381 8.9 Paying Taxes In Coppers. It Is Still Money, Isn'st It?

6 men at arms with a group of 12 vagrant adventurers emerged through the portal at Leeds and were making their way towards Camp Salvation. It was after lunch and the New Vagabond Army had proceeded to York for their 2nd half of another phase in their party raids, oblivious that there were men approaching the Camp right now.

Matilda and the Assassins had completed the 12 settlements on the distribution of Secret Blessings and the Camp was only me and the 3 captains. Will.I.Am, Alleicea and Aventina were off to visit the 6 settlements daily to check in their progress once after breakfast and another 6 settlements after lunch.

We had nothing much to do and we did our normal sparring between the 4 of us. The support staffs had bought a mule each as their mounts and it was much better than the braying donkeys.

At least the mules would be mulling around the Camp and not go across to eat the fruit and vegetable plantations which were grown in the 'O' part of the river.

Mules are favoured over donkey as they are more patient and intelligent than a donkey. At least a mule is a crossbreed between a horse and a donkey.

The 3 support staffs had a new attire to wear too whenever they leave to visit the settlements where they had bought the plots of land. They were wearing an overcoat with a paper party crown on their heads.

The paper party crown was green in colour and was decorated with 1 piece of Ruby, emerald, sapphire and stanspar jewel each at its base. At least for these support staffs, their looks won't be too shabby as they were given the title of a Baronet and Baronetess.

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

Parading around in the settlements without these party hat crowns and their overcoats would never be complete with just their title.

....

"Hello there. Good afternoon Mister and Missus. We are from the office of the Sheriff and we are here with a Decree to collect the taxes due for collection these 2 Months. Here's the notice and we would gladly issue you the receipt as a form of acknowledgement."

"Ah...you all came back once again to retrieve what's yours eh? Hmm alright... How much do we owe you for the 154 adventurers for these 2 months?" I asked as I stopped the friendly sparring and brought the 3 captains to meet the Sheriff's men at arms and a dozen of the vagrant adventurers they had brought along.

"That's going to be 308 gold coins, kind leader. As spoken by my previous Comrades that had come earlier that night, it is still the same amount. We would be back by the end of next month to collect the rent of the following month." One of the men at arms replied as he handed me the notice.

I read the notice and then drove a small dagger through it and stuck it to the nearest tree near our park tables and bench.

"That's more like it, at least everyone in this camp is well informed. Hang on as I get my captains to prepare the money." I said as I whispered to Matilda to bring Stef and present to these men the pouch that had been prepared by Will.I.Am and the girls earlier.

"Hii Hii Hii... OK silly boy," whispered Matilda back with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Come, please choose a table and sit down. My captains would bring the taxes over shortly.

"Hahahhaha... These idiots would never know what's in store for them..."Matilda whispered to Stef as they carried about 10 huge pouches with them and poured out the whole coins from it to make a huge mound in the table.

"There you have it gentlemen, a total of 308,000 pieces of coppers, which are equivalent to 308 gold coins for these 2 months. Please count them properly and may I have the receipt once you are done?" I announce as I stretched myself and gave a huge big yawn as I looked at them.

"It would be best to stack all these into 50s since 50 coppers would make up 1 shilling and 20 shillings make up 1 gold. Make sure you didn't drop any on the floor since we had painstakingly gathered these for the past few months in order to pay the sheriff." I said casually and removed my shoes and soaked my feet in a basin of warm water.

"B... But... But, these are coppers...!!! We would prefer to be paid in gold, Robin. A mix of gold and shillings are all right, Robin, but not entirely copper coins... These are serfs monies..." said one of the men at arms with his eyes wide open and was awestruck at the huge mound of money that was before him.

"Eh... Why? Isn't coppers good enough for you? Every single coin has the imprint of King Richard and behind it was a crown. Wasn't this copper came from the Mint that is a legal tender currency to be used for purchases and paying tax?"

"Yes... These come from the Mint and no doubt this is legal tender currencies. Could we have them in 308 pieces of gold, Robin? It makes an easier count and safer handling back to the Sheriff."

"No gold coins. We do not have a single gold or shillings and all we have here are copper coins. Take it or leave it. These are still money, right?"

I mocked the uninvited guests and their vagrant adventurers as the pile of coppers were from our adventurers that paid 2 coppers each for their 3 meals and also from Will.I.Am who exchanged the sales proceeds of the eggs from coppers to gold coins from the loot.

"Hah hah hah... Too bad you fucked with the wrong Robin here. I'm going to make you carry these loads back and make the Sheriff count the coppers himself... Hah hah hah." I thought inwardly as I cracked a smile at the corner of my mouth as Matilda prepared the fire the moment she noticed the return of Will.I.Am, Alleicea and Aventina.

"Ah... My Lordships has returned. Please... Have some tea first and rest your weary feet." I went to the trio, did an elegant bow and winked at them. The men at arms and vagrant adventurers were flabbergasted when they saw 3 kids, barely 11 years old, wearing an overcoat and a green paper party crown on their heads complete with 4 coloured gems.

Seeing me bow to them and addressing them as Lordship, all the men at arms and vagrant adventurers rushed forward and dropped to one knee and greeted the 'Lordship' that had arrived at Camp.

"Sir Robin, who are these men and what they want?" asked Will.I.Am as he saw my wink and played along in this charade.

"Oh your Lordship, these men are from the Sheriff's office in Nottingham and are here to collect the monthly taxes and they said that the money you provide them is no good."

"WHAT...?!? NO GOOD...?!? WHAT DO THEY MEAN THAT ITS NO GOOD?!? IS THE SHERIFF MORE MIGHTIER THAN THE KINGSHIP?!? "hollered Will.I.Am in a very dramatic tone and the other 2 girls were stifling their giggles and had to be stuffed with food to keep them quiet for a while.

"Yes, your Lordship... They said they prefer gold and shillings rather than these worthless coppers." I further mocked the men at arms who were now had their heads hung.

"WORTHLESS...?!? THEY MEAN TO SAY THAT THE BROTHER OF OUR FATHER IS W-O-R-T-H-L-E-S-S...?!?" hollered Will.I.Am again and he walked slowly and purposely stepped on the fingers of the men at arms in the front row and went to the table and reached a handful of coppers.

"TELL ME... IS THE BROTHER OF MY UNCLE A WORTHLESS MAN?!?" Will.I.Am said as he slowly trickled the coppers down on top the front row men at arms, further inciting humiliation towards them.

"Hah hah hah... Will.I.Am acting is pretty good. This would scare the shit of these people right away and report that this camp is being occupied by some Lords... Hah hah hah... A slap to the Sheriff's face indeed" I laughed to myself as I cracked another smile across my face.

"N... No...Yo...your Lordship. These coppers are what we are looking forward to collecting from you. I will prepare the receipt for Robin. We don't need to count the coppers, all we all need from you is a small sack to put this away. We will be in our way in a huff." stammered one of the pale-faced men at arms.

"ITS SIR ROBIN TO YOU, COMMONER. KNOW YOUR PLACE, IMPREGNABLE SOW..." hollered Will.I.Am as he walked back to where I was standing and sat down.

"Yes... Yes... Sir Robin. We understand that now, Your Lordship. We will take our leave and make haste back toNottingham. Thank you for the taxes, I would ask the Sheriff to lower the taxes or immediately exclude it altogether."

The previously stammering men at arms that sounded like a cockatoo was sweating profusely as he was bending over too close to the fireplace and the heat is burning up his iron breastplate. Hah hah hah... He's going to be one roasted dickhead...!!!

Matilda retrieved a sack with some at the sides of them and threw it across while the men at arms quickly took as they stuffed it with all the copper coins. They bowed to the so-called Lordships and made their way back to Leeds where they would be taking a portal back.

"Alright, Lordship, nice acting by the way. What would your plans for dinner be? Our men would be back soon and they would definitely be hungry and weary after the battle." I joked at Will.I.Am as he folded the overcoat and places it next to his messenger bags and the row of files.

"Your Lordship here will prepare creamed mashed potato with mushroom gravy. If the men are still hungry, we could have boiled sweet corn afterwards....it would be feast then, fit for a king. Hah Hah Hah... " suggested Will.I.Am as he and the two girls laughed as they went about to pull the potatoes out from their vegetable ground and prepared the cauldron to boil them.

The mushroom gravy was made up of shitake, round mushroom, fern mushroom and portabello that were harvested, dried on wicker trays and cut up to make a healthy mushroom gravy that goes very well with their creamed mashed potatoes.

Well, as the Lordship had mentioned, the meal would be like a feast and fit for a king, then let it be then. Hah hah hah...