How to Live as a Wandering Knight
Chapter 139.1: ๐๐ง๐๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ฆ๐ฒ (8)Ahirโs third son was taken aback and avoided his gaze. Harmonious relationships between married nobles were rare. It was the same in the East.
Usually political reasons took priority, so they just held the wedding ceremony for show and let each other be, which was common.
But looking at them, it seemed Johan genuinely cherished Iselia. The vampireโs sense of aesthetics was similar to that of elves. It was quite odd to see a knight like Johan, flawless in every way, acting like this.
โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ด. . . ๐๐ฉ. ๐๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ?โ
Johanโs religious devotion was renowned even among the pagan heathens across the strait. Naturally so, given the miracles he had shown. If he was acting this way because of the Churchโs doctrine to be faithful to oneโs spouse, it was understandable.
โHmm. Iselia. Youโre not asking to be let go. Did you take a liking to me?โ
โAh, no. . .โ
Johan smiled smugly, tightening his arms around Iselia. Iselia was about to protest but faltered.
โYou granted my wish, so I wanted to grant yours too.โ
โReally? You want to fulfil my wish?โIselia nodded. Johan brought his mouth to her long ear and whispered. Hearing the unexpected words, Iseliaโs face flushed red again.
โCount. . .โ
โOh. Sorry. I forgot you were here. Yes. Since the envoy is here, I must go greet them.โ
โ๐๐ตโ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ?โ
๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ
๐๐ฌฤฬ๐๐ค๐๐จ๐ซ๐ข๐ฆs.๐๐จ๐ฎ
The Mulc clan envoy courteously expressed his gratitude. Boxes filled with eastern gold coins and rare ancient jewelleries passed down from the Empire era were given as compensation for the Mulc bloodline.
โGood gracious. All this for the second son of the clan?โ
โ. . . . . .โ
Seeing Stephen murmur, Johan felt a little bad. Not all siblings of clans tried to kill each other.
Although Ahir was the second son, he was militarily capable, had assisted his older brother, the Mulc clan head, achieving great feats several times, and had shown loyalty. It was only natural for the wealthy Mulc clan to pay this price.
โAs you said, Your Excellency, I brought merchants as well but. . . are you sure this is alright?โ
โItโs fine.โ
In this peculiar situation of a pagan envoy worrying over Johanโs relationship with the order, Stephen looked at him curiously.
But considering the debt of honour the Mulc clan had just paid, such worry was natural.
โThe republics and other petty kingdoms on the peninsula also trade with you. Iโve no reason not to trade with you also.โ
Johan was starved for gold. Although thousands of fanatically loyal mercenaries were at his command, they did not come free. Johan had to pay their wages by next year.
Moreover, Johanโs personal elite heavy infantry, and the new slave soldiers he was raising.
No matter how frugally Johan himself lived, this expense was unavoidable. To maintain that scale, he had to keep earning. And the best business in this age was war and. . .
โ๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด. ๐๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ช๐ง๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ท๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ.โ
. . .taxation.
However, types of taxes were manifold. Taxes directly squeezed from serfs did not amount to much and only incited rebellion. Johan did not want to become that kind of fool.
โ๐๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐น๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ.โ
Import duties, tolls, salt tax, liquor tax etc. โ not only were these taxes less painfully felt, they were also very juicy.
Johan would never understand feudal lords who refused foreign entry due to dislike, and did not have such worries.
Bring in as many foreigners as possible to vitalize trade and milk taxes!
The issue was the refusal shown by the order. . .
Johan had already donated charity to nearby temples as well as removed administrative workload from priests by assigning it to scribes.
Ostensibly it allowed priests to focus on their faith, but in truth it was to seize administrative power into Johanโs hands. Whenever counting subjects and collecting taxes, help from priests was indispensable.
Regardless of such ulterior motives, Johanโs actions combined with his fame had earned absolute support. So absolute that even if Johan ransacked a temple priest for himself, people would still believe him.
โThe republics made intense demands. . . the Order will understand too.โ
Finally, Johan had the republic shield. If he told the Church โ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ถ๐ด๐ฆโ, the order would turn their arrows on the republics instead of Johan.
โ๐๐ข๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ด ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด?โ
During his stay, Stephen mingled with local lower nobles and merchants. Some were from the republics. The notion of republics making such demands was unheard of.
๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ๐ธ
โIt takes only a few hours to get to Jekyllid Hundred Kingdoms by the nearest sea route.โ
Gilsina City prospered as a hub of transportation and a prosperous city where all kinds of forces would stop by, thanks to its location. It took only a few hours to get there from the end of the peninsula.
A kind of free city that paid a huge amount of gold to the Count of Jekyllid and obtained autonomy!
But it was still a city loyal to the Count of Jekyllid. As it was the best place to cross over, fighting was inevitable.
โThe problem is. . .โ
โThe Emperorโs fief.โ
The Emperorโs fief located in the corner of the southeast end of the peninsula. He felt uneasy leaving this place ruled by a viscount behind and crossing over.
โYes. Wouldnโt it be better to take a ship directly from Jalleno City and land near Jekyllid Castle to target the count?โ
Jalleno City was one of the cities Johan had newly acquired.
While Coolia was a hub of eastern maritime traffic, Jalleno City was a hub of western maritime traffic.
It was a prosperous port city, and the republic fleet also relied heavily on it.
Strike the enemyโs head directly by landing right away without attacking far cities!
Ahirโs plan pleased Johan, but Johan had some doubts to resolve.
โWhat if the countโs vassals swarm in?โ
โCombined, they would be negligible compared to Your Majestyโs army, and half of them wouldnโt even show up. Just Gilsina City alone. . .โ
โThey are b*stards who will defect if I guarantee their interests?โ
Johan grinned wickedly. Ahir nodded. Cities always swayed like reeds in the wind for profit.
โI like that. And I need guides familiar with the nearby sea routes and terrain around here. . .โ
โI brought them in by sending envoys to the clans. The captains will guide the way.โ
Indeed, like a seasoned vampire who had rolled on the battlefield for decades, Ahirโs plans were flawless.
Once he decided to help Johan, he was providing solid assistance.
Johan asked one last question.
โLet me ask you one last thing.โ
โWhat is it?โ
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