Aside from the area of the house, in fact, the interior of the village chief's house is not very decorated. Inside, there was no large furniture other than a shabby table, a few chairs, and a bed that seemed to be crumbling.

Behind the door of the room, leaning against an iron hoe and several wooden forks and shovels. The iron hoes were polished to a shiny finish, while the wooden shovels and shovels looked very shabby. Especially for the shovel used to shovel the soil, the entire shovel surface has been basically smoothed, and it is almost time to replace it.

There are also no windows in the room that can be opened at will, and it cannot be said that there are no windows, except that their windows are made of a kind of lattice-like plank. Through the lattice, one can see what is happening outside. In winter, it seems that it is necessary to completely seal it with wooden planks to prevent cold air from entering the room.

One thing that Auroboros noticed was that the kitchen in the room was made of a large clay pot instead of an iron pot. The village chief's wife was standing next to the pot, looking as if she was going to prepare lunch for everyone.

However, there did not seem to be any fresh vegetables in the house, and the hostess of the house frowned, as if she was in a hurry about how to prepare dinner. At this time, it is the end of spring, and it is just the time of the green and yellow, and even a good woman is unlikely to be able to entertain a distinguished guest.

Seeing his wife's anxious appearance, the village chief quietly walked up to her, handed her a bag that looked like a bag full of coins, and then his wife stepped out of the house. This scene fell into the eyes of Ainz and Oroboros, and Ainz seemed to step forward to stop it, but was stopped by Auroboros.

"Even though everyone knows that you may not be able to eat a bite, no matter how many times you say it, people still have to cook."

"Isn't that a waste?" Ainz was puzzled, "Why do you cook when you know we're not going to eat?" ”

"It's one thing whether you're willing to eat or not, it's another thing whether someone else is willing to entertain you. It's something that's etiquette, and it's not good to force it. ”

"I see!" Ainz nodded, then continued to sit in his chair without saying a word. Anz was very sorry for the chair under his buttocks, because as soon as he shook it, he could clearly hear the creaking sound coming from under his buttocks.

Even more annoying than the creaking of chairs was the crowding of villagers outside the door, perhaps out of curiosity, a dozen or so villagers crowded outside the door and refused to disperse, and some daring children even approached the house. However, they didn't dare to get too close to Ainz and his party, and always stood outside the door or in the corner, judging Ainz and Oroboros and his party.

There weren't many people in the cramped room, and perhaps because of the crowding, Yuffie silently exited the room after asking Oroboros for instructions. Oroboros didn't care about it, anyway, the people in this world who could pose a threat to the Great Tomb of Nasalik could be counted on one hand.

Ainz didn't speak, and it was Oroboros who was talking to the village chief the whole time. Only in a few cases would Ainz occasionally interrupt Oroboros' conversation to express what he wanted to say.

"Mr. Village Chief, let's get straight to the point and discuss the issue of remuneration directly. I want to know how much or how little tax you have to pay in a year, and how much to pay based on that. ”

"Is the remuneration based on a year's taxes?" The village chief's expression did not change in any way, after all, Orobros had handed over the ownership of the equipment to the villagers, so the villagers did not actually bear any debt pressure, but received a large sum of money.

"For the sake of the adults saving us, then I won't hide it. According to the normal share of land in the village, the total amount of land in our village is about 500 liso, and 10 roads of grain are levied for each liso. According to this year's grain price, our village will pay 40,000 copper coins a year for every 8 copper coins per Dalu. The kingdom collects taxes twice a year, once in June and once in November, for winter wheat and other crops. According to the request of the adults, we need to pay one-tenth of the tax as compensation, that is, we need to pay 8,000 copper coins as a gratuity. ”

In the original work, Lao Gu only received a mere 3,000 copper coins, and 8,000 copper coins are indeed much higher than the original work.

"Wait a minute!" Oroboros stopped the village chief from continuing. As if by magic, he took out a notebook and a pen (to manifest magic) and threw them to Jarbed, who was standing, "Jarbed, I'll ask questions, and record everything that was asked during the conversation!" ”

"Yes, Lord Oroboros!" Jarbed obeyed his orders without resistance.

The village chief looked very puzzled about Oroboros' request to write down the conversation. He had been doubting the identities of the four masked people in front of him, judging from the clothes, each of them was dressed very gorgeously and extraordinary, especially the young lady who walked out just now and the young man in white robe in front of him, all of them exuded the temperament and demeanor of the nobility. If it's just nobles, after all, most nobles are basically a bunch of bastards who only know how to gamble...... But the group of nobles in front of them seemed to be very different, they would come to the rescue, but at the same time they had no interest in money, and they were also very interested in the daily taxes of the village, otherwise why would they deliberately record these small things that have nothing to do with the adventurers.

The village chief rubbed his hands and smiled cautiously, "That adult, can I take the liberty of asking?" ”

"Say it!"

"I want to ask, my lord is a minister sent by the upper echelons of the kingdom to supervise the lower ranks, right?"

“？？？？？？” Hearing the village chief's question, Oroboroth looked confused ( ̄△ ̄; )。 You are the one who can see that I am the minister of the Imperial Mission, why don't you say that I am the Kinyi Guardian or the Mito Yellow Gate-sama.

"I don't understand what you mean by that question, so I can't answer it." When faced with a question that he is unwilling to answer, Oroboroth generally does not choose to explain directly, but it is better to veto it directly.

In fact, there is also a hint of this veto, that is, I didn't say that I am not XXX, which will directly make people feel that they are deliberately hiding something. If there is no question, just answer yes or no, there is no need to be so verbose.

Therefore, after Orobroth said this, the village chief put on a more and more respectful attitude, and it was obvious that the other party really regarded himself as the kind of minister who visited secretly.

This reminded Oroboros of Gogol's novel "The Chancellor" that he had read before. This work can also be regarded as a classic in the history of world literature. The inspiration for this work is said to have been an event that happened during Gogol's travels, because the author's creation needs to collect a large number of social elements, so Gogol went to a rural village to collect style, asked the peasants about some short things in their parents, and recorded them. As a result, because of Gogol's behavior, he was mistaken by the villagers for a minister......

The story depicts Khlesdakov, a gentleman who lost all his bets with others, and was at a loss, passing through a city in another province from Petersburg, and was mistaken for a "minister", causing panic among the local bureaucracy, and the local officials rushed to give Khlesda money, and the mayor even married his own daughter to the fake minister.

Obviously, he is now like Gogol, who is regarded by the villagers as a minister sent by the upper echelons. It's just that unlike the writer Gogol and Khlesda in "The Chancellor", he is a person who really has the ability to change the situation of this group of villagers.

Speaking of which, I used to read an online article about a traveler who traveled to the Qing Dynasty and was stopped by a group of soldiers, but the traveler directly took out the Dalong bank card issued by the Bank of China, and insisted that he was a businessman in a hurry. As a result, after seeing Dalong's bank card, this group of soldiers immediately meant that this benevolent brother might be a Qincha who had made a secret visit, and they didn't dare to make a sound, and sent them out of the country directly......

Just as the village chief was thinking about how to continue to talk to these two "ministers", the village chief's daughter walked up to Orobros with a cup of hot tea, "Two adults, after talking for a long time, please take a sip of hot tea first!" ”

This is a rural girl who does not look very beautiful, although she is relatively delicate, but because she has been engaged in farm work all year round, her hands are covered with calluses...... Oroboros just glanced at her, then withdrew his gaze. He casually picked up the hot tea from the teacup he brought it, and as soon as he took a sip, Oroboros suddenly felt that something was wrong, so he put the cup on the table with a serious face, "Mr. Village Chief, where did you buy your tea?" No, no, where does your tea come from? ”

Seeing that the kind and gentle Oroboros suddenly became serious, the village chief's heart suddenly rose to his throat: "Lord Oroboros, what's the matter, is it that this tea is not to your taste?" ”

"No, don't worry, I'm not the kind of person who would be angry with others because the food and drinks they serve are not to my taste. I just want to ask you where the tea you buy comes from. ”

In Oroboros's memory, there are at least two scenes of tea mentioned in the original book: once when the village chief entertains Anz with tea during the battle of Karn, and once when Lana once entertains the second prince and the great nobles with tea in the kingdom heroes.

Perhaps the author did not consider the appearance of tea in "The King of the Undead" when he wrote the original work, but a complete world will inevitably find a reasonable reason for this seemingly small existence.

Maybe in this world, there are also Eastern civilizations similar to those of the Celestial Empire.

As we all know, China is the origin of tea. In ancient times, there was a legend that Shennong tasted herbs and detoxified with tea. In Jin. Chang Xuan's Huayang National Chronicles. Ba Zhi": "King Wu of Zhou cut down the Xuan, and he really got the division of Bashu,...... Tea honey ...... All of them are tribute. This record shows that when King Wu of the Zhou Dynasty conquered, the state of Ba had already paid tribute to King Wu of Zhou with tea and other precious products. It is also recorded in the "Huayang National Chronicles" that there were artificially cultivated tea gardens at that time.

In addition to the unreliable records of the ancient and Western Zhou dynasties, tea originated in the Qin and Han dynasties, the Three Kingdoms, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the Tang Dynasty, and the main reason for the disagreement is that there was no "tea" word before the Tang Dynasty, and only the record of the word "荼", until Lu Yu, the author of the Tea Sutra, wrote the word "tea" by subtracting a painting, so there is a saying that tea originated in the Tang Dynasty. Others are still said to have originated in Shennong and in the Qin and Han dynasties.

Because of the writing of "The Book of Tea", Lu Yu also became a tea saint or tea ancestor, and drinking tea gradually became a fashion.