* * *
Roysen takes orders from Albrecht and returns to Zigmunt. Time passes.
Sprouts that began to lose their luck in the spring began to blossom and sing summer songs, and trees began to bear ripe fruits for the autumn fruit.
In the northern or northern areas, no matter how high the temperature varies throughout the year, it was hot in summer and cold in winter.
In August, Wrightingen wasn't nearly as hot as he was hot, but it was hot. At that time, the people who were caught in the cool sea breeze arrived at Wrightingen.
Valentina brought people from Lucretia to pay taxes.
She didn't have to come herself as a doge, but it seemed like she had come in person for the first time.
Fifty licensed knights came to escort her for the shift, and hundreds of her attendants carried all their belongings onto the wagon.
Valentina was surprised when she got into Wrightingen. A city located inland was shocked by the image of an incredibly advanced royal city.
And on the other hand, I felt anxious. Often the fighters or warriors who were good at fighting and strong were ignorant of their rule, but Albrecht was different.
The city was as big as Lucretia, and it was expanding. It appears that well-paved roads and systematic sewer systems have already crossed Lucretia.
Apparently, Lucretia was very chaotic in a naturally occurring city, with no central power spread over the Sewers in the Middle East.
Her attendants, including Valentina, and the knights of the Lysen Knights who were out on assignment, were all bewitched and the King also watched Lightingen.
The buildings on the 2nd and 3rd floors were all boardwalks with professional craftsmanship, and the northern sharp roofs were all topped with red giva.
The buildings were simple but neat and practical. Closer to the castle, the buildings became larger and more opulent.
Valentina decided to stop being surprised by the signs on the building.
The spectacular yet restless winds on the city's exterior felt nothing compared to the rotating power of the city.
The world is really changing to have a city like this inland. In Valentina's eyes, I can see people who live life hard with serious faces.
There was no anxiety in their faces about the raid by the bandits and the lord's whims.
Hard-working blacksmiths, armed guild adventurers, traders tidying up fresh fruits and vegetables on stalls, clothing merchants sampling outside the building, and numerous merchants and workers visiting guilds and Chambers of Commerce.
Valentina is confident that the Royal Road will surpass Lucretia. The king, too, was still growing at such a large scale.
Valentina takes a long walk back into the fortress after a crowd of people have come and gone.
Among them, I saw Seolsan Palace and Rose, which I had only heard rumors about from both sides.
“Hey, look at you, you little punk. ”
“Fuck you. It's hard there, too. ”
“Tough shit. Why is it so hard to sleep with Southern whores without fighting? ”
“I heard that you guys are sucking on honey even in Lucretia. ”
“Hey, Goffrey! Long time no see! Try the southern slice! ”
There were many knights pretending to know Valentina. We called each other by affection because we were very close.
Perhaps they think the knights dispatched to Lucretia are halfway through their vacation.
“Your Highness, we'll be going, then. I think you should keep following the soldiers. ”
A relatively young knight spoke politely to Valentina. No matter how much she was a woman, no matter how despicable the knights were, she was the one with Iludia.
In the book, it was the Duke of Feudalism. Valentina nods, and the knights whisper to each other, accompanied by their colleagues to their quarters.
As Valentina and her acolytes enter the sewers as soldiers guide, a horizontal hallway emerges.
Opening the huge door in the middle of it, you see the hall immediately, and there are a great number of ten.
There was a red carpet leading a long way to walk, and at the end was a throne, with dozens of people standing in sequence, including knights, guild leaders, and their aides.
Valentina pierces their gaze into the hall. But no king on the throne. After the soldier's guidance, Valentina walks the carpet with the attendants.
She wears a red and blue silk robe and wears an Iliya around her waist. Seeing that she's gone, I hold her by my hand because she was heavy and grumpy.
Valentina stands a little distance from the king's men. Then I made eye contact with them. The king's people were staring at themselves with hostility and unfavourable eyes.
When I was young, I was not afraid to go out and do business with Valentina.
Since then, after going through all sorts of flat waves from the Crusades, I saw the head of Lucretia flying all at once.
An early Lucretian apprentice and merchant, she has reached a point where almost no one follows her as a merchant.
Valentina noticed that the king's people were not skilled in the Phoenix Duck just by making eye contact.
In fact, they were all engineers, not politicians. Albrecht himself hated political manipulation, and if he was incompetent, he would not be able to.
On the contrary, if I had skills, I would take anyone, regardless of status or identity.
“King Lyssen is entering. ”
Salvatore neatly trimmed her black curly hair and hot beard said. The sound reaches the dome of the ceiling and spreads wide again.
Then the large door, which was plated with gold on the other side of the hall, with elaborate decorations, wore a chain armor, a coat, a gauntlet and a grib, and the two soldiers holding Halbert opened the doors in stealthy movements. Their helmets, unlike other soldiers, are slightly out in front of the peaks and have a red wine hanging on their foreheads.
Immediately, Albrecht walks out that door. He was wearing a purple silk tunic, two swords around his waist, and a short red cloak that covered only his back.
Albrecht reaches for the throne in a confident yet relaxed pace. It was like a tiger was wandering around.
I put another golden crown on her head and looked at Valentina with blue eyes. The attendants behind Valentina duck their heads for no reason.
The magnificent buildings and magnificent costumes of the city also wanted light compared to his charisma. Eventually Albrecht reaches the throne and sits naturally.
Valentina notices a lightning axe against the wall behind the throne.
I could feel the heavy mass, the complex northern symbols carved on the axe, and there was gold everywhere.
But it was shining brightly, saying that the raw parts could kill as many more.
In fact, that axe was the number one scholarship that built the kingdom. I wonder how many people died on that axe. I wonder how many people died and sprinkled blood.
Valentina folds her silly thoughts, takes off her square hat and kneels to her right knee in a natural motion. The attendants kneel down.
“The world's most powerful and greatest King Lysen, the King of Lucretia, is humble. ”
Albrecht smiles bitterly at Valentina, kneeling. If we hadn't gone the King's way, we could have been friends. No, we were friends until then.
I'm not regretting it now, but I can't help feeling bitter.
And still at Albrecht's fingertips, the sensation of hitting Lucretia's head was vivid. It was the beheading that he himself executed, not anyone else.
Albrecht opens his elbows and retracts his hands against the armrests of the throne for no reason.
“Yes, I've come a long way. Rise.”
At Albrecht's words, Valentina rises up and confronts Albrecht. The two gazes were temporarily entangled.
Albrecht asked about Lucretia.
“I made a restraining order against the East, but did it not interfere with commerce? ”
Valentina slightly lowers her bright brown eyes facing Albrecht.
“Take a boat to Lloyd Beck or Halstadt to sell goods, take a road to an inland city, and the merchandise is priced similarly. Rather, unlike in the past, there are a lot of doors left because you can get cheap stuff from the West. Not all of the commercial disruptions you mentioned, but new ways of doing things tend to come with friction. There are people who can't adapt to the new world. There are people who are lost. ”
Albrecht folds his head. And I thought about it for a moment with my beard, and I got to the point.
“I'm relieved that there's no major commercial disruption. So what is the five percent of Lucretia's gross annual revenue? ”
The five dollars of Lucretia's annual gross income was the tax he decided to pay Albrecht.
It was inappropriate for the king to bring up the money himself in this position, but for the first time, Albrecht himself asked.
Since there was no electronic registration system, collecting taxes was entirely up to the institution.
Albrecht wanted to see Valentina with his own eyes and decide if she was lying or doing something else.
Originally, the tax was the month June settled, and I came in August because of the time I came to settle things.
Valentina raises her eyes again and looks at Albrecht and says, Bold words were small, but powerful.
“Lucretia's total annual revenue is 122461 gold coins. ”
“No way! ”
“This can't be happening! ”
As soon as Valentina's words dropped, the guild leaders in the intestine roared. Some didn't seem to believe it at all, and some did, but were surprised.
Albrecht borrowed from the Dwarf Bank for a total of one million gold coins, one hundred thousand yen in installments a year.
One hundred thousand gold coins was all that was left to be sprinkled on the citizens of the royal province immediately, and the water supply from the Buzzer River to the north was enough.
On the other hand, Lucretia's annual gross revenue was approximately 2.4 million cents.
Up until now, people have known that Lucretia is one of the largest cities in the world. When I heard so many words with specific numbers, I couldn't have any other reaction but to be surprised.
I just assumed the heads of the Lucretian Merchants Guild, and they didn't know what the total annual revenue was. It was because the central government had never stepped up and offered statistics.
Albrecht was also surprised at the enormous amount, but he did not forget to look into Valentina's face.
Valentina looks back at her attendants and gestures. The attendants pick up dozens of crates of money and colonize them in front of the king.
When the chest was opened, it was mostly stacked with all sorts of gold coins, some of which contained silver coins.
"Out of 122461 cents, 60,000 are acrylated, 50,000 are albrelated, and the rest are silver coins. ”
The albriation weighed approximately 5 grams and the recrystallization weighed approximately 4.5 to 5 grams.
Originally, this era had to be weighed on the scale when large amounts of money were going back and forth.
That's a practical matter to leave with the Royal Treasury, and Albrecht could not take his eyes off the glittering gold coins in the money chest for a moment. It seemed to be about 120,000.
But Valentina's words are not yet finished, and she makes even more surprising noises.
“Even though it said it was five cents of gross annual revenue, the profit earned from the private sector was not properly calculated. They decided to pay five dollars directly to the king, so it was difficult to tax them separately. Besides, there's still a lot of money that I haven't figured out yet. Including them, you can pay more than 120,000 in the future. ”
People were appalled. No, I'd have to cut back somehow on my tax dollars, but you said you could make more money with confidence.
And more than 120,000? I couldn't believe it. Valentina just said the opposite of what people think.
The same was true of Albrecht, who fixed his face and looked at her carefully.
“Am I hearing this wrong? This is the first time a taxpayer has ever wanted to pay more. I believe in pottery. But I just can't let that go to waste. It's not a place to brag or play. ”
The king's discomfort did not make Valentina squirm. He still looks straight at Albrecht and talks to him.
“I'm not bluffing. It's just that Lucretia has never paid taxes in her life, and so there are limits to how much I can earn and how much I can fund. Above all, the question of who walks how much is complicated. Since the king has given us his authority, if we set our own laws and set our affairs in order, we will be able to walk more taxes. ”
The guild chiefs seemed to know Valentina's insides, but the naive corners kept them intact.
But Albrecht only realized Valentina's intentions. Albrecht himself gave his permission and Valentina seemed to want to make sure of it.
She wasn't lying. Obviously, calculating earnings and charging taxes was not an easy task because of the time constraints. It was even more so considering the underground economy.
Even if she brought 120,000 gold coins with her, it was a great accomplishment.
Valentina was willing to form her own parliament, enact laws, and properly autonomous as an excuse to tax.
Albrecht thinks for a moment. Since Feudal Lords had immeasurable power in their territory, there was nothing wrong with cities to respect their own way of governance.
However, while the monarch and the monarch were tied up as man-to-man, family to family, the monarch and the city could be tied up as man-to-man laws, so they had to be careful.
Not now, but what if the future king falls, contrary to their own laws?
“Fine, I'll let you freely enact the law. But I am above all that law. This needs to be clear. ”
“You are absolutely right. ”
Valentina grabs Ilydia by the waist and lowers her waist. Valentina pretended not to, but now her heart is pounding.
It was still good for the king to behead all the members of the merchant gate and all its members.
The scene of his father Giovanni's neck falling with a clear vision seemed to be flashing before my eyes for a moment. It was the sword on his waist.
Albrecht may be an enemy in some ways, but he's not one to hold a grudge.
He was the king of all knights, led by the greatest knights in the world, and he was also the greatest knight in the world.
No matter how much money you have, how can you do this to him? It was merely an extravagant object, ruling over all customs, cultures and laws.
Though she was so frightened, Valentina thought she couldn't survive in the new world without negotiating directly with the roots.
With great difficulty, Valentina mentioned her second business.
“With all due respect, Can I tell you something?”
Albrecht turns his head away, not looking at her, then looks back at her and says,
“Tell me.”
“Your Majesty went to Ramus early in the Crusade. I think you know how dangerous it is to be ambushed by wildlings. So I say, can you wipe out the wildlings between the Lucretian Peninsula and the Middle? We think that trade will be more active, and it will be of great benefit to you. ”
As far as Valentina was concerned, this was a side branch, provided that the guarantees and the rule of law were essentially the same.
The king refused, but Valentina was a little nervous as it could affect her days ahead of time.
Existing Feudal Lords were reluctant to move their armies. It was a bilateral relationship to protect each other, but even when the envelopes called for protection, it did not raise the military well. I used to move the army only when there was a definite advantage to it every time.
Surprisingly, Albrecht replied kindly about this.
“The wildlings will no longer have a place in my land. But let's start with the Lucretian Peninsula, considering your request. But we can't be certain when Zigmunt comes back to discuss it in detail. ”
Even in this age, there were many places where even their own land did not have any influence.
The Kingdom of Lysen was also like a sponge with holes everywhere, and some areas were inhabited by wildlings.
Albrecht has been planning to wipe them out since they were assimilated by civilizations and lived outside their territories, but if they did, they would plunder the surrounding areas.
It was just a matter of priorities, and we decided to start from the south when Valentina asked us to trade actively.
“Thank you. I don't know what to do with your grace. ”
Once more, Valentina looks down at her waist. It was too far gone to be guaranteed until the specific time from the king, so even at this level, the performance of the complaint was without undue effort.
Zigmunt is currently in a practical meeting with Lewis, and is almost at the end of it. Soon Louis will return to the king to pledge allegiance to the king.
The discussion was about whether or not the military was bitten. With Albrecht's permission, I was forced to bite the army.
Because the other leader risked his life to come to the throne, he had to show some faith on this side as well.
Albrecht remembers what Valentina said a moment ago. I remember killing wildlings on the way to Ramus, unable to sleep.
Even Albrecht gave his tongue to their inherent savagery, and he was very concerned about whether he should see himself as a human being despite his modern sensibilities.
Albrecht tries to tell Valentina to back off if she has nothing else to say, but she says again.
“Your Majesty, we have a companion on his way here. If you don't mind, may I introduce him?" ”
“With you?”
Since only the designated person could see it at that time, it was extremely rude for anyone other than an official to suddenly enter the intestine.
But Albrecht was just curious. It's not Valentina who doesn't know that. I wonder who she was talking to.
“Who? With you? ”
As Valentina looks back, the man in the long red cloak steps forward with his cloak removed.
I took off my cloak, and his clothes caught my eye. He was wearing a red robe that came down to his feet and a ceremonial burrito on his head.
I think he was a Cardinal, but he was young and dark blond with brown eyes. He looked young somewhere, but he looked familiar.
He comes up to Albrecht and bends his lower back.
“I am pleased to meet the glorious King of the Crusades, King Lysen, whom God has blessed and reclaimed the Holy Land. Do you recognize me? ”
I don't know who you're asking me to guess without naming, but he sure looks familiar.
Albrecht watches him closely, and a moment later he remembers who he is. It was an investigation that led us through the forest of the wildlings on our way to Ramus.
As soon as I left the forest, I met the Pope, and he was a man named John who ran to the Pope and rolled up the hill. Did you send it from the Holy See? Then why did you come with Valentina?
Albrecht greeted me with doubts, one of the most important things to do as a king.
< 215 > End