CH 51

“Why does the amount of rice sales not match up between the two books?”

The tax officer dispatched from the capitol Sky Castle continued to point out the discrepancies between the Durkfienance family books and the records that Warren provided.

“It could be due to the gap in time of delivery…”

Every time a new question was asked, Acoms struggled to come up with a new pitiful excuse, and a nervous sweat had started pouring down his brow.

Watching this nervous expression with cold eyes, the tax official did not let up on the questioning.

“In this book, the Warren Merchant Guild states they paid you a billion ril here, but I don’t see any record of that on the Durkfienance side.”

“The record may have ended up misplaced….”

“But it’s not even mentioned on the next page!”

“Perhaps it was omissible…”

The tax official sighed deeply at the pathetic excuses that Acoms continued to just babble out.

After taking a moment to pull himself back together, the tax official gave Acoms a strong look.

“By the way, accounts state that your son Lake bought a piece of armor being auctioned off in Warren for 1.2 billion ril. Could you explain to me where that money came from?”

“What!?”

This was news to Acoms as well.

So naturally he couldn’t give an answer.

But this could be a chance. If he pushed the investigation back until Lake returned, Acoms could buy himself a little extra time. At least until Lake returned to Wheat Grace.

Completely ignoring that hope, Lake kicked open the door to the reception area.

“Pops, look at this! It’s some armor that I beat the Hero and a bunch of other nobles in an auction in order to buy!”

The worst.

Naturally the tax official turned his attention away from Acoms and onto Lake.

“I wonder Master Lake, where did you get the money to win that auction?”

Lake turned to the tax official and sneered, “What business is it to you?” He is a man that is completely unable to read the moon.

In front of such a rude and arrogant youth, the tax official became even more annoyed than he had been with Acoms, and any warmth in his demeanor completely disappeared.

“A tax official dispatched from the capitol. I’m here today to investigate the Durkfienance family expenses.”

“Tax official?”

Even this idiot was able to comprehend the implications of a tax official directly visiting your home, so when the official repeated his question from before, it took on a whole new meaning for Lake.

“Where did you get the resources to purchase that piece of armor?”

Lake couldn’t answer him.

Because that 1.2 billion came from the secretly stashed away 3 billion ril that he had helped his father divert away into their pockets.

The tax official lazily shifted his gaze between the brat who did not know what to say, and the father who was wearing his guilt on his sleeve. It was a case so easy to solve that he actually wasn’t sure what to do. The tax official let out his umpteenth sigh at this point and said, “I will need to see records for every cash payment and deposit you have made.”

However, at that moment the tax officer saw something that truly surprised him.

“Meena! Why are you here!?”

Meena was the tax officer’s daughter.

She had disappeared a few months ago with no evidence to where she might have gone nor what could have happened. The tax officer had searched everywhere in Sky Castle for her, and he had hired dozens of agents to search for her in the outside cities. He was so worried for her that he had completely neglected his duties until now in his ongoing quest to find her.

The only reason he had traveled to Wheat Grace like this was so that he could earn some more money to continue paying the agents he had out looking for her.

And now here she was in front of him; his beloved daughter had miraculously appeared before him.

The truth was, Meena had met Lake when he was visiting Sky Castle and had fallen in love at first sight, so she went along with him to Wheat Grace while doing ‘nice things’ with him.

Meena was born to the tax official and a wife who was frequently doing ‘nice things’ with other men while the tax official was away on business, and while the tax officer always had his suspicions, he was never able to gleam the truth.

Meena was a hopeless romantic like her father which was why she had gone so far for a man she knew little about other than her love for him. Still, after growing up in the environment that she did, and watching her mother for all those years, Meena knew what she had to do now that her father was here.

Meena suddenly started to cry and shouted at Lake.

“This person forced himself on me!”

It was a beautiful example of shifting the blame. If you were to think about this situation calmly, then you would be able to easily see the truth.

But a hot-blooded father who dotes on his daughter too much could not be asked to think calmly in this type of situation and would believe her claim one hundred percent.

“You son of a bitch!”

The tax officer grabbed hold of Lake’s collar and threw him up against a wall.

Lake, only saved from falling on his butt because he managed to grab hold of some curtains, was left scrambling away on his hands and knees, trying to escape from the screaming tax official.

Meanwhile, Acoms had turned deathly pale as the ‘worst-case scenario’ just kept getting worse and worse.

Eventually the tax official got tired of chasing/beating Lake around the room, so he turned his cold gaze back towards Acoms–spitting out his words with his shoulders still trembling in anger.

“Your son shall be brought to Sky castle under charges of tax evasion and kidnapping!”

“Okay.”

Acoms was completely overtaken by this entire situation, so there was nothing he could do but quietly agree and dumbly nod his head.

Lake was taken to a separate room and locked up by Buzz and Doug who had acted as the tax officer’s muscle from behind.

“Well then, let’s continue.”

The tax officer pushed aside his mounting rage in order to continue scrutinizing the books.

After awhile, the tax official shook his head and turned back to Acoms.

“Just by this one year survey, between the money that was withheld and the fines, you owe up to 3 billion ril.”

This was bad enough, but the tax official coldly continued.

“Furthermore, from what I have seen from past years, it seems like this has been a recurring trend. With the past five years, I suppose you owe 15 billion ril? Since this case of tax evasion was obviously not a result from negligence but a willful act, it will most likely end up with a prison sentence in the event you can’t pay.”

“But a prison sentence form 15 billion ril in taxation would equal of life sentence!”

Acoms didn’t know what to think. He didn’t have that kind money, but he certainly didn’t want to spend life in prison.

*SNAP*

Something broke inside Acoms’s head.

“Don’t look at it as you have to pay 15 billion ril or else go to jail. Look at it like all you have to do is pay 15 billion ril, and you get your freedom.”

It was just one joke too far. After that, Acoms called out to the moneyman who had been silently watching everything from behind until now.

“Zabinas! Kill this guy!”

“I should’ve done this from the beginning after all.”

At the same time, the moneyman’s appearance warped into a true demon.

“I will take care of things here, so just remember to obediently pay my fee at the end of this.”

Zabinas slowly approached the tax official who was frozen stiff from the sudden appearance of a demon.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make it painless for you.”

Zabinas’s claws seemed to shine as they were brought down towards the tax official’s head.

But they didn’t reach.

“Too bad nya.”

At the moment of attack, a pure white cat-eared girl had slipped her body in front of the tax official and prevented the attack with a shining gold gauntlet.

The cat-eared girl grabbed the tax official’s hand, and she ran out of the room along with him.

“Kill them before they reach the street!”

Acoms was screaming like a madman, but Zabinas agreed with him chasing after the cat-eared girl and the tax official.

But when he left the safety of the drawing room, Zabinas was suddenly hindered from advancing further by a stone spear shot from the floor.

“What, what?”

The city inhabitants who had gathered to witness the ongoing situation with the visiting tax official were taken aback by the sudden development.

“What the hell!?”

“It’s a demon!”

“The people who’ve seen?”

When Zabinas gave a quick look over the surrounding people, he loudly called back to Acoms.

“The eyewitnesses are expendable! We can kill them later!”

“Roger!”

The frenzied Acoms was screaming at the top of his lungs.

So the demon known as Zabinas began to grow larger.

His bulky muscles surpassed that of the rotten giant. He was 4 meters tall, and there were no eyes in his skull. Only empty, black eye sockets. Razor sharp fangs poked out of this large grin reaching from ear to ear

His whole body was dyed as black as a bat, and a large pair of wings were attached to his back along with four, hulking arms–causing all the surrounding witnesses to fall back in fear.

It was a being known as a ‘high daemon.’

“A big one came out…”

Ellis readied her blade while guarding the tax officer. After guiding Katie and Claire back into formation, she instructed Frau and Reeve to charge forward and get behind Zabinas.

“We will help too!”

Buzz and Doug from the Adventurer’s Guild also tried to follow after Reeve and Frau, but a sudden flame blocked their path.

“Damn!”

“Is this the same spell the wight cast?

Reeve and Frau were wrapped up in a {Fireburst} released by Zabinas.

Ellis hurriedly launched Full Recovery to treat Reeve and Frau’s wounds. These two were able to withstand the damage to and extent thanks to the Resistance and Magic Guard abilities.

But that would not be the case for the other two.

“Buzz and Doug, hang back and attack from a distance!”

Ellis screamed out her orders to the two men, but under her breath, she muttered to herself, “This might be really bad…”

Ellis was getting impatient.

But she had to stop the demon that was in front of her.

“Frau aim for the left, Reeve the right, Katie aim for his back and Stupor him, Claire {Explode}!”

The four girls spread out according to Ellis’s instruction and began their assault.

Although Frau and Buzz attacked Sabinas’s right foot with Reeve and Doug assaulting the left, barely any damage was given.

Claire had finished refining her mana in the meantime and had successfully released an {Explosion} right on Zabinas’s head.

The daemon’s head was engulfed in flames and noise, but once it all cleared away, his head was still there.

“He resisted it!”

“Leave it to me nya!”

As if to respond to Claire’s despair, Katie’s pressed in her claws and gouged out Zabinas’s back.

“Kuwaaaaaaaaaaa!

Katie’s attack went through.

With, black blotchy blood pouring from his back, Zabinas turned around making his target.

Bad! Katie will be done for at this rate!

Ellis’s brain was spinning with everything it had to try and figure out what to do next.

Then a voice shouted out from behind.

“Everyone near the demon, get down!”

All the girls and their helpers instinctively threw themselves to the left and right. They recognized the voice, but right now was not the time for harassment.

Everything was over in an instant.

“Brave Slash!”

At that instant, a flash of light passed before everyone’s eyes.

When Zabinas was hit by that flash, his movements were completely halted. Right until the left half of his body started to fall forward while the right side fell back. Black blood flowed from the bisected demon, but everyone’s eyes had already been directed to the direction that that blade of light had come from.

There, the Hero Gray stood tall wearing his Resistance gauntlet, Resistance black metal boots, and Resistance Hyaaha armor.

“Amazing!”

“What was that light?”

“Such tremendous power!”

“I can’t believe he cut that demon in two!”

“That Brave Slash was incredible!”

With the exception of the cat-eared girl, none of Ellis’s group were able to damage the demon that the Hero had just killed. They had fought with everything they had, but the Hero ended it with one attack.

It was quite clear that if they got into a fight with the Brave party, they would definitely be annihilated in an instant.

So Ellis worked up her resolve.

She would try and get along with the Hero on the surface.

Ellis struck Reeve’s leg to get her attention, and when Reeve lent her ear, Ellis whispered out her plan.

Nodding once, Reeve rushed over to her father and whispered in his ear the same way.

“So you are the Hero Gray! I am Leopold Lorenburg, a noble of this city. Today, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for saving my city. Thank you.”

So Leopold expressed his gratitude to the Hero with his head bowed as low as it would go.

The residents of the city gasped at the situation of a noble bowing their head to another, but they quickly regained their composure and began bowing their heads following Leopold’s lead.

The Hero was not quite sure what to do in this situation.

“No….I felt the presence of a demon, so….I’m just glad I made it in time.”

The Hero was blushing.

It was his first time ever being truly welcomed to a city like this. Completely different from all the misfortune he had met in a city a little north of there.

“Have you finished yet?” Dams droned on as if nothing had happened.

“Let’s hurry up.” Peach also had no admiration for the Hero.

“I’m tired.” Cliff had not even realized there was a fight.

“Gray, thank you for your help once again.” Gise was the only person who was happy for Gray’s intervention.

Now the question is, why is the Brave party here in the first place?

There was a good reason for that.

The Brave party had once again dived into Wight Labyrinth after the Warren harvest festival, but they once again came up short.

So while the labyrinth was restoring itself, they decided to venture to Wheat Grace in order to obtain the Resistance armor that the Durkfienance family had managed to outbid them on to replace the Hyaaha armor he currently had.

In the worst-case scenario, Gray was prepared to acquire it even if he had to abuse the royal family name.

Because when the wight which was the last boss of Wight Labyrinth sprung out, the monster had unintentionally started laughing when it saw the armor the Hero was wearing.

At that point, not only Gise but Peach, Dams, and Cliff had all sympathized with the embarrassed Gray.

That is what brought them to the current situation.

Acoms and Lake were once again grabbed by Buzz and Doug and dragged over to the Adventurer’s Guild.

Still a little shaken from the true horror of the Hero’s power, she decided to confirm the fate of Acoms and Lake first and ran over to the tax official.

“What will happen to these two?”

“They are definitely guilty.”

While expressing his appreciation to Ellis for saving his life, the tax officer was clearly suppressing the anger he held towards the two nobles and was completely cold-hearted to their future fates.

When he wasn’t looking, Ellis performed a guts pose.

Alright.

Then Ellis turned towards Gray and shouted loudly.

“Mr. Hero! Your armor is over here!”

Ellis pointed to the Resistance armor that Lake was still currently wearing.

“No, he won that in the bid fair and square.”

Even though Gray was trying to hold back during this current situation, Ellis kept talking in her most girlish sounding voice while twirling her hair a bit.

“I saw the auction, and when I saw this suit of armor, I thought it would be perfect for the Hero. Besides, this person won it with fraudulent money. Isn’t that right?”

Ellis drew the tax official into the conversation who readily agreed that Lake was at fault, even without the knowledge that it benefitted the Hero.

“Then, don’t you think this armor should go to its legitimate owner? What about everyone else?”

Reeve was the first to recognize what Ellis was doing and began to start a round of applause which quickly spread to the rest of the onlookers.

Here Ellis made eye contact with Doug and Buzz.

They received the message loud and clear, removed the armor from Lake, and handed it over to Ellis.

Ellis pretended that the armor was quite heavy in her delicate arms, and she gave off her biggest, cutest smile while struggling to hold up the armor to Gray.

“Come on, please take this from me, Hero.”

Gray was touched while graciously taking the armor from Ellis’s outstretched hands.

“Thank you.”

It had suddenly become an award ceremony.

Gray was wrapped in applause from the surrounding residents as he removed the Hyaaha armor and put on the jet black armor with Ellis’s help.

Thus the Hero Gray finally started looking like a decent hero.

“It looks great!”

“This is what a hero is supposed to look like!”

The residents’ clapping grew louder and shouts of acclaim rang out.

With the city completely enveloped in this blessed atmosphere, Ellis quietly approached Gise.

“Sorry for the festival. I was surprised.”

Gise was completely thrown off by the sudden apology and could only nod his head in silence.

Ellis then softly whispered into the still confused Gise’s ear.

“Thank you for helping everyone today.”

“No, well………”

In this way, Gise was completely taken in by Ellis’s acting.

For some strange reason, the tax official has the mistaken belief that Leopold is the second man in charge after Acoms, most likely due to him taking the lead in thanking the Hero for saving the city.

The tax official asked Leopold to take over lead duties for the Durkfienance family since Acoms and Lake would both be taken to Sky Castle to face trial for their crimes.

“May I continue to trade agricultural products normally?”

Worried about the damage done by Acoms’s tax evasion, Leopold acutely asked the most pressing question for Wheat Grace. Satisfied with the competence shown by this new leader, the tax official hit him on the shoulder to let him know it was all right.

“Feel free to start a new book. Just make sure to keep it accurate during tax time.”

Before Ferdinand ran them to the ground, the Lorenburg family was a well-off, highly respected house, so there were no complaints from the other nobles about them taking over.

And since the rights to their special products were permanently returned from the Durkfienance family, most of the aristocrats had actually come ahead from this whole affair.

In this way, the ‘harassment against Lake and the Durkfienance house plan’ perpetrated by the Reeve Fan Club and the Warren Adventurer’s Guild was a rousing success which had also inadvertently resulted in peace returning to Wheat Grace and Reeve’s family becoming the new lords.