“This ‘Narson’ person, is he some kind of Lord who governs the place around here?”
Yes, he is a noble entrusted with the governing of these lands by the Royal Family. He’s the brave and honorable patriarch of the Estelle house, he seems to have played a big part in the last war.” «TN: Isuteeru»
“(Ooh, so there are nobles and royals. Which means there might be large castles and knight orders.)”
As Kazura started to get delusional over the words ‘royalty’ and ‘noble’ that are only heard in Japan in only a select few news bits…
“What’s wrong?” asked Valletta, peering into Kazura’s face.
Her face got really close, making him bashful.
“Ah, no, it’s nothing. Then does the village have to pay taxes in produce or something to this governor?”
“Yes, we had to pay a specific amount of produce at the specified time. We had a pretty nasty drought this time so there’s almost no produce we can pay taxes with… It’s about time for Narson-sama’s man to come have a look soon.”
“And if you don’t have the produce to pay as taxes, are there any penalties?”
“There is. Households that don’t pay their taxes get their property seized.”
“That’s how it is,” Kazura nodded to Valletta’s answer.
Be negligent in your duties and the punishment comes.
“Umm, even during disasters like this time, will there be property seizure?”
Yes, that was the problem.
It’s not a big deal if punishment was given out when taxes weren’t paid during normal times, but a Lord that does the same during a crisis is either an idiot that thinks of nothing or a fiend.
If this Lord Narson person is an idiot or a fiend, then he’s likely to become a big problem.
“That seems to vary depending on the territory. Narson-sama would look over the extent of the damage and recalculate the amount of produce that needs to be paid. During the crop failure three years ago, he allowed us to cut trees in the forest and pay in wood instead of produce.”
She said so to Kazura’s relief.
This Lord Narson seem to be a lord that governs with the village in mind, so he probably won’t ask payment in produce during a severe time like this.
If they need to pay wood then metal-headed axes could be brought in to somehow take care of the lack of manpower, or chainsaws if need be, if all else fails he could even just buy timber in Japan and pay that.
“But I heard that Diaz-sama who governs the neighboring territory would relentlessly punish even if the crops can’t be harvested because of a disasiter. Rumor has it that he sells young men to slavers and takes good-looking young women as his attendants until he grew tired of them and then sells them to slavers.” «TN: Daiasu, asu!»
“Eeh… they don’t get revolts after doing that so much… doesn’t the royal family say anything about it?”
He was just like an evil noble out of a game or manga.
I’m sure he looks like a rotund creature with lots of fat and wearing extravagant rings or such, so Kazura arbitrarily imagined.
“That may be the case, but Diaz-sama is an excellent trader, he would always present a considerable sum of tribute to the Royal Family, so it looks like they say nothing. That, and they have quite a large private army, so rebellions are a bit out of the question.”
In short, he’s ruthless as a human being but as a noble he earns lots of money.
Then he noticed that after finally getting to eat canned peaches by a nice clear river with a pretty girl, he picked a rather negative topic for conversation.
“Well then, the canned peaches should be about cold now. Let’s eat.”
“Ah, yes. Looks like it.”
The atmosphere had become somewhat uncomfortable but it should clear up after eating some peaches.
Kazura took out the canned peaches from the river, pulled the tab to open the can, took a plastic fork from his bag, and returned to Valletta with the open can.
“Have half first, please.”
“Eh? But, I can’t possibly eat before Kazura-san…”
“It’s alright, eat already,” he said to the nervous Valletta with the canned peaches in hand, urging her to start eating.
“Thank you,” Valletta thanked him even as she was feeling hesitant. She pricked a peach using the fork and took a mouthful.
“!?”
“How is it? It’s rather good, isn’t it?”
Valletta was surprised by the peach in her mouth and nodded fiercely to Kazura’s question.
“It’s really sweet! It’s the first time I’ve had anything so sweet and tasty!”
“That’s a relief. As for my portion, I’m good already so you can eat all of it.”
Fruits certainly exist in this world, but ones that were selectively bred for their good taste probably doesn’t.
Looking at Valletta’s deeply moved expression, Kazura wanted her to have all the canned peaches.
“Eh, but I can’t…”
As she said so, Kazura spontaneously burst into a laugh seeing her looking alternately at him and the canned peaches in her hand.
“Well, it’s a reward for Valletta-san who’s been working hard until now. Go ahead, eat up,” said Kazura.
“Umm… then, thank you for the meal.”
She turned red bashfully and happily gulped down the peaches.
After having his fill watching Valletta eat the peaches, Kazura went back to the village and immediately left for Japan saying “I’m going to make preparations for the waterwheel”. He looked up the internet on his cellphone for waterwheel contractors, and went directly to the firm to make his order.
“Umm, water-pumping waterwheel, right. With the size you designated and the grade fitted with custom-made water pumping accessories, it will be 20 days to delivery and cost 3 million yen.”
As the kindly director with whitening hair laid out the product catalogue he explained its features and production period.
The waterwheels laid down on the catalogue were all very tasteful and would match the scenery of the countryside.
“There are certain circumstances that requires one as quick as possible. I don’t mind the costs, so can you make it within one week? I’ll do the assembly on my own, so I’d like it to be delivered in parts.”
“O, one week? Well that would be a bit … We don’t have so many workers so no matter how much we hurry, 15 days is our limit.”