3 days since the last chapter…

Tristan, Royal Capitol, The Doll House

 

Dignity and honor were things that humans loved to boast about and were often put on a pedestal when they were talking about what made humans human. Those people have never had any money troubles or they would never ask how people can fall so low as to give up their morals. This became even more apparent when you were doing something drastic like starting a school for prostitutes. Often referred to as the oldest professions it was also one of the earliest reported crimes.

 

Associating with prostitutes would hurt your reputation, especially if you were female, and being a prostitute can make it almost impossible to get a good job. This is why Ashton had gone out of his way to make sure that the people he selected for teaching positions were all mentally resilient. They would need it to handle the backlash they would be getting until a reputation was established for the school by its students. Looking over the document in front of him, he was going over the various classes they would be teaching.

 

“Reading and writing to start the day, then sewing, and home economics. This is followed by a break of thirty minutes to give the women a breather. Then math, agriculture, etiquette, and baking. They will then have lunch followed by their defense training and end the day to start working.” Ashton nodded as he looked it over. 

 

Just like students on Earth, they would have multiple classes that would start from early in the morning. The difference between his school and the ones on Earth was that his classes were all designed to evolve. It would take five years to graduate with the work of over twenty staff members and they could change the order of the classes to run multiple at once, this way the teachers didn’t have large amounts of downtime. The entire system for the slaves could be considered fair, as long as they made enough to cover their expenses then they could work doing that instead of prostitution. 

 

“If I can hold on until they graduate, then I can take advantage of my investments and make money doing nothing at all,” Ashton muttered with a smile. 

 

Right now all of the production was being done in small shops like the ones that were owned by the locals and leased to them by their lords. This was expensive compared to owning your own land, but then you had to pay taxes and manage an estate. Becoming a noble wasn’t a good thing because if you couldn’t find a way to fit into noble society then they would push you out of it. They can charge tolls on everything you import and everything you export, and then make it impossible to move into the various cities that aren’t owned by the royal family.

 

“Why are you doing this? Where do you make any money in this scheme?” Nadia asked.

 

“When I first saw the rainbow towers I thought that most places would be run the same. Places where they make use of many workers to increase production, but they don’t. Do you know what makes Brody unique among many tailors and shoemakers?” Ashton asked.

 

“He has an incredible libido?” Nadia replied.

 

“He uses patterns made from paper cut into the shapes of the pieces of the shoe, this way he can cut them faster and assemble them easier. Being a parent who is raising his family above his shop, he had to innovate to even be able to function.” Ashton commented.

 

Since he knew almost nothing about making clothes, a lot of this had been new to him, but one thing he understood was time. Having to muddle through and design things from the ground up every single time was exhausting and time-consuming.

 

“Surely it can’t save that much time?” Nadia said with some skepticism.

 

“Let me explain what I want to do and let’s see if it makes sense to you,” Ashton said as he took out a piece of paper.

 

“How much is a good pair of shoes?” Ashton asked.

 

“I paid two silver coins for mine.” She said as she pointed to her soft leather shoes that had laces and a leather sole.

 

“Monster hide?” Ashton asked.

 

“Yes, it is more durable.” She explained.

 

“A sheet of monster hide costs three silver and it has enough materials to make five shoes from it according to Brody. This means your profit is one silver and fifty coppers and there is good demand for shoes in a city like this.” Ashton remarked. “Now, if you use patterns to minimize the leather that you waste, you can get more than 5 shoes worth of pieces from that one sheet, and from this, you can make more money.”

 

And what they were planning was to make a shoe factory, one where the students would go right onto an assembly line either cutting leather pieces for shoes or assembling and sewing them. This would be for the students who wanted to make a good living working under others, there was nothing shameful about this and most people made a living this way. For the exceptional students who came up with profitable ideas, they would find the bank of Grayfield ready to invest in their ventures as long as they got a cut of the profits. In the future, he was hoping that he could drop prostitution altogether for factory work.

 

“Okay, that is shoes, what about farming? You’re teaching women to farm?” Nadia asked.

 

“That’s right, from seed to cotton they will know everything necessary to the production. You can’t tell good cotton from bad without knowing how it is grown and what makes it good in the first place. It will be the same with leather, calling it agriculture isn’t a good definition since it is a catch-all.” Ashton muttered. “Kind of like how home economics involves sexual studies now…”

 

“Why do you care so much, Nadia? We're just being paid to train them.” A flat voice said from the side.

 

This belonged to a woman who was wearing a black kimono-style robe and hakama-style pants in black color with the symbol of a koi fish on her back. She came from an island chain that drifted along the continent's coasts on the backs of giant turtles that were in the supreme tier. Black hair and dark eyes were common traits of the natives there. Overcrowding had caused them to enact a harsh one-child policy and the extra children were taken from their parents and raised in an orphanage-like facility until they were thirteen years of age. Then they were dropped on the mainland and left to fend for themselves, that was how Tasha became an adventurer.

 

When it came to blade skills, Tasha came highly recommended as she could use a wide variety, but people like her who didn’t train in strength had problems making it into good teams. Most people wanted a warrior who could substitute the tanks in a pinch, so they wanted bulky people who wore armor. Daggers were generally useless against large monsters and strength was needed to wield large blades the size and weight of people then heavy armor to avoid flying away when you swung it. Warriors were like ants and could gain strength many times their size, but they needed the weight to be able to use it for more than lifting and carrying something.

 

What a letdown to get a warrior that isn’t even capable of being a good backpack! That is probably what they think when they see her… Ashton didn’t care because Nadia was right, she was a bargain at 20 gold a year for her services as a teacher and a bouncer for the brothels. She was currently in the mid-tier and was able to last a full 30 seconds against Kumiho thanks to her speed and agility. One of her conditions was to be able to spar against the fox monster, something Kumiho readily agreed to.

 

“That’s right, I am doing hand-to-hand, the quarterstaff, and the spear. You’ll be doing swords, daggers, and throwing weapons. Then Anna will be doing bows, guns, axes, and traps.” Nadia explained. “Then we have you to teach them martial training, and we have Kumiho to teach them magic. I think we are going to have a lot of mages though…”

 

This statement caused both women to look over at the fox woman who was surrounded by the other slaves. She was sitting on a chair with a high back and an opening that allowed her tails to move freely from the back. Her feet were being massaged and bathed and her tails were being brushed as she was getting pedicures on her nails. 

 

“Big Sister Kumiho, the fur on your tails is amazing!” An elven woman laughed as she used a brush to pull any loose furs from one of the long appendages.

 

“Yes, Kumiho’s fur is incredible. Kumiho washes it very carefully every day.” She replied proudly.

 

“Big Sis, you are so strong! That guy thought he could get handsy without paying and you planted him into the ground like a tree!” Another one cooed as she worked to massage the balls of Kumiho’s feet.

 

“A dumbass tree!” Another girl added.

 

“Yes! Kumiho is very strong, even in the same tier Kumiho is hard to beat!” She said with a victorious smile.

 

“I figured she would be a warrior since she loves beating things to death with her tails…” Ashton muttered.

 

“No way! Would you spend a minute praying to your god to smite a fly that landed on your hand?” Nadia commented. “No one has made her use magic yet.”

 

“That makes sense…” Ashton muttered to himself before he finished his work on the curriculum. 

 

“So if the teachers are sharing their profits with you, and you have to pay taxes, how is anyone going to make money?” Nadia asked.

 

“A loophole,” Ashton explained.

 

“A loophole?” Nadia asked.

 

“If I start a shoe store in my territory and make a profit from it then I am required to pay taxes on it. But if it is on a different noble's land and the commoner is the one who owns it, then it falls into this strange gray area. If the commoner is the one making all of the money on territory that is gifted to me by the noble, then the commoner can just give us a percentage of the profits and we just have to keep pointing fingers at each other when it comes to the topic of taxes.” Ashton explained.

 

This information about willingly avoiding taxes caught Nadia by surprise coming from Ashton, she had started to wonder if he was a good person after three days of him turning the brothel around.

 

“If they give the land to me and I have commoners set up shops there, like right outside of the capitol, I can let the commoners make as much money as they want and since they aren’t nobles there is no incentive to pay taxes themselves.” Ashton paused her and asked a question. “If you found a chicken that laid golden eggs and the cost to enter Paradise was to kill the chicken, would you?”

 

“If it is Paradise, why wouldn’t you?” She asked back.

 

“I would laugh in his face and make my own paradise out of gold with my pet chicken,” Ashton explained. “How do I know that this Paradise is so fantastic? What if it is like the beer we serve here and mixed with water to cut costs? You don’t need to worry, I am already a great noble and I can tell you that it isn’t all that it is cracked up to be.”

 

“You mentioned gifts… are gifts not taxed?” She asked.

 

“No, they aren’t, we gift each other too many valuable items and it would be impossible to keep track of it all. A wedding alone between two major families can see thousands of gifts worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins.” Ashton explained. “That’s why this works so well, the investment can be considered as paying me back for what I put into the business originally, which isn’t taxable. Then we just give a gift to the noble whose land we are borrowing graciously and then the money will pour in.”

 

“What if the noble decides to kick you out?” She asked.

 

“Okay,” Ashton said flatly. “Then we find another noble who wants the extra money. They can have the empty shell but we will have the workers. This isn’t work that just anyone can do, they need to be trained and know the processes. I already planned for that and as a businessman, it is best to just cut your losses and move elsewhere.”

 

If the noble whose land he is using decides to try to pull a fast one, he won’t be able to nor would he want to. Plus he had already found a bunch of nobles who were perfect for the role. They were called ‘Slum Lords’ and were usually appointed worthless territories where they could only make money sponging off the commoners. If they could get free money while only having to give up a portion of their land, they would do it in a heartbeat, as it stood it was worthless to them anyway. And once he left a single time, it would send a signal to the other nobles not to take his kindness for granted or he would go elsewhere.

 

“Why are you doing this? What do you gain from propping up commoners while screwing over the crown?” Nadia asked.

 

“Money and safety, the only things that matter,” Ashton replied confidently.

 

He was no hero who would stick his neck out and charge forward to reform the corrupt system. Instead, he would give them a reason to want to change the system by showing them the holes in it and making sure that he kept a good reputation with the commoners. It felt like at any moment a civil war could break out and he would rather be on the side of the biggest force, that is what he felt was the best way to avoid getting killed. The best way to avoid being assassinated was to not make yourself a target in the first place, but he still wasn’t sure why Ashe had killed himself.

 

“I doubt I am the only one who thought of this, I am sure that other nobles are using it too,” Ashton explained. “I just plan on using it the most and bringing attention to the problem.”

 

“Won’t you get in trouble?” Nadia asked.

 

“No, there is one thing the royal family has never allowed to be brought up in a discussion in the House of Lords, do you know what it is?” He asked.

 

“No...” She asked.  “What is it?”

 

“Taxes… They were set in a time when the nation was failing and it has been a hundred years or more since then. Yet they refuse to even let the topic be brought up, do you know why?” Ashton asked again.

 

“Because they would become lower?” She said with some hesitation.

 

“That’s right. Once the cats are out of the bag, it is almost impossible to put them back in it again.” Ashton said with a laugh. “Once taxes are discussed once, they will have to be brought up again and again and again. It is almost impossible to move up in the nobility unless you have a lot of help, or you have to be willing to get your hands dirty.”

 

“How do cats being in a bag affect taxes?” She asked.

 

“It’s an expression, it means that once something is done it cannot be undone again. So if the taxes are changed in any way then it will be easier to do it again and this would hurt the royal family.”Ashton explained.

 

“Aren’t you hurting the royal family with your actions?” Tasha asked. “I thought you people who followed your kings, all screamed about loyalty and honor?” 

 

“I am a practical person, when I do something I do it to the best of my ability. Since I decided to make a new business model for the brothels, then I needed to come up with a way to make it profitable.” Ashton explained. “Anyone can work on their backs and spread their legs, but my goal is to give them the chance to walk on their own feet again. What I am doing now will be considered normal in the future.”

 

“Evading taxes or educating women?” Tasha asked.

 

“Both,” Ashton replied with a smile before he looked at a sheet of paper on the table. “Finding a location for the school was easy as well, I just needed to find a noble’s mansion that was abandoned. It’s got everything we need and is right on the edge of the city.”

 

“I heard that you were hiring skilled workers?” A female voice called from the door.

 

Kasha immediately stepped forward and began talking to the woman, Ashton just watched the woman’s reaction from the back, just like the other working women he could see the desperation based on her clothes. 

 

“I am a blacksmith, I have worked in a forge for 35 years.” She started before Ashton signaled Kasha to hire her. 

 

“What wares do you make?” Kasha asked anyway, making sure she still did her job.

 

The woman had deep wrinkles and tanned skin from the sun, her black and gray hair was held in a bun. She wore a day dress but she had well-muscled arms and chest and a very developed back, she looked like a physical laborer but Ashton had always respected their type. 

 

“Mostly kitchenware, but I make almost anything. Weapons, traps, guns, armor, even replacement parts for clocks.” The older woman explained. 

 

Something is off… If she is that accomplished then there is something wrong… Ashton thought. “Why are you… here then? Making money… shouldn’t be any… problem for you.” 

 

A troubled expression crossed her face when she saw Ashe Grayfield in a corner of the large room. She took a deep breath to steady herself and started to get down on her knees, this caught Ashton off guard.

 

“Lord Grayfield, my apprentice was among your assassins… He would never do anything like that! I think he was under some kind of spell, I have been following him since he left the village a week ago but I came too late!” The woman began crying and Ashton was having problems keeping up with her since she was talking too fast.

 

“Calm down… start from the beginning,” Ashton ordered. 

 

“I come from Lyndell village, it is nea-” The woman began, but Nadia cut her off with a whistle.

 

“That is right next to the Throat of the Forest. That is quite the area to live in, next to a forbidden zone.” Nadia explained.

 

“The monsters in that area are all cat species as well, you must be quite experienced at making traps,” Tasha commented.

“My family has lived there for several generations, my brother and cousins are all blacksmiths as well.” She said a bit more confidently. “My apprentice is named Jeffrey, he is the son of a couple who disappeared from the village along with him. I think he was bewitched by an envoy who came from Galvos, they ran the inn and the party from Galvos were the last people to come through the village.”

 

Shit! This is the last thing I wanted, to get even more deeply involved in the assassination attempt… However, the moment Ashton thought of the value that the woman could offer him, he couldn’t bring himself to tell her no. Even if she is only mediocre, I haven’t found any other blacksmiths in the city!

 

“You just want him… released?” Ashton asked.

 

“Is there any way to get the charges against him dropped? They said that he killed an old man making his way to your booth…” She said with a grimace.

 

 Wait? He killed the old butler! My god… But did Ashton buy that it was an envoy from Galvos, or that there might not be something wrong here?

 

“Beretta?” He asked.

 

“What?” The woman muttered before she suddenly sunk into the ground like it was a pool of water.

 

“Don’t worry... she is just going to chew on you a bit… I need to make sure that you are not… weird…” Ashton muttered. 

 

***

Meanwhile…

Tristan, Royal Capitol, A street in the city

 

“I want to fight monsters!” A young girl said and looked up at the priest.

 

“A mage, they are expensive to raise! That gunmaker refused to take my money! That bastard!” The priest yelled with bloodshot eyes. 

 

Suddenly a large clay single seemed to loosen itself from the roof of a passing building and aimed towards the priest’s head as it slid off the other tiles gaining speed. 

 

“Look out!” A dirty unshaven man called and pushed the priest out of the way.

 

The priest holding the chest of gold like it was some burden looked at the young red-headed priest who saved him from the clay brick and noticed something missing from around his neck.

 

“Which god do you serve?” The middle-aged priest asked in confusion.

 

“Me? I served Artoll, but I have recently left.” Reaching into a pocket in his robe, Michael pulled out a bottle of wine and began drinking heavily from it. “I decided that I would find another calling, the church doesn’t seem so great to me anymore.”

 

“That is perfect! You can help me spend all of this money on the children! If you aren’t a part of the church you must not have anywhere to stay, right?” The middle-aged priest asked with joy.

 

“Well… yeah… but…” Micheal didn’t know what to say. “Do you take care of children?”

 

“That doesn’t matter! I need your help!” The priest told him. “I must spend all of this gold on the children in the orphanage.”  

 

Michael heard this and felt his jaw drop, looking closely at the middle-aged priest, he could see bags under his eyes that were bloodshot and shaking. The hair on the priest’s head was unkept and his robes were starting to stink like he hadn’t bathed in several days. Michael was pulled out of his thoughts when a little girl grabbed onto his robes. 

 

“Mr. Priest, can you help him? Ever since he got that chest of gold he has acted like he is being chased by a monster.” The little girl told him seriously. “I want to fight monsters so I can help him! Can you help me?” 

 

Michael suddenly looked over at the priest and could see him staring into the darkness of the alleyway as he held the chest tightly to his body like he was trying to protect it.

 

“Don’t worry! I am spending it all right now! We are going to find this young girl the best instructors that gold can buy! This time I will spend it all!” The priest muttered as if he was talking to someone. 

 

What Michael couldn’t see was a shadowy version of the priest who was looking at him from the alleyway holding up a sign with blood written on it. It said ‘spend the gold’. It was also holding a rusty fork that it had been scraping on the window the entire time he had been trying to sleep. If he did manage to fall asleep, the shadow would pour water on his head or roll him off whatever he was sleeping on. If anyone said that your wife was the best candidate for driving you insane then they never thought about what it would be like to be tormented by themselves.

 

“Stop! No! Anything but that!” The priest sobbed.

 

His shadow was holding a small chalkboard and its nails were pressed against it and ready to scrape across. 

 

“I think that chest might be cursed…” Michael whispered to himself. 

 

***

A few hours later…

Tristain, Royal Capitol, Grayfield Estate

 

Ashton was greeted by the sight of a carriage that was made of a ghastly white wood and trimmed with gold. The image on the front of the carriage was of a unicorn featuring a large horn that had a spiral on it like a drill. The horse was Gray with a black mane, it looked impressive and the grin on the horse's face made it seem like it was looking down on the viewer. The moment that Ashton saw it his memory recalled an image he had seen in the book.

 

“The Armstrong family? They are one of the great noble houses! Why are they here?!” Ashton muttered in fright. 

 

They had a single child, that was the son Duddley who was engaged to the only princess of the royal family. As one of the largest weapons manufacturers in the kingdom outside of the rainbow towers, the Armstrong family owned a city that had coal and iron in abundance which allowed them to take over as the premier weapons makers. They ran his grandfather out of business and forced his father to move in a different direction after he couldn’t do anything with the iron reserves in Grayfield.

 

“If it isn’t the dead man. For assassins, they are really bad at their jobs!” A male voice called out in annoyance.

Next Chapter: The Bet