「Read that」
「Ok」
What on earth is this about – Jake’s bewilderment kept growing.
However, after he opened the draft and started reading its contents, the look in his eyes changed.
What was written down was the detailed financial situation of the Stokes house. It was filled with a headache inducing amount of numbers, but sadly, they were numbers which Jake had become used to seeing.
「Are there any large mistakes in the entry?」
「………No, there aren’t」
Let alone mistakes, this was a complete copy of the contents of the financial management report that Jake had compiled. He properly checked whether there were any defects or not in the documents he had prepared.
Perhaps, was he called to enter at least 1 false charge into the contents of this? – That sort of thought crossed his mind.
「Right?」
But, contrary to his predictions, Harold sighed gravely. There was no appearance of wanting to rebuke Jake.
If he had to say, then Harold’s voice was as though he was fed up from the bottom of his heart.
「From the past few years, the finances of the Stokes house has been in the red. The prime cause is the pointless extravagance due to my parents wanting to put on airs. The reserves from up until the previous generation and the heavy taxation is compensating for it but even that won’t last long, and the burden on the populace only keeps increasing. Any objections to this opinion?」
「I have awareness that it is heading towards that direction」
Jake’s emotional subtleties never easily surfaced, but inside, he was on the verge of panicking.
He was astonished that a young boy had perfectly comprehended the contents of the financial management report, but more than anything, he wasn’t able to grasp the intentions of the question at all.
Harold himself, being the eldest son of the head, was criticising his parents, the current head. He didn’t know what kind of behavior was right.
Being at a loss, Jake looked at Norman. But he was only standing behind Harold with a calm expression and it didn’t seem as though he would respond to Jake’s glance.
「Even though the situation isn’t urgent, as it is, someday, both the Stokes house and the populace won’t be able to maintain their livelihood. Well, for you bastards, it would be better if the Stokes house collapses」
「Please don’t say things like that. If anybody heard it, they would misunderstand and think that you are rebelling」
For the time being, Jake takes the safe route.
However, from Kazuki’s point of view, it wasn’t necessarily a misunderstanding. He hadn’t thought of outrageous things like causing internal problems to steal the inheritance and he hadn’t even thought of doing whatever it takes for the continued existence of the Stokes house and for becoming the next head.
Frankly speaking, he wouldn’t care even if it got crushed like in the original work.
Together with the ending of the original work, if he faded out and safely became commoner A, it would be fine.
Of course, the best solution would be for him to return back to his original world as fast as possible, but to do that, he hadn’t even found a single clue and so, for now, he put it aside.
「Hn. At any rate, the populace, particularly, if the agricultural district’s proceeds aren’t increased, it’s very clear that in the near future, we’ll go bankrupt」
Jake couldn’t respond. This was because it was true that the agriculture in the Stokes territory had already started declining.
Due to imposing a heavy tax rate, since management became strained, people who quit and people who left from the Stokes territory increased. This trend was remarkable with small farmhouses in particular.
If this flow didn’t stop, revenue from the agricultural district would drop considerably. When that happened, it wasn’t known whether the current head would resolve to loosen the tax rates due to the disadvantage.
Jake didn’t believe that that man would take such measures. Conversely, he would probably increase the rates even more and pluck money from wherever it could be plucked.
(Has Harold-sama comprehended that………?)
No matter what, it wasn’t a problem which a boy of 10 years old, would rack his brain’s for. Normally, it would be difficult to even read the contents of the financial management report correctly.
But, for the boy in front of him, it seemed as though something of that level wasn’t even a wall. Jake immediately realized that.