Somewhere.
Inside a tavern.
"95% inheritance tax?"
"Has the court gone mad from poverty?!"
"Yeah, why are they taxing us so heavily? The money we painstakingly earned over all these years—why should they seize our inheritance for nothing?"
"Yeah, this is robbery!"
"So much shiny silver—why give it to those poor wretches? What a sin!"
A group of people cursed furiously inside the tavern.
"They're not handing it over directly, though. Doesn't the court always launch major projects and provide relief through work?" a scholar reflexively argued.
"Hey, poor scholar, whose side are you on? Have you forgotten? If not for this 95% tax, you could have inherited ten thousand mu of fertile land, enough to pay off your debts. But now? You only inherited five hundred mu, and selling it would barely cover what you owe!" someone spat.
Hearing that, the scholar suddenly came to his senses. "That's right. This damned inheritance levy is banditry! It's highway robbery! The court is openly ambushing us and acting shamelessly. Our ancestors earned this money—why can't their grandsons inherit it?"
"Why should the court inherit it?"
"The court isn't my grandfather's grandson!"
"We should go somewhere without high taxes," someone said.
"That makes sense, but how do we get there?"
"I heard that some mighty figures' Secret Realms are like that. They're recruiting people."
After discussing it among themselves, they really did head for a place without heavy taxes.
In fact, that place had no taxes at all.
It likewise had no public security, no roads, no riverways, and no irrigation canals.
With no other choice, they discussed pooling some money to jointly hire people for security, roads, river works...
Of course, what they established were companies and shops.
Not a court.
Naturally, they levied no taxes.
Everything was done according to