"Since you haven't fought until now, I wonder if I can leave?" Seeing that his chancellor didn't seem to displease the mage, at least not yet, the king made a suggestion to leave. Anyway, Siggett wasn't that weak, but he now had a bad feeling when he saw the scales on the table being constantly fiddled, so if he could escape, there was no need for His Majesty to die, would he?

However, Siggett's plan did not succeed, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer raised his eyes in a rare way, revealing a palpitating gaze in his very small eyes, which were set off by the fat. "You sit there, I've asked the pharmacist, you're not that weak yet. Besides, there are some things that you are better to talk about here. The king secretly cursed the apothecary who was in charge of his own care, and if he could, he would rather go into battle with the nezumi himself than stay here longer, and his chancellor of the exchequer, in addition to being well-known for his ability, was also known for scolding people from high to low.

"Alright, I'm done. After a few minutes, the fat minister finally finished his calculations, and when he had finished taking accounts with his remaining hands, he picked up the parchment on the table. "According to my rough calculations, the battle that took place in the Hall of the Throne caused the loss of at least three thousand five hundred and thirty-nine kingdom standard gold coins, including the cost of repairing the castle, the cost of treating the soldiers, and the cost of purchasing their damaged weapons. And this is still calculated according to the market price the day before yesterday, do you need to remind you that in this turbulent period, prices and labor are doubling every day?......"

In the face of the minister's gushing questioning, the king wisely chose to remain silent. If it's usual, Siggert may also be able to slap the table to make the other party restrain a little. But physical weakness and a subtle sense of guilt that he had done something wrong kept the king silent. But Siggett didn't speak, but Cheese couldn't stand it. "Sir, I don't think you need to be so aggressive, do you? the damage caused to the throne room is forced by circumstances, and it should not be considered Your Majesty's responsibility. ”

"Marcus, Mr. Wizard, my name is Marcus Tellerreal. He is currently the patriarch of the House of Tellerreal and the Honorary Earl of the Kingdom. The minister who called himself Marcus glanced at the mage and said, "And since I talk about responsibility, I have to talk to you about it." ”

"Me?"

"Exactly, sir. Marcus pulled out one of the stacks of parchment in his hand and handed it to Cheese. "This is a list of the losses you have caused to the kingdom since your appearance in Turbidity, and I know that you claim to have come to help our country with good intentions, and you are indeed on our side as it stands. However, I hope you can understand that although the whole country is grateful to you, gratitude cannot be exchanged for tangible gold coins. ”

"So what does that mean?" the mage only glanced at it twice and saw that he was holding a bill with a dense list of payments. Cheese looked at the bill and then at Marcus in front of him, "You're not going to ask me to pay for it, are you?"

"Of course not. The Chancellor of the Exchequer looked at the wizard with a strange look, as if it was difficult to understand why Cheese would ask such a question. Before the mage could breathe a sigh of relief, the man continued, "Considering the sheer size of this bill and the fact that you don't look like you carry a lot of money with you, I've made a list of the best repayment options for you. You can take a look at the payment for labor and the use of magic items to pay off debts. With that, he took out another piece of parchment and handed it to Cheese. But this time the mage didn't pick it up.

"Your Majesty, is that what you mean?" said Cheese, turning to Sigget, wondering if the King had been involved in the production of this ridiculous bill. Siggert pouted, he really wanted to get out of this damn room now. However, as a monarch, he still knows what he should do now, "Although Marcus is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the Greylion, I can assure you that I disagree with the bill in your hand. ”

"But you have signed an agreement with me that though you are king, as long as I am Chancellor of the Exchequer, you will retain the duty and duty to collect debts from those who destroy the property of the kingdom. Saying that, Marcus really solemnly took out a contract with the royal seal from his clothes.

"I... Then I will now dismiss you as Chancellor of the Exchequer!" The king was speechless for a long time, and finally thought of the premise that could be used in the other party's words, as long as Marcus was no longer the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the contract in his hand would be a piece of waste paper. The king couldn't help but smile at his wit.

"According to Article 3 of Chapter 25 of the Law of the King of the Kingdom of the Kingdom of the Greylion, the appointment and dismissal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer must be approved by more than one-third of the nobles of the Kingdom. You don't have the right to expel me directly, not to mention that it is impossible to confirm at this point how many nobles have survived the plague, and the number of a third cannot be defined, according to the emergency regulations in the King's Law, in this case..."

I don't know if it's because of physical reasons or if I just don't want to communicate with this troublesome courtier, the current king of the Greylion, His Majesty Siggett rolled his eyes and fainted decisively before he heard it. Cheese even saw the king deliberately leaning his head into a chair to cover his ears when he fainted.

"It's ridiculous. I still have a lot to do, and I don't have time to waste on these pointless things. Seeing this, the mage got up and wanted to leave the study. He wasn't interested in spending his energy on that damn bill.

"Meaningfulness is not something to be judged by your subjective thoughts alone, sir. Seeing that Cheese was about to leave, Marcus unhurriedly straightened the paper on the table, "If you leave this room now, I will assume that you refuse to pay your debts." As a non-national, I can't do anything to you, of course, but Crimson Pupil, that's the name of the tavern, and the owner and commander of the Frost Guards, Sir Jon, must be held accountable as your helper. Oh, and of course, given your reputation, that rumored glorious trial that proved the innocence of the Count of Montenegro will also be completely ineffective. ”

Cheese's footsteps stopped, he slowly turned his head to look at the other party's back, and said word by word, "Are you threatening me?"

Unfazed by the anger in the mage's words, Marcus shrugged his shoulders and said, "I meant to state a possibility. But given your willingness to repay your debts and the way you behave, I'm afraid I have to admit that, yes, I'm threatening you. ”

"Hum!" a violent air currents erupted from under Cheese's robes, and with a wave of the mage's hand, the chair beneath Marcus instantly disintegrated, turning into scattered sawdust. The unprepared Chancellor of the Exchequer sat down on the ground in embarrassment. But that wasn't the end of it, Cheese threw the distorted bill in his hand into the air, and with a flick of his finger, red flames appeared out of thin air and instantly swallowed up the parchment. Then the wizard opened the wooden door to the study and stepped out, and the door slammed shut behind Cheese with a dull thud.

"Are you happy?" asked Siggett, who stood up from his chair with a little trembling a little about a minute after Cheese left, and looked over the desk at the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who was still sitting on the floor.

There was no fear or any other negative emotion on Marcus's face, and the fat man just dusted off his clothes and got up from the ground. "Well, I really didn't expect his reaction. But it's also a good thing, the more he values these people, the less likely he is to clash head-on with the kingdom. Although he can't be officially placed under the jurisdiction of the kingdom, it is not impossible to control him by relying on favor bargaining chips. With that in mind, I'd suggest strengthening ties with the Frost Legion after the plague has passed, and if necessary, even consider finding a Northland lord for Vale, which I think would be a good one. As for the power of the Crimson Pupil Tavern, you can also send someone to talk to their leader, the kingdom's intelligence network is outdated, and even this information is obtained by me by private means. ”

For this courtier, Siggert could only shake his head helplessly. Sometimes he really couldn't figure out whether Marcus Tellerreal was a shrewd genius or a madman.