Chapter 11

It's been a month, since I transmigrated into this world, and the first week that I was here, I already requested to get a copy of the accounting ledger, but it took me weeks. Before I was able to get hold of these documents, that tells me about the current taxes and expenses of our territory.

Sandra gave me a copy of this document earlier this morning, and as I read the information written on it, I was surprised to find out that despite the big tax raise we did for this year, it's still nothing compared to the taxes of other neighboring cities.

Thanks to the income from the salt trade and mining industry we managed to avoid the excessive raise of taxes on our people.

But in spite of this, our situation is still not good, as the kingdom's taxes are getting higher and higher every year, and just last week, a messenger brought in a piece of bad news to our city. The kingdom of Turox has once again raised our taxes next year to 4000 gold coins. If we can't find a way to make additional money in the coming days we might risk losing our rights to govern this city.

Taxes are crucial in running a territory. It's the lifeblood of every nation. Without it, no institution would function properly. But this is also where corruption begins especially in this era where transparency of expenses is unheard of. It's much easier for people in this position to fill their own pockets without getting caught.

Currently, our territory has 12 official Knights including my father and 400-foot soldiers. It might sound like a small number but this force is enough to manage a city with a small population.

A single knight alone is already equivalent to several dozens of soldiers. As Knights have a stronger physique and a unique way to manifest their power on their body and blade. In exchange for this power, knights are known for having large stomachs. As they need to consume large amounts of food every day in order to sustain their daily activities.

Their food consumption would also grow after having a fight, the more power they used the more food they eat. I guess it has something to do with energy loss that's why knights need a large intake of food after a fight.

The food expenses of raising a knight alone are already huge. If we include the equipment and materials to train them, it would reach an astonishing amount of 3 silver a day for each knight. But having 12 knights on our small territory to guard it, is a great force to defend it from any surprise attacks.

But keeping this many knights on our small territory also takes a toll on our treasury, as it takes us 36 silver a day just to maintain them, that means in order for us to keep them all, we need to spend 13,140 silvers or 1,314 gold per year just to keep our current number of knights.

Given that our yearly budget only amounts to 6000 gold coins, plus if we pay our taxes this year and other expenses to maintain the city. We only have a remaining 1186 gold coins of funds for this year, to run the entire territory, this also includes our budget for the Beaufort house.

As the kingdom continuously raises its taxes year by year, we must also tighten our belt in order to survive, but if we can't find a new way to solve this problem we might lose everything we have.

The kingdom didn't really bother us as long as we pay the taxes they demanded each year, and since we established the city at the edge of the enchanted forest we can't really reduce our military force if we want the city to be safe from any surprise attack.

All of the knights that we currently have came from the descendants of soldiers and knights that stayed with us when our family was kicked out of the capital. They remain loyal to the Beaufort house the entire time despite the huge offer of other forces. A lot of nobles tried to poach them but none succeeded.

Due to this situation, all of the ten families of knights that came with us were stripped of their power and their ranks.

All of them actually have a noble status, though low in rank, but still, removing their title as a noble is a harsh punishment. Especially in this era where social status is highly valued.

But despite all of this, all of the 10 families remain loyal to us and continuously supported us even though other noble families were willing to hire them at a high price.

One of the reasons why knights are important for the noble families is aside from their power. It is also because there is a greater chance for noble ladies to give birth to a child that is highly suitable to become an official knight due to their bloodline.

Don't get me wrong, everyone can practice and train to be a knight, but not all can step on the path to becoming an official knight.

There's also a big difference between an apprentice rank and an official Junior knight, it might sound like there's only a little gap between the two but it's not.

Based on what I know, knights are actually welcome to join any noble family as long as they would leave a capable heir on them, in short, they must leave a seed on that noble family in exchange for resources. That's why polygamy is very common in this era, as strong knights attract a lot of attention from many noble ladies.

This is also one of the causes, of a huge bloom of young aristocrats attaining the power of official knights despite their young age. But none of them actually doesn't have any experience in actual combat. With their huge resources and wealth, they managed to break through the barrier that separates mortals from powerful knights.

Many nobles spent huge amounts of money and resources just to become official knight in order to show off to others and to prolong their lives a little more.

But despite all of this, the number of knights in the Turox kingdom is still slowly decreasing due to many reasons. Such as not enough resources, expensive materials, and due to war that happened a decade ago, which kills a lot of our soldiers and knights and causes the kingdom to decline greatly.

It is also the reason why we only have 12 knights remaining in the city, as 10 of them came from the 10 different families that serve and follow the Beaufort house. They were actually the kids that were trained by their father before they go to war a decade ago and none of them have returned alive.

Their death also causes great damage to our city's military force, but despite this Florentine city remains a powerful force in the Turox kingdom even with its small population. It's because we still have a lot of knights remaining compared to other neighboring cities. 

Michael even though he is a knight he is not a part of the 10 families. He was an orphan outside the city that was brought and trained by my father to become my personal protector.

A huge part of the Turox kingdom now pays a ridiculous amount of tax and for weird and various reasons, they keep raising the taxes on people year after year.

All they said is that a huge amount of money is needed to fund the great fortress in the central continent, but they really didn't tell us anything aside from that.

No matter what the reason is, I need to be prepared. I need to make sure that our territory has enough power to deter those people who have wicked thoughts against us.

I need to make more gold and create more jobs in order to strengthen the economy, and with enough funds, I can start the numerous projects that I have in mind, to build more establishments and start the creation of revolution in this era.

All of this would require a huge amount of money and it won't be easy.

Originally, I never intended to work hard after my transmigration. I thought that I can finally enjoy my life in peace as a young master of a noble family, but fate sure is tricky. If I just do all that, then I'll die for sure.

As someone who already experienced death before, having the thought of dying once more in this new world is unpleasant.

I sighed in exhaustion.

Why is it so hard to live? Do I really need to do all this work? Where's my golden finger? Why must I transmigrate into this world without having some powerful cheats?

I feel so frustrated with my current situation. So if someone decided to destroy the peaceful life that I have in this city then I'll make sure that they would suffer greatly.

"Knock" "Knock"

"Master Lucas, A man named Victor is looking for you." Said suddenly by James our butler after knocking on the huge door.

"Oh! Let him in then." I said calmly as James guided Victor inside the room.

"Master Lucas, it is good to see you today." Victor said quickly as he approach me with a wide smile on his face.

"It's nice to know that you have never forgotten what I told you before." I said to him as I take a sip of my tea.

"Of course, Master Lucas, it's my honor to serve the Beaufort house." He said as he vows his head Victor suddenly have a 180-degree of change in personality after officially working underneath our family.

"It's almost been a month since you started working with us, correct? Now I have a new order for you. I want you to go unnoticed and don't let anyone know what I'm about to tell you today. Your mission is easy. You can still do your usual task of being a vendor on the market, while you keep your eyes on the current prices of basic goods on the market. You must report to me immediately if you notice an unusual spike in the prices of these goods, understood?" I seriously said to him as I looked at him in the eye.

"Yes Master Lucas, I'm more than happy to serve you." He said in a solemn voice.

"Of course, I won't let you serve under me for free. You would also have your own benefits as a reward would be given to you, depending on how important is the information you will give to me. Now, if you still have anything you need in order to do your task just approach Sandra. She can arrange everything for you, and if you're done you may leave." I said as I take a quick glance at him.

After victor left the mansion, I immediately go back in reading the documents that Sandra have brought to me.

Due to our distance to the sea, we have huge access to salt, which a lot of people depend on for a living. A huge number of people in the city work on mining ores and refining salt while others work on the farmland.

It is also a huge advantage for us to be located near the mountains of the north as it brought us a huge amount of minerals that we could mine, but due to danger, and its location being far from the capital, our advantages were offset by the huge transportation cost.

Every year a procession of caravans would come to our city to trade and do business.

A huge amount of materials and money would flow to our city but the thing that they wanted the most is the cores and preserved meat of the magical beast that our knights hunted in the periphery of the enchanted forest.

Each transaction would average from 50 gold coins depending on the quality of the magic cores.

Magic cores can be found on the Magic beast that roams inside the enchanted forest.

The deeper you go the more powerful the beast is, and every year, during the winter season, there would be a small outbreak of wild beast besieging the city. However, thanks to the presence of knights no significant damage or harm were done to our city every time it happens.

Normal people treat the magic beast as a monster as it is very aggressive and often causes death.

Magic beasts are basically just evolved form of normal animal that gains massive strength and unique power due to the existence of magic.

Especially in the northern part of the continent, as it is home to a lot of powerful creatures of hell.

It is said that during the old times, the northern part of the continent is the land of the most powerful empire, but then one day creatures from hell descended on the place, and destroyed everything.

Now humanity's last stand is located on the central continent, defending the Great Fortress from the siege of unending demonic creatures using a thick and strong wall keeping us away from the danger they may bring to our land.

The central continent is like a giant gate, as it is the only way to go inland of the northern continent. Due to its unusual terrain where it blocked everyone from going in, by using the mountains, as its natural wall, and with its extreme climate that would stop anyone from crossing this dangerous place.

That's where the biggest fortress of humanity stands, created in the era of old.

A border that separates the land of humans from demonic creatures.

People actually mistook the magic beast as a demonic creature all the time, due to its different appearance. You should know that no demonic beast is allowed to exist within the mortal land. This also causes a massive blackout of information about demonic creatures.

Because a lot of normal people don't know the real appearance of a demonic beast. Some of them even thought that Demonic creatures aren't real.

Our Ancestor was one of the knights that serves in guarding the fortress and he told us a lot of information about them via his memoirs. He said that the demonic creatures are the vilest creature he has ever seen in his entire life. They are monsters that don't feel fear and their skin is hard as magic metal and as black as the darkest night.

He said that demonic creatures are easy to identify, as their blood is black in color and very toxic to the environment.

According to the oldest books that humanity had, monsters like this didn't exist on this land before.

But due to the long passage of time, no one really knew where they begin to appear. Aside from the story that they suddenly appeared and causes the destruction of the powerful Gregorian empire of the northern continent.

Their existence itself is a plague, as no normal weapon can cause significant damage to them. They have strong regenerative properties and the only thing that can cause harm to them are magic that came from a wizard and the aura that a knight can condense on their blade.

While magic silver is the most effective and cheapest material that can harm this creature, but it can only slow down their regeneration and inflict small damage to them.

And every time, a magic silver blade or arrow penetrates their body, their blood would violently reacts to it, and would cause the silver to corrode into a mixture of black and silvery smudge.

In order to fight the monster in the northern continent, most of the kingdoms have agreed to guard the biggest and strongest fortress in the central continent. As it is the only way for the demonic creatures to invade, is to bypass this fortress made from the era of the old forgotten past.

The fortress has been standing for a long time even before the time of the Gregorian empire, no matter what happens, whether a kingdom dies or is born. Millions of soldiers would remain stationed in the fortress to protect the rest of the remaining land of humanity.

But recently, in the past 100 years demonic creatures' activities have begun to decrease. This causes some human kingdom to loosen their guard and becomes bold as they decided to explore the inside of the northern continent.

This is also the reason why the development of the kingdom is slow as a huge amount of force was needed to guard the fortress. Since every kingdom on this continent must send its army to make sure that the fortress would remain standing until the end.