Chapter 66 (2)

Chapter 66 (2)

The Lord began to talk about the proposals he had received at that time.

"First, I agreed not to collect taxes from those who hold the promissory notes I've issued. They told me to slowly repay my debt with that arrangement. I agreed, since it seemed reasonable and no one else would lend me gold coins."

"Is there anything else?"

"They also told me not to collect taxes from the lands held as collateral until all my debts are paid off. I had no choice but to agree to this as well. The debt had become so large that it was embarrassing to exercise my rights on the lands held as collateral. So, I accepted that proposal too."

"Father."

Lord Chester sighed as he finished speaking.

"If I hadn't accepted those proposals back then, I might not be here now. The nobles were strongly shaken, and no one knew how things would turn out."

Most of the people in the territory held the promissory notes Lord Chester had issued.

These Gold promissory notes, issued with the notes he wrote as collateral, were being used like money throughout the territory. In effect, all the people in the territory had become creditors who needed to receive gold coins from Lord Chester.

In other words, Lord Chester's current income was zero.

"Father, if you agree to that, we won't collect any taxes here, right? You're not running any separate businesses, so why did you agree to such a thing?"

"I know. I understand, but..."

Lord Chester had his reasons.

"There was no other way. I couldn't survive without accepting it. You didn't see the group of people from the territory who came to me with their eyes wide open, demanding money. They were really determined to get money from me, no matter what."

"So why... did you accumulate so much debt? Needlessly."

"It wasn't needless. It was all for the territory. This land has been passed down from our ancestors since the dwarves abandoned it. It's a place we have a duty to protect no matter what."

Even though he was a foolish father, he was still her father.

Stella wanted to know the exact state of the territory in order to resolve this situation.

"So, Father, does that mean we won't collect any taxes here at all?"

"Taxes? Everyone is coming to me demanding gold coins. How could we collect any taxes?"

"Thats the only problem, everything else is fine, right?"

Lord Chester shook his head without hesitation in response to his daughter's hopeful question.

So everyone openly ignored them.

"I'm really sorry. I don't know how things turned out like this..."

He didn't have the courage to die, either.

"I even thought about dying. But if I die, what will happen to you? My death won't erase all the debts."

"How did such an honorable person end up like this?"

"I don't know. It really happened before I knew it."

The father and daughter fell silent in the gloomy atmosphere.

But they couldn't just die like this.

Unlike her father, who had brought the situation to this point, she wanted to find a way to survive.

"I'll go to Carter Bank and try to negotiate. We have to live somehow."

Lord Chester was doubtful.

What difference would it make if his daughter went instead of him?

"Will it change much if you go? Maybe they, or rather, that child, planned all of this from the beginning. I should have been suspicious from the moment they asked for the land as collateral."

"But it was you who borrowed the money, right?"

"That's true..."

"Then you have nothing to say. They lent you the money, and you couldn't pay it back. And you also had bad intentions."

"What bad intentions did I have?"

"You recklessly issued promissory notes. Did you think I wouldn't know?"

"Well..."

Hearing such words from his daughter, Lord Chester felt like dying.

"You're right. If only I hadn't issued those promissory notes so recklessly..."

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