Compensation

Compensation

Mol nodded rapidly, repeatedly wiping his sweat with a handkerchief. He had anticipated this long ago.

He had thought Romain would fly into a rage upon seeing these messy account books.

Romain turned to Seth. "Seth, you'll manage Sigg Town's finances from now on."

Seth sighed. "My lord, this is exactly what I wanted to discuss with you. I'm afraid we'll go bankrupt this winter."

Seth calculated the accounts for Romain.

The guards were Sigg Town's armed force. They received no wages, but were given material subsidies: fifty jin of wheat and 140 jin of mixed grains each year, along with a tax exemption rate of half that of ordinary farmers.

That made being a guard quite a desirable profession. Without connections or the right qualifications, one could not become one.

The Stewards were even more outrageous.

They received a base annual salary of five Silver Coins, along with 120 jin of wheat, fifty jin of mixed grains, thirty jin of meat, and complete tax exemption.

Only these Stewards could afford to keep Slaves.

The tax exemption rates had to be calculated because both guards and Stewards owned land at home as well.

Some had over a hundred mu, while others had several hundred.

Romain did not know the exact details. In any case, he had reclaimed all the land and labor, so there was no need to concern himself with such trivial matters.

In other words, Sigg Town's annual fiscal expenditures required the distribution of several thousand jin of wheat alone, not counting mixed grains and meat.

The total wages came to as much as eight Gold Coins.

The problem now was that Sigg Town could not pay this year's wages in winter.

There was no other reason. Before Romain arrived, Sigg Town's finances had been healthy.

But after Romain came, he had made sweeping changes to Sigg Town and directly overturned its original production model.

Seth was strongly opposed to this.

Sigg Town's grain had originally been available for sale outside the town, but this year, it would be a victory if no one starved to death.

How much the two thousand mu of land Romain had marked out that morning would produce in summer was still unknown.

Sigg Town's primary output was grain. Low yields meant no income.

In the foreseeable future, he had successfully plunged the previously well-fed Sigg Town into a severe famine.

After all, the farmers' stored grain could only sustain them until summer. In autumn, they could still eat wild vegetables and pick berries.

But people would definitely starve to death in winter.

Even more fatal was the expenditure of eight Gold Coins.

More than 1,700 jin of wheat was worth one Gold Coin.

In other words, eight Gold Coins were equivalent to more than 14,000 jin of wheat.

If they could not sell grain, Sigg Town would be unable to bear these fiscal expenditures—Seth had not even included Green's, Aaron's, or his own wages. Otherwise, the expenditure would be two or even three times higher.

The hiring fees for Sigg Town's craftsmen were no small sum either, such as Laxus and Witchi.

After Seth's calculations, the worry Romain had been carrying immediately vanished.

"So that's all it is."

Seth's expression was extremely serious. He bowed slightly. "I hope you will consider this carefully!"

What he really meant was: Stop messing around and send the farmers back to work the fields. Delaying the spring planting by two or three days was not a problem, but if this continued, then this year would truly be hopeless.

"Don't panic." Romain waved a hand.

But Seth had reminded him of something.

His first thought upon hearing the word bankruptcy had been to crack down on the wealthy—that was, squeeze Mol dry.

But then he felt there was no need. This fat pig was being raised in his backyard; all its meat belonged to him anyway.

And Mol's display of complete compliance had also satisfied Romain, so he had no plans to replace the Agricultural Officer.

Romain turned to Mol and asked, "Why are the Stewards' wages and benefits so high?"

Sigg Town had sixteen Stewards, each responsible for different duties. Some handled records, some managed Draft Cattle, some oversaw livestock, some were in charge of farm tools...

Their main duty was to assist Agricultural Officer Mol with agricultural production.

Drawing wages without working was impossible. Sigg Town had no need to do that. There was a high chance they used their positions to line their own pockets, but they would not dare go too far.

Mol's face, which he had just wiped clean, began to sweat again.

He stammered, unable to say anything.

Romain saw through him and narrowed his eyes. "Your relatives? Your brothers and sisters?"

Mol broke out in a cold sweat.

Romain was not worried that Mol would hollow out his authority. His orders were being carried out very effectively in Sigg Town.

If Mol truly harbored ulterior motives...

Romain did not mind letting Sigg Town reacquaint itself with the power of a War Knight.

He firmly believed that if you killed enough, you could solve all of humanity's problems.

Romain smiled. "I understand the general situation. Cut the wages and benefits of all the stewards. Change them to one silver coin, one hundred jin of wheat, and three hundred jin of coarse grain per year. No meat. The tax exemption rate will remain at full exemption for now..."

"You have no objections, do you?"

Mol thought to himself, I have no objections. It's not being cut from my share, after all. But my uncles, aunts, brothers, and sisters will probably explode.

He hesitantly replied, "As you say, Lord Romain..."

Romain raised his chin and snorted. "If anyone has objections, they can come find me."

"Your orders will be obeyed, Lord Romain!"

With things having reached this point, Mol understood Romain's stance.

There was no possibility of discussing this with the Lord. They could only submit.

The Bass Family was merely an inconspicuous vine clinging to the great tree that was the Armor-Splitting Family. Yet because that tree was lush with branches and leaves, its shadow deep and vast, the vine had secretly drawn a great deal of nourishment in some dark corner unknown to all, until it had even grown thick stems of its own.

Mol wiped away his sweat. In the past, he had been little more than a local tyrant. In this land far from the imperial court, the Black Iron King's influence was practically nonexistent. Now, the Lord who controlled armed forces was the strongest person here, his authority no different from that of a true emperor.

Resistance was certainly impossible.

Without the Bass Family, Romain was still a noble Lord.

Without the Lord, the Bass Family was nothing more than commoners.

They knew very well who had granted them their rights.

From now on, everyone could only scramble to curry favor with this great Lord.

Although their benefits had been cut, the collateral branches could still maintain a fairly high standard of living with their past savings. They simply could not return to the days when they ate meat regularly. There was nothing to be done about that.

After thinking for a moment, Romain asked, "How are the guards who died in battle yesterday being handled?"

Mol respectfully answered, "Following your orders, the families of the fallen received five silver coins, forty jin of meat, and eighty jin of wheat. The families of the severely wounded received two silver coins, fifteen jin of meat, and forty jin of wheat. Even those with minor injuries received between ten and fifty jin of wheat—your reputation for kindness and generosity has spread throughout Sigg Town."

Romain had paid those silver coins out of his own pocket, and Aaron and Green, the two War Knights, had personally delivered them to each household.

The compensation was so generous that even the severely wounded guards were somewhat envious of the dead.

"Gather all guards who can still move..." Romain tilted his head back and pondered for a moment.

He had originally intended to harshly improve their military discipline and skills, but the problem was that he could not spare the manpower.

They were called guards, but in ordinary times they could also be considered constables. Their job was to maintain order and supervise others at work.

Things would be fine in the short term, but if there was no supervision for too long, the efficiency of those idiots would definitely plummet.