Regressor's Harem Of Vengeance-Chapter 39. Baron Harvard [3].

The first hour went by smoothly.

Most households that had been called out were able to pay instantly.

They were households that either had fifty gold coins stored safely at home or could scrape it together by combining everything their family owned.

Harvard watched them come forward one by one as they placed their coins on the collection table and retreated back into the crowd with the expression of a person who had just lost something they couldn’t afford to lose but couldn’t do anything about it anyway.

Harvard didn’t really care about these people.

Yes, he was happy to see them contribute what he needed, but he was more interested in those who wouldn’t be able to pay, and he didn’t have to wait too long before he finally encountered his first victim.

It was an old farmer who walked with a hunched-over back, and the old man’s hands shook slightly as he spread them in a gesture that said he didn’t have any gold coins with him.

"My Lord, the late frost took most of my grain. I’ve given everything I have, but I don’t have what you’re asking for."

Harvard looked at the old man for a moment.

Then he glanced at the small number of grain bags the old man wanted to offer in exchange for fifty gold coins.

A grimace swiftly appeared on Harvard’s face, then he drifted his gaze back to his captain. "Go to his house and seize anything of value."

His captain nodded before instructing the guards to do as Harvard had ordered.

The guards moved forward and the old farmer didn’t even try to stop them.

He stood there while two guards took him by his arms and two more went into his house.

Meanwhile, Harvard could see the old farmer’s house from where he stood.

It looked like a modest building on the eastern side of the village square.

Harvard watched as his men carried things like furniture, farming tools, and a small chest that probably contained whatever savings the family was trying to hide from the Baron.

A woman appeared in the doorway of the house.

Harvard assumed that she was the farmer’s wife because she had grey hair just like her husband, but the woman began to cry helplessly, in a way that was similar to someone who had reached the limit of what they could endure.

The crowd simply watched in silence and no one could do anything about what was happening in front of them. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Seeing this, a huge grin appeared on Harvard’s face.

’This is good.’ He uttered in his thoughts.

’Keep watching what would happen to you and your household if you refuse to give me what I want.’

’Now watch and recalculate what you’re willing to lose versus what you’re willing to pay next year.’

"Keep going," Harvard ordered his captain and the man resumed calling out the names on the list.

Moments later, Harvard witnessed his next victims.

They were a young couple, a husband and a wife, with both of them being perhaps around the age of twenty-five. But the two of them had the look of someone who worked hard and ate well and had been doing everything right until everything went wrong for them.

The husband stepped forward and kowtowed. "My Lord. It’s been a difficult year for my family and me. Our youngest child was ill through the winter, so we had to venture into other towns for really expensive herbs and healing potions. Please, my Lord, you know how expensive herbs and potions are, so we can’t really afford what you’re asking for from us. We can only give you forty gold coins and not fifty. Have mercy on us."

Harvard studied the man as he slowly raised his head up with tears streaming down his cheeks.

At first glance, Harvard noticed that the man looked like someone with an honest face and a steady voice.

In other words, the young man was the kind of person who probably believed that if he worked hard and told the truth, things would eventually work out for him.

But Harvard hated people like this young man.

He had spent his years disabusing people like him and he wasn’t going to stop now.

"You said you have forty gold coins, right?" Harvard asked.

"Y-yes, My Lord."

"But forty gold coins isn’t the same as fifty gold coins."

"I know, my lord. But it’s everything we have. If you take more, we’ll..."

"Take him," Harvard ordered his captain and his guards moved forward.

The young man’s wife exclaimed once she saw the men approaching, but she swiftly cut off her own screams by pressing both of her hands to her mouth as she watched the guards grab her husband.

Meanwhile, the young man didn’t struggle and it was wise of him to do so, but he had a really enraged look that he couldn’t conceal from the Baron.

Seeing this, a look of triumph appeared on Harvard’s face as he ordered.

"Give him thirty strokes and a promissory note for the remainder of the expected gold coins that are due by spring."

"Yes, My Lord." His captain nodded and made the notation immediately.

The young man was swiftly brought to the center of the square and right now, the crowd had gone completely silent as they watched the guards carrying out the orders of the Baron.

Harvard also watched with his hands clasped behind his back as his men administered the correction he had ordered them to.

Harvard really didn’t like scenes like this.

He didn’t like the whipping sounds, along with the cries and he certainly didn’t like the scene of blood on the young man’s back and mouth.

To him, this was necessary rather than pleasurable.

He’d rather seek pleasure from the look of dismay and trepidation on the crowd’s face than watch a man getting beaten up, but right now, he was trying to make a statement.

He knew others would offer to contribute forty or fewer gold coins. So to prevent more idiots like this young man, he needed to show the rest of the villagers what happens if anyone tried to fuck with him.

And luckily for him, the effects of his order were tremendous.

Just before his guards were done, Harvard could already see a few people in the crowd quietly recalculating what they had with them.

They were reconsidering what they had and what they were willing to offer.

Some even began to mysteriously find a little more gold than they’d initially thought they had.

’It’s funny how people get their act together after receiving a little bit of motivation.’ Harvard mused to himself before noticing a certain Tauren girl staring at him with nothing but contempt.