The Doomed Fief’s Dying Lord (5)

Why is his reaction like this, this girl.

‘The more I look at her, the stranger she is. She seems competent and yet… is she pretending to be an idiot or what…’

I’m curious.

What this S-rank really is.

But first, finish the money talk.

“I’m joking. It’s a joke. I just mean I have an idea. It’s not a get-rich-overnight scheme. It’ll take a few weeks.”

“Ahaha… I-I see. But I’d like to hear the idea in detail. If it’s actually doable, it could be an amazing plan.”

Fine. If you want to know, I’ll tell you.

“Shall we go back to the place we just passed?”

We retraced our steps through the section piled with fruits and vegetables. The scent of wheat and barley rode the breeze.

Ronari explained, “Fortunately, there’s still no problem with grain production. Last year’s harvest wasn’t bad.”

“Hmm.”

“Is there some problem…?”

Of course. There is a problem.

It’s good news the farmland hasn’t been hit by the dungeon yet… but something here is missing.

“I don’t see any breweries or distilleries.”

Honestly, that’s weird, isn’t it? Human history grew alongside alcohol.

Oh, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not promoting drinking. I don’t even like alcohol much. I’m just saying humanity has always been close to it.

‘In Greece they even havr gods of wine… need I say more.’

Ever since people discovered alcohol, they did whatever it took to brew it. Maybe you don’t empathize, but think about it: today there are many pleasures; in the past, what beat alcohol? Drinking has been humanity’s companion through the ages.

And yet there isn’t a single place selling alcohol in this big market?

“With such good harvests, they’d surely ferment a lot of grain into alcohol. But there isn’t a brewery, nor even a single tavern selling alcohol here.”

This was something I noticed because I’d read the novel. In the original, there isn’t a single drinking scene.

‘Seriously? In a world where so many people die?’

When a beloved family member or comrade dies, isn’t it normal to dull the pain with a drink?

“Ronari. Don’t you find that strange too?”

“That’s because Denabi’s alcohol tax is high. The lord raised the tax several times to discourage wasting grain.”

“How much exactly?”

“About twenty-five times other domains…?”

Wow.

I sucked in a breath.

“That’s great news.”

“‘Great news’…”

Of course it’s great news. Where else do you get a situation this sweet?

“Isn’t a way to make a fortune sitting right in front of us? A complete blue ocean for alcohol… no, an untapped market.”

“That’s basically a ban. If you’re thinking of selling alcohol, you should drop it.”

“We can just lower the alcohol tax.”

“But the lord raised it over ten years ago. Even if we persuade him, we don’t have the tech to produce alcohol now…”

“We do.”

“…You do?”

I grinned. “We do.”

“Where on earth…?”

“Oh my… Ronari.”

Maybe because she’s new to society. She doesn’t know much about the world. She’s a civil servant who handles taxes… familiar with the visible economy, clueless about everything else.

‘Or she’s pretending not to know even if she does.’

She asked, “Are you thinking of importing capital for brewing from other domains?”

“Of course not. That capital already exists in Denabi.”

“Young master, so…”

“You mean, where would such capital be in a land that’s basically banned alcohol for over ten years? I know.”

There’s a saying for this.

“There’s the easiest way to make something insanely popular.”

I told her, “Ban it.”

“!?”

“Ronari. You don’t have to pretend anymore. Do you think I don’t know? The people are secretly making moonshine and drinking it.”

“Th-th-that’s… ahaha…”

She dodged my gaze. Of course. She’s well-versed in market affairs; it’d be absurd if she knew nothing of the underground economy. She had a reason… she was pretending not to know.

‘Still, I’ll let it slide for now. Our business is more important than your little schemes.’

An inventor develops products, a businessman develops markets. I’m the latter.

I didn’t plan to sell alcohol.

“I’ll bring the underground alcohol market… where people secretly brew moonshine… into the open. That’s my plan.”

If we sold products, we could earn hundreds of millions to billions in the long run. But if we sell the market itself, that sum becomes trivial.

I have one goal: create a legal market for alcohol itself.

“So if you’re making moonshine at home or know a moonshiner, introduce them to me quickly. I won’t punish them, so don’t worry.”

The clerks in front of me stiffened.

I was trying my best to give the vibe of a mother pleading with her son.

What vibe, you ask?

‘Mom knows everything, so confess now! Tell the truth and you’ll be forgiven!’

One young clerk crumbled first, raising a hand. “I-I don’t know precisely, but I’ve seen my father buy alcohol and drink it sometimes.”

“Good! Let’s go!”

“Where to…?”

His eyes said, ‘Is it the prison?’

Oh, what a fool. Do you think I’d jail you for that?

“To your father, obviously. Again, I’m not trying to put him in jail, so be quick. Where is he now?”

“Ah, he’s probably at the lumberyard. He’s a carpenter.”

“Perfect! Move!”

I gently shoved the clerk along. As we left, I shot the others a look.

“This must be kept absolutely secret. If this leaks, I’ll really put you all in jail.”

“…!”

Their faces went pale. Good. Message received.

But tracing moonshiners backward wasn’t easy.

“You say you’re just a middleman? Ha!”

After the clerk’s carpenter father, we’d already chased three or four leads. Every person we caught turned out to be just a broker.

‘Ha. This guy is good at hiding.’

“Phew…”

I sighed. Wandering all day like this was killing me.

Ronari, surprisingly, seemed full of energy. “But if you won’t punish or report them, why search so hard?”

“You need those people to make the alcohol.”

“Young master… are you thinking of becoming a moonshiner yourself?”

“…”

‘Of course not. This girl is thinking in the wrong direction.’

I thought I’d given the reason already, but maybe not clearly enough. Time to refocus her attention.

“Follow me. I’ll show you why.”

Over the past few days, Ronari had guided me around Denabi. I was slowly learning the geography around the castle.

This time, I led.

“This way is…”

“The Lower Quarter.”

The residential sprawl from Denabi Castle’s gate down the canyon slope to its end… the village beneath the castle. Commonly called the Lower Quarter. It’s darker and less secure than the upper-district, the so-called Upper Quarter.

We slipped into a flea market tucked in an alley.

‘At times like this, my knowledge of the original needs to shine.’

With Ronari’s sense of direction and the book’s descriptions combined, I found the place. She was an upper-district official, yet she knew the Lower Quarter quite well. Thanks to that, getting here wasn’t hard.

I told her to follow me, but it felt like I was the one being led. Awkward.

“Anyway, Ronari. What’s the common trait of the goods sold here?”

“Relatively low quality… cheap. Things you wouldn’t see in the Upper Quarter…”

“Wrong.”

She’s a government maiden… you shouldn’t not know this.

“There’s only one true common trait for goods in the Lower Quarter market.”

“?’

“They can’t be taxed.”

“Ah…”

“Denabi’s administrative reach doesn’t extend here, so they can’t levy taxes. That’s why it’s cheap.”

“You’re saying moonshine has the same nature?”

“Exactly.”

I grinned. “Told you… my first goal is to pull Denabi’s alcohol market up from underground. Then we collect taxes. It’ll help the treasury immensely.”

“That’s right…! If we can collect the alcohol tax fully, it would help. But will people really buy alcohol if they have to pay twenty-five times the tax?”

“Who said we’d collect all twenty-five times?”

“Huh?”

“We reform the tax system. Convince the lord somehow.”

She looked dumbfounded at my confidence.

“It’s starting… to seem feasible,” she murmured, nodding slowly… then frowned.

“But young master, if collecting taxes is the only goal, we don’t need to find moonshiners. We don’t have to produce alcohol ourselves.”

“We do. For our second goal.”

Her cheeks puffed in mild sulk. Her flushed face seemed to say: ‘Tell me already, you foolish young master.’

A-alright, I’ll say it.

“…Imagine telling the Lower Quarter citizens who made moonshine this:”

“?’

“‘We’ll only collect a small tax now, so please run your business legally and pay taxes!’”

I clasped my hands together like I was begging.

“Uhh…?”

Her brow creased.

Not entertaining? Ahem.

“…Do you think moonshiners will meekly pay taxes if you say that?”

“They won’t. You’re asking them to start paying a tax they’ve never paid. They’d rather not pay at all than pay a little. But in the end they’ll have to… if they want to sell to more people, they’ll need the surface market.”

An accurate analysis. But there’s a problem.

“We don’t have enough time to wait.”

“…Ah.”

She understood at once.

“Dungeon.”

Her expression darkened. I nodded.

If just one more dungeon spawns, this domain becomes a field of mana crystals. Not a pretty sight.

“So I’m going to use a method to pull in money much faster.”

“You don’t mean to say the Denabi government will sell alcohol, do you?”

“Exactly. But all the products must be ready before tax reform. Then, as we lower the alcohol tax, we flood the market with all kinds of alcohol… good quality, cheap, no need to drink in secret… lots of it.”

“You intend to… dominate the market.”

“Yes. A de facto monopoly is possible. Every moonshiner will have no choice: join us and become legitimate brewers, or remain moonshiners and sink.”

I said, “I’m proposing cooperation. Before everyone is ruined.”

I gave a sidelong smile.

‘How about it? A win-win, isn’t it?’

I half-expected her trademark embarrassed laugh:* ‘Ahaha… As expected, you had it all planned.’*

We hadn’t known each other long, but I could already imagine it. Except… she didn’t.

“…”

“…Ronari?”

She looked up at me silently with an expression I hadn’t seen before.

She asked, “Can I trust you?”

…Huh?

Where did that come from?

I tilted my head. “Yes?”

“That thing about never punishing them… that thing about turning moonshiners into brewers. Can I really believe it?”

I could tell by instinct.

Ah… she’s serious right now.