Chapter 60

“Chapter 60 is like someone sending a pillow when you’re sleepy!”

“G-Greya Master, there’s trouble!!!”

While searching for Lynn in the mansion, Greya suddenly heard the maid’s frantic voice behind him.

Seeing her in such a hurry, Greya felt puzzled.

“What’s going on?”

Out of breath, the maid stopped to explain, “L-Lynn Master and over thirty of the bodyguards in the training ground… they started fighting!!!”

“The bodyguards are in trouble?”

Greya froze and instinctively asked. After all, with Lynn’s personality, he wouldn’t act unless he was completely sure of taking them down.

So his first concern was actually about their bodyguards.

The maid shook her head repeatedly.

Seeing this, Greya’s heart sank.

“Lynn Master has beaten all the bodyguards… and…”

Beat them to death? Greya felt his scalp tingle.

What the heck did you do, Lynn?!

Looking at the maid gasping for air, Greya instinctively prepared to rush to the scene.

“He made them cry!”

“Huh?”

Five minutes later.

“It hurts, it hurts, damn it!!!”

“It’s really painful, I can’t stand it anymore!!”

“Help me!!! Help me!!!”

Looking at the muscular men rolling on the ground, crying and sobbing, Greya’s expression stiffened.

W-What on earth happened? He turned to Lynn, who was just standing there.

But Lynn merely shrugged, “To be honest, I just gave each of them a punch. You guys need to change your bodyguards.”

You expect me to believe that?! Looking at Lynn’s innocent expression, Greya felt a black line appear on his forehead.

“By the way, I’m actually looking for you.” Lynn patted his shoulder, signaling him to stop worrying about trivial matters. “Later, I’m attending a banquet with Her Highness. Let’s talk about Baylor Tilius.”

Despite his confusion, Greya put the current situation aside and rolled his eyes, “I came to find you for that.”

“For some reason, my father suddenly sent me to represent the Augusta family at the banquet. We should go together.”

“As for Duke Tilius, he’s practically a legend in the military. This is something you could talk about for three days and nights. What do you want to know?”

Greya started going on and on.

Lynn pondered for a moment, “Do you know why he’s coming to Orlen City?”

“Of course, it’s for money.” Greya shook his head. “Recently, the demon battlefield hasn’t been peaceful. There’s likely going to be war in the south again.”

“And during a war, what’s most needed is resources, so Duke Tilius needs to raise a large sum to prepare for the potential winter offensive in a few months.”

Lynn was surprised. “How does he plan to raise that? Just relying on this charity banquet?”

Since the original text didn’t mention this plot point, he was only half-informed. Even though the banquet invited many nobles and celebrities from Orlen City and surrounding areas, with some even traveling from the Imperial Capital to meet Duke Tilius, ultimately, the amount that could be raised would be negligible.

Greya replied without hesitation, “Of course not.”

“The banquet is just feeling the waters. The real purpose is to figure out the nobles’ and church’s attitudes toward his upcoming actions.”

“What actions?”

“Tax collection.” Greya hit the nail on the head, “Since Orlen City and surrounding areas are far from the Imperial Capital and have been in constant turmoil, the Empire’s control here is quite low.”

“You can see this from one thing: taxes.”

“To my knowledge, the Empire hasn’t received full taxes from these cities in years; most have been embezzled by local churches and officials, using all sorts of excuses to cover it up.”

“For example, some major churches have exclusive tax exemption policies; they clearly don’t hold back from squeezing the common folks, but they won’t give a dime.”

These forces are deeply intertwined with the Empire and can’t be casually fiddled with.

After hearing such a long explanation, Lynn seemed to grasp something: “So Duke Tilius must be troubled by that, needing to come here personally?”

“Exactly.”

Greya nodded.

As the two walked, they fell into a brief silence.

After a moment, Lynn curiously asked, “In your opinion, among the various churches locally, which one is the most greedy?”

“It’s definitely the Church of Heavenly Justice.” Greya replied without missing a beat. “I’d say these guys preach all day long, yet they don’t do a single good thing. About seventy percent of the people’s money ends up in their pockets.”

The Church of Heavenly Justice?

What a coincidence! Hearing his answer, Lynn’s eyes lit up slightly.

He was worried about not finding a breakthrough point regarding the trial of the Sorceress of the End, and unexpectedly, it just appeared before him.

Talk about someone sending a pillow when you’re sleepy!

Meanwhile, Greya, noticing the familiar spark in Lynn’s eyes, instantly felt a chill run down his spine.

Even though they hadn’t known each other for long, given Greya’s understanding of Lynn, this guy was probably thinking about plotting something again.

“If I say if…” after a moment, Lynn suddenly asked, “If there was a handsome guy who could help Duke Tilius raise that large sum and stomp on the Church of Heavenly Justice’s arrogance, what would he get?”

Greya shot him a glance, “He could earn the friendship of the Tilius family and the favor of Her Highness the Princess.”

“After all, Her Highness has always wanted the support of an elector.”

In the northern area of Orlen City, Bartleon Mansion.

At this moment, a large, black luxury carriage was parked on the wide road in front of the mansion.

A middle-aged man dressed in fine clothes was standing in front of the carriage, looking at the neatly lined-up servants at the entrance of the mansion.

“Still no news about that brat?”

“No, Butler Sherlock.” The leading male servant carefully glanced at him. “Lynn Master hasn’t returned since he left the mansion last time. We searched everywhere in Orlen City, but found no clues.”

“Keep searching. They said, ‘Alive, see the person; dead, see the corpse.’” The man called Butler Sherlock snorted coldly. “And have you forgotten what I said before?”

“Don’t call me Butler. Here in this city, I am the spokesperson for the Bartleon Mansion. Call me Master!”

“Y-yes! Master Sherlock!”

“Fine, but don’t let it happen again.” Sherlock waved his hand with a look of annoyance. “By the way, how’s that other matter going?”

“The Bartleon family’s majority of assets in Orlen City, including real estate, have been mostly accounted for. Over the years, we’ve gradually cleaned them into your private property.”

Sherlock frowned, “Not my private property, you need to remember, that’s the Mosgra family’s private property. After tonight, this mansion will welcome its new master.”

“Understood!”

The male servant wiped the sweat from his face.

Sherlock looked at the time, realizing it was almost time, he spoke again, “Duke Tilius also sent an invitation to the Bartleon family. I’ll go see and welcome the distinguished guest from the Mosgra family. You all keep watch.”

“Yes, Master, what if that brat comes back?”

Hearing this, Sherlock replied casually, “Beat him up, then imprison him.”

The servant’s face showed hesitation: “But he’s still a Bartleon family member…”

“Bartleon family? What Bartleon family do we have left?” Sherlock sneered, “An old fogey in a coma, a useless person expelled from the Imperial Capital, oh, and a minor lady far away in the capital, whose fate is unknown.”

“Do you think they can stir up any storm?”

Recalling the young man who had come here like a walking corpse, thoroughly defeated, he couldn’t help but shake his head.

The Bartleon family is past its prime, with no hope of turning things around.

As long as that brat knows his place, it’s best if he secretly dies in some quiet place.

I’m just ahead of the game, securing my mountain.

Otherwise, I might face reckoning too.

Setting-wise, the Bartleon family has few members, loyal through the generations, their bloodline mostly perished on the battlefield, which is why they are in such dire straits.

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