96 – Lawbreakers Must Be Severely Punished

The tract of thorns woods on the edge of the Thorns Ridge, next to the the dairy farm, where the thorns sprite worm's worm stalk was settled down, was not very large. The name Thorns Ridge came to be from the numerous short thorns littering the place. However, there were very few large-scale growths of thorns, with the majority just being growths of two or three thorns.

Liszt conjectured that the reason behind this was probably because thorns were shrubs – short cl.u.s.ters of stems without a distinct trunk.

To be more accurate, thorns woods should be called thorns shrubs.

Tall trees stood on the edge of the thorns shrubs, sheltering them from the sunlight and restricting their development.

“The thorns sprite worm is unresigned. In addition to the insufficient nutrition, the thorns wood's tall trees might also hinder the expansion of the thorns shrubs.”

To the south of the thorns sprite worm's worm stalk was the dairy farm.

Liszt would not replace the pasture on the meadow with worthless thorns.

Therefore, he planed to once more organize the logging team to cut down the trees in the surroundings of the thorns shrubs to allow them to expand outwards. The more thorns there were, the wider the scope of influence of the thorns sprite worm would be, the more pheromones there would be, and the likelier it would be for the thorns sprite worm to evolve. In fact, he was clear that it was extremely difficult for the thorns sprite worm to evolve as there were too few types of thorns and collection of pheromones was difficult. The probability was too low.

“Although I don't know what the princ.i.p.al causes behind the evolution of sprite worms are, but in general, the more types of plants there are subordinated to a worm stalk, the more likely it is for the sprite worm to evolve. Apart from that, the increase in the number of plants that it affected would also increase the sprite worm's odds at evolution.”

This was verified through experience. 

The Tulip Family had operated for generations, gathering a large variety of types of tulips. It was by relying on the variety of types of tulips that they managed to raise the greater sprite Little Fragrance as well as three lesser sprites and eight sprite worms.

Of course, that didn't mean that the thorns sprite worm had no chance at evolution. Nothing was impossible.

“I will do everything I can to help, what remains is to see whether the thorns sprite worm is truly unresigned and whether it can defy its fate.”

After caressing the thorns sprite worm, Liszt left the worm house.

……

At around four o'clock in the afternoon, the manager of the Northvalley City's caravan came to the castle to bid Liszt goodbye.

The manager, a bearded middle-aged man called Gabriel, gave a deep bow: “Respected Sir Baron, under your management, the Flower Town s.h.i.+nes brightly. Thanks to your generosity and benevolence, the caravan had spent a wonderful time in the Flower Town. Now, I, Gabriel, bid you goodbye.”

“Are you satisfied with the trade your caravan had in the town today?” Inquired Liszt with a smile.

“I am very satisfied. Sir Baron, the caravan members are all full of smiles from today's yield. We sold much more goods than what we had expected and purchased some of the Flower Town's specialty products. Also, I'm very much fond of the commercial area and its lack of excrements.”

“So, Gabriel, do you know if and when your caravan will return?”

“Not yet. However, as the road through the Thorns Ridge is safe, I think that it would not be long before our caravan returns. Perhaps a months later, our caravan filled with goods will return to the Flower Town.

“The Flower Town is always ready to welcome your caravan.”

“Thank you, Sir Baron!”

Gabriel bowed in salute and left the castle.

After returning to the commercial area, the caravan, which had already sorted out its goods, started its journey. While bathed in the sunlight coming from the sun slanting to the west, the horse-drawn carriages following the main road, which was built from a mixture of gravel and sand, headed towards the Thorns Ridge.

When the caravan arrived, it was full of goods, while when the caravan left, it was full of laughter and chatter along with the wonderful sounds coming from gold coins, silver coins, and copper coins colliding with each other.

After a while.

Old Grandet came to give a report regarding his purchases. Apart from the pair of foals, the three gold coins were spent on a bunch of stuff, which were already handed to the butler Carter to be stored in the castle's cellar.

Liszt had no interested in such mundane affairs. Therefore, he went to the horse farm to take a look at the foals instead.

On the horse farm, the pair of foals, that were presumably born not too long ago, were very afraid of the new environment. They hid in a corner of the stable, not daring to run around. They were of a very ordinary breed. One looked reddish-brown and the other looked light brown. Even Liszt, who had no knowledge of horses, could tell that they were not fit to go to the battle field.

“Are they mares or stallions?”

“One is a mare, while the other is a stallion, Master.” Replied Jim as he fed fodder to the foals.

“Take good care of them and don't let them be bullied by the other horses.”

“Yes, Master.”

Next, Liszt turned to the few pregnant mares isolated by a fence eating wheat bran and peas; he could not spot any changes.

Firedragon saw him coming and it intimately stuck its head out of the fence.

Liszt reached out to pat it. He was quite looking forward to its foal, wondering whether it would be as majestic as Blackdragon. When mixed with magic beast bloodline, the colt might be more majestic than Blackdragon.

……

At the banquet.

The celebration of the caravan's successful trade in the Flower Town was also used for doing reports.

“Sir Baron, today's trade comprised of a total of seven gold coins, sixty three silver coins, and twelve copper coins. Following your low tax rate policy, the fixed stall tax and the 1/20th turnover tax, a total of eighteen silver coins and fifteen copper coins were collected…” Isaiah gave a detailed tax report.

Taxes had to be collected from the trade of caravans.

In general, lords taxed caravans from outside their fiefs at a rate of 1/10th of the turnover, while some harsh lords might adopt a rate of 1/5th of the turnover. In the Flower Town, however, Liszt had greatly reduced the tax rate in order to attract caravans.

He had set up two standards.

One was the fixed stall tax, where, no matter the turnover, one would have to pay one silver coin as taxes.

The other was the 1/20th turnover tax, where one would have to pay 1/20th of the turnover as taxes.

According to this tax policy, if merchants felt like their turnover was going to be more than twenty silver coins, they could choose the fixed tax and if they felt like their turnover was going to be less than twenty silver coins, they could choose the turnover tax.

At present, the Flower Town's trade tax revenue was not much, which was why Liszt didn't count on it to fatten his coin pouch.

“There is no need to direct this trade tax revenue to the castle's account. Just direct it to the construction of more stalls, s.p.a.ces for carriages and animals as well as hotels and toilets in the commercial area and their timely repairs. In addition, wells and sewers have to be planned. Although we are not short on time, but I hope that the work can be completed as quickly as possible.”

“Sir, please rest a.s.sured.” Gort nodded in agreement.

“Karl, where there any issues with public security today.”

“There were, Sir!” It was not the first time that Karl attended the banquet, but he was still overcautious, “The patrol performed very well overall. We arrested a total of thirteen merchants relieving themselves in public, whom we punished with a whipping. Additionally, we also arrested a thief, whom Gabriel redeemed. Lastly, among the fief's residents, we arrested two people committing theft as well as three people committing extortion.”

Liszt inquired: “Did you tell the manager of the caravan, Gabriel, that first time offenders of theft could be redeemed with money, but if they were to be arrested again, they would be demoted to the fief's coolies?”

“I did, Sir. He a.s.sured me that he would teach the thief a good lesson after going back and that when the caravan came next time, there would be no one violating Sir's regulations.” Karl hesitated before continuing, “Sir, what should the punishment for the fief's five offenders be?”

“Are they freedmen or serfs?”

“Two are freedman, one committing theft and the other extortion, while the other three are serfs.”

Liszt looked at Gort.

Gort said immediately: “Sir, you attach great importance to the caravan trade, which was repeatedly disseminated, yet there were still commoners brazen enough to ignore your regulations! They have to be severely punished! I think that the serfs should be whipped fifty times and have their property confiscated, while the freedman who had committed theft should be whipped ten time and pay a fine ten times the value of what he stole, and the freedman who committed extortion should be directly demoted to a serf.”

“Do as you like.” Consented Liszt.

In the town, his will was law. Those who didn't comply with his will, would be punished, while knowingly breaking the law required a harsher punishment.