Chapter 424: Necessary Evils

Britz was in the thick of development, but the farm district sat apart on the outskirts. Naturally, even the wind direction had been carefully considered so that the saltpeter farm’s dreadful stench wouldn’t sweep over the residential area.

Yet from the moment I set foot in Britz’s side streets, the stink made me wince. This was unmistakably the same smell I’d caught near the slums of Breisburg. It seemed there was no keeping it out entirely.

Münster, who had been glancing around, spoke up.

"My lord, there seem to be quite a few taverns around here."

"I abolished the liquor tax for Britz alone, so of course they’re multiplying."

"Th-the liquor tax? I see!"

The liquor tax was a fairly steep one. That was why home-brewed moonshine circulated on the sly. But in this area, even poor laborers could get their hands on drink easily.

All of it was for the sake of the saltpeter farm on the outskirts.

In essence, I had built a human toilet.

"Hmm, then we could save on liquor costs."

"You’ll be paying that much more in brothel taxes, so will you really be saving?"

"...Pardon?"

I regarded brothels as a necessary evil, nothing more. I did not encourage them. Brothel taxes were normally set at fifty percent, but I intended to collect seventy. Münster only blinked.

"If you collect that much tax, not only will the fees go up, but the number of women working the streets on their own will rise as well. That would cause problems for the public order you value so much..."

"That’s not your problem to worry about. Presumptuous advice only sours my mood."

"M-my apologies."

When I let out a faint hint of menace, Münster pulled his head in like a turtle into its shell. I intended to entrust this district to the Night Guild, but that didn’t mean I felt any fondness for them. I was the one holding the reins.

"Even with a high tax rate, if the Night Guild runs things as a monopoly, you’ll pull in considerable profits. And since I’m not collecting the liquor tax, it won’t be much of a burden on you either."

"But what if, by some chance, a slum takes root?"

"You’re fretting over nothing in front of a slum destroyer."

Razing slums had become one of my specialties, and I had no intention of standing by while one formed in my own front yard. This was an entirely different environment from Breisburg, where the interests of various factions were tangled together.

"Sir! Sir!"

Just then, a man approached us from an alley.

Anton, keeping watch at my side, tensed reflexively. If this had been an official procession, a man like that would never have dared to come near, but I was traveling incognito, with only Münster and Anton attending me.

Münster spoke.

"That one’s a kept man."

"A kept man? Kept men drum up business too?"

"When you have to eat, is there anything you won’t do?"

The man, blocked by Anton, brought over three prostitutes who had been waiting in the alley. Now I saw that he was a kept man and a pimp rolled into one. Anton’s face flushed with anger.

"Heh heh, these are my beautiful wives."

"Don’t come any closer. Step back."

"The fee is three silver coins. Fair price, isn’t it?"

"I said step back!"

I stopped Anton before he could draw his sword in fury. As a devout Christian, he despised prostitutes and pimps. But since things had come to this, I decided to treat it as a chance to hear about the state of Britz’s back alleys.

"I have no intention of buying your wives, but I am curious how you ended up here."

"Oh, is that what you’re after? But that’s not free either."

I tossed him a silver coin.

The man scooped it up and spoke with a grin.

"Heh heh heh, you’re an unusual customer, sir. We’re from Breisburg. I was born to a woman in some brothel, and these three grew up in much the same circumstances."

Bodo had also been born and raised in the Pauper’s Crown.

So far, it was a similar story.

"Most of my friends joined the slum gangs and were riding high for a while. I thought about joining too, but my wives here talked me out of it. In the end, it’s a good thing I didn’t. The slums were wiped off the map, and if I’d been there I’d be a dead man too."

"Well now, I can’t tell whether that’s good luck or bad."

"Good luck, obviously. The Lord spared this lowly life."

Was it, now? The man who had razed those slums, twice over, was standing right in front of him. I turned to Anton and Münster with a knowing smile. The man didn’t notice a thing and went on with his story.

"The brothel we lived in was the worst. Beatings were routine, and the owner was always threatening to throw us out on the street if we didn’t bring in our quotas. Then we heard a rumor. That the lord of Rosenheim was pouring a fortune into developing Vintenheim, and there was work to spare."

Breisburg had people to spare but not enough work, so not every commoner could earn the average income of ten silver coins. The poor and the destitute took hope and began dreaming the Rosenheim dream.

That was why people had flocked to Vintenheim. Yet the scale of construction was so vast that Leonardo and Markus were still complaining about labor shortages. That was how much money five hundred gold coins was.

Throwing the captured prisoners into the work had doused the most urgent fire for now.

"When a lot of people gather, women become a necessity. So I took my wives and sneaked away from that bastard of a brothel owner and came all the way here. He must have turned the place upside down trying to catch us."

The man laughed with relish, apparently tickled at the very thought. But one of his wives, who had been studying me closely, suddenly gave a violent start and whispered to the others. Then they all went pale as death.

Hmm, so they’d finally figured out who I was. Even in disguise, anyone who knew my face well would have little trouble recognizing me. What surprised me was that prostitutes were among them.

The man, oblivious to the mood, continued.

"I was worried because Vintenheim had plenty of rough sorts too, but thankfully the lord of Rosenheim put real effort into public order, and they’ve all but vanished. Thanks to that, we were able to settle down."

"What do you think of the lord of Rosenheim?"

"The lord? Naturally, I think he’s a man worthy of respect. Well, I haven’t met a single person living on this land who badmouths him, so he must be as good as his reputation says."

Hmm, fortunately even those at the bottom seemed fairly well disposed toward me. The choices I’d made would come back to me someday as goodwill. What would I have done if this fellow had cursed me right here?

I’m the sort to ask why a man is cursing me before I take his head. In a world where people curse the grand duke and the Church in back alleys, forbidding it makes no sense.

"I see. The Night Guild is set to move in here. What do you think of that?"

"The Night Guild? Among all the many sons of bitches, they’re the somewhat better sons of bitches, I suppose?"

Münster’s face soured.

I wanted to ask him how it felt to be a son of a bitch.

"The brothel I was in belonged to the Night Guild too. The tribute was high, and they collected protection money on top of that, so that damned owner exploited his prostitutes something fierce."

"Hmm, so the Night Guild collected protection money as well."

Münster, whose face had already fallen, now avoided my gaze. Tribute went toward the guild’s income and the taxes it paid the government, but protection money was separate income that had nothing to do with taxes.

"Well, they did keep the slum gangs from running wild in exchange for the protection money, so it wasn’t a pointless expense, but the brothels along the border had it hellish. It’s always a war zone over there."

"I see. So are you paying your taxes properly while working here?"

"I haven’t been able to pay any yet. If the Night Guild were here, I’d pay them, but they’re not here yet, are they? And I can’t exactly go to the administrator."

This was exactly why a middleman like the Night Guild was needed. If pimps went to the administrator and handed over their tribute as taxes, what would become of my reputation? With the Church watching like a hawk.