...

The village chief hesitated for a moment before offering a wry smile.

“As someone who has been a village chief for many years, I understand that these things happen. Thanks to you, our village wasn’t wiped out. There is no need for apologies. No one could have predicted that wyverns, which usually move during the day, would attack at dawn.

However, please report their behavior to the guild, so this doesn’t happen again.”

Wyverns generally move during the day. They do fly at night sometimes, but since their vision isn’t great in the dark, they usually don’t attack at night. In fact, some of them had just been rampaging aimlessly in empty fields.

The villagers were busy retrieving usable materials from the destroyed buildings and making funeral arrangements.

We tried to help, but they refused, saying, “We can’t ask our benefactors to do such things.”

As the sun rose, the villagers gathered for the funeral. The church’s priest had apparently fled during a previous stampede, so the village chief was the one reading the scriptures.

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah. If we stay too long, the atmosphere will just get heavier.”

After a while, we also began preparing to leave the village. Before that, we had to collect the wyvern corpses that had been gathered in the square. But… the villagers were still there, which meant I couldn’t take them into my Treasury.

That thing is way too flashy. When summoned, an unbelievably extravagant and otherworldly gate appears. Even if they think it’s a magic tool, it’s not something an ordinary adventurer would possess.

It would also be a problem when selling the materials to the guild. Looks like I’ll need to make a large storage bag. Luckily, I have the materials. I can craft it on the way back and swap everything outside the capital. But what to do right now…

As I was thinking, the sound of a carriage and the clanking of armor echoed through the village.

Has the lord finally decided to take action?

The knight, likely appointed by the local lord, called for the village chief in an arrogant tone.

"Is the village chief here?"

"Y-yes, I am here."

The knight, mounted on his horse, acted with an air of authority. But come on, anyone could see that a funeral was taking place. They could at least wait a little.

"An additional tax is to be collected. Submit it as listed here."

Holding up a document detailing the additional levy, the knight made his demand.

The entire village froze. No one collected taxes in winter, and while this village wasn’t exactly poor, it certainly didn’t have the resources to pay an extra tax at this time of year.

"I’m terribly sorry, but we were attacked by wyverns this morning, and part of our village’s storehouse was destroyed. If we pay an additional tax, we will starve.

Furthermore, the families of the deceased need some form of compensation. Could you perhaps consider reducing next year’s tax instead?"

Even the village’s food reserves had been damaged... Perhaps it would be best to give them some of the wyverns. This was too cruel.

However, the knight suddenly dismounted and struck the village chief.

"The lord of this land and his heir are in this carriage! It is the duty of the people to offer tribute joyfully!"

"M-my apologies..."

As the knight shouted, he trampled over the groaning village chief. I glanced at Anon. Was this really the kind of noble that Ostland tolerated? In Arland, such a lord would have their title revoked and be confined by the noble assembly.

"This is a first for me too... Wait, isn’t that the Uzal Baron family’s crest? They’re infamous for their reckless spending, but I guess they’ve finally crossed the line. This is outright illegal. If His Majesty hears about this, their lands will be confiscated at the very least."

Yeah, a lord couldn’t just demand taxes whenever they wanted. Alright, I’d take it upon myself to inform the king. I’d also ask for a tax reduction for the village while I was at it.

"Princess, now that you have witnessed this, severe punishment is unavoidable. It would damage Ostland’s reputation otherwise."

Alicia whispered to me. She was right. Ostland was an important ally of Arland, but it wasn’t irreplaceable. If the kingdom appears corrupt, it could jeopardize alliances and economic cooperation. That old king wouldn’t hesitate to cut these people off.

"You all owe your very survival to the lord! Deliver the tax at once! And the heir desires a woman—find someone suitable!"

As if people couldn’t survive without a lord. Well, they’d have to manage their own security and affairs, but still.

What a disgusting group. Instinctively, I reached for the revolver in my holster.

"Shall we kill them?"

Even Alicia was looking at them like they were trash. She wouldn’t show a shred of mercy. They were too vile.

"I’d prefer to capture them, but if I act, it’ll cause trouble. If my identity is exposed, it’ll be seen as political interference... Anon?"

"Eh? Even I can’t do anything. If my father were here, he’d arrest them on the spot, but I have no authority... Beating them up and capturing them is about all I can do."

Yeah, nobles didn’t actually have any real power on their own. Even Anon couldn’t act immediately. Using force was our only option, but doing it here would make us criminals.

"Still haven’t collected it?"

A fat man, presumably the lord, poked his head out of the carriage window. He had the perfect villainous face—the kind of disposable lackey character.

The knight, bowing repeatedly, rattled off excuses, blaming everything on the villagers. The worst kind of people.

The lord, furious at the knight’s excuses, shot an air bullet spell at the knight’s face.

"Hurry it up! I must return to the capital to report to Lord Ridimas at once!"

Who was Ridimas?

"The fifth prince. Even I forgot his name, so he must be pretty insignificant."

"Strangely enough, everyone forgets his name."

Oh, that guy. I couldn’t even recall his face, but he had been annoying. I didn’t know the fifth prince had a hobby of keeping useless pigs as pets. My opinion of him dropped from rock bottom to delisted.

Anon also filled me in on the fifth prince’s situation.

Apparently, the royal family’s power struggle had intensified lately. The king had already declared the crown prince as the next ruler, and most of the other royal siblings had accepted it. However, the fifth prince’s faction was still fiercely resisting.

Because of them, even repealing decrees had become difficult. Some influential nobles were backing him, causing interference. They really should just use a royal decree to put an end to this.

The nobility’s factional struggles had also intensified as a result.

And thanks to the stampede’s impact on the military and economy, the king couldn’t put too much pressure on the powerful nobles.

"Papa, let’s hurry up and leave this village and return to the capital."

A man with a mushroom-like haircut peeked out, looking bored. That was probably the baron’s heir. He seemed to be in his mid-thirties? Also, calling his father “papa” at that age was a bit...

"Oh, sorry, my son. We could leave right away if these peasants weren’t resisting."

"Hurry up and—Father! Look at all those wyverns!"

The mushroom-haired heir had spotted the wyvern corpses.

This was about to get troublesome.

What do you think about this chapter?