Position / Caprinae Caster

"The village with the most infections is the one that has recovered the best among these villages."

"Stein had already discovered it, yet he didn't appoint any tax collectors! If he was eager to make a quick buck and didn't care about the consequences, then he should have sent tax collectors!"

"But we found tax collectors in Chief Lupo's village, and considering the attitude of these villages towards the Catastrophe Messenger, and the discoveries made by Miss Tsukino... Ah!"

"Continue." Oute said without changing his expression, continuing to knead Amiya's long rabbit ears.

"Doooc! My ears are so itchy!"

"Hmm? Is that so?" The scoundrel raised an eyebrow, pulled his finger away slightly, and slowly scratched the downy fur inside the rabbit's ear.

"Hahaha! Dooooc! Don't tease me!"

Amiya chuckled, "trying" to break free from Oute's embrace—but if she really wanted to, Oute's physical strength was completely unstoppable.

After playing around for a while, the little rabbit continued energetically, "The title of Free Lord is in a very awkward position in the Leithanien nobility system. Another name for this title is 'Imperial Baron.' It is a title bestowed upon those promoted and granted by the Leithanien Emperor, who is directly loyal to the Emperor himself."

As is widely known, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire is a position with "great prospects".

Based on the Holy Roman Empire, and incorporating elements of Prussia and Austria, its name is even more directly derived from the peculiar "small country" of Leithanien, located in the "Inner Leithanien" and "Outer Leithanien" regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire...

It embodies all the shortcomings of the aforementioned countries, except for their music, and is almost entirely attributed with no redeeming qualities by the upper-class narrators.

And to be elected in such a country...

Feudal contracts are a tangled mess, and kinship ties are deeply intertwined, so that you can't move forward by holding on, but you can't move backward by pushing. If it weren't for suddenly overhearing the monkeys in Utica discussing and deciding to let you ascend to the throne... not to be modest, but you should find someone else!

Reforming the Leithanien instance is far more difficult than conquering it bit by bit after an internal explosion—at least the latter doesn't require confronting a privileged deed signed by a great-great-great-grandfather.

Oute gently pinched Amiya's cheek and said, "That's right."

"Outsiders—especially the Victoria —may try to organize the titles within Leithanien into a rational, top-down pyramid, but Leithanien's unique elective monarchy has created a large number of 'barons,' 'viscounts,' 'Earl,' and even 'dukes' in various forms."

"Most of them were imperial bureaucrats who were attempting to consolidate power under a particular emperor and whose terms of office were limited. However, in the power vacuum after the emperor and his family lost the throne, they cleverly transformed these official positions into hereditary titles through power maneuvering."

"Imperial Baron, Vice- Earl, Salt Mine Earl, Harbor Earl, 'Earl promoted to Duke'..." Oute rattled off the names with ease.

"The current Twin Empresses of Leithanien have an even more terrifying weakness than other emperors—they have no territory of their own. They don't even have the option of 'moving the capital back to their homeland'; even the capital can only be located in a place once used by the Witch King."

The former emperor, "Witch King" Otto, was a rare emperor with real power in hundreds of years. Under his brutal rule of treating everyone equally, he killed both nobles and commoners without exception, while anyone with enough talent could enter his court.

Therefore, education and upward mobility were miraculously and on a large scale opened up to the common people.

It is no exaggeration to say that the reign of the Witch King was the era in Leithanien's history when hard work and talent were most rewarded—and also the era in which people were most likely to die a violent death.

As one of the most outstanding Originium Arts masters in history, the Witch King devoted more energy to Originium Arts in the later years of his reign. Infected people were one of the consumables for his research, and there were even instances of ordering various places to hand over Infected people as a disguised "tax".

The nobles' fear and anger towards the Witch King were even greater, so the war hero Leopold obtained a secret technique from someone... creating a pair of androids specifically designed to kill the Witch King.

Leopold's idea was brilliant: after using the androids' special physical attack against the Witch King depose him, the android sisters would be almost finished! Then he could deal with the androids and seize his own victory.

But Leopold made a small mistake:

After defeating the Witch King, the Twins were in good condition.

Therefore, the current Emperor of Leithanien is an artificial human, a Twin Empresses of black and white.

"You must understand, the Twin Empresses have been ruling for over twenty years, yet they have no children—no heirs to continue their reign."

"While the empresses' power appears so hollow and so precarious, they bravely marched forward to overthrow the Witch King, while nobles across the land now tacitly and with their own hidden agendas operate as 'echoes of the Witch King '..."

"An imperial baron with a narrow vision, unable to comprehend the true nature of power, a free lord, a bourgeois granted feudal privileges by the empresses... How can Stein ensure that his meager privileges... can be passed down to the next generation?"

"Doctor... let go of my face..." The Rhodes Island heir mumbled as he pinched Oute's face.

"..." Oute remained silent, but a mischievous competitive spirit arose within him.

Kal'tsit sighed, "You two, stop fooling around on the deck!"

The village of Old Lupo.

"Doctor?" GreyThroat tugged at the Scavenger's sleeve.

"... There's a slightly urgent matter to attend to on this ship," Oute said seriously.

It refers to messing around with Amiya.

"Are we really okay resting like this?" GreyThroat pointed to Provence sleeping beside him. "Isn't Catastrophe coming?"

"This ship has already headed to the deepest village. Its position is rather precarious, and we can no longer expect it to evacuate on its own."

The Scavenger opened the window with his arm, Oute looked up at the clouds on the horizon, which appeared even more gloomy in the night.

"These two villages still have enough time to evacuate on their own."

"Don't worry, if they drag it out until the very end, Rhodes Island will intervene."

"..." GreyThroat was silent for a moment, but finally couldn't help asking, "Why are we letting those people run rampant?"

"When relocating villages, so many able-bodied young men are handed over to tax collectors to collect taxes... Even if they are afraid of the lord's punishment, it shouldn't be like this... If it were you, Doctor, you could definitely stop them!"

The Scavenger leaned against the window frame, Zalak's eyes reflecting a bewitching red light. "Perhaps."

"But if the operators hadn't volunteered, Rhodes Island wouldn't have had the standing to do this."

After finally catching such a big fish, it'll probably be lost for days, right?

Outside the village, lying in the car, Thor suddenly realized why Provence had asked him to watch the car.

Chapter 283 The Sorcerer Caprinae

They intentionally gave me a place to stay overnight!

Thor suddenly stood up, accidentally bumping his head in the process.

However, before he could even cry out in pain, he sat up and saw a group of people sneaking away from the village.

Where are they going?

Thor had a bad feeling.

He hesitated, glancing at the front of the SUV, at the key that hadn't been removed from the driver's seat. Its base wasn't fully engaged in the keyhole, revealing a hint of silvery-white metal that gleamed in the thin moonlight.

As fellow Catastrophe Messenger, Rhodes Island lent me their vehicle for the night, so why should I steal it?

This car also has Rhodes Island markings on it; "borrowing" it is not just a matter of stealing or misappropriating someone else's property!

If it really is as I imagine... then this will undoubtedly involve Rhodes Island and Miss Provence's organization!

The villagers, who had quietly departed, had already passed beyond the horizon of Thor's sight. In the moonlight, their shadows were smoothed out on the horizon, like a curved blade.

Thor's already vague sense of guilt was severed completely.

Elafia shielded her eyes from the moonlight reflected off the key with her hand, the engine roared, and the vehicle's terminal was activated.

Rhodes Island is really rich... They even equip vehicles destined for the wilderness with terminals...

He tried to cover up his guilty conscience with distracting thoughts.

A bright line slowly unfolds in the center of the screen, followed by Triangle White Castle in the sunlight (Note ①).

"Doctor?" GreyThroat watched as Scavenger suddenly pulled out his terminal, and instinctively drew his crossbow. "Are we going to fight?"

"Our car was stolen."

"That Elafia!" GreyThroat frowned. "We even lent him our car!"

Oute just looked at her.

Both are silent, but the Scavenger's silence and Oute's silence convey a completely different feeling.

GreyThroat, sensing Oute's gaze, said with difficulty, "We lent him the car, not for this reason, right?"

Clearly, this is part of Oute's ever-changing plans.

Zalak crouched on the windowsill, not answering the question, but saying to GreyThroat, "The tax collector and some of his guards are still here; some things need to be verified."

GreyThroat watched as the eyes that belonged to the Scavenger turned a tempting yet dangerous red, and watched her disappear silently from the window.

The ethereal voice seemed not to come from the Scavenger, but rather echoed in GreyThroat's own mind, "Keep up."

When I spoke with the village chief earlier today, old Lupo couldn't even find a place to temporarily house the Catastrophe Messenger.

Fortunately, thanks to a large number of able-bodied young men who were rushing to help the lord collect taxes before the Catastrophe struck, the Rhodes Island group was finally able to have a proper place to lie down.

Inevitably, during this process, the Rhodes Island group caught a glimpse of the tax collector and his guards.

Oute is also constructing a vague conjecture based on these clues.

Dark clouds obscured the Twin Moons, and a gentle breeze blew from the empty fields all the way to old Lupo's red-tiled roof and white walls.

The angular lamp by his door had long since gone out, but the tax collector brazenly burned the oil in old Lupo's house to keep him going on his night shift as a "city dweller."

Zalak blended effortlessly into the darkness, like a drop of wine dissolving in a glass of water.

She waited silently by the dimly lit window.

"Hmph?... Hmph hmph hmph..." The tax collector hummed a little tune as he studied the accounts under the flickering lamplight.

After maintaining this self-discipline for several tens of minutes, he finally raised his wrist and glanced at his watch.

The tax collector happily closed the ledger and untied the clothes.

However, his pleasure didn't last long before his expression changed. "Where's the bathroom!?"

Judging from the tax collector's completely unexpected reaction, old Lupo's family must have originally possessed such items.

Perhaps it's due to the impact of relocation after the Catastrophe?

"Damn it, I feel like I'm going to stink!" the tax collector muttered. "Am I supposed to take a bath with these peasants?"

Only now is he realizing it? If he had searched for a long time in the wilderness to find this village, he should have sensed it much sooner!

The tax collector hesitated for a long time, but his fear of the body odor outweighed his disgust for the peasants.

As the tax collector grumbled and walked away, the Scavenger nimbly slipped into the bedroom.

The tax collectors' ledgers were loose-leaf, and their recording methods were overly straightforward.