During the past few days, while Alaric was engrossed in his training, he’d heard a few rumours and, through the omnipotence of Thomper’s ability expressed in the random vines growing all around the Five Hills, Alaric had heard a few things.

Whispers of the Village Chief's most recent endeavours: A shocking turn that had the whole village stunned. Garrick was turning a new leaf.

Even now, there were signs of that sudden change. Today, Garrick was not dressed in the opulent clothes he normally donned when he braved the streets of the Five Hills, issuing incredibly high taxes and collecting even more to fuel his luxurious life.

His hair wasn’t slicked back with expensive hair products either. Instead, he was dressed in simple clothes and lacked the contemptuous smirk that had become permanent on his face.

No, now he had dark circles under his eyes and looked paler than usual, a testament to the work he’d been enduring over the last three days.

“Good afternoon, Alaric. You’re looking quite splendid,” the man greeted.

Alaric froze, shivers running down his spine, ‘What?’

[ It’s safe ] Alia confirmed between fits of laughter.

[ He… He said I look splendid! ]

[ Stop being dramatic! ] The guardian laughed even harder.

The boy hid his reaction well and approached the man, trying to appear composed. He had control over guardians but that could not be said for humans. While taking control of a human’s guardian took a lot of power from them, it was not enough to say it made them powerless.

After all, Darth had bypassed his guardian’s orders and nagging using dark magic. Guardians couldn’t hurt their masters and most of the time obeyed their master’s orders, while their masters weren’t obligated to obey their advice.

Knowing all this, Alaric approached the man with a cautious yet open mind. On one hand, he could have listened to Alaric and gone through with his demands, while on the other, he could be pretending to do just that while plotting his revenge for being humiliated.

Sighing, Alaric pushed his thoughts aside and paid attention to Garrick. In his hands, he held a notepad which he handed over to Alaric. The boy eyed him suspiciously as he took the pad, “Good afternoon, Chief Garrick. I’m not sure I’ve ever been described as ‘splendid’. Makes me sound like some porcelain doll.”

The Village Chief furrowed his brows at the comment but kept his opinion to himself. Wasn’t it Alaric who had returned from his Temper Ritual with fairer skin and half a foot taller? If anything, a porcelain doll was the best thing that could describe him.

No one was about to tell him that though.

Alaric took the notepad, then felt a strange headache come over him as he pored over the contents of the pad.

‘Complete Tax Draft,’ it read.

Alaric squinted his eyes over the information on the pad. It entailed a monthly tax fee for the average person with a job, which was 50 coppers. Alaric reckoned 50 coppers could get him a handful of meals, enough to last three days, and that was with him spending lavishly.

The document contained information about other taxes, such as property taxes, as well as several other businesses and establishments, which were all taxed differently based on their profits. Searching for the orphanage, Alaric found that the orphanage’s tax fees had been valued at 5 silvers.

[ What was the Orphanage’s tax before? ] his thoughts ran out to the raptor standing in the cover of the woods.

The reptilian guardian shifted uncomfortably.

[ That… the orphanage was taxed… 1 gold… b-but that money has been returned to the caretaker as per my instruction, ] the guardian replied.

[ One gold coin… That’s over twenty times more than what he’s written here… ] Alaric breathed… [ Was this before or after threatening to double it? ]

[ Before, ] the guardian replied. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

[Focus, Alaric.] Alia’s voice echoed through the boy’s mind.

Taking a deep breath, Alaric went over the remainder of the document, [ How much was the hospital taxed before? ]

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

[ 75 silver. ]

[ It’s now at 3 silvers, ] he mumbled to himself. It was no wonder the man had been able to buy himself expensive clothes and a magic-powered carriage. Garrick had been living a life of luxury while trampling over his subjects. It was unthinkable… but Alaric had to keep a cool head. Anger wasn’t going to solve anything.

“How are taxes calculated?” Alaric turned to the Village Chief.

Garrick’s brow was dotted with beads of sweat by now. Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, he wiped the sweat away and started talking, “Taxes are calculated based on the needs of the Village and the people paid by the Chief’s office. I’m responsible for paying the Village Watch, and the public hospital staff and making sure the village roads and public facilities are well-maintained. How much of that we’ll do in the month determines the taxes. There are taxes on goods sold and bought as well.

Every business owner is taxed a minimum amount based on how much they’ve been making. There is a limit, of course, to how much of that we can take.”

“You also take population into account?” Alaric asked.

“The number of people eligible for paying taxes are taken into account with a margin for those that won’t be able to pay their taxes. The surplus is then stored in the treasury to handle any emergencies or needs that may arise,” the man explained.

Gunther brushed a hand through his messy hair, “You knew all this and still bled the village dry… and all for what? A neat little carriage and a mansion…”

The chief’s raptor was in front of him in an instant, growling lowly. The air beside Gunther rippled, inviting a black horse with two adamantine horns growing from its head, black lightning sizzling between them.

Alaric raised his hand, silencing the guardians and their masters, “Calm down. That’s just what happens when a human ignores their guardian’s advice.”

Garrick chuckled, “If I may speak my mind, Alaric.”

Alaric’s nodded, “You may.”

“This… this… power of yours, is the only reason I even considered listening to my guardian. While trying to work out the kinks of your devious punishment, I realised he had more to offer than brawn,” Garrick chuckled.

Alaric could understand this. Guardians were a measure of strength, used by many to intimidate others and establish themselves in a hierarchy based on the strength of their guardians. It was a natural thing to do.

“But you’ve had your guardian a long time. You never once thought to talk to him?” Alaric wondered.

The Village Chief rubbed the back of his head, “I’ve been asking myself the same question the past three days. You see, before I came here, I was a travelling merchant.

A darn good one… till I met some bad people and needed somewhere to… disappear. Now no one ever told me my guardian had been paying attention to all those lessons I learnt as a travelling merchant.

Not only was my guardian extremely knowledgeable in financial matters but he was also wise enough to tell me exactly how to win back the hearts of the villagers. I won’t say I succeeded in that, but I would have never thought it possible until I listened to my guardian.

This raptor only bleeds goodness… and dare I say, it’s wasted on me. Humans resist their guardians’ influence because… well, they are human. Guardians are all inherently good. But that’s not the same for humans. Humans get greedy, humans lust, humans get hungry, humans get angry, and humans get envious.

I’ve seen my share of the cruelty of humans. When you go out there to the Academy, you must remember this. I was only a merchant… so I posed no threat. But out there, you’ll find people with power you can’t fathom and hearts far darker. Watch yourself.”

[Sound advice. He’s not such a fool after all. ] Alia shrugged.

“How could anyone forget cruelty after watching their caretaker pay 1 gold in tax? That’s barely the total amount the orphanage spends in a month,” Alaric spoke with silent contained rage.

Garrick bowed… “I apologize for that. It was wrong of me. I returned the money I took from the orphanage before coming here. I’ve completed your punishment. As a piece of advice from someone like me, watch your back. If there is nothing else, I’ll be on my way.”

“Garrick, how would you have handled this situation?” Alaric stopped the man before he could leave.

[Alaric, what are you doing?] Alia’s voice suddenly filtered into his mind but Garrick was already talking.

“First of all, I wouldn’t have reacted emotionally. I would have searched for my enemy’s weaknesses and used those against him. Everyone’s got a dirty secret they don’t want getting out,” the man responded.

Alaric frowned, “That makes me no better than my enemy.”

“No, but it makes you smarter than your enemy. Approach a situation from that naive perspective and you’ll only find yourself in more trouble,” he responded.

Alaric sighed, “Okay, so if I were to use your methods, I would have… cleverly slipped in the fact that I know about the stash of gold coins you keep below the floorboards of your desk.”

“What… are you? How do you know about that?” Garrick’s eyes widened in shock.

“I know a lot about you, Garrick. Ever since the day Sister Marla started charging farmers for Old Thomper’s services, I’ve known about you,” Alaric paused, then asked in a light tone, “Was that better?”

Gunther leaned against a tree and laughed silently.

Garrick’s face went through a few expressions, flipping between ‘What?’, ‘How did he know?’ and ‘He can’t be serious.’

Gritting his teeth, the Village Chief said, “That was fine…Masterfully done, if I say so myself.”

“Something’s missing. What did I do wrong?”

“You made an open threat. You have to add conditions. Give someone two ways out and establish leverage,” Garrick explained.

Alaric nodded… “Okay…”

[Alia, any ideas?]

[I’m your guardian, Alaric. I cannot encourage such behaviour.]

“Hmm, I see… So leverage would be that gold… and the two options would be either you play the benevolent wise Village Chief and help this village prosper or I rat you out about that money and have you brought down and replaced with someone more suited for the position?” Alaric asked.

“Where are you going to get someone more suited?”

“I think Sister Marla would suffice…”

“They would never…”

“That’s for the people to decide,” Alaric shrugged, “I reckon no one would believe a man with 124 gold coins stashed away is worthy enough to be the Village Chief of a future economic giant.”

Garrick gritted his teeth, “Anything else?”

“No, I think that’s it… Thank you for the lesson.”

Garrick narrowed his eyes at the boy and turned away to leave without another word.

[ You’re ruthless ] Alia sighed. Gunther was rolling on the ground, laughing.