CHAPTER 88.

Amber explained what Liz had told her to the duke and to the princess. And upon inquiring about it, Amber found that⁠— just like on Earth⁠— the nobles were supposed to keep documents on the taxes of the region, so that was what she planned to collect. That said, there also seemed to be a lot of nobles for just four cities, which surprised Amber.

Once that conversation ended, Aurelia was the first one to speak, laughing.

“This sounds fun, but to think the nobles of this region are being so unruly.”

“Shouldn’t you be more concerned?” Amber raised her brow. “Also, are you sure you want to come along?”

Aurelia gave a small smile. “Well, we can’t exactly monitor every single noble too closely and depending on how this goes I’ll report to my father, and as far as coming along; it sounds fun so why not?”

Amber was somewhat surprised but nodded at that, before turning to the duke who sensed it was his turn to speak.

Zizel solemnly nodded. “I’ll only be doing this once out of respect for you Amber, however, perhaps I can send William in the future to teach him some manners.”

Amber smiled at that.

“Are you all sure we should be doing this?” Charles asked with doubt. “We are essentially acting like mercenaries.”

“It’ll be fine, we are technically seizing the kingdom’s assets, so violence isn’t off the table. And there are only two cities to take care of, Acris and Tanst, the latter being the smallest and the one we should go to first.”

Amber nodded. “And the marquesses are?”

“They should both be in Acris,” Zizel stated simply.

“Alright.”

Thankfully, their mission seemed straightforward enough, at least to her. So, Amber focused on the road ahead⁠— she did hope that teaching the nobles a lesson would be easy enough, but she didn’t really know what to expect. They had been giving trouble to Liz after all.

And so, Amber resolved herself for the worst. She wasn’t intending to go easy on anyone should it come to that.

* * *

Irwin laughed to himself counting his gold. The Risnar’s falling had been a blessing in disguise. At first, every single noble present had been terrified of what would happen without the Risnar family. Without a duke ruling over the territory there was a chance for there to be fights over it, or in-fighting amongst everyone. But thankfully, that didn’t happen, the king had issued a warning to anyone who dared to touch the balance of the region.

So, there was a brief status quo while everyone just kept on taxing the citizens of their small portion of the city and managing things. And finally, the Starkell family took over. At first, they had been unsure, thinking some family member had survived⁠— someone high level, but turns out that that hadn’t been the case.

Their new dukes were none other than Liz and Velda Starkell, both were just mere girls and while their level was “high” for the general populace, it most certainly wasn’t enough to rule over the nobles here.

So, they took advantage because the two sisters were clearly pushovers. While everyone still stole money from the Risnar’s at least there was a sense of danger, now however⁠, the Starkell family was so weak that they were seen as literal clowns. As nothing more than puppets for Amber⁠— the mysterious hero of Cytel whom Irwin had never met, and having seen a single picture of.

All in all, it didn’t exactly matter. There were mechanisms in place⁠— things the nobles of the dukedom had planned⁠ to prevent anything bad from happening should Liz go to the king— from the marquesses to the head baron (the noble that ruled Tanst).

So, all in all, he wasn’t worried, because even if something was done in Tanst the head baron would act. So, all Irwin had in mind was how he was going to spend his wealth in the future. After all, the Starkell’s hadn’t had the guts to act this far, why would they suddenly act now?

He chuckled and knocks came from his door, he placed the coin pouch down on his desk, and looked up.

“Enter.”

The door opened and a servant bowed.

“Lord Irwin, princess Aurelia and Duke Zizel are here to see you. They are waiting in the hallway, and the hero of Cytel, Amber is here too.”

The servant’s words nearly boomed through his ears as he blinked. Duke… princess, and hero of Cytel? Why was the princess here? Why was the hero of Cytel here? He suddenly had a lot of questions, but no answers.

For a moment, his mind reeled in confusion at what he had just been told. And that was because it just didn’t make sense. And then it clicked, Liz had cried to the hero of Cytel—who used her connections with the royal family to bring the princess.

Irwin frowned, he couldn’t tell them to wait so, he prepared himself. This wasn’t going to be an easy thing, but if the hero of Cytel was hiding behind the royal family, then he most certainly could do it. Taking a deep breath, he spoke.

“Tell them to come in.”

The servant nodded and left as soon as he came. All while his heart drummed at an increased pace from what was coming. And soon enough, the door opened and they came.

The first one to enter was— a woman with brown hair and amber-colored eyes, she also had a very elegant armor and her level was.

[Warrior. Lvl. 164]

High. She was a rare high-level warrior. And Irwin barely recognized her likeness from the picture in his memory. However… Why is her level so high now? Wasn’t she around 130 when she was last seen? He didn’t understand that. But as the princess and duke entered the room and stood next to her, he couldn’t ignore her.

“I’m sorry for any unpleasantries, I was not expecting visitors. What brings such important people here?” He looked over at Aurelia. “Especially the beautiful princess of our kingdom?”

The princess in response politely smiled but said nothing, instead, it was the warrior who spoke.

“I’ll cut it short, lord… uh I forgot your name.”

Irwin blinked, Aurelia laughed and Zizel had no visible reaction, but before he could even get angry at the disrespect he continued.

“Look, I’m not one for politics, but I certainly hate when my friends get messed around with, so I’ll cut to the chase. Pay the taxes you owe to the Starkells— not only are you stealing from them, but you are also stealing from the kingdom.”

“I’m not stealing, they are just delayed,” he scoffed. “They’ll be paid in full in two weeks, you have my word.”

“Uh…” the hero of Cytel blinked confused. “No? Do you think loan sharks just leave without anything? Let alone tax collectors?”

Irwin blinked. “Wait, what are you saying?”

And the hero shook her head, striding up to his desk and feeling its surface. “This looks very expensive, so it should do as collateral.”

And, following her words, his desk disappeared. The pens, the papers, everything else fell to the ground clattering, including the coin pouch inside of it, and Irwin stared aghast.

“W-What?”

“Oh, look there is a coin pouch, I’ll take that too,” she said casually, grabbing the pouch that contained the money he had been counting.

Irwin blinked and then— he felt fury. He rose from his seat and immediately bellowed.

“You think just because you are the hero of Cytel and brought the princess and a duke you have the right to disrespect me?! You are stealing from me.”

“It’s collateral to ensure you pay, you’ll get it back.” She shrugged. “Isn’t that right, Aurelia?”

The princess smiled politely. “Indeed, it is.”

And something inside of Irwin, snapped. He didn’t understand where this girl had gotten such an ego, especially because his level wasn’t that far off from hers. Yet, she dared to do all of this just because Princess Aurelia was present? No, he had more self-respect than to allow her to do that.

He grabbed his staff from the holder that was next to him and pointed at the woman.

“Give back the desk and the coins, girl.”

At that, the duke and the princess’ personal knight stepped forward to protect Princess Aurelia, but they seemed uninterested in actually intervening. And the hero of Cytel was—she yawned, glancing at him.

“Do you seriously want to do this?”

And Irwin of course— fucking wanted to do this, so he screamed channeling one of his strongest skills.

“Fulminate!”

An explosion of green engulfed the entirety of the room, a barrier was erected by the duke, and his office. Rocked. Books went flying, the windows shattered, and the walls cracked, even though it was reinforced the damage had been done. However, a smile formed on his lips as he saw the dissipating smoke.

Toxin Fulmination would put any warrior in quite a painful spot, so it most definitely taught the haughty hero a lesson. He didn’t even remember her name, which just went to show how truly insignificant she was.

“Oh, toxin,” the girl said from behind the smoke rather surprised.

Is she going to beg now? Most people didn’t have high Toxin Resistance, which only made sense. Irwin’s lips curved into a grin as he expected her to tell him to stop the spell. After all, the toxic fumes still lingered in the air.

And she stepped forward, her full figure visible again.

“You know, I could consider paying for you if you get my Toxin Resistance to 4th Rank,” she said, tilting her head innocently.

4th Rank? She is almost at 4th Rank at her level already? His mind spun, and then he saw her innocent expression and his rage returned. She was making fun of him! Wanting to use him as a training pal?! How dare she!

“Die.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He swung his staff as a blade of acid emerged and in return, she raised her hand and just took it. A small cut appeared on her hand that quickly healed, but Irwin didn’t stop there. He sliced again and again with his acid blades, all while the girl just took them. The disrespect was something he couldn’t tolerate, and finally, he had enough—

“Why don’t you just disappear!”

And a green ball emerged in a single moment before exploding in front of her. This time, there was no grand explosion of smoke—no, just pure green acid that engulfed her. A sizzling sound echoed and even the duke and the princess looked surprised.

Now, I wait for her to beg, Irwin made up his mind. Power has truly gotten to her head.

He stared at the sizzling figure for a few seconds before finally, she spoke.

“Oh, Toxin Resistance leveled up.”

And blue fire exploded, melting the acid in a single moment.

“W-what…?”

The woman looked wholly unscathed, and she smiled kindly at him as she strode forward. Then, she paused seeing the tax document on the ground, and she grabbed it without care. Even though it was partially melted from the acid.

“You know, if any of your owed taxes are missing from what I just took, I’ll pay for you.”

“W-What? T-That was more than enough to pay…”

Irwin felt terrified. That attack was more than enough to grievously injure a warrior at her level, and yet she was simply unscathed. She stepped forward, making him step backward and into the wall.

“Is that so?” she wondered. “That is nice, well we’ll leave in a second, but…”

Irwin felt unnerved. “But…?”

“But you did attack me, so it is time you pay that price.”

His eyes widened and before he could react, she grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled— a knee drove into his stomach breaking his ribs, and as he bounced he saw the girl’s cold expression— he saw something that terrified him.

“I’m sorry—”

And she headbutted. His face caved in and he— exploded right out of the wall of his office. The world spun as he flew through the air and landed on the foliage of a tree, and then he heard her voice.

“We are done here, hopefully, that was okay to do,” the hero said to herself.

Hearing that, he couldn’t help but wonder just how someone similar in level was so strong.

Perhaps she is using an artifact to hide her level and she is level 200? That made sense to Irwin, even if it didn’t exactly make sense how she had leveled up so much still. But, unfortunately, he couldn’t even ask her, because he fainted shortly after.

* * *

Amber left pleased with herself, even if the servants panicked to heal their lord. She expected it to be a lot more annoying, but thankfully he had attacked her first. So all in all, it wasn’t that difficult— a five-minute ordeal, and now they were out, walking the streets of Tanst.

Thankfully, Zizel was around to tell her the directions to every single noble, otherwise she would have found it a lot harder. Which she made sure to thank him for, and he, of course, offered to always do it for her if she gave him her favor— which Amber accepted.

Giving him her favor did not exactly mean she would owe him, but rather it simply meant that she would prefer him over other nobles in situations where it applied. So, Amber saw it as a win.

Though, not everyone cared, Aurelia for example was still chuckling to herself

“Charles, did you see him fly out of the building? That’s the first time I see one of those arrogant nobles have that happen.”

“Yes princess, I saw him,” the knight said, evidently tired of hearing the same thing over and over again.

“It’s just not something I ever expected to see,” she said smiling.

Then, she turned to Amber.

“Maybe you should just attack them from the start.”

Amber blinked. “I’m not that violent.”

“What? But you totally threw that man across the room during the meeting,” she protested.

“After he threatened my friends and a lot of other things,” she explained, sighing. “That said, I’ll try to make this faster.”

Aurelia didn’t quite seem satisfied with that answer, but Amber wasn’t exactly planning on entertaining the princess, even if last time she had paid her handsomely for her duel.

“We are here,” Zizel spoke simply.

Amber looked at the mansion in front of her and smiled.

* * *

And elsewhere, the head baron received terrible news from Lord Irwin’s servants.

Renard bit his nail as he paced around his private quarters, he was looking at the carpeted floor with anxiousness. He had received a letter that at first, made him angry because it interrupted his plans, but upon reading it, he panicked. What was happening⁠— what was transpiring⁠— was going to be immensely troublesome if it saw its full fruition.

Amber the hero of Cytel, Princess Aurelia, and Duke Zizel were collecting the full amount of taxes owed to the Starkell family. And that⁠— that shouldn’t have been a problem in itself, except for the fact that a lot of the nobles had spent it⁠; except for the fact that he had spent it; and except for the fact that the marquesses would probably turn to the nobles of this city to replenish their lost funds.

And now, he could potentially lose his title, and to make everything worse, Amber had defeated Irwin in two hits!

He bit his lip and⁠—

“Hey are you coming back?”

“Yeah, we miss you!”

“You promised⁠—”

“Shut up!” he screamed at the women in his bed, making them all flinch. “Something of extreme importance has come up. Leave, all of you!”

The women paused and looked taken aback, but rather than argue they began to leave, and Renard scoffed. He had much more important things to worry about rather than the women he had been sleeping with.

The main thing in his mind was how he was going to deal with this brewing situation, he had to put a stop to the tax collection somehow⁠— and talking did not seem to be an option either.

I can’t risk the princess getting in danger, but the other two…

He thought long and hard, pacing for what felt like an eternity, before suddenly, a master plan was concocted in his mind.

* * *

“I didn’t know, I just didn’t know Princess Aurelia would be here… even if you are the hero of Cytel, you bringing her along is…”

The noble lady said, her mouth agape as she worried about the fact that she had attempted to have the princess kicked off her premises.

“It’s okay, I’ll make sure my father doesn’t take any measures against you,” Aurelia laughed. “You know, considering you have never stolen from the kingdom or anything.”

“R-right… I’m terribly sorry…” she begged.

And the next noble, who this time was a baron, hadn’t gone too differently.

The man gaped. “W-What⁠— have you done! That barrier should⁠ seal you all! It’s level 180!”

“Dunno, it seemed pretty weak.” Amber shrugged, walking up to the panicked noble.

He tried to jump off the window but with the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash she appeared in front of him. The man backed off and raised his hand as an explosion of fire engulfed her. But in response she kicked, breaking his legs as he fell to the ground with a yelp.

And when he looked up, he couldn’t help but gape.

“M-Monster…”

“Yes, I’m the terrific tax monster, now pay up before I take everything you hold dear.” It had been, of course, an empty threat, but the man quivered and even paid extra⁠— for the taxes he had stolen long ago.

And now, they stood at the doors of yet another noble. Yet, this time contrary to her expectations the servant shook his head.

“Unfortunately, lady Azana has just left to meet with the lead baron.”

Amber blinked. “And when does she return? You do know that if you’re lying to me you’ll be in trouble too, right?”

The servant lightly flinched at her threat but bowed apologetically. “My sincerest apologies, your grace, Amber. Even though you are the hero of this kingdom, my hands are tied. I do not know when she will come back⁠— as far as your tax collecting activities, I’m unable to touch my lady’s gold for she has taken it.”

She frowned but quickly left, all while she pondered looking at the sky. She didn’t believe the servant was lying, however, that also meant that something had probably occurred. But she couldn’t quite tell what it was.

Amber continued to the next residence of the noble and⁠—

“Sorry, my master has left for an important meeting⁠…”

She headed to the next one.

“My sincere apologies but⁠—”

And the next one also had the same result. Which made her frown. Is the head baron planning something? The main reason they hadn’t gone after him in the first place was because of the potential ramifications taking care of him first could imply.

For instance, he could make all of the nobles wholly uncooperative with his word if something went wrong⁠— warn them to run, however, there was also the upside of probably being the best bait. In the end, she did not want to go on a full hunt after all of these nobles so she decided to take it somewhat easy and go one by one, now however, something had changed.

The question was what?

And as Amber was walking the street, many of the townsfolk began to look at Aurelia, she wasn’t dressed particularly fancily so she didn’t bring all that much attention to herself⁠— even with Charles walking to her side, now however, practically everyone was looking at her.

“The rumors are true, that really is Princess Aurelia.”

“By the System, why would she come to this small city?”

“Mommy she is pretty!”

Aurelia seemed to enjoy the attention, but as more and more people gathered it became concerning. Soon enough, people began to approach Aurelia to talk to her, which put Charles on edge but also lagged them behind in their mission.

“Princess, my son greatly admires you and the king. Any words of wisdom?”

Aurelia smiled. “To stand proud and strong⁠—”

“Princess, what do you like the most about the kingdom?

And the questions simply flooded in, and eventually, she regarded Amber and Zizel, awkwardness in her voice.

“While I’d love to come along, I don’t want to burden you two, so you should go. But do inform me of what happens.”

“I will Princess Aurelia,” Zizel said formally.

And Amber smiled. “Yeah, I will.”

And with that, they departed, leaving Charles to be even more stressed by the crowd of civilians. However, neither of them cared about that, because both of them noticed what was happening.

“It’s a setup,” Zizel said, frowning. “They wanted to get us away from Princess Aurelia.”

Amber nodded. “Which means, something that cannot involve the princess is about to happen.”

There was a brief silence following her statement, and both walked out of the street to arrive at an empty plaza before the duke spoke again.

“Amber, do not expect me to fight for my life⁠—”

“I don’t, you can sit back and watch if something bad happens,” she stated. “The reason I want you here is because of your knowledge, not the expectation of you fighting.”

At that, the duke showed a rare smile that she hadn’t seen from him. “The more time I spend with you, the more I respect you.”

“Thank you but⁠—” Amber took out her sword. “We have company.”

And at that moment, numerous nobles appeared, fifteen of them to be exact. And they were all over the plaza, including behind them as well. She readied herself for battle and one of the nobles spoke⁠— he seemed a lot more dressed than everyone else.

The head baron?

“Amber!” he called. “We have an offer for you!”

“An offer?” she blinked.

“We will pay you half of what is owed at this moment, and the rest upon your return in a month including a generous bonus to you,” he explained. “We wish to be on good terms with you, and not only that but we will also obey the Starkell’s rule.”

Amber paused. “What?”

It was the thing she least expected, but the head baron continued explaining.

“At first, when I heard about what you had done, I rallied everyone in the plans to fight you, but now I’ve realized that you are not my enemy, the marquesses and the nobles in the city of Acris are. They exploit us, they threaten us, and we⁠— we just desire equality,” he said, gritting his teeth.

And with that, the numerous nobles present nodded, and then he continued.

“So, what do you say? Join us, and with your name, we will ensure the marquesses are loyal to Liz, and we will be loyal to you. You are the hero of Cytel, your image alone is worth⁠—”

“No,” Amber answered.

The noble blinked. “What do you mean no?”

“I’m not going to join you, because I don’t care about money. The fact that no one isn’t even offering to pay stolen money completely upfront just shows that everyone here is greedy and trashy.” She shook her head. “Which is why I’ll force you all to pay properly, and then I’ll go after the nobles in the city of Acris.”

The nobles blinked, and the baron shook his head.

“Unfortunately, paying you in full will be hard, not without draining our personal—”

“Then drain them,” she said. “This is money that did not belong to you in the first place. Or do I have to take it by force?”

The man hearing her words frowned. “We outnumber the two of you, and while we may not kill you, you do realize that you won’t walk out of this unscathed right? So, I suggest you reconsider.”

Amber shrugged and then readied her sword.

“You will lose,” he warned.

She looked over at the fifteen mages surrounding her. Every noble present was over level 150, and considering Duke Zizel wasn’t going to be fighting, it should have made her slightly wary. It should have made her reconsider their offer, but she didn’t.

The head baron spoke grimly, raising his staff. “Overconfidence will only be your downfall.”

Amber grinned. “Nah, I’d win.”

[Mage. Lvl. 155]

[Mage. Lvl. 151]

[Mage. Lvl. 160]

[Mage. Lvl. 173]

…

“Attack!”

And everyone fired their spells as hell broke loose.