Chapter 634: Unexpected Guest
Chapter 634: Unexpected Guest
Blink.
There was a moment of silence between them, as if Leo and Lily were processing what had just been revealed.
James mistook the silence for shock and pulled out the compensation claim slip that he always kept with him.
Milti Family’s Official Claim Slip:
- Investment into Kendru’s administration: 101 Gold
- Military support and stationed personnel: 41 Gold
- Administrative costs and noble stipends: 29 Gold
- Lost future profits due to Zerek’s disappearance: 50 Gold
- Tribunal fees and penalties: 25 Gold
Total: 246 Gold
Leo didn’t want to dismiss the matter by saying it was nothing and undermine the pressure James and Sera had gone through, so he quietly looked over the slip.
After that, Leo proceeded to ask a few questions, such as the cost of maintaining the city and, overall, how much it would have taken to run Kendru under Zerek’s rule when Leo and Lily themselves were citizens.
Vintage returned soon enough with a log diary.
Under James’s rule, where the city had expanded and many more people had come to live, it looked something like this—
Population: 31,341
City employees: ~750–850 (guards, servants, officials, workers)
Monthly city expenses: 450–500 Silver
Tax Revenue: 350–420 Silver
Trade tariffs: 70–120 Silver
Market & guild fees: 20–40 Silver
Hunting/mining/forest rights: 20–40 Silver
Monthly treasury surplus: 80–100 Silver
Whereas, under Zerek’s rule—
Population: 10,710
City employees: ~280–350 (guards, servants, officials, workers)
Monthly city expenses: 70–100 Silver
Tax Revenue: 150–200 Silver
Trade tariffs: 30–50 Silver
Market & guild fees: 20–40 Silver
Hunting/mining/forest rights: 20–40 Silver
Monthly treasury surplus: 150–250 Silver
Seeing that, Leo was left speechless. Zerek had simply been extorting everything he could from the common people, which even included him and Lily back then.
Zerek literally earned more than double what was needed to maintain the city every month. And here was James, barely making ends meet compared to the city’s expenses. In other words, he had made the lives of ordinary citizens far easier than Zerek ever had.
No wonder the guards didn’t want James to leave. Compared to that greedy fox, he was practically a god. From this alone, Leo could tell that Zerek hadn’t even been paying his own men fairly, others were far from it.
But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was—
"The compensation demands are completely inflated. There’s no way this this much was ever invested in this city," Leo said firmly as he placed the compensation claim slip back on the table.
"That’s right!" Sera shot up from her seat.
"This demand is completely inflated! I’ve been telling them this, but those envoys refuse to listen!"
Lily immediately rose from her seat and gently guided Sera back into hers.
"Sister, it’s all right. Don’t worry about this matter anymore now that we’re here. Since the demands are wrong, that’s all we need to know."
"B-but it’s 246 Gold Coins! Even if it’s reduced, we’ve only managed to gather 104 Gold Coins..." she muttered softly.
Both Leo and Lily finally understood why the reply letter had thanked them for the money Lily had paid for the return trip. Just sending the reply would have cost them more than 50 Gold Coins, and they were already stretched thin.
But Leo was a little confused.
Didn’t they receive resources from the Empire after this city produced talents like Lily and me? Even Miho alone should have been more than enough...
Leo asked about it, and apparently, the resources had come in the form of aid. For example, widening the city walls, which would have cost more than 5,000 Gold Coins; hiring woodworkers, which would have easily cost over 1,000 Gold Coins; redesigning the city’s layout, worth more than 2,000 Gold Coins; several natural treasures that allowed James and Vintage to improve their cultivation and help both themselves and their beasts rank up; 250 Gold Coins; and finally, the most valuable reward of all—two Super Bloodline beasts for James to tame.
However, it seemed James had allowed one of those beasts to be tamed by Vintage instead.
Even after hearing all that, Leo still felt the Empire had cheaped out.
There must have been an intermediary... There was no way so little had actually been provided. Someone must have embezzled the funds along the way. Maybe even multiple people did, and in the end, only the bare minimum reached the city.
Leo wasn’t interested in dealing with all of this headache. If he could, he would simply hand over the 246 Gold Coins—which was practically nothing to him anymore—and take James and Sera away to a better life. He had more important things to do.
And seeing how selflessly James had been managing the city, he would make an excellent administrative head for Leo’s own territory.
But he simply couldn’t let go of someone who had tormented them this much. Especially considering the stress it had brought upon a pregnant woman like Sera. That wasn’t something he could ignore.
And Leo could already tell Lily was itching to deal with the matter herself.
Seeing the contemplative look on Leo’s face, James finally spoke up.
"You both really don’t need to trouble yourselves over this. I know the sum is huge, and it will put you in a difficult spot. To be honest, I’m already feeling another wave of stress just thinking about how much you both must have spent, only to arrive at such a bad time—"
James was about to continue when Leo stopped him.
"Brother James, you should really be worrying about the things you need to pack before we leave together."
James blinked, left confused.
Leo then turned toward Vintage.
"Butler Vintage, I can see that you’ve already reached Mid 2-star in personal strength. Is it safe to assume your highest-ranked beast is already at Peak 2-star, or at least on the cusp of reaching it?"
Vintage snapped out of his thoughts and answered with a simple, "Yes."
"Does that mean if Brother James leaves his position, you can become the next City Lord once your beast reaches Peak 2-star—in other words, once you attain the rank of Baron?"
Vintage nodded quickly.
"I-I would very much like to do it right away! But I seem to have reached the ceiling of my potential. It’s even restricting my beasts from ranking up and I can’t bribe my way up to that position due to the complaint..." Vintage seemed to be genuinely paranoid at this, apparent due to the fact that his cold and collected personality had already broken.
"Don’t worry about that." Leo casually waved his hand, and a metallic box appeared on the side table with a faint thud.
It was the same type of box he had received in Ember City after selling 4,000 Gold Coins’ worth of natural treasures. However, he had only brought out one of the four boxes—in other words, 1,000 Gold Coins.
Since the box remained closed, no one had any idea what it contained. Even Lily didn’t know.
But before Leo could explain, a knock echoed from the door.
"My Lord, Sir Vritti has come to greet you," the maid announced from outside.
Hearing the name, Lily’s eyes flashed with murderous intent before she quickly concealed it.
Vritti was none other than the head of Lily’s paternal family.