Hakai no Miko

"Did these guys do something wrong? In Zoan, whoever stole food from the village tied it up with rope and fed it to the wolves of the plains alive."

Shemru tells of a rush and horrible thing.

"No. Exactly, that's pathetic..."

To the pale horse who said so, Shemr hummed his nose slightly.

"What are you talking about? Still as handy as it gets. They cheated on Soma."

Rather, Shemr said with a mouthful that said you couldn't stand on your belly.

Indeed, it makes sense to say that we will punish him as severely as Shemr says.

Even in comics, novels, etc. read by Ethereal Horse, it is fundamental to nation-building to thoroughly punish the prize. If you get a sweet attitude here, it could be a big disaster later.

But at the same time, what the Ethereal Horse fears is that sweeping away the government officials who have previously been entrusted with the city's finances could interfere with the city's operations.

So the Ethereal Horse points the water at Michena.

"Mr. Michena. Without the government officials, your work would be in the way, wouldn't it?

Now it was the thoughts of the Ethereal Horse that Michena, if she said so, would sell grace to the officials by lightening the punishment for it. In the mouthfeel of those pale horses, a bright thing floats on the blue-face of the officials.

But Michena answered:

"No. Just now..."

On the spot, silence flowed.

In that awkward atmosphere, the Ethereal Horse, who had lost his word for a while, returned to me and asked again.

"Uh... even if the people who escaped fall out, you don't have a problem with your job?

The officials tried to elicit a statement from Michena's mouth that would lead to their own help in answering the Ethereal Horse question.

However, the officials cannot say it out loud, nor can they use gestures or gestures because they are tied behind their backs. So the officials desperately work to Michena, looking at her, flaunting her face, and twisting her mouth.

From the looks of it, it was hilarious (sneaky) as if it were children interested in radiance, but I can't afford to look back on us to desperate officials.

But that tearful effort didn't get through to Michena either. I glanced at the officials with strange eyes and immediately turned back to the Ethereal Horse.

"Yes, because the actual business was done by our junior officials. - Oh! But I need you to sign the books."

As soon as that happens, there will be a voice from the officials that is neither angry nor desperate.

"Eh. Just a signature?"

"His Royal Highness King Vritas hated such affairs, so the officials are being represented."

"... you mean because you need a lord's signature on your books"

The Ethereal Horse nearly held his head on the spot.

The present lord is the Ethereal Horse himself. This means that these officials are unnecessary if the Ethereal Horse performs its duties properly.

But in fact, the officials didn't just play. Not only did he check the books made by the financiers, but he also did important work, such as making compromises with officials visiting from Wang Capital and negotiating with merchants who had bought wheat collected as taxes.

However, the compromises and negotiations were usually made with booze seats, so from the point of view of the Michenas' junior officials, they only seemed to be eating and drinking at public expense. However, it is also true that the compromise and negotiations can hardly be described as a mistake by the junior officials.

Anyway, now I can't even use the pretext of saying that without the officials I would be less guilty because I wouldn't be able to get a job done.

At last, I have to punish the officials. I am heavily concerned about the Ethereal Horse.

In the first place, it is the Holmeer State that must punish them for their sins. Even when injustice is revealed, it is not in the hands of the Ethereal Horse to punish.

Yet all I can say is that I dug my own grave because I had just made an unnecessary cover-up, sworn to the Ethereal Horse for once, and the roots of its tongue fled without drying.

The Ethereal Horse, who had a headache about how to punish the officials, first consulted Marcronis.

"Mr. Marcronis, if I said this, how do you think I should punish you?

"Right......" Marcronis thinks with his hand on his chin. "- Flee to embezzlement. It would be reasonable to confiscate all property on the beheading of the clan royal party."

A silent scream arose from the officials at Marcronis' verdict.

The Ethereal Horse, who thought it was just too bad to behead until it was just the winner or the clan romantic party, will try to take it in.

"But isn't it a mistake for me to punish you for embezzling me from Holmea?

"That would be great, too. So, what do you say, spare the beheading, just confiscate your property?

"Can you at least leave him with a fortune for a legitimate salary?

"Well, the area is about to drop"

When the Ethereal Horse, who also obtained the consent of Marcronis, hands down the verdict, the officials drop their shoulders uniformly in dismay. It is mindless to be able to take away the wealth that I have accumulated over the years, but still I had no choice but to swallow better and tears than to be beheaded.

But only one lead treasurer is ugly and stifling.

"Ri, lord! Is this... the... trap? Yes! It's a trap! We were trapped!

The Ethereal Horse was surprised by the unexpected words that popped out of the mouth of the lead treasurer.

"A trap? Who the hell trapped you?

The eyes of the lead treasurer swim questioned by the Ethereal Horse. Of course, being trapped and so on was nothing but a shame on the spot. Still, the eye of the lead treasurer, who was letting his gaze wander about what to say and escape, is set at one point.

"Ah... it's that woman!

It was Michena who found the chief treasurer.

"There will be no such thing," everyone who was there turned back to Michena, who did not understand why he was being looked upon and would have a decent face. Still, in order to get confirmation for once, the Ethereal Horse speaks up.

"Mr. Michena trapped you?

Michena, finally realizing she was being suspected of being unawares by the words of the Ethereal Horse, makes a noise with the boom and shakes her neck vigorously beside her.

The pale horse told the lead treasurer with pity in his tone.

"Yes, it is. - And even if it's a trap, it doesn't change what you did wrong."

Then the Ethereal Horse gives instructions to the Zoan warriors to confiscate all their possessions, leaving only a portion equal to a single salary, and to slap them out of the city.

Only the lead treasurer continued to curse Michena among the officials who were then taken out of the office so that Zoan's warriors could drag him away.

"Damn! Michena, you guys were scrambling taxes! Why, we're the only ones...!

Since the curse of the lead treasurer was blocked by the door, it was a pale horse who tried to ask Michena if it was true, but as soon as I saw her face, I laughed bitterly that I didn't have to.

Michena was obviously a wolf. He opens his eyes wide and sweats sloppily on his bloodthirsty face.

Now it's better to yell, "I was wrongdoing," to say that deception is still preferable.

The pale horse sighed one loud sigh.

"In the meantime, who will be the highest (or so) of the remaining people?

First, we must decide on a new head to replace the deported officials.

That's what the Ethereal Horse asked, but Michena's wolf gets even more intense along the way.

It's too suspicious to let your gaze wander around you like you're about to cry out for someone else's help. And when the Ethereal Horse asked again with a frown on it, Michena said with notion.

"Probably... I'm the greatest"

With more than one official, except Michena, in exile, she became the highest official in the city, being the only remaining treasurer.

The Ethereal Horse made a great attitude and coughed up one heck of a thing before saying it.

"Anyway, I am not guilty of injustice when it comes to the Holmeer State. But no fraud whatsoever is allowed in the future. If we find someone who is embezzling us, we will punish them severely."

Again, we should show a tough attitude here so that the same thing doesn't happen.

The Ethereal Horse, who thought so, told Michena with a face that seemed crisp and pseudo-sounding.

But when I heard it, Michena's scabbard scattered on her cheeks, and she burst into tears.

"You're telling me and my family to die?

◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

"So you're saying that junior officials can't live on their salaries alone?

In a tone that I said was incredible, the Ethereal Horse said.

That's what happened when I blurted out Michena, who suddenly cried, and summed up concisely what I had finally heard.

But Michena is a junior official. In modern Japanese-style terms, it would be a civil servant. I couldn't believe that she was so thinly paid that she couldn't even live.

"By the way, how much do you get paid?

"It's four bronze coins in a day..."

Michena was ashamed, but honestly said what salary she was getting.

"Hey, wait a minute!

The Ethereal Horse is on his way to this city for the first time, and I think of what Hopkins, a pedestrian, taught me.

"Four bronze coins sure wasn't the price of two loaves?

"Yes, it is..."

To understand how low this was, let's convert Michena's salary to the modern Japanese currency "yen".

In order to know the value of money, it is reasonable to push the amount from the price of staple foods that form the basis of a person's life.

The staple food in this continent of Cerdeas is bread.

And the amount of bread each person eats per day is said to range from five hundred grams to one kilogram. Modern Japanese bread weighs 340 grams per kilogram, so it is calculated that approximately two kilograms of bread will be needed per day. Since the price of a kilo of bread ranges from one hundred to two hundred yen, converting Michena's salary to Japanese yen will only bring it to about four hundred yen per day, no matter how high it is estimated.

Of course, this conversion does not apply in general because the food situation is very different in modern Japan and the Serdeas continent, but you will still find that Michena's salary is extremely low.

Naturally, this is not the only way Michena and her old mother, the family of four young siblings, can live.

So she didn't just do her job as a financier at the Lordship's residence, she also did side jobs such as helping the merchants book. But it was still not enough, and from what floated in calculating the tax, it was covering the cost of living.

And Michena isn't the only one who's special about this. Many of the junior officials of this era were in similar situations.

The Ethereal Horse, the first to know about the plight of such junior financial officers (Konku), turns his gaze to ask Marcronis. Then Marcronis answered something even more astonishing with a face he took for granted.

"Low salaries for officials who don't show up on the battlefield can't help it."

"... no way, are officials paying less than soldiers?

"Oh. Isn't it natural to generous the soldiers who risk their lives to fight?

But the Ethereal Horse, I thought it was different.

Sure, it's natural to generously treat soldiers who risk their lives to fight, but that's why there's no good reason to belittle the officials.

It is all the work of the officials, known as civilians, that soldiers fighting on the battlefield prepare the weapons they possess and the armor they put together, and gather the food they speak of and arrange their transport. It is with their work that the soldiers can show their full strength.

Also, to say that the protagonist would lose a great deal because the fool had abandoned the barracks was a development well seen in comics, novels, etc.

Given that, it is clear that the situation should be improved, which could be described as the cold treatment of officials.

The Ethereal Horse, who has been arm-wrestling for a while and thinking about it, makes one decision, first confirms to Marcronis.

"Sure, Mr. Marcronis, it was the Captain's treatment, wasn't it?

"Oh. - What's wrong with that?

Marcronis, now questioned about his terms of employment, tilts his neck. But the Ethereal Horse did not answer that and turned to Michena.

"Mr. Marcronis here is having a captain of a human soldier"

Suddenly, Michena, who was told that, didn't know what the Ethereal Horse intended, just thought Marcronis was a great person, about.

"Mr. Michena, since he is, so to speak, the captain of the official, shall still be paid the same salary as the great captain. Other junior officials who are here will raise their salaries with it."

Marcronis and Michena, in the words of the pale horse, were surprised when it was time to open their eyes. Michena's surprise in particular is huge, and she even raises her bare voice when she says she's in front of her lord, the Ethereal Horse. "What?!"

"I don't know how much, but do I have to embezzle you with that?

To the words of the Ethereal Horse, Michena, who returned to me, recalls the amount paid to the battalion captain. I tried to compare that to my current salary, but the surprise doesn't really put together much thought to empty it up. Still, I only found out that it would be an uncomparable amount.

"That's all you need, that's enough. Enough! Too much!!"

Michena snorted roughly and shook her neck up and down hard.

"So, are you sure you want to get that...?

I'm glad Michena and I are getting more pay. But bewilderment comes before joy if what has been so much as a sparrow's tear suddenly turns into a high enough salary to keep an eye on it.

The Ethereal Horse is impressed with Michena's appearance like that.

Whenever I heard politicians selling their common sense in elections in modern Japan, I was frightened of where they were, but this woman who says Michena really has a common sense.

"Instead, it's the common sense people who say so who want to ask for finances. And in order for me to concentrate on it, I think it's the salary I need."

Then the Ethereal Horse tells Marcronis too.

"If you're a soldier, do you say hazard pay, in addition to your previous salary, whenever you travel to fight or maintain security? Would you not be convinced by saying that I would offer those extraordinary salaries?

Marcronis, who was secretly not calm enough to say that the hitherto cold-handed official suddenly earned the same salary as himself, struck his forehead flat with a pistache at the words of the pale horse.

This boy seems dull and shows sharp unexpectedly. I knew it was, but it just happened to say, "I'm hit!" The thought springs to my chest.

"Absolutely not for you. - Well, if you take that into account, I don't have any complaints either. I won't let the soldiers complain."

It was Marcronis who laughed so bitterly and said, but slightly tightens his expression.

"But are you okay with raising your salary so much?

I'm not saying that the finances of this city of Bornis can afford that much either. I was anxious to raise my salary once and for all, but later, I didn't want to force the city's finances.

"Isn't that okay? Earlier, some money was seized from the escaped officials. And..."

The Ethereal Horse gave out his tongue in a peppery and small way.

"- Michena will be asked to work crazier than the salary she receives."

Fished by the words of the Ethereal Horse and turned his gaze, there was a figure of Michena who was half relieved by unexpected promotions and salary increases.

Marcronis said this, desperately biting off the laughter that was coming up.

"I see. - As always, you seem to have a bad personality"