Chapter 16: Luocheng’s taxes have been collected for seventeen years

Being doubted even after repeating himself several times, with the Hero’s Decree called a ‘forgery’, Jon couldn’t help but feel a little angry inside.

“Do you think I’m joking?”

He retorted unhappily.

The commanding officer stiffened, then turned back slowly and mechanically like a rusted magic puppet.

The next moment—his straight waist bent 90°, and the face that had pitied Jon for being clueless instantly switched to an awkward, sycophantic smile.

“Hero, it was you all along! Of course, only you would carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, thinking of all under the heavens…”

“Enough nonsense.”

Jon’s head throbbed.

He frowned and glared.

“Can I borrow a pack beast and a cart? It’s urgent. I’ll submit a report later.”

“Sure, of course! You probably need more people to ride these things too, right? I’ll bring two men and personally accompany you.”

The officer’s false smile was slick with cold sweat.

He didn’t expect that what would be nearly impossible for an ordinary soldier would take only a word for a ‘Hero’.

This made Jon all the more awed by the vast meaning behind the title of ‘Hero’.

While waiting for the pack beasts to be brought out, Jon suddenly thought of a question and turned back curiously.

“By the way, earlier you said ‘unless’. Unless what?”

“This…”

The officer hesitated.

“Tell me. If you don’t, I’ll go ask your superior.”

Jon threatened him deliberately.

Seeing he couldn’t avoid it, the officer had no choice but to confess.

“It’s nothing, really. I just wanted some benefit for myself.”

“Benefit? Are you crazy? Taking bribes or extorting—that’s a capital offense under military law!”

Jon was dumbfounded, unable to believe it.

Thinking back carefully, he finally understood many odd things.

It’s not that he’d never heard of bribery.

He just never thought—in a military camp, right under the eyes of the Surveillance Battalion, his trusted comrades would knowingly break the law and do such a daring thing!

But the officer was calm.

“What’s the big deal? Everyone does it. Military pay isn’t enough to live on. If you don’t get a little extra, who’s going to fight properly?”

Jon’s eyes widened.

“Aren’t you afraid of military law?”

“Ha Even the Surveillance Battalion wants a share from me. Everyone’s trying to get by, we all have families to support, so we look out for each other.”

The officer gave a forced smile, entirely unconcerned about these matters.

“Oh my god…”

Jon felt a little dazed.

“Hero, forgive me for saying this, but this is your first time personally handling such matters, right?”

The officer rubbed his hands, grinning.

He could tell that though the Hero was tall and strong, his age was young and he was inexperienced in the ways of the world.

His thinking was still stuck in the stage of ‘everyone follows the rules, and breaking the rules means punishment’.

Jon nodded silently.

Until sixteen, he had always lived in his small hometown village, a carefree country boy.

At sixteen, he awakened as a Hero, was found by prophecy, sent to the army, and underwent two years of grueling closed combat training, learning how to use the Hero’s power.

Both in his hometown and in the training camp, there were strict black-and-white rules.

Unity, loyalty, integrity, honesty… all those fine words were engraved in his bones and soaked into his flesh, never to be doubted.

“Hero, you must be from the northern Tulip Territory, right?”

“How did you know?”

Jon was surprised.

His hometown had never been made public—hardly anyone should have access to that information.

“Just a guess.”

The officer grinned.

“It’s said that His Majesty’s cousin—the Duke Constantine—is a man who does great things, managing the Tulip Territory in perfect order. Neighbors are kind and helpful, no one picks up what isn’t theirs, and houses don’t need to be locked at night. Only that kind of utopia could raise someone with your character.”

Jon frowned.

“I am from the Tulip Territory, but the ‘no one picks up what isn’t theirs’ and ‘doors unlocked at night’ is an exaggeration. There are just more good people than usual.”

“Ah, there’s no real good or bad people, just people following the times.”

The officer sighed.

At that moment, the pack beasts were ready, and Jon stopped chatting, leaving the camp and setting out quickly.

The large beasts and transport wagons for the army had no fear of a little wind and rain.

The name ‘Hero’ also worked its magic—whether in apology or flattery, the seven or eight soldiers from the Transport Battalion who came along were a big help to Jon.

Half a day earlier than expected, twelve villages—more than three thousand refugees—were all moved outside the border of Rossi City.

Having been warned by the village head, Jon had already guessed the city wouldn’t accept them, so he specifically requested to use an abandoned military camp left by friendly forces as a temporary base.

That left only one final problem.

Money.

—

Sporadic campfires on the hillside looked like lonely lanterns.

Outside the camp, rain poured down, while inside, the firelight finally brought some joy to tired faces.

“Child, I don’t know how you did it, but reaching this point is already amazing. For the rest, let us try to manage ourselves.”

The village chief persuaded him, hoping Jon would stay uninvolved.

“There shouldn’t be any need for you to worry.”

Jon looked out the window, watching Lia play in the rain, her childish figure lively and mischievous, and explained,

“Sir, I checked earlier. The Imperial Law clearly states that in such situations, the Municipal Office must produce a relief plan to guarantee basic survival for refugees.”

“There’s really such a thing? Then why have we never seen it?”

The village chief’s daughter-in-law stared in disbelief.

“Maybe no one ever asked, so it all got embezzled.”

Thinking of the morning’s events in the Transport Battalion, Jon made a rather pessimistic guess about reality.

But he didn’t realize—his ‘pessimism’ was still too optimistic.

The next day, Jon went to the Rossi Municipal Office to inquire about relief for the refugees, and as expected, no one paid him any attention.

A lesson learned from the morning, he showed the badge prepared in advance and revealed his Hero status.

One minute later, the Municipal Office was in an uproar.

Jon was surrounded by enthusiastic people, forced to answer all kinds of questions like a celebrity.

Ten minutes later, the Rossi City Lord—also the city mayor and head of the Municipal Office—hurried over, sweating profusely.

He was an elegant gentleman, witty and knowledgeable.

Jon enjoyed talking with him—until the topic of money came up.

“Hero, I truly admire your compassion for the people, but there’s a real problem—the city really has no funds left to support the ‘Demon King Subjugation’.”

The City Lord complained tactfully.

“No funds?”

“Right. Rossi’s taxes have already been collected seventeen years in advance. There’s military rations to supply, wages to pay, and expenses for the Hero’s party—last time we held the Oath-Banquet, we even had to borrow money, Hero.”

The City Lord gazed at Jon, his eyes weary like a long-suffering husband who worked himself to death paying the mortgage, only to hear his wife wanted to buy another luxury bag.

Jon was stunned.

“No, how could this be? Didn’t Miss Yuna confiscate two million gold coins from the Demon Tribe?”

“That belongs to His Majesty. Even if I lost my entire family, I wouldn’t dare touch it.”

“The loot from defeating the Demon Tribe…”

“All distributed. The Imperial Guards got forty percent, the Holy Army got forty percent, and the remaining twenty percent went to the main forces. Our City Defense Force didn’t even get the soup, Hero.”

“Wait, does that mean there’s not even money to repair the dam?”

“Heh, Hero, you sure are optimistic. The villages are about to disappear; who would rebuild a dam? Never mind, if it comes to it, we’ll just rename the Noda River to Noda Lake.”

—

On the way back, Jon’s mind was blank.

The City Lord’s attitude was sincere, but also unyielding.

Money? None.

Food? All given to the Demon Subjugation Army.

Rename Noda River to Noda Lake? Sure, that can happen tonight.

“What if the city’s wealthy families made donations?”

Jon had made a suggestion at the time.

“Probably difficult.”

The City Lord shrugged.

“…Under my name?”

“Then it’s not called a donation, it’s extortion—or possibly robbery.”

The City Lord remained just as witty.

Returning to the camp, Jon’s face turned red, unsure how to deliver all the bad news.

As he hesitated, he suddenly noticed a crowd gathered in the distance, forming a big circle.

Given everyone was cold and hungry, and it was raining, there shouldn’t be this many people watching something.

Jon immediately sensed something had happened.

He quickly pushed through the crowd, carefully squeezing inside, and when he saw clearly, he froze again.

In the center was his own Pupu—along with the corpse of a giant snake as thick as a bowl.

A pink little girl sat on the snake’s head, baring her teeth as if guarding her food.

“What happened?”

He rushed over and picked up Lia.

“It’s you, Jon-nii, you’re finally back.”

The people recognized him and his Pupu—otherwise, they would have already swarmed in.

Everyone began explaining at once.

After listening for a while, Jon roughly pieced together what had happened, though the widely-accepted ‘truth’ was so absurd he could barely believe it.

“You mean…my Pupu killed a Magical Beast?”

Jon’s eyelid twitched.

Pupu killed a Magical Beast?

What kind of mushroom-induced fantasy is this?

Do you people even listen to yourselves?