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Chapter 26 – Tax Collection
Allen came home covered in wounds. Theresia was relieved to find that there weren’t any serious injuries. He was still carrying the Albaheron on his back. Carefully, he placed it on the dirt floor of the entryway. With its wings folded, it was about the size of an adult. The house wasn’t very big, so its legs stuck out the front door.
“Allen, what happened!?”
“It flew down, so I caught it, Mom.”
(Technically, I’m not lying.)
“Allen is amazing!”
Kurena smiled and praised him. The Albaheron didn’t surprise her.
“Mama… Scaryyy.”
When he saw the Albaheron, Mash hid behind Theresia’s back and started to tear up.
(He’s a scaredy-cat now, but he’ll grow up to be a strong man. But yeah, the Albaheron weighs more than 45 pounds, and around half of that is edible. And the feathers seem useful. It’s a monster so will it have magic stones? Hehehe, I wonder where I should sell it all.)
Allen calculated what he could gain from the Albaheron. Even though it was a monster bigger than an adult, all Allen could see was a pile of food and materials.
A voice came from the back, asking what was going on. Allen remembered that Rodan was still stuck in bed. Theresia explained the situation to him. After a “What!? There’s no way!!”, Rodan peeked his head out. From the bedroom, the step in the entryway blocked the Albaheron, so Rodan couldn’t really see. Allen grabbed the bird’s head to show him.
“I-it’s really an Albaheron. Allen, did you catch it? With just a wooden sword and some rocks?”
“Hm? Yeah.”
Rodan had a different perspective than Theresia and Kurena. He could see how the monster’s right eye was crushed, and how its neck was bent in multiple places. He analyzed how it was taken down, how Allen was able to beat it.
It seemed like he wanted to take a closer look. Rodan stood up and dragged himself towards the dirt entryway.
“What!? Dad, you need to rest.”
Allen rushed to the living room.
“Oi, oi. What’s going on here?”
Gerda had come.
(Hm? Why is Gerda here right now? He wasn’t supposed to come over today. Speaking of which, Kurena wasn’t supposed to be here either.)
Since the day Rodan had regained consciousness, Allen hadn’t played with Kurena because of all the farm work. Because Kurena and Gerda’s family had various things to take care of too, Allen had told Kurena that they wouldn’t be playing. But after 2 or 3 days, she couldn’t stand it anymore and ran over.
The past few days, after they had finished farming, Gerda had been asking Allen to play with Kurena even more than usual. Playing with Kurena was harder than the farm work. After Allen told him that he couldn’t, Kurena came to Allen’s house, followed shortly by Gerda.
Allen stared at Gerda, but he wouldn’t make eye contact. Apparently, he had deliberately let Kurena come here.
“Papa! Allen caught it! Isn’t he amazing!!”
Kurena praised Allen. With a serious face, Gerda looked at the Albaheron. Then he looked at Rodan.
“Looks like it’s real. Anyway, don’t overdo it Rodan. Go back to bed. I’ll take care of the rest, okay?”
“Ah? Right, yeah. Thanks for your help.”
(Hm? What? Is he going to teach me how to process it? That’d be pretty helpful.)
“Well, let’s go, Allen.”
“Eh? Where?”
“To the mayor’s house. We have to give him this Albaheron.”
“Eh? We’re giving it away?”
(Seriously? Do monsters belong to the mayor?)
Gerda told Allen to come outside for a minute. He grabbed the Albaheron, and followed Gerda outside.
“If we don’t drain the blood, we can’t eat it.”
With a big knife he took from the entryway, Gerda cut the Albaheron’s head off, and drained the blood into the irrigation canal by the house.
“Does this mean that the Albaheron belongs to the mayor?”
“Yup. It belongs to the mayor. Even though you were the one who caught the monster, you’ll still have to give him 60% of it. The rest is yours.”
(Seriously? The 60% tax isn’t just for crops? It also applies to any monsters we catch?)
Apparently, they’d turn a blind eye if it was just a Horned Rabbit, but not for a D-rank monster. Allen was told that it would be properly taxed. The Horned Rabbit was an E-rank monster, the lowest possible rank.
Allen was shocked.
“However, the mayor is partly responsible for Rodan’s injury, so there should be room for negotiation. And since this is Allen’s first kill, we’ll play hardball.”
Rodan was seriously injured when the mayor forced him to take 5 inexperienced commoners along for a hunt. Since it was the mayor’s fault, Gerda wanted to use that as leverage during negotiation to keep as much of the Albaheron as possible.
“I see. Then, maybe you could say something like this?”
Allen told him how he should approach the negotiation, and Gerda nodded, saying “hmm, I see.”
After most of the blood had drained from the Albaheron, Gerda told Theresia that he was going to the mayor’s place. He said that he would be back before sundown.
Gerda carried the Albaheron on his back, and headed for the mayor’s house with Allen. Kurena’s house was in the same direction, so they were also taking her home.
“Hey, hey, can we play tomorrow!?”
She asked him to play tomorrow.
(Hmm, now that I’ve dug up all the potatoes, it couldn’t hurt to play during the afternoon, right?)
Kurena was waiting with bated breath. And for some reason, Gerda was also waiting with bated breath. Recently, playtime ended at 4 o’clock, but started at 1 or 2. Now that Kurena was 6, she didn’t need to nap as much, and could play more.
“Yeah, tomorrow is good. Bring it on.”
“Yayyyy!”
Kurena wore her joy on her sleeve. Beside her, Gerda was patting his chest for some reason. It seemed like it was hard to raise a Sword Saint.
They dropped Kurena off at home, and walked to the mayor’s house.
They entered the grounds while still carrying the Albaheron, which drew a lot of attention. Unabashed, they continued on towards the house.
“Is the mayor home?”
Gerda had knocked on the door and asked the person who answered. The man replied that the mayor was here, and that they could enter. They went inside, still carrying the Albaheron.
“Ohhh! That is a mighty fine Albaheron. What’s the story behind it?”
The Albaheron was placed in the hall that was used for the banquet when the knights came. The house probably belonged to the mayor and his relatives. Two people handled the Albaheron.
“Ah, I found Rodan’s son just as he took it down, and I brought it over.”
Gerda explained, saying what he and Allen discussed on the way here.
“I see, I see.”
“So, because Rodan’s incapacitated and can’t hunt, I’ll give you all the feathers and we’ll take the rest, okay?”
“Hah!?”
The feathers were used as raw material for pens and decorations. So, when they caught any bird, including the Albaheron, they kept the feathers.
“What? Isn’t that fine?”
“No, that’s not really….”
A silence hung over the hall. Gerda glared at the village chief, waiting for him to break, but it seemed that just the feathers wasn’t enough.
“Fine then, I’ll also give you the magic stone. How’s that? Ahhh… Rodan’s got a family of four, he really wanted them to eat meat this year. But someone was a bit reckless, so now he’s bedridden and can’t go hunting.”
“Huh!? The lord has ordered me to provide more meat. Surely, you understand.”
(Hm? So the mayor wanted to expand the hunting party because the lord wanted more meat?)
“Ah, is that so? So how about it? The feathers and the magic stone?”
“Ah- yes, well… Rodan has been a great help to this community… So I suppose this will be fine.”
Gerda glanced at Allen. It seemed like starting with just the feathers and then adding the magic stone was all part of Allen’s plan. First, you start with something very small, and then you compromise.
“Thank you, Mr. mayor!!”
Allen replied with a smile.
“Mmhmm. Seems like you’ll grow big and strong, just like Rodan.”
“So, if I catch more of them, you’ll only need the feathers and the magic stone, right?”
“Eh? That’s…”
Allen wanted to reach a long-term agreement today. He still wanted to hunt Albaheron. It seemed that the agreement for this Albaheron, where Allen could keep all the meat and offal, was less than the usual 60% tax. The mayor looked reluctant.
“Right!? Hey, it’ll be the same the next time he catches one, right? If there even is a next time.”
Gerda joined in.
“Y-yes… If you catch another one, we can do the same.”
“Thank you! It’s hard to carry it over, so can we do it all at once in December when the taxes are collected?”
Allen also wanted to determine the method of payment, because it was a hassle to bring the entire body to the mayor’s house.
“Eh? Ah, well, yes, that’ll be fine, son of Rodan.”
Although reluctantly, the mayor acknowledged both requests. It seemed like he thought that there wouldn’t be a next time.
It was decided. The wagon for the potatoes would arrive in early December. At that time, he would also deliver the feathers and magic stones.
When they left, it was starting to get dim. They hurried back. On the way, Gerda praised Allen many times, saying that he truly was his father’s son.
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Thanks for reading! 🙂
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