Lord of Caldera - Chapter 361

Chapter 361: Chapter 361 Heavy Taxes
“If you doubt me, go check the tax rates of other lords! Compare them, and you’ll be so dumbfounded you won’t be able to speak!”

Halken slammed his desk with his palms, his voice echoing through the room. His knights, who were once his mercenary comrades, exchanged uneasy glances.

If what Halken said was true, this was no ordinary issue—it meant the Emperor had deliberately set out to exploit the southern lords he had appointed.

“Has the Emperor lost his mind? Why would he do this after appointing us himself?”

“Maybe he’s trying to cover his entertainment expenses by squeezing us dry?”

“No, not even senility would lead to something this absurd,” another retorted.

Halken rubbed his face, frustration evident. He had some idea why the Emperor was acting this way.

“It’s not just about wanting more taxes. Sure, higher taxes are always beneficial for them, but these rates are too harsh to sustain land management. He must know this is excessive.”

“You mean he proposed an impossible tax rate on purpose? This is getting more confusing by the moment.”

“It’s not confusing at all. This is meant to keep us in check, to crush us before we can even rise.”

“Keep us in check?”

Halken’s men burst out laughing, incredulous. How could the Emperor justify controlling the very lords he had appointed?

“Come on, Captain—I mean, Your Lordship—why would he need to keep us in check?”

“Just call me Captain, damn it. Stop mixing up titles,” Halken barked.

“Ahem, Captain, what’s there to keep us in check for? Let’s face it, we’ve never even properly acted as lords or knights.”

Raising armies and threatening imperial authority with taxes? That was the kind of thing experienced lords with stable governance could consider. The newly appointed southern lords were amateurs who had only just received their lands. They were still floundering, figuring out how to prevent tax evasion, let alone challenging the Imperial family.

“We’re barely figuring out our own territories, and the sheer workload is enough to make our heads spin. Why would they be afraid of us?”

“They’re not keeping us in check.”

“What do you mean? If it’s not us, then why these heavy taxes?”

“It’s to keep Count Sylas in check,” Halken clarified.

At the mention of Sylas, the room grew tense. Every member of the former Red Wolf mercenaries had experienced Sylas’s overwhelming power firsthand. However, this explanation only deepened their confusion.

“If they wanted to keep Sylas in check, wouldn’t they go after him directly? Why attack unrelated lords like us?”

“Think about it. Appointing us as lords in the first place was the Emperor’s ploy. The goal was to weaken Count Sylas’s influence and sow discord among us.”

The first objective had succeeded. The lands were now divided among individual lords rather than being consolidated under Sylas’s control, reducing Drakenfels’ overall strength.

However, the second objective—causing division—had completely failed. Instead of creating conflict, Sylas had rallied them under a shared cause, uniting them as potential allies for future endeavors.

“To the Emperor, this must be intolerable. Even though we’re lords now, it’s still as if Sylas is a king and we’re his vassals,” Halken explained.

While the Emperor might not care about what happened after his death, he certainly wouldn’t want a faction capable of opposing him to form before his eyes.

However, directly targeting Sylas was no longer an option due to the many offenses already committed against him. That left the smaller, weaker southern lords as the next targets.

“So… instead of going after Count Sylas, they’re attacking the lords under him?”

“It’s just my theory, but I’m fairly certain it’s correct.”

“That miserable old man!”

The realization brought the knights to their feet, faces contorted in anger. It was as if the Emperor was too afraid to provoke the dragon further and instead chose to harass the wolves beneath him.

By suppressing them now, he hoped to weaken Sylas’s influence before tensions escalated.

“That decrepit coward!”

“Why does he grow more disgraceful with age?”

“If he’s nearing the end of his life, he should at least go with dignity!”

As curses echoed throughout the room, Halken closed his eyes, taking a deep breath to suppress his own frustration. While he wanted to tell the Emperor to go to hell, he lacked the power to do so.

No matter how much land they had been granted, they were still small lords with insufficient strength to resist the Emperor’s tyranny.

For Halken, who held the title of Viscount and a corresponding amount of land, it might be possible to resist—if his territory was stabilized. However, to confront the Emperor now would be suicidal.

‘And, as much as I hate to admit it, openly resisting could lead to the Emperor revoking our titles.’

If he lost his title, it wouldn’t end there. In the worst-case scenario, the Imperial family could seize their lands outright. Since these territories were no longer Sylas’s property but officially belonged to the individual lords, it would indirectly allow the Emperor to reclaim portions of Drakenfels.

It was a humiliating thought, but Halken knew there were no guarantees the Emperor wouldn’t resort to such measures.

‘This is a nightmare. How do I get us out of this mess…?’

“Your Lordship!”

As Halken rubbed his temples in frustration, a civil servant entered the room. Unlike the former mercenaries, this man was a newly hired official from the region.

“What is it? I thought today’s tasks were finished.”

“It’s not about your regular duties. There’s been a significant development in the south.”

“A significant development?”

“Please, read this.”

The official handed Halken a document, the ink still fresh. Without a word, Halken took it and began reading. The official lacked eloquence, but his talent for concisely summarizing key points was unparalleled.

“What? The Emperor abducted the Elven delegation and later released them? And Drakenfels is exempt from taxes for thirty years?”

The details were murky, as the Emperor had gone to great lengths to suppress information. What was clear was that the delegation had been briefly detained before being freed, and Drakenfels had been granted tax exemption.