“Was your name Ludic?” Cain asked the maid from behind her back.
The fine hair on her body stood, and his voice seemed as sharp as knives. Her heart started beating so loudly that it was painful. She tried to reply but she couldn’t even breathe, her knees started to give up.
“Your maid uniform…” Cain started talking. Hearing those, words made Ludic’s body shiver in terror. “The frills on it are amazing, would you mind telling me who made them?”
…Ludic took a few seconds to process what he said, “The frills?”
“Yes the frills, I want some made for my maids as well.” Said Cain as he stared at the frills.
“I-it’s our Headmaid handiwork, but…” Ludic hesitated to speak.
“Then inform her that I want to commission some work to her, she can contact me through Marina or one of my wives.” Said Cain as they reached their destination.
Marina’s study room. A wide 10-foot room with two walls filled with bookshelves. A single big desk and a small table in the middle of the room with four chairs around it. Under the window who was on the left wall existed a small bed. Whoever worked here often sleep there.
“This room belongs to Marina, did she work here often?” Cain asked as he sat on one of the chairs.
“She spends most of her time here. Ruling over the city takes a lot of effort.” Ludic replied with a shaking voice, was he offended. In Ourals, working women were seen as less appealing. The perfect woman was that noblewoman who was treasured like a gem. Having his potential wife overwork herself like this could be seen as a way to spit on his face.
“Shouldn’t some people be helping her?” Cain growled confirming Ludic’s suspicions.
“Sorry Lord Cain, but…Your butler Sebas and Lady Alice come from time to time to help her. The nobles in our city have pulled back. They refuse to support her ruling after…” Ludic quickly closed her mouth.
“After what?” Cain growled.
Realizing that she was standing in front of a monster, she immediately gave up and spoke. “The nobles used to take bribes from the former lord, things like status, money, and land. But your butler has stopped such practice after starting to help the lady.”
Cain’s face relaxed, and an evil grin ran across his face. “Can you tell me where those idiots are?”
“Down in the great hall, they always stay there,” Ludic replied with a stiff face, she knew he was going toward them.
Cain slowly picked up the papers from the desk. He then hid them under his coat and walked toward Ludic. “Please go ask Marina to head straight to the great hall.” Cain disappeared after saying that.
Ludic fell to her knees sweating, she had released a monster at those nobles.
Cain reappeared inside the great hall surprising the nobles, “I don’t have much time so I will make this quick. Get back to work now!” Cain growled at them.
Inside the great hall, there were over twenty nobles. The ones were responsible for guards, trade, economy, agriculture, politic, strategy, and other matters. They all jumped from their chairs and glared at Cain.
“It’s the white mage, what brought you here?” One of the nobles cried while the other started whispering.
“Marina ordered you to work and you refused, I came for that,” Cain replied with a stern face.
“Well that isn’t our fault, it’s hard for us to say it but she lacks the experience to lead us. We can’t obey an order that contradicts reason.” One of the noblemen approached Cain with a smile.
“What kind of orders defied reason?” Cain asked with a faked smile. It was true that Marina was inexperienced, that was why he had Sebas tell her what to order the nobles. In short, it was not Marina issuing the orders, it was Sebas who had a lifetime of experience under William.
“Lowering taxes from 60% to 20% percent is just impossible. In addition, why would she want to restrict access to the treasury, what if we needed urgent access to funds? She even asked us to give a discount on ores to local blacksmiths, why would we even do that?” The noble started talking non-stop. Cain simply stared at him.
This kingdom only allows an upward of 30% Tax, this meant that those idiots were eating the other extra 30%. Lowering taxes to 20% was William’s Idea to give the People of Ourals a chance to recover.
And they want full access to the treasury? Are they kidding?
For the blacksmiths, this was a mining city so it had no shortages of ores. Giving special treatment to Blacksmiths living here will give them a chance to shine. The weapon trade was more profitable than the ore trade. However, those nobles want immediate profit from the mine rather than waiting a year for the blacksmiths to blossom.
“You know, you’re so full of sh*t. I don’t have time to deal with your nonsense so get back to work before I cut you in half.” Cain growled at the noble.
“Kill me? Are you stupid, I’m the…” Cain sliced the noble in half before he could finish speaking and sucked his corpse into the maze.
“Fed to the cockroaches. I told you I don’t have time, anyone else wants to start barking?” Cain glared at the stunning nobles, their friend have been killed on the spot.
“Do you know what have you do…” Cain killed him before he could finish speaking and sucked him into the maze as well, “I don’t care who you are or what you are, I’m in a hurry so will you get back to work?” Cain glared at them.
He could always change them, there were an infinite number of people willing to take their place. Even in the worst-case scenario, he could morph some of the devils he summoned to save the Kenkus and have them take the job.
At that moment Marina and Ludic walked into the great hall. “Oh, you’re here. Come closer!” Cain waved his hand for them. Marina and Ludic awkwardly approached him.
“Now listen, you seem to have misunderstood a couple of things. You’re only alive because you can work, you can die if you refused to work. Secondly, you’re expandable as hell so don’t think you’re special. Lastly, I don’t have a problem killing anyone try to test my patience.” Cain growled at the nobles. He then extended his arm toward them with a smile.
“Lastly Marina is my wife, and you dare ignore her words?” [Destructive wave: Air blast] Cain blasted them all toward the wall.
All the nobles fell to the ground in pain, some of them were old so they broke a bone in the impact. “See this maid here? Her name is Ludic and she has been diligently serving Marina, unlike you idiots. To me now, she is far more precious than any of you.” Cain patted Ludic on her back.
Both Marina and Ludic stared at him in confusion. “From today, I don’t want to hear that any of you dared to do such a thing again,” Cain growled at the nobles.
Marina could feel it in her bones, this man standing by her side was different.