The World Dragon's Heir

It didn’t take long to implement the plan.

The next afternoon, Rill was present, and Amie had gone to collect a member of the Royal Tax Office. They didn’t have to actually send the crops to the capital for the King. They just had to send them wherever he needed them.

If they were recorded as a tax payment, that was the part that mattered.

Everyone had to know that Wistover was paying their taxes, instead of accepting the exemption. And having a member of the Royal Tax Office here would be enough to ensure that the gossip spread.

Alexis came down the stairs in a deep blue gown as the Tax agent arrived. She had left Katerina upstairs with the wet nurse, and dressed to impress.

“Your Highness, Duke Wistover, thank you for inviting me today. Was there some issue with your calculations that required my assistance today? I have my assistants prepared to assist with anything that you might need.”

His fawning tone made it clear that he was doing his best to keep the Princess happy, but what he heard next sent his mind into a spin.

“As a gesture of filial piety, I believe that Wistover Duchy should forfeit our tax exemption for the year. If you would be so kind as to determine what we should have owed, we will forward it in goods and provisions to the Royal Treasury.” Alexis explained.

“You… wish to pay taxes?”

“Precisely. The Kingdom is recovering from a war. The King has honoured us heavily for our contributions, but it feels improper to accept the tax exemption when it shifts the burden onto the other loyal members of the Nobility.

So, we wish to pay our taxes for the year.

If there is no need for them, they can be held in the treasury. Though, we do intend to pay largely in perishable provisions, with a smaller segment of the payment being in goods.

Unless there is an urgent need for coin, that is.”

The Tax collector smiled. There was no shortage of coin in the Royal Treasury. They had received a substantial sum from Dagos after the first invasion, and Cygnia had been fairly wealthy to begin with.

It was everything else that they were short on.

“Well, I can say for certain that the central cities could use another distribution of relief supplies. If it can be taken from your tax payment, they will surely be grateful.”

The Princess smiled. It was good when a man caught on right away.

Spreading the food through the cities, while letting the Nobles know that it was a Wistover Tax payment, would ease much of their burden.

It was generally considered to be a sign of poverty if you had to pay in goods, and could not sell enough to get the coins for your payment. But in this case, nobody would complain. They simply needed the supplies too much, even after most of a year of rebuilding.

“Did you still have enough after making the shipment to Albroles? Or are you intending to limit your payment on that transaction?” He asked.

“We will continue as usual. Kinewen Province might be mostly abandoned compared to what it used to be, but it’s still got tens of thousands of farmers willing to pay for their freedom.

It’s only right that they put in their share of the work to pay off the debt for their lands.”

The tax man nodded. He would recommend to the King that more Nobles be sent to the Provinces soon. If they were turning out excess food, without any noble oversight at all, there was a missed opportunity for at least a few Barons and Counts to establish successful territories.

“Well, I can certainly do the calculations, and let His Majesty know that Wistover appreciates his generosity, but wishes to show their loyalty to the Crown while easing the burden on the other Noble houses.”

“In that case, can we offer you a refreshment? We have some local specialties that you might enjoy.”

The Tax man smiled. “That sounds lovely. I have heard much about the amenities that Wistover has to offer. The refreshments in particular have become quite the topic of conversation among the Nobility.

To think that the mages were keeping such a secret from the rest of us.”

Alexis turned away, so the man wouldn’t see her laughing. But masked it as giving the maids orders to bring refreshments and snacks that were already prepared and waiting at the kitchen door.

Magical wine wasn’t a thing that had been common in Cygnia a few months ago, even in the ranks of the mages.

It had come from outside the country, and now that Dominic had introduced it to the Nobility, it was the “must have” item of the season. Only, nobody actually knew where to get one, so only a handful of people could actually claim that they had magical wine.

And Alexis had no intentions of changing that by encouraging it to spread more widely.

After all, they had wineries in the Duchy, and if every Noble estate had their own magical wine supply, who would be buying the majority of the wine that they were making naturally?

You couldn’t count on a niche market to keep you going, and with magical wine being both good and free, after you had the spell, it was impossible to compete with.

“Sir, this is going to take some time…” The assistant whispered.

“No need for intensive calculations, take a proper estimate and round the figures. We’re here for a show of patriotism, not an audit.”

The assistants nodded quickly, understanding what the boss wanted.

They needed a number high enough that it looked correct, but not so high that it would be a burden for the Duchy to pay. So, they had to make a pretty good estimate, but they only had limited data on what the Duchy and its associated Baronies were producing.

The Castellan had provided them a stack of paperwork, but even that would take days to go through properly.

Hopefully there was some sort of summary page.