Chapter 425: Fig Leaf

Only by going through a legitimate guild could we obscure the fact that these were taxes earned from prostitution. It was a fig leaf, but such methods were necessary. I asked the man one last question.

"Do you plan to go on working the streets with your wives?"

"Of course not. Even this lowly life has dreams. My wives and I will earn money and open a tavern on this street. And since the lord just abolished the liquor tax in this area, it looks like we can make a fortune too. Heh heh heh."

"A fine dream. You answered in good faith, so I’ll reward you accordingly."

I gave him five more silver coins.

The man grinned from ear to ear as he pocketed the money.

"Heh heh heh, it’s an honor to be of service to you, my lord."

"So you’re not as slow as you look."

"In this line of work, you don’t live long without a quick eye."

"I imagine not. Off you go."

The man disappeared into the back alleys with his wives. Anton wore a troubled expression, having caught a glimpse of a world he’d known nothing about, while Münster fidgeted nervously.

"Fair warning: if you collect protection money, my soldiers will be the ones giving you ’protection.’"

"I-I’ll keep that in mind. There’s no reason to collect protection money when there are no competitors."

"If competitors do turn up, report them to the authorities. They’ll be dealt with."

If this were Breisburg, the bureaucrats with their cushy jobs would bark at them to handle it themselves and be done with it. But this was my domain, and the response would be completely different.

Heavily armed troops would be dispatched immediately to sweep them away.

I preferred nipping things in the bud to letting them fester.

"By the way, I’m seeing quite a few monks around."

"They were dispatched from the Bishopric of Lanseh."

"Is that so? They must have been sent for the church’s construction."

It goes without saying, but when founding a new town, the first things planned are the town hall and the church. The church in particular was the spiritual pillar of a region, an indispensable presence in Christian society.

So when Markus first began building Britz, he considered the church’s location before anything else. He then contacted the Bishopric of Lanseh to request support for the construction, and a large contingent of monks was dispatched.

For the bishopric, it meant one more place to do the Lord’s work, so they threw themselves into it. But young monks were fairly conspicuous on these streets. Religion, revelry, and the smell of dung all in one. It was enough to drive a man mad.

"If you won’t pay the fee, stop bothering me!"

"I told you, I’ll pay the fee when the offerings come in!"

"Damn it, just come along quietly!"

A scuffle seemed to be breaking out in one of the alleys. Hearing the commotion, a guard went in. But then he came back out with a troubled look on his face. What was going on?

"Hey, you there! Guard! Explain the situation at once."

"Verdammt! Now every worthless nobody is pestering me!"

The guard came stomping toward me. But as he studied my face, his irritation drained away, replaced by shock. He snapped to attention in an instant.

"The disturbance in the alley doesn’t seem resolved. Why did you come back out?"

"The monks caused the problem, so we can’t intervene..."

"Who told you not to intervene? I never gave any such order."

The guard hemmed and hawed. Tsk, it was obvious. Since a clash with monks could turn into a clash with the Church, the guards couldn’t easily step in. So I sent Anton.

"I’ve been ordered to bring the good monks along."

"How dare a mere secular guard meddle in our affairs?"

"We still have business with this woman, so get lost!"

"Oh, Lord! Forgive this sinner for raising his fist against monks who have strayed from the path!"

"Raising your fist? Gah! Aaagh!"

"V-violence invites sin, aaaagh!"

Anton, that most devout believer, beat the monks and dragged them out by force. Then he repented of his sins, saying he would go to the Vintenheim church for confession. What’s the point of hitting them and then repenting?

I contacted the Vintenheim church to deal with the battered monks. Naturally, the supervising priest came rushing over the moment he heard the news. At that point I revealed my face openly.

"They had no money for the fee, yet they were manhandling a prostitute and quarreling with her."

"My brilliant lord, please forgive the wrongdoing of these young monks. I will take full responsibility and teach these boys who have strayed from the path a stern lesson."

"I don’t know what sort of lesson you have in mind, but I trust the punishment will fit their misconduct."

"You are most merciful. I will send these young lambs to serve at the saltpeter farm."

Just like that, the saltpeter farm gained two free laborers.

Could those scrawny fellows even do proper work, though?

I issued an order to every guard stationed in Britz to arrest any monk who caused trouble. I sternly warned that anyone refusing to make an arrest on religious grounds would be disciplined.

With this measure, a few more foolish monks looking for fun in Britz were caught and sent to the saltpeter farm. Yet the monk problem showed no sign of letting up.

It wasn’t hard to understand how young men in the prime of life, shut up in a monastery, would go wild once the leash came off, but at the very least they shouldn’t be causing trouble. The supervising priest from the bishopric was the only one suffering for it.

When I tallied up their origins, the troublemakers turned out to be mostly not true monks but boys who had been sent to the monastery under the pretext of a theological education. And among them were the sons of noble families.

The heir of a Breisburg noble family came to see me.

"It’s an honor, my lord. I am Albert of the Archibald family."

"Archibald? Are you from Scotland, by any chance?"

"To be precise, I’m a descendant of a noble house that originated in Scotland and later settled in the Duchy of Swabia."

"The Duchy of Swabia. So you’re a rather old and distinguished house."

The family had existed since the days of the Duchy of Swabia (Suebia), before the Duchy of Beren was even established. But it seemed they had remained a middling family with no particular influence.

"So why has the heir of a family with no connection to me come all this way?"

"I received word that my younger brother caused a serious problem and is now serving at the saltpeter farm."

"So your brother asked you for help."

The younger one must have written begging for rescue while rolling around in the stinking saltpeter farm. Albert didn’t deny it. But even with the heir coming to ask for his release, I had no intention of granting the request.

"I’ll offer you information you may find tempting, my lord."

"You mean to trade information with me? Not a bad offer, but my tastes are quite particular."

"It concerns the Count of Basel. I’ll exchange this information for my brother."

He was offering information on the Count of Basel. A rather resourceful fellow. The count was the neighboring prince most likely to come into military conflict with me. I had dispatched August to Hissen to prepare for Basel’s provocations.

"You’re a noble who knows how to negotiate."

"You flatter me. I merely received a bit of advice. She said that when dealing with you, my lord, it’s most effective to propose a deal that would interest you."

"Is that so? Which noble advised you?"

"The noble Lady Mühe."

Of course, that woman knew me well. She’d rescued Bodo together with Vermeer and put me slightly in her debt. As an information broker, she would have sold what she knew about me to people like these.

That’s why he’d come with information about the Count of Basel.

"Very well. If I like the information, I’ll pull your brother out of that stinking cesspit."

"Thank you, my lord. I’ve obtained two pieces of information."

The first was that a man of the Count of Basel had made contact with the Judicial Minister. The second was that the count was secretly gathering mercenaries in his territory. Hmm, so he meant to launch a local war while the north was in turmoil, after all.

Or perhaps it was a ploy to test the waters.

And with it being winter, there was little to lose.

"Since Lady Mühe is involved, I won’t question the reliability of the information."

"As she advised, I have told you no falsehoods, my lord."

The scouter was telling me that Albert’s information was true. The situation around me was growing complicated, and Basel, the one I’d been worried about, was slowly beginning to move. I had no choice but to prepare.

"Time to break Basel’s spirit while I’m at it."

After all, I had the Streit Gunners.