Chapter 685

The cat immediately waved its paws: "nothing... Nothing! I just saw someone forced... Ha ha! That's interesting! "

Arrow was not in the mood to pay attention to the cat. Because something was suddenly so funny, he snorted and went back to bed.

But when he closed his eyes and was ready to go back to sleep

"Hey, what is the distribution of production materials...?"

At this time, the cat stared at the big sapphire eyes, raised a claw and gently pressed it on ello's forehead, asking like a curious baby.

————

When I woke up, the whole Xueyan town also spent the night in peace.

Arrow yawned, got up, rubbed his sore neck because he didn't sleep very well and walked out of the door.

The members of the guild are getting up one by one now. There is nothing to prepare for in this seemingly too poor village, so everyone just sorted themselves out.

However, the three people called the fool trio began to look at arrow with a pair of very skeptical and resentful eyes. Especially coco, a little girl, whose expression seemed to be completely disillusioned in her heart, saw that ELO was really angry and funny.

"Cocoa..."

"Hum!" Cocoa turned her head directly and looked like she liked to answer, "the president's brother is a very kind man, not so cold-blooded and ruthless! Hum! "

The girl seems to be too spoiled. When will she take a cane and whip two whips to see if it can solve the problem?

Arrow shook his hand and imagined how he felt when he held the whip in his hand.

After satisfying his imagination, he asked the people to tidy up all their luggage. He went downstairs and shouted, "boss? Is the boss there? Have we booked a Taurus cart? "

Unfortunately, as soon as I came downstairs, the scene in front of me completely stunned arrow.

I saw the door of the hotel open. The owner of the hotel is standing in front of the door now, with a big broom in his hand and a fierce look on his face!

His daughter milk is now hiding in the corner of the hall on the first floor, covering her face and seems to be sobbing secretly.

Outside the gate, the brave boy who was beaten yesterday knelt in front of the gate. The swelling on his face had not been eliminated in time, but insisted on kneeling there.

"Get out of here, you hear me! You are not welcome on my side! "

"Father in law! Please let the milk go with me! I'll take her out of Xueyan town and take her to a place without that bastard! If you don't let me run away with her, she will fall into the clutches of that terrible magician! "

Obviously, the innkeeper has not changed the slightest because of the boy's tenacity and bravery. He was still holding a stick in his hand, looking very vigilant.

In fact, no matter from any point of view, arrow has no reason to continue to intervene in this matter.

Yes, from any angle.

This angle does not just represent the boss of a guild, a little girl who owes a lot of debt. Even as the most basic and common "human" identity, arrow felt that he should not intervene now, but should let the matter fade gradually, let the hotel owner solve the problem by himself, and then the mermaid song patted his ass and left now.

But

Turning his head, arrow saw the angry guild members nearby.

He looked at the tension in cocoa's eyes and at Brad's fist. Even the crisp pagoda, which has never had any emotional expression, now shows a look of pity.

The expressions on the faces of these members fully told arrow that he may have countless reasons not to solve the incident, but as a person who has lost his sense of justice, he didn't do it, which itself is a mistake!

Alas

Ideological problems still need to be solved with ideas after all.

Even if the combat effectiveness of these members is 10 times and 100 times higher than that of their own president, there are ideological problems. The stronger the strength, the easier it is to go farther and farther on the wrong road.

As president, arrow naturally needs to pull these members back immediately when they have problems in their thoughts, so as to avoid more unfortunate events.

For this reason, after all, arrow could only sigh, walked forward, patted the innkeeper on the shoulder, smiled and said, "it seems that things here are quite complicated? Have you rented the ox cart of our guild? If you can't rent it... Can you tell me what's going on now? "

When the innkeeper looked back and saw the clean and beautiful face of arrow, the original tension on his face immediately relaxed. He breathed out a little and held his daughter's hand tightly with his left hand. After a little hesitation, he finally spat at the kneeling boy at the door: "I tell you! This matter is not negotiable! If you want to die, die alone! Don't harm my daughter! And don't try to harm the whole people of Xueyan town! "

With that, the innkeeper took the girl and turned around and walked into the hall.

Seeing her sweetheart kneeling outside the door, scarred all over, but so determined, there was a little sadness on the girl's face. After being pulled back by her father, she covered her face again, shrank into the corner and secretly sobbed.

As for her daughter's current state, the hotel owner had no choice but to sigh and look very decadent. He sat down on a chair in the hall and put down his stick. It seemed that he thought of something sad and secretly touched the tears he saw.

Arrow glanced at the boy kneeling outside the door, smiled and sat down opposite the innkeeper. The other members quickly formed a circle behind arrow, one by one looking forward to the next conversation.

"So... Can you tell me from the beginning what's going on?"

Arrow's voice was very gentle. Listening to such a soft voice, the innkeeper also slowed down slowly. He took a deep breath, then raised his head, wiped the red circles of his eyes, sobbed and said——

"The president of mermaid song... Our town... Xueyan town... In fact, it was not like this. More than a year ago, like other towns, some people lived here. Although their life was a little poor, on the whole, they lived a model, ate and drank. "

"But a year ago... Things here suddenly changed."

"The mayor of our town... His name is Xian hoer. He has been working as a mayor for a long time, about... More than 20 years? Since the last mayor died of illness, he has been the mayor of our town. And more importantly... Xian · hoer, unfortunately, is an affinity of earth magic elements. In other words, a magician. "

Arrow nodded gently. After all, he passed the town on his way to Pelican town. He also knew that the leader of the town was a land magician.

"Our Xueyan town is located in a remote place. Although it can be regarded as the only way on the national highway, our place is naturally short of water. All the towns before and after are far away, and there is no development."

"After becoming the mayor of our town, Xian has always been thinking of ways to develop our town. However, although it is said to be development, in fact, to put it bluntly, it is to enable us to plant better. "

"He is an affinity of earth elements, so every time when the season changes and farming operations need to be carried out, he will play his own magic and reclaim our land. The land reclaimed by him will become very fertile. Only a small amount of water can grow a large amount of food. It is precisely because of his practice that our town can survive. "

After a little thought, arrow suddenly asked, "what's your tax?"

When it comes to the tax issue, the hotel owner sighed helplessly and said, "a long time ago... The tax was about 15% of the income of that year. Ten percent should be turned over to the state treasury, and the remaining five percent should be taken as his reward for reclaiming land. In those years, Xian often talked and laughed with us and drank and chatted with us, but gradually... Alas... I don't know when the tax began to rise year by year, and last year's tax has reached 50%... "

Arrow was not surprised at this.

It can even be said that he had a little sneer at the magician's willingness to charge only 15% of the tax at the beginning.

Collect 15%, turn over 10% to the state treasury, and leave 5% for yourself... In other words, only when a small town has 17 asset achievements in agricultural work, the magician's income is just the same as that of an ordinary farmer.

But the problem is that Xueyan town is not a big town, and there are not many farmland around. Therefore, as a magician, he may not get much more income in a year than a farmer.

With such a small income, coupled with the unique "power" of powerful magic, it is a strange thing that the psychology will not be distorted over a long period of time.

Take Pelican town as an example. Before arrow arrived, if the mayor of round cheese really lived entirely on taxes, he might not make much money at all. For such a little income, we have to manage the size of the whole town and give advice. Ordinary people simply can't have a good attitude. Now, if the fat mayor was not inherited, and the family also had its own additional operating income, he must not be able to do it for a long time.

And more importantly... Cheese is not a magician. And this fresh hoer is an out and out magician.

"Fifty percent of the tax?! Isn't that too much? "

Cocoa couldn't hear any more. She immediately jumped out with a frown and said——

"Generally speaking, the tax in our town is less than 20%. How dare this earth magician ask for such a high tax?!"

Arrow held out his hand to stop the little girl, nodded gently to the hotel owner and said with a smile, "please go on."

The innkeeper breathed out and continued: "more than a year ago... Let me see... At the end of 1301, on the day of the holy night sacrifice, as a magician, he seemed to have gone to the capital to participate in a gathering of magicians? Then when he came back, he announced to us that the tax should be raised to 50 percent. "

"You know, before that, the tax in our town had reached 40%, but because it has always been supplied by his magic, even if it is 40%, our town can tolerate it."

"But now it has suddenly increased to 50%! The tax is so severe that people in our town can't accept it. "

Looking at the hotelier's angry appearance now, ello had some small 99 in his heart.

The 50% tax rate... In fact, this tax rate can be regarded as a normal tax rate for the whole blue bay Empire, no, and even for most parts of the whole continent.

For rulers, charging a tax rate of about 50 can not only make their life very comfortable, but also ensure that people in their territory do not starve to death. Of course, after collecting so many taxes, the Lord certainly doesn't care whether the farmers' savings will decline further.

"And then? You went to fight? " Arrow asked his own question.

The innkeeper nodded after a little hesitation.

He breathed out, looked very embarrassed and said, "anyway, the 50% tax rate is too high... Although this tax can not be persisted, and the mayor's magic can make our crops grow better... We were still angry when we suddenly heard such a high tax rate. So at the beginning of last year, a group of young people went to the mayor and asked for the tax to be pressed back to about 30 percent. "

Brad looked approvingly and said with a smile, "very brave man! I admire them. "

Arrow gave him a white look and continued to face the hotel owner with a smile: "then what happened later?"

Hotel owner: "later, they all died."

At that moment, Brad, who was just smiling, seemed to have been hit by the immobilization method. The smile on his face was stiff and his eyes looked dull. After a moment of silence, the big man's fist was clenched again, and the smile disappeared into a slightly silent and serious expression.

Arrow thought for a moment, but also put away the smile on his face: "what will happen later?"

The innkeeper sighed, with a little sadness on his face, and said, "those young people want to talk to the mayor, and then... I don't know what kind of conflict they have with the mayor. When we got up one day, we saw that the five young people were buried in the earth and had lost their breath... Since then, no one dared to put forward opinions to the mayor. "

"But it's not over."

"After killing the rebels, the mayor felt very angry, so he announced to us in front of the whole town that he would not reclaim our crops because of our disobedience and betrayal."

"He did what he said. In the next planting season, he not only didn't use his magic to help the crops in our town reclaim farmland, but also made our land more barren. Without exception, all the plants planted can't survive. "

"Last year, we had no harvest in Xueyan town. However, when the tax was paid in the second half of the year, the mayor did not mean to let us go, but forced us to pay a 50% tax rate. If we refuse to pay taxes, he will come and tear down our house, smash the things in our room and take away the little savings we have left. "

"After such a fuss last year, some young and strong boys in our town still couldn't bear it. They left and fled. Only some people who can't get away continue to live in this small town and may die anytime, anywhere... "

At this point, the innkeeper glanced at his daughter in the corner again. At this time, the girl was secretly looking at the kneeling boy outside the door. After realizing her father's eyes, she quickly put away her eyes and continued to cover her face and cry.

After seeing the eyes of his sweetheart, the boy outside the door became more determined and still knelt outside so strongly.

Ello exhaled and then nodded gently: "then boss... Tell me the truth, what do you really think...?"

The innkeeper's eyes suddenly dodged, but a moment later, he seemed to be completely out of it. He nodded gently at ello, looked over his head, and whispered in ello's ear, "to tell the truth, I really don't want my daughter to go with the poor boy. If marrying the mayor can help our town recover, i... also think it may not be bad... "

That's what I said, but when the boss's head retracted, arrow stared into his eyes again.

Obviously, the boss's eyes dodged again.

For the town?

Ah, that's certainly a reason.

But another way of thinking, if my daughter marries the only mayor with magic in this town, does it mean that she will promote her class at one go?

Of course, looking at the little bit of expectation flickering in the hotel owner's dodgy eyes, arrow didn't expose it. After all, this idea is normal. Arrow has no intention of becoming a moral guardian.

"I see. I see."

Arrow nodded slightly, and the smile on his face continued to emerge——

"Then, boss, where is the ox cart we reserved yesterday?"

Other people were surprised to see that their president wanted the ox cart again after talking for so long. But the innkeeper smiled with a sigh of relief and said, "my brother lived in the next town last night. He may come back today... But please rest assured that I won't count the accommodation fee today. I'm really sorry. "

Arrow didn't care. He nodded and asked everyone to pack up again and go back to the second floor to have a rest. Regardless of the expressions on the faces of so many members behind him, he went upstairs and played an exemplary role.

Of course, it can't end like this.

When all the members went up to the second floor with all kinds of careful thoughts

"Do you think I'm too cold-blooded and ruthless? Do you think I don't even try to solve such a simple relationship between good and evil?"

Cocoa was most excited in the room. When arrow said these words, he looked at the young necromancer with a gentle smile in his eyes.

Cocoa puffed her cheeks, but did not speak. However, the crisp pagoda next to her now seems a little bored. She took a step and said: "president, although I have joined the mermaid song for a short time, I think our guild should also be a... Good guild, right? Although we haven't heard the words of the mayor, if I really want to demand myself by the moral standard of a Paladin... I'm afraid... There's really no way to go to the capital as if nothing had happened. "

Arrow showed a careless look. After a little thought, her smile gradually eased and said, "what do you think is the most critical problem of this incident in Xueyan town?"

Margo raised her hand, looked at her fingernails, and said with a relaxed face, "is that all right? Isn't it a magician who bullies the common people here by relying on his powerful magic ~ ~ "

Arrow's smiling eyes narrowed into a seam: "what a pity, it's wrong ~ ~"

Margo's mouth twitched violently. She turned her head and looked at her president with a very incredible look.

Brad touched the back of his head, thought about it and said, "this... Is Margo wrong? Isn't that obvious? What's wrong with this? "

Now is not the time to continue to pretend, ello said slowly: "the real problem in blood swallow town is not that a magician threatens the people here by relying on his own magic. But a person who has mastered the existence of powerful production tools and uses his absolute dominant position in production tools to force ordinary people who do not have enough production tools to accept their leadership and listen to their words. "