Chapter 162 – One-Day Puppy Tiger Doesn’t Know Fear
“Oh, come to think of it, your father was looking for you earlier?”
Dorothea, who was eating next to her, waved a fork with carrots while saying that.
“Father? Me? Suddenly why?”
“That’s it, I don’t know.”
Yum.
Tossing the round carrot into her mouth, Dorothea licked the brown sauce off his lips with her tongue.
“It looks like your father has something to ask for help from Kaldrash-nim.”
Hearing Camilla’s words, I tilted my head.
“What happened to that man?”
This is because usually my father is the kind of person who, when he has a problem, tries to end it on his own instead of opening his hand to me.
If someone like that was looking for me, it was clear that something was wrong.
“Okay. I’ll see you soon.”
As I said that, I took one of the fries from Dorothea’s plate and ate it.
“Hey! If you want to eat, order and eat too!”
“I won’t eat it all even if I order it, but it’s a waste. Also, do you get fat if you eat fried food for three meals a day?”
As I said that, pointing to his belly, Dorothea blushed and pulled his plate away.
“Woo! Witches don’t gain weight?!”
I sneered and retorted.
“At this point, should we go to the Ruby Tower together? I saw something.”
“That’s what low-level kids are like!”
With my daughter! With my daughter!
While me and Dorothea were arguing about whether or not witches get fat too, someone opened the door and entered the tavern.
“Welcome!”
As Timmy shouted and greeted him politely, a grunting voice came from the front door.
“Hmph, this place always lacks dignity.”
“Ji, what is the tax collector doing here!”
“Yes?”
I looked at Timmy, wanting something.
There stood a skinny man dressed in purple silk, probably about forty years of age.
“What did the tax collector come for? He came to collect taxes.”
While saying that, the man tapped the tavern floor with his cane.
“Ah, yes! I’ll get it right away!”
Timmy gasps inside.
Sitting at the counter seat, I looked at him and rested my chin.
‘Hmm.’
It’s the first person I’ve ever seen, but he has a pretty high nose.
The man looked around the tavern looking bored and his eyes lit up when he noticed Dorothea eating next to me and Camilla sitting calmly.
He strode over and spoke to us.
“Are you a guest at this tavern?”
Then Dorothea answered, swallowing the meat she was chewing in her mouth.
“I’m a guest.”
“Uh-huh, how old is the age gap?”
Then Dorothea frowned as if it were absurd.
“You talked plainly in the first meeting.”
Observing the situation, I quickly intervened.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you’re talking to me, not this guy.”
“Oh, now I’ve got someone I can talk to.”
Saying that, Customs Jing pushed up his glasses, then looked at Camilla and asked.
“Is this maid a slave by any chance?”
“No. That’s my wife.”
Then the man frowned as if he had heard some strange words.
“She’s a wife, but she’s wearing a maid’s uniform?”
“Because it’s my wife and I’s hobby. Is there something wrong?”
Then, with a slightly puzzled expression, the tax collector stammered, “Oh, no. It’s not like that, but…”.
“So what are you talking about?”
Then the tax collector hesitated and answered.
“It’s not a big deal. It just seems to suit the taste of the lord I’m serving…”
“If you were a slave, what would you have tried to buy with money?”
The man then turned his head away with an embarrassed expression.
What these kids say is pretending.
Seeing that he still doesn’t cross the line, he seems to have a bit of an eye for it.
Dorothea, who was next to her, murmured incredulously.
“Is the tax collector also a pimp?”
“Even though she’s so pretty, she’s tired.”
Camilla was expressionless, but with a strangely proud look on her face, she said and ran her hair through her hair.
Meanwhile, Timmy, who had been inside her, comes out with her money bag.
“Governor, here you are.”
Then, to alleviate her awkward atmosphere, the man quickly snatched the money bag Timmy was sticking out of her and cleared her throat.
“I’m going to go for today. I’ll prepare it like this for the next time.”
“Oh, yes. Take a look.”
As Jing customs walked out of the store panting after packing her things, Timmy tilted her head and asked if she felt the awkward atmosphere still hanging around the store.
“What happened?”
“There was. Something you would have liked if you had seen it.”
“What? Really?!”
Then Timmy must have instinctively realized that she had missed an interesting scene, so she slapped her forehead in great regret.
Tsk tsk, so who wants to vacate?
***
After the small commotion at the bar ended, I went home to see my father.
Ding-dong!
“Yes, let’s go”
When I pressed the doorbell in front of the house, I heard a lively voice from inside.
Click!
Eventually, it was Vanessa, not her stepmother, who opened the door.
“What, why are you here?”
“I came to play for a while because I had some time left.”
Vanessa, wearing an apron, smiled Betsy as she said that.
No matter how you look at it, it seems like he came to get points from my father, but I didn’t hate him that way.
I don’t know if it looks rather cute.
“Is your father in?”
“Yeah. I’m resting after lunch.”
“That’s good.”
I went inside the house with Vanessa.
My stepmom, who was sitting in the living room, woke up in surprise when she saw me.
“Are you here?”
“Ah yes.”
Still, the relationship between my stepmom and I was at odds.
Even from her point of view, it is strange that she suddenly has a son who is older than her, so it is not awkward.
“I’m here to see my father.”
“He’s in the study.”
After hearing that, I nodded, walked to the study in the back of the house, and knocked on the door.
Smart!
“Father?”
“Come in.”
After receiving permission, I opened the door and entered the study, where I saw my father sitting in a chair.
“What did you call for?”
Then the father held out the paper he was holding in his hand and said.
“Kaldrasch, there’s something I really want to ask you.”
I read the words written at the top of the paper my father held out.
“Land tax bill?”
Then the father answered, scratching his head with an awkward expression.
“As you know, I’m not familiar with that. Originally, it was a bit expensive, but as land prices have risen recently, the land tax has increased tremendously.”
Upon hearing that, I glanced over the contents.
I don’t know if it’s anything else, but if it’s tax related, it was the right decision to ask me.
I don’t know about the father, but the current son is the king of the end of that line.
“Hmm. In terms of content, there’s not much of a problem. The land tax is originally about walking more if the land is expensive, so my father can understand…”
I was about to tell him to do it, but I fell silent when I saw the last bill listed.
“300 gold?”
What? Is your conscience amiris? If the price of land in the countryside is high, how expensive is it?
“Look at that, don’t you see a lot?”
“No, I didn’t see this wrong, right? Did you overdue taxes?”
“That’s a year’s worth.”
“Crazy.”
Even if I tried not to curse, I couldn’t help but curse.
“What percentage is the tax rate for this?”
“Roughly, it’s about 30% of the money I make by renting orchard land.”
“…Is that illegal?”
In the past, the lord was allowed to pay taxes at will, but after the Demon King’s Army took over, the maximum tax rate changed to 15%.
Then my father, who was next to me, looked at me and said he didn’t know anything about the world.
“Even if there is a law, if you don’t follow it, it’s the same as not having it.”
“No, I’m not saying it’s wrong.”
This is because the law stipulates the son in front of me, right?
I forced myself to swallow the words that filled my throat and said that I would take care of the tax for now.
Then his father patted him on the shoulder proudly.
“Please take care of me, son.”
“Could you stop calling me son only at this time?”
Feeling goosebumps, I ran out of the study as if I were running away.
***
“Then…How do I do this?”
I looked down at the land tax bill in my hand.
He told his father that he would come back confidently, but he didn’t even bother to attack the lord’s castle without hesitation.
It’s a secret that me and Ozma came here on vacation.
As I was thinking about how to pay my father’s land tax without seeing the lord’s face, I remembered the face of the customs collector I had seen earlier.
“Ah.”
Come to think of it, that guy was there.
I praised myself for my brilliant mind, and immediately called the children from town to town to inquire about the whereabouts of the tax collector.
“Oh! This is the man I saw yesterday!”
“Call me bro. Man.”
“Brother!”
The kid whose name changes immediately when I hand out candy.
“So kid, haven’t you seen the skinny guy walking around town?”
“Ah, you mean that tax collector?”
If you know who it is, the story is fast.
“Right.”
“That man went to Aunt Helen’s house earlier.”
As the little girl said that, she pointed in the direction of Helen’s house, where I had been earlier.
“When did you see it?”
“Not really. About 10 minutes ago?”
“Thank you. Have another one.”
I put another piece of candy in the boy’s hand and hurriedly ran to Helen’s house in pursuit of the tax collector who was supposed to deliver the horse to the lord in my place.
