Read I Was Reincarnated as a Poor Farmer in a Different World, so I Decided to Make Bricks to Build a Castle

296 - - the first task of the new year

Back

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　A church in the city of Fontana.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　There, knights from the Fontana territory were gathering one after another.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　It was almost the turn of the year, and knights usually gather from all over the Fontana territory, but there were many of them.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　It is no wonder.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　The territory of Fontana has increased threefold in the past year.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　However, what is a little different from usual is that the timing of the knights' gathering is a little earlier than usual.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　This is because they usually give New Year's greetings to the heads of the nobles who rule the territory, but this year only, it was for the funeral of Carlos, who had passed away.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　After all, Carlos' funeral was to be held in the winter, before the end of the year.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　The idea came from the fact that it was necessary to gather the knights from all over the country to hold Carlos' funeral on a large scale, which would have been difficult to do more than once, so the idea was to have a single occasion for gathering.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Therefore, the year would begin 10 days after the funeral of Carlos.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　The knights gathered as the snow was falling.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Most of the knights who governed the Uruk district, the old Uruk territory, had come to Fontana.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　However, the number of knights in charge of the Arbalest district, the former territory of Arbalest, is a little smaller.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　This is because it has been not so long since they took over the territory from the House of Arbalest, and the west had not yet been fully stabilized.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Ghana of the House of Ix has arrived, but Vargas has remained in the Arbalest area to defend his territory.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　But still a large number of knights had gathered.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Among them was the funeral of Carlos.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Carlos is laid to rest in a coffin placed inside the church.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　His body, however, is not entirely whole.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　He must have been attacked during the king's convoy, and the battle must have been very fierce.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　He was wounded here and there, and some parts of his body were lost.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Rather, the convoy was destroyed and even Rion, who survived the attack, escaped with his body in a state of limbo.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Carlos' body, which was recovered later, was badly damaged.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　However, Carlos, lying in his coffin, seemed to be sleeping with a peaceful face.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　The embalming and restoration of the body together with memes had paid off.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Bishop Paulo is mourning the coffin containing the body of Carlos.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　He prays to the coffin for Carlos' body and then preaches a sermon to the assembled knights, which includes some words of thanksgiving.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　At last it is over.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"Now then, holy knight Ars von Barka, come forward."

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"Ha!"

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"Pray to Carlos de Fontana, the previous head of the Fontana family, as acting head of the Fontana family."

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"Yes. Carlos, please leave the rest to me. I will make sure that the Fontana family will be protected.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　At the end of the funeral, Bishop Paul called me forward and I sent Carlos my last words.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Then I invoked the magic.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　It is the pride of the Fontana family, the Summoning of the Ice Spirit.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　A blue ball of light, invoked by the spell I cast, floats around me.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　I commanded the ice spirit.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Freeze the inside of Carlos' coffin.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　The next moment, the inside of the coffin was frozen solid.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Apparently, this is the way they hold funeral rites for the head of the Fontana family.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　It is meant to send off the former head of the family with a higher level of magic that can only be used by the head of the family.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Normally, the next head of the family, Garod, should be the one to perform this ceremony, but as expected, a young child cannot be entrusted with it.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Therefore, I acted in his place.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Like the speech I gave before, this kind of thing turns out to be a surprisingly good performance.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　In this way, I succeeded once again in showing the knights gathered from all over the territory who was leading Fontana.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　* * * * * *

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"Happy New Year, Mr. Ars. We pledge to work hard for the Fontana family this year.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Carlos' funeral was held, and after a short time, the New Year's greetings were delivered.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　After the funeral, snow fell and the knights, who had nothing else to do, were served the new brand of sake "Carlos de Fontana" that had been served at the funeral, which seemed to be better received than we had expected.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Perhaps they especially liked the higher alcohol content.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Everyone was drinking heavily while mourning Carlos' death.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　By the way, I drank very little because I was still a child, but I was impressed by how they could drink so much.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　After a few days of revelry, the new year came and I, on behalf of Garrod, was the one who greeted the knights who came to greet the new year.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Everyone bows to me.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　But there were surprisingly many of them, and it seemed as if the day would end just by doing this.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　I wondered how Carlos used to do this kind of thing.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"Oh, Mr. Ars, what is this all about?　This is the tax revenue to be paid to Fontana this year, isn't this some kind of mistake?"

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

No, it is not a mistake. No, it is not a mistake. As long as you are entrusted with the territory, make sure you pay your taxes.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

But this is too much. It is impossible to pay such a tax.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"That can't be true. It is based on the calculation of the area of the field from the size of the land and the estimated yield of wheat that can be harvested. I've made the level quite generous."

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"That's absurd. We have never had a harvest like this before. If you say that you have done the calculations, then it can be assumed that the results of the calculations are wrong."

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"...... Oh, I see. You have not improved the farmland in Barca. The figures are achievable if you improve the farmland, so please redevelop the land."

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"Such ....... By farmland improvement in Barca, you mean the dispatch of your people, which you have been doing for some time, right?　Isn't it strange that we have to do that to pay tax revenues that would otherwise be unattainable?"

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"That's not true. If we improved the farmland, we would have enough surplus to pay the taxes to the Fontana family and have more finances than ever before. But not doing so would be a dereliction of duty. In some cases, you may be judged as unqualified to govern the land, so please consider it.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

"Ugh, okay. I'll think about it."

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　However, the reason it takes so long to talk to each knight is because there are certain things that need to be said.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　The most common topic was tax revenue.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Basically, we order the knights who own a territory to pay taxes to the higher ruling family, the Fontanas, from the taxes collected in the territory.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　But there was a problem.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Within the Fontana territory, there is a clear distinction between lands that can yield wheat and lands that cannot.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　And this is not due to factors such as topography.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　It depended on whether or not they had ever asked Barca to improve their farmland.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　Barca had been dispatching knights to improve farmland in various areas for some time, and the lands that had been requested to do so had all experienced a dramatic increase in yield.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　However, not all of the knights' territories requested the improvement of their agricultural lands.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　After all, we were also asking for money.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　It was up to the knighthood to decide whether or not to request it.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　But when I became acting head of Fontana, we decided to charge taxes on the size of the field.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　The yield of the same plot of land that had been tended by Barca would be different from that of a plot of land that had not.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　And I based my calculations on the yield of the former, the land that had been improved.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　The tax would have been impossible to pay on the old farmland.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　The knights of the land have been roaring with condemnation, but we are not going to give in.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　It is important for me, too, how to raise the tax revenue of the Fontana territory.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　I am sorry for them, but they will have to borrow money from me to improve their farmland.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

　And so began the new year, the management of the territory, in which I would be going toe-to-toe with the knights of Fontana.

Read at https://w w w . m t l r e a d e r.com

Back

Table of Contents

Next

Back

Table of Contents

Next