"I want every intelligent life in this land to know that I, Philos, am the owner of this land."

Chapter 9

"One, two, three......" Lilith, who had received her salary from the tavernkeeper, counted the copper coins in her hand over and over again. Although it was only a salary of three copper coins a month, it was a great thing that someone was willing to hire her, a seven-year-old girl, for the favor of the goddess of dawn!

Although the commoner children of the empire had to go out to work and earn money from the age of four, there were many people and few jobs, and the jobs that could be paid were very valuable.

Lilith put the money in her arms and put it in her arms, and then diligently went to clean up the table.

Old Mack's Tavern does good business, and bounty hunters on the verge of life and death like to come and have a drink when they have money. Civilians like them, who are not even transcendental, have a very cheap life, and they don't know when they will die under the mouths of demonic beasts and undead, and it is their survival creed to have fun in time.

"Have you heard? Dayak City, a hellish place, is about to usher in a new lord! ”

"New lord? If you don't say I've forgotten that our hellish place is still a 'borderland'. ”

"It's no longer called Dayak City, the first thing our lord did when he arrived was to change the name, and now it's called Lansville City!"

"Lancevelly? What a strange name. ”

"Whatever he calls it! Anyway, it won't be long before the city will be overwhelmed with bones. ”

Bordered to the west by the Endless Plains, the Lich and the Undead don't even know how to write the word "temperance", which has "encroached" on millions of square kilometers of Unarya's land area over the centuries.

Three hundred years ago, caravans departed from here, and it even took more than a month to reach the border, but today, three hundred years later, this is the border.

In order to survive, the nobles constantly led the guards to run to safety, and slowly, only a viscount was left here.

According to the extent of the expansion of the Endless Plains, in another ten years at most, this place will also be a blank of bones.

Those who have the conditions have long since fled, and even the aristocratic officials who still remain in this place are just to make another sum of money and give a little more security to their lives after moving.

The king wanted to save face and was unwilling to declare these places abandoned, so in the eyes of the empire, all these lands were brought together, and a huge territory of 8 million square kilometers was "born"!

But how much area can be used for human life? 20 square kilometers, that is, 30,000 acres of land.

The barren and cramped security area had to support more than 300 officials and their families, as well as 2,000 city defenders.

The civilians here have been drained of blood, and there is not a drop of blood left.

As for the low-level civilians like them, they don't know when they will become slaves, they don't know when they will become fertilizer, and ten years from now will be too far away.

Lilith carried a barrel larger than her to collect the cutlery from the table, and although her arms and legs were thin, she was unexpectedly strong.

I heard that the lord is coming, what does it mean that the lord is coming, Lilith, who is only seven years old this year, doesn't quite understand, but I heard the bounty hunters in the tavern say that when the lord arrives in a new territory, he will definitely celebrate it in a big way, and a banquet will cost at least a thousand gold coins!

And such a banquet should be held once a day, thirty times in a row!!

One hundred copper is equal to one silver, and one hundred silver is equal to one gold. In Lilith's not-so-long life, let alone gold coins, she never had silver coins.

She was envious of such a rich lord: "Then the lord must be able to eat white bread every day!" She had never eaten white bread, which was said to be a top-notch delicacy made from pure wheat.

The customers in the tavern are ordinary people, who don't order expensive and stomach-consuming white bread, and naturally they don't sell it.

She had only heard of it from the mouths of bounty hunters, and had not even seen it, and in her memory black bread was already a very precious delicacy, and she had no imagination to imagine how wonderful white bread was.

Hearing Lilith's envy, the guests in the tavern sneered.

"Wheat? The lord wouldn't use such a lowly thing at all, have you heard of magic wheat? The water that the nobles drink can increase their magic power! ”

Ordinary wheat is a very rare thing in Lilith's eyes, and magic wheat is an existence she can't believe. At this moment, the image and wealth of the lord became very powerful in her psyche, more powerful than the tax officials!

"Old Mike, I'll keep the money for today's wine on the account first, and I'll give it together next time."

"Old Mike, mine is also on the books."

I don't know if it's because of a bad start, but the sound of bookkeeping next time is endless.

Lilith was in a hurry, bounty hunters were "wanderers" who tied their lives to their belts for money, maybe they were seriously injured, maybe they were killed on the spot, in short, there were countless possibilities to disappear tomorrow.

Bookkeeping will be given next time, and this sentence is rounded up to mean that you want to repay the debt.

Lilith had managed to get a job with Old Mike, and she didn't want the tavern to go out of business because it didn't make any money.

"No, no!" Lilith jumped to her feet in a hurry, but the other party was a group of tall outlaws, and Lilith's mosquito-like voice didn't attract much attention.

Lilith is soft-spoken, but old Mike is different, he was a level 32 arcane mage when he was young, and opened this tavern after being injured and breaking his arm, even if his strength has regressed a lot because of his age, he is also a level 30 spellcaster, and there are not many people who dare to make trouble in the tavern and eat overlord meals.

In the past, when he encountered this kind of thing, he would simply pull out his staff and peel the other party clean and throw it out.

However, this time Old Mac didn't even make a move to draw his staff: "Lilith, go get a piece of parchment." ”

Lilith was so anxious that she almost burst into tears, and old Mike, seeing her young age, patted her on the head and explained the reason: "There are so many banquets, that's a lot of money. In order to cover this expense, and to announce the arrival of the lord, everyone will have to pay a large amount of tax next. ”

Lilith was frightened and turned pale.

The last lord of Dayak City was fifty years ago, and Lilith, who had not experienced frequent lord changes, naturally didn't understand what hell five lords were in three years.

Freedmen had to pay many taxes, some to the Empire, some to the gods, some to the lords, and many more that even the officials in charge of collecting taxes could not explain.

Every year, every month, every week, or even every day, there are all kinds of taxes to pay.

Can't hand it in? Then they can only be deprived of their status as freemen and become slaves who live shorter than livestock.

Then buy these slaves again - the lord has money again.

Old Mike is very old, and although he has only just stepped into the realm of intermediate spellcasters, he has a longer lifespan than the average person. More than fifty years ago, although he was injured and spent most of his savings, the caster had many ways to get money, and his family was much richer than that of ordinary civilians. But even so, he was almost cornered under one "new lord" after another.

Not a single transcendent is almost a slave because he can't pay his taxes, let alone anyone else.

Once upon a time, Dayak City was also a big city known for its auctions, but the encroachment of the endless plains and the unbridled raids of the lords have turned this already precarious city into a barren and lifeless and declining city.

Looking at the ignorant and thin child in front of him, Old Mike's cold heart also gave birth to a little unbearable.

Under the control of the Chiti family, although the civilians of this city are still surviving, the arrival of the new lord is undoubtedly a golden straw that crushes everyone, and it is not the "last one".

Old Mac doesn't worry about himself, as a spellcaster, he has the ability to support himself wherever he goes, but the rest of the city, not necessarily.

"Go ahead, bring the parchment." Old Mike, who never allowed credit payments, sent a kindness. Bounty hunters have a much better ability to make money than ordinary people, but none of them have the concept of saving money, and it is not easy to keep the previous tax money, where is there any other money to pay the new tax tomorrow I don't know how much it will need.

If he owes this wine money, if he can get through this difficulty, it will be too late to pay it back in the future, if he can't get through it, then he will also have a relationship with the slave traders, they are all strong and strong laborers, and it is not difficult to sell them for a good price, and then there will be money to pay back his wine money?

Although Lilith was only seven years old, she had already started working as an apprentice at the age of four, she was not stupid, she knew very well what the new tax meant, so her mind would be completely blank, and her body would develop an instinct to follow old Mike's instructions to get the parchment, but her mind was already occupied by fear.

Even the fact that Old Mac mercifully gave her an extra copper coin at the end of the day did not make her happy.

Walking home with heavy steps, the injured father who was lying on the bed seemed to be twenty years old, and the mother, who also rushed home after work, was also full of sadness.

Several of her older siblings were also at a loss and panicked.

Obviously, the arrival of the new city lord represented the great event of a new tax, which was already known to the free people of the city.

"The banquet will be held for a month, and I have inquired that some lords will levy taxes after the banquet. There is still a month to go, and as long as Dad gets better sooner, we will definitely be able to save enough money. ”

It was Lilith's eldest brother who spoke, a twelve-year-old boy who was already half the pillar of the family, but half was half, his day's salary was half a copper coin, and although his mother worked three jobs, she could only earn one copper coin a day.

And my father's salary was two copper coins, which was more than the rest of the family combined.

What Big Brother Lilith said is undoubtedly true, but the truth and reality are not just a sentence.

"I inquired about the price of a hemostatic agent for an apprentice in apothecary, and it cost a full five silver coins! Five silver coins! ”

Five silver coins, that is, five hundred copper coins, required a family of six to earn a full three hundred without eating or drinking.

This price is high that their family simply cannot afford.

The faces of the family of six all showed despair of defeat.

Lilith is most afraid that her brothers and sisters make more money than her, and if the money is not enough, she will be the first to be sold.

Chapter 10

They couldn't afford the potion of five silver coins, but without their father's wages, and in a month they would be reduced from freedmen to slaves with no house, no property, nothing, and a stinky death in some corner at any moment.

The thin woman looked at her husband who was lying on the bed with a rancid smell, and then at the four small children, gritted her teeth and took out five copper coins: "Lilith, you go buy some flour tomorrow and make black bread for your father." ”

Brown bread, with their current standard of living, is already a "tonic".

But the woman knows very well in her heart that her husband's injury is definitely not something that can be eaten with a few black breads. But she didn't do anything, and in the end she couldn't do it while she watched the children become slaves.

Five copper coins, five copper coins of gambling. It's best if the husband recovers, if he can't...... She couldn't imagine it.

"Merciful God of Light, I repent of my sins and ask for your forgiveness, so that the child's father's leg will get better quickly!"

Lilith's family are all believers in the God of Light, the gods are absolutely just beings, and the reason why their family is living so hard is because they have committed unforgivable sins, and they can only pray incessantly to have a faint hope of forgiveness.

Before and after the meal, the family of six prayed for their sins with great devotion in the hope of a miracle.

*

"Aunt Ellie, I want five copper coins of flour." The little girl stood on her tiptoes so that she could be seen.

The genius was bright, and little Lilith and carefully carried the copper coins that the family had saved up with great difficulty to the grocery store.

"It's little Lilith, who came out so early today to help buy something."

Although Dayak City is not a peaceful town, because of its small population, most of the people who come and go are familiar neighbors.

The morning of this day was no different from yesterday, everyone was busy with life, but the busy but peaceful time was quickly destroyed.

What a terrifying scent that is! It seems that just smelling it, I feel that my whole soul is floating, bathed in holy light? No, no, no, it's more intoxicating than the occasional Church of Light to spread the light of light.

The aroma that was so sweet that it seemed to pull people into heaven, or the scent that could lure people to hell with a hook of hands wafted out of the furnace, and the poorly sealed container seemed to be unable to bear the aroma any longer, and the fragrance that almost turned into substance broke through the shackles and invaded the entire city of Lanceville with great speed.

"It's so fragrant, it's so sweet...... "Although Ellie's life as a grocery store owner is also very difficult, her life is much better than Lilith's life at the bottom of the world that may become a slave at any time.

In her grocery store, there are some precious frostings.

That's why she can smell the "sweetness" in this fragrance.

"That's a lot of sugar...... How much sugar does it take to be so sweet...... "Although there is sugar in the grocery store, Ellie can't afford to eat it, and only on the birthday of the goddess of harvest, she will "generously" cook a bowl of sweet soup for the whole family to eat.

The sweetness that had to be tasted very carefully made her extremely happy, but now the aroma was so domineering that it swept the whole city, and Elle couldn't imagine how many gold coins it was!

Lilith, who had never eaten sugar before, heard that this taste was "the taste of sugar" from Ellie's mouth, and immediately inhaled with her mouth and nose, hoping to taste a little sweeter.

Not only her, but many people on the road were doing it, and many even rushed out of the house to breathe outside with a stronger aroma.

Most people have never tasted sweetness and sugar in their lives, but this fragrance is so intoxicating that even if they know that they can't taste it no matter how much they breathe, they breathe greedily and engrave this smell into their minds, even decades later, it will become the best memory of their barren life.