It''s been two days since the goblin raid.


    I returned to Straheim soon after, but because I forcefully removed her from the fight, Ca has been in a bad mood ever since, and Sate had lectured me while sobbing.


    In the end, after we spent the entire day as they wanted, sightseeing around the streets, their mood easily improved with no further problems.


    Personally, I found babysitting them much more challenging than defeating the Goblin Lord.


    Now, back to the matter at hand: Tote.


    During the goblin raid, there few injuries outside of the light scratches that Judo and the others received. In the rtive spacious building apart from the vige chief''s house, we were luckily able to treat the patients, much to my surprise, and continue their treatment without any need for evacuation.


    At first, we helped the previously captured women recuperate in Tote before sending them back to their respective hometowns as nned.


    On the other hand, the winged pair had been epted into the vige through my rmendation and had begun settling down in the corner of the vige. At present, they were finishing up the immigration process. I had some misgivings about my stepmother''s clique and the empire''s officials finding fault with that, so I dered them under my protection. If any problems cropped up, I could just hire them through mypany.


    And so, the supreme decision-making organization that was themittee of elders, or rather an inefficient organization, was disbanded, and its new members were left for the vige chief to elect.


    Currently, the new candidates were gathered inside the vige chief''s house.


    "I''m sure you are all familiar with the past series of events. We won''t get anywhere if we only rely on others. Thus, I want us to improve our way of thinking, starting from the very basics."


    "I see......"


    Well of course they don''t understand; it''s much easier to leave everything to other and to fate. It''s because they''ve always been looking for an easy escape.


    "Here''s what you need to be thinking about. ''How can we legally avoid paying taxes in order to earn even higher profits?''"


    Naturally, the vige''s defense is a necessity, but as they are now, there''s no way they can defend the vige on their own. Right now I have to lend them my support, so we need to prioritize reforming their economic awareness.


    "A-avoid taxes?" one voice raised its concern as everyone began squirming around like bugs packed in an insect cage.


    I assuaged their fears, saying, "It''ll bepletely legal. You allck the power to think on your own in order to ovee your hardships. Don''t be swayed by convenient words like God or the devil anymore.


    The same applies to people: nobody is perfect, so suspect anything and everything. This applies to not only your external world, but also your internal. In doing so, these doubts will surely protect you." [1]


    But they can''tprehend my words; they need to experience it themselves.


    "Now, onto the specifics," I changed the subject. "Judo has procured 500 sacks of rye, so for now, nobody should go hungry for at least a year."


    They began to shout in joy. Err, don''t celebrate just yet. We won''t reach any resolutions at this rate.


    "In the meantime, we need to find a fundamentally different solution to farming," I said. "By the way, can anyone who knows how the agricultural tax is calcted raise their hand?"


    As expected, nobody raised their hand. I had heard from Giresse: anyone who wanted to learn how it was calcted could have easily learned. And yet, not a single person other than the vige head had even tried to learn. This is why they''ve been exploited so.


    "A 50% tax is imposed on the total production output, which is calcted by multiplying the area of the fields with the harvest coefficient.[2] This is the same for all viges. The only thing the Mird head can change is the tax rate---he would need Central bureaucracy''s permission to change the production output," I exined. "Still, it''s normal for this to be a lower estimate, so the tax won''t be rxed."


    "Why not, Boss?" Judo raised his hand to ask.


    "Because of conscription. The conscription is based off of the production output. The reason people are rarely conscripted in the Mird territory is because the production output is low---after all, if people are conscripted, then the production rate will plummet. If the empire still orders for people in Mird to be conscripted, then Mird will no doubt be destroyed. You can count on that. And unless something really good happens, the production rate won''t change."


    "But isn''t it useless that only the Mird head can change the tax rate?" Ca asked, capturing the true nature of this problem.


    "That''s right. If the overall production rate of the entire Mird territory increases, then the Mird head will respond by raising the taxes."


    "Oh, so the tax rate can only be calcted off of the entire Mird territory?" Ca continued.


    You''re a sharp one, Ca. The gears in your head are spinning quickly.


    "That''s right. Basically, even if the production output greatly increases in a single vige, as long as the overall tax rate of the territory doesn''t rise, they can''t tax our increase," I exined. "However, if they raise the tax rate of the entire Mird territory, the other vigers won''t be able to keep going---if all went bad, a rebellion might happen. So the Mird head won''t be able to raise the taxes, and any increases will be our profits."


    "But for only us to prosper, that''ll be like we''re betraying all the other viges," Ca gasped.


    "Throw those thoughts away," I said. "This holds especially true with the recent attack, but you guys are in a position where you always have to be on guard for any monster raids; you don''t have the flexibility to worry about other viges."


    "I agree with Saint-sama. We''re protecting the other viges from monster raids, so they''ve got no right toin to us!" dered the woman whose older brother had been killed by themittee of elders. Voices of agreement began sounding out left and right.


    "I seem to have convinced you. Then I''ll move on to the specifics: how we will raise our production output."


    I exined the Norfolk farming method to the vigers.


    Then, I bought some livestock and lent them to the vige.


    Autumn will arrive soon, after which we''ll nt beans, raise livestock, and fertilize thend. Then we''ll nt rye in the spring as per usual before harvesting. After harvesting, we''ll release the livestock to graze thend, and as they multiply, sell those that can be milked or provide other uses. Using the funds from those sales, we''ll turn the rye into wheat and repeat each year.


    The merit of this method is that while the empire legally requires us to maintain thend, any tax taken from raising livestock must be registered in Centrals animal husbandry ledger.pe


    However, that won''t happen because it might lead to conscription. That''s why this will be a side job where the profits all go to the vige.


    Judo, Ca, and the other eight children who attacked my carriage will now work for my Sagami Co. I thought they''d be hesitant to work in manualbor, but there was surprisingly no resistance. Maybe because the injured were soon to make a recovery.


    Anyways, although it was a bit irregr, my agriculture management began.


    [1] Theinternal worldis a person''s subjective sense of selfandall of the thoughts that it generates. Theexternal worldis everything else.


    [2] I''ve never heard this term used before, although you can probably guess what it means. I''ll just copy a definition in case. Theharvest coefficientis the percentage of total forage produced that is assigned to grazing animals for consumption. I think in this case it''s not necessarily assigned to grazing animals, just total forage produced.


    Also, I don''t know why the author decided to split this number into two parts.