I Regressed to My Ruined Family Chapter 16

#When I returned, the family was ruined (16)

I grabbed the trembling Haims by the collar and lifted him up.

“Ugh!”

I was just lifting it, but the guy was making all kinds of noises.

My ears were ringing.

‘I guess I’ll just have to shut up for now.’

I delivered a punch to his thick belly.

“Wow!”

“Noisy.”

“.Cough! Hehehe! Grand Duke! Why on earth are you doing this to me?…”

“Language book.”

Heems’ eyes trembled at those words.

‘There is.’

He must have had a ledger related to taxes.

Otherwise, you wouldn’t be purring your cheeks like that.

“Where did you put it?”

“There’s nothing like that… Kwaaaa!”

I immediately broke one of his fingers. Heims’s eyes filled with fear as he saw his fingers starting to shake in an instant.

“From now on, every time you say bullshit, I’m going to break one of them.”

“Off.”

“Where are you?”

“That…” As

soon as he placed his hand on his ring finger next to his little finger, the guy started falling asleep.

“Aaaah! Let me tell you! So please!”

“I would have told you to answer right away.”

Pop!

A second scream rang out.

Only after two fingers started shaking did he begin to open his mouth.

“The ledger is kept in my office at Namjakjak!”

“Not that one. There must be a ledger kept separately. “Are you still out of your mind?”

“There is no such thing… ugh!”

Pop!

This time it was a stop.

Heims screamed fiercely. Torture was one of the fields Ethan was most confident in.

In my past life, the number of people who were preyed upon by the Dragon Race was not just one or two.

Every time he encountered such a bastard, he went through thorough torture and interrogation to reveal everything, starting with the fact that they had betrayed him and even the information they had given to the Yongin tribe.

Even a decent knight could not withstand his torture. Even more so than the baron’s tax collector.

Extracting information was a piece of cake.

“It’s noisy.”

“…Ugh.”

Ethan quietly looked at Haims’ fingers.

Every single thing very carefully.

seven.

He was speaking with his actions.

There are still many fingers to break.

Haims’ pupils trembled greatly.

The archduke’s eyes were full of confidence.

‘How on earth do you know this!’

Of course, the tax that tax officials could ‘officially’ collect was up to the maximum tax rate. However, the reality of how the territory was run was completely different.

This is because all tax officials collected additional taxes in addition to that. The details were kept in a secret ledger.

He purred his cheeks.

If you talk nonsense here, even your fourth finger will be shattered.

He was a perfect outsider.

Haims shouted with his eyes tightly closed.

“The rest of the ledgers are kept at my house! Please save me! Grand Duke!”

“Where is your house?”

“It’s nearby Mirkon Village!”

I looked at Hans.

“Mircon is a village that can be reached by walking for about two hours from here.”

He nodded and put down Heims.

“Guide me.”

“…Yes.”

He looked at the soldiers with sad eyes. But not a single soldier met his eyes.

Heims began to walk feebly forward.

“Walk quickly. “Unless you want to break all your fingers.”

“Hey!”

It was a customs officer who started walking as if his threat had worked.

Maybe it was because of his fat body, but even though he walked like that, he didn’t walk that fast.

The soldiers who saw the three leaving showed blank faces.

“…What should we do?”

“Should I follow you?”

I didn’t tell you not to follow me.

However, it was inevitable that it would be burdensome to blindly follow along.

This is the man who casually broke the finger of a tax collector. If I had followed him for no reason, I could have faced trouble.

“Oh, now that I think about it, the driver…!”

“It did!”

The rest of the soldiers quickly agreed with what one soldier said.

Because I have a good reason not to follow. The soldiers began to approach the knight stuck in the grass in the distance.

* * *

Mirkon was a slightly smaller village than Veros Village.

Even there, Heims’ house stood out. This was because they were using a space that looked nicer than the family’s hunting annex as their residence.

It is obvious that this is the salary that a baronial official receives.

It was impossible to build a residence like that with that kind of salary.

‘You’ve done a lot.’

I went into the house with him. Several servants inside the house tilted their heads as they looked at Ethan and Hans.

“Get everything out.”

“Yeah! “Everyone get out!”

Soon the house was completely emptied. Heims arrived inside the office and began fiddling with the bookshelf.

It was in an instant that the secret space was revealed.

“Wh… Here it is.”

I opened the ledger.

The secret ledger contained a list of additional taxes collected.

‘That’s bullshit.’

If you add the protection tax to this amount, the taxes collected every month would likely account for more than 60% of the income of the residents of the territory.

Considering that the tax rate was generally only about half of the total revenue, no matter how high it was, the Barony’s taxes were at a level that could be called murderous.

Since corruption is so rampant, tax officials and the like are probably choosing to reside in places that seem more desirable than the hunting annex.

“You ate a lot. “Even if I rip out my limbs, I won’t have anything to say, tax collector.”

“Hee hee! That’s… that’s not what I did! “Baron Nam ordered it!”

“What did you order?”

“To secretly collect additional taxes… That’s exactly what you said!”

“Are you sure?”

“yes. I can assure you that I would risk my neck! If you look at the details in the secret ledger, you will also see the amount given to the Baron!”

It was just as Heims said.

In addition, they collected an additional tax of about 15% and then handed over 12% of that to the baron. It also means that the pig in front of me swallowed 3%.

When I looked at Hans, he nodded quietly.

The business is over.

“What about the safe?”

“…yes?”

I immediately grabbed his finger.

Then, the location of the safe came out quite naturally. It was only after I drained all of his emergency fund that I let go.

I touched the guy’s shoulder.

“great job.”

“Oh no… Shut up!”

The shoulder blade shattered with a terrifying sound.

I was afraid that I would make as much noise as before, so I kindly blocked my throat with mana.

All it could do was wiggle like a bug.

“Ugh!”

The guy was talking with his eyes.

Why are you doing this?

There was no need to answer.

If you don’t know the real reason, you’re a fool and have no answer.

Pop! Pop!

After infusing mana into my hands, I infused strength into my grips.

Every time that happened, my bones crumbled.

Heims, unable to bear the pain, fainted.

Ethan smiled quietly.

Death is too much of a luxury for a guy like this.

A much better solution would have been to cause him pain for the rest of his life.

Like right now.

“At this rate, I won’t be able to escape treatment for the rest of my life.”

“That’s right. “There is no place left in good condition… I will never be able to walk on my own feet again.”

Hans, who had been quietly watching the whole scene, answered while sweating.

“What about the video?”

“I took a picture of it.”

He lifted up the memory crystal ball. It was an item purchased three days ago upon request from an intelligence group.

The memory crystal ball contained all of the words Heims had just uttered.

“The remaining capacity is approximately 90%.”

“You must be busy.”

Ethan blurted out.

It wasn’t difficult to guess why it was so busy. This would mean that he would turn all of the Baron’s subordinates into assholes until the capacity of the memory crystal sphere was full.

‘He is a scary person.’

How will the Baron respond?

Immunity granted by the archduke. They couldn’t be held accountable for this. Moreover, there was a good reason for punishing Himes.

Because taxes were collected to a level that far exceeded the maximum tax rate.

This means that even the justification is in their hands.

‘We can’t help but watch them continue to be eaten one by one.’

Sending an army to the descendants of great heroes was simply crazy.

There was no way the world would just watch that happen. The only thing the Baron could do was send an assassin.

However…

‘No matter how I looked at it…’

it didn’t seem like that ignoble person would be killed by an assassin or something.

“Paper and pen.”

“Here it is.”

Ethan began writing a letter.

There was only one line of content.

“Give it to the Baron.”

“Directly… you mean?”

Hans’ voice trembled slightly.

It was obvious that if he went directly to the Baron, he would face his wrath head on.

Being the target of anger wasn’t a very pleasant experience.

Fortunately, Ethan shook his head.

“It doesn’t matter how.”

“All right.”

“egg plant.”

“yes.”

Perhaps because the contents of the safe had been completely taken out, the bag Hans was carrying was heavy. However, unlike the bag, Hans’ steps were very light.

The two people went outside the mansion.

* * *

Baron Helmut.

He stared intently at the letter addressed to him. The content of the known letter sent by the Archduke was very simple.

The taxes were being collected much more than what was stipulated in the contract.

There was only one line.

However, the meaning contained in one line was not light.

He recalled the reports that had started coming in continuously three days ago.

The number of customs officials kidnapped by the Grand Duke has already exceeded three.

It was a bonus that news broke that all three were found the next day with limbs paralyzed.

‘Holy shit!’

bang!

He hit the desk hard.

“Damn you.”

Posting articles near the customs office was of no use.

There was news that the official knights were harpooned without even being able to land a proper sword strike.

However, this incident could not be made public.

Now, the Archduke has not only wiped out all of his subordinates, but has even kindly sent them a warning letter.

‘If this incident is made widely known…’

The Archduke will also start mentioning the contents of the vassal contract. If that happens, you will be at a disadvantage.

It’s a situation where you can’t even be an opponent in a fight for a cause.

‘What on earth do you want?’

What are you trying to achieve by putting so much pressure on yourself?

‘Are you sure you’re telling me to bow down on my own?’

Ethan.

The day he celebrates his next birthday, he turns 20.

That was the day when the head of the dukedom was elected.

‘Since the enlightenment ceremony has become impossible, we will elect the head of the family in another way.’

Flowering ceremony.

This was the method by which the dukedom elected the head of the small family. Here, the successor who radiated the strongest black flame took Sogaju’s position.

However, it is known that all the vision skills learned by the duke’s direct descendants were put into practice.

That also meant that it had become impossible to hold the flowering ceremony.

Because no one will be able to emit black flames.

‘Is that why you put so much pressure on me?’

To make them bow down on their own and then turn them into his support force?

As clear selection criteria disappeared, there was a high possibility that the process of deciding on a small household would become a power struggle.

That’s probably why he’s trying to drag himself in.

The Baron, who was pondering, held the mana stone near the communication crystal ball.

After waiting for a while, someone’s appearance appeared inside the crystal ball.

―Has there been anything worth contacting you directly?

“The Count’s situation is a bit serious.”

Cheyman, the head of the Count Pernes family. Helmut reported to him everything he had experienced so far.

“It seems that the Grand Duke is using the contents of the vassal contract to threaten me. “What should I do?”

―So…are you saying that the Archduke is deliberately using a trick to attract you?

“I guess so.”

-Then do it like that.

“…yes?”

-I’m telling you to pretend to stick with it. Anyway, isn’t there a need to know more about the Archduke now? I think you can do it well.