Regressor's Harem Of Vengeance-Chapter 38. Baron Harvard [2].

After all, if there was one thing the Baron had learned since he succeeded his late father a few years ago, it would be to never brag much more than was necessary, lest he find his head rolling on the ground.

The Baron’s carriage steadily rocked northward through the afternoon forest.

Harvard was still within the carriage, and he was sitting with his legs crossed while a glass of wine was placed right next to him.

Beside the wine was a leather-bound journal along with his glasses.

Harvard picked up his glasses before perching it on the end of his reddened nose and slowly opened the journal.

The page he opened it to contained a long list of village names.

There were about forty-three villages in total along with twenty-six hamlets and eleven independent farmsteads.

Harvard ran his finger down the long column before pausing occasionally to make small notations in the margins of the journal.

He adjusted a few figures upward where he thought he could demand more, then he marked some villages that had been troublesome for him in previous years, particularly recently.

He marked them with a symbol that meant he would be making an example of them later.

Harvard looked through the list again, and his gaze landed on the last village on his list... Thornsville.

Thornsville was a small village with about seventy odd families. The village was primarily an agricultural village that focused on producing grain and livestock.

But Harvard’s grin widened when he realized that he would be obtaining more grains, livestock, and fifty gold coins from each household.

He had increased this year’s demand from five to fifty gold coins.

Of course, it wasn’t because the village had somehow become profitable.

Instead, it was because the previous year’s collection had usually gone smoothly. So he thought, why not increase it this time around, besides no one in his territory had the spine to go against his wishes.

And that was why Harvard tried not to be unreasonable with his demands.

He knew the limit of what people could endure, so he set his demands just below it.

Yes, there would be some households who would be unable to pay the full coins, still Harvard expected them to make up for it with food, clothes, savings, and probably something else.

Harvard made a final notation beside the name of Thornsville’s Village on his journal, then he took note of the fact that Thornsville had demihumans residing alongside humans in the village.

Despite having a really close appearance to humans, demihumans weren’t really classified or recognized as humans, so not everyone really liked them.

Over the years, there had been rumors of demihumans being forced to slavery for one reason or another and slave traders had been profiting off of them quite recently.

In other words, if there ended up being demihuman households who couldn’t pay up what was required of them, then Harvard would be happy to take one or two family members as payment.

He knew some really big towns within the kingdom and he knew the huge amount of profit he’d obtain if he were to gather some slaves and deliver them to a few merchants’ doorsteps.

"Hehehe... let’s not start drooling right now."

Keeping his excitement on the low, Harvard set his ledger aside before looking out the window.

The forest outside was thick and dark with a road that narrowed between steep hillsides.

’Hmm...’ Thinking back, his captain had mentioned this path earlier, saying that it was the fastest route to Thornsville and Harvard had given the go-ahead almost instantly.

Harvard hadn’t really paid much attention to the concerns his captain had laid out about taking this route because all he had wanted at the time was to be done with his tribute collection as soon as possible. So that he would be able to count all the gold he had accumulated in the end.

Feeling relieved and impatient, Harvard refilled his wine glass before draining half of it, then he felt droopy eyed and fell asleep right after.

********

Moments later, Harvard woke up in what seemed like a dream, but even he didn’t know that he was currently in a dream.

All he knew was that, one minute he had been in his carriage, drinking wine, and the next he was standing in Thornsville’s Village square.

He glanced around and immediately recognized the village square because he had been here a couple of times in the past for this same reason.

He glanced around one more time just to be certain, and he saw the small village square ringed by different buildings.

There was a well at the center with chickens wandering between people’s feet.

Seeing all these, Harvard was even more certain that he had certainly arrived at Thornsville, but as for how he had gotten here so quickly, he certainly didn’t give a damn.

Anyways, Harvard noticed his guards flanking him on both sides, then he noticed his captain standing to his left with an opened ledger in his hands.

The villagers had already gathered at the village square as ordered, then Harvard looked at each of them, and they looked back at him with worries mixed with fear.

Harvard had already gotten used to this expression due to the other villages and hamlets he had been to, so he really wasn’t bothered with the look

of vulnerability the villagers directed towards him.

Instinctively, he knew the villagers had no choice but to show this side of themselves because they knew that if they were to reveal their true feelings and emotions which were filled with utter anger and disgust, they would certainly be receiving a worse treatment than the tax they were asked to cough up.

To be honest, Harvard found this act of suppressed vulnerability and submission deeply satisfying in a way that almost felt like ecstasy and he couldn’t wait to get more of the feeling.

So he swiftly glanced over to his captain before giving him a simple and direct order. "Begin."

And the captain started reading out the villager’s names and households.