After handing over the list to the lumberyard owner who had issued the assignment, Harold did not receive the full commission, but instead exchanged a portion of the commission for a cart of wood, hid the dwarven greatsword at the bottom of the lumber package, and continued his journey back to College City.

The Academy City is the largest city under the administration of the Papal Domain, and it is also one of the largest cities in the entire continent, and the Papal Territory is located in the southwestern corner of the continent, and its size is simply inconspicuous compared to the behemoth of the Sarga Empire (also known as the Western Empire) in the north, only the size of a medium province in the Sarga Empire.

But the narrow size of the papal territory was able to give birth to a famous city like the Cité della Collège, which deserved to be the cultural and religious center of the whole continent.

More than 100 years ago, the plot where the College City was located was just a sparsely populated rural area. However, Pope St. Philan I, who came to power a hundred years ago, personally selected this place in the northeastern part of the Papal Territory and laid the first foundation of the Accademia City.

Since then, the population has continued to pour in, and in the past 100 years, the urban development of the college town has not stopped, until the population of the college town has exceeded 1.5 million.

On the afternoon of November 17, 1132 A.D., Harold drove in a carriage in the direction of the northeastern gate of the city wall, where he drove in the driver's seat of the carriage while the two maidens sat on the cargo package of the carriage frame. (Harold's carriage was a cargo and passenger carriage, and it could be used as a freight carriage by removing a few snap traps.) ）

It was already cold, and all three were wearing cloaks and scarves. Lilina, on the other hand, was holding a cloth-covered birdcage containing a small white dragon that had been spelled, and which now looked like a small parrot.

Lilina asked, "Senpai! You negotiated with the owner of the lumberyard, exchanged a portion of the commission for a cart of wood, and then hid the dwarven greatsword in the deepest part of the cargo package, is it finally the turn of smuggling? ”

When Harold replied in the affirmative, the little girl's eyes immediately lit up with excitement, and then asked Harold how he wanted to sneak the dwarven greatsword into the city.

Harold was starting to be vague, and he didn't want to say anything about it.

However, Harold did not speak, did not extinguish Lilina's enthusiasm, and made Lilina sit on the package happily guess what specific method he used.

"This damn girl is a pleasure offender with great potential!" Harold pouted.

The other behaved much more normally, and Harold thought she would strongly disagree, and took the opportunity to belittle herself from the inside out, from head to toe. However, Edith rarely did not physically attack Harold this time, but expressed concern about Harold's sneaking operation, and hinted that she could pay the dwarven greatsword tax first this time.

"This stupid girl is still very grateful."

Harold didn't want to eat her soft rice, though.

"If you don't find out, it's not a crime. What's more, a one-size-fits-all tax collection on all kinds of equipment was originally a bad law, and the gang of sub-gods of the church started the trend first, and then the cities of the secular countries on the mainland followed suit, and the cats in it are very greasy! He kept his voice down to avoid being heard.

"Greasy? What's so funny? Edith was confused.

Lilina was drawn to Harold's words, her eyes rolled, and she immediately understood the point: "The Holy See is deliberately using its influence to deliberately raise the average price of certain materials, but what is their purpose in doing so?" ”

Harold was about to speak, but Lilina figured it out, and she said as she integrated her thoughts: "They want to be able to recycle specific materials in weapons and equipment, the Holy See has a huge amount of wealth, and they deliberately raise the price to make some of the materials they need more and more concentrated, and finally they can be recycled in large quantities." Am I right? Predecessor. ”

"To the point." Harold agrees with her, the little girl is indeed shrewd to a terrible degree, he had been thinking behind his back for an hour to straighten out his thoughts, and Lilina only took half a minute to think about the crux of the problem.

"For example, dwarven weapons excavated from the ground, because adventurers are often the first to discover, they were originally circulated in the hands of many adventurers, and the price was not as expensive as it is now. A hundred years ago, when Pope St. Philan I was still in power, he set the rule of taxing dwarven metal weapons and gold and other weights, and now, the mainstream circulation of dwarven weapons is no longer in the hands of adventurers. ”

"Rather, it was in the hands of the Holy See, the magnates of the secular state, the owners of the estates and the owners of the workshops who had a hobby of collecting. Among these groups, it is precisely the Holy See that makes the most use of dwarven metal. They will use dwarven metal to craft armor that can withstand enchantment for long periods of time, and the best quality will be used to equip some Punishment Knights, and the lower quality will be sold as a sought-after item. ”

Harold was talking eloquently, and the two girls listened attentively, and Edith said thoughtfully, "I see, no wonder Pope St. Philan I, who said more than a hundred and forty years ago that 'the Holy See must do business,' is called the 'Merchant Pope.'" As far as we know, before he came to power, the church often issued indiscriminate indulgences and the like, because of this kind of thing, there was a fierce conflict with the Salga Empire. He has had three popes since he came to power, but the current style of the Holy See has laid the foundations since the time of St. Phelan I. ”

Harold turned his head, and he looked at Edith in surprise, which made Edith wonder, and she asked, "What's wrong, is there anything wrong with what we said?" ”

"You're right." The Harold tone was very serious. "Edith."

"How..... What's wrong! Edith felt awkward right now, because it was the first time Harold had called her name so seriously.

"You stupid, you finally use your brain to think, it's rare." Harold smiled, and he slapped his palm.

In fact, as an honor student, Edith is not stupid at all, but as a normal teenage girl, she is quite slow to feel all kinds of cattiness hidden under the surface.

This is normal, but Harold is very headstrong, and he just wants to take the opportunity to tease her.

"Bastard! We're not stupid! Edith grunted, but this time she only kicked Harold on the back of the shoulder with her toes, and the latter smiled "haha" and didn't hide.

"The relationship between the seniors and the senior sister has improved! Is there something going on that I don't know? ”

"Nope!" Harold decisively denied it.

"No, not at all!" Edith vehemently denied it, and she toe Harold in the back of the shoulder again, this time with a little more force.

"Let's think about it, we still have to supervise you to play Lily's boyfriend. If you dare to show your stuffing, be careful that we will freeze you into ice cubes. ”

The long-legged girl began to make empty threats to Harold again, and Harold replied, "Yes, yes, yes! ”

But I thought to myself, "When did she say she was going to supervise me?" I'm not impressed. ”