This young master truly has the ambition of a hero.

Jonah cried out in anguish, like a beast whose cubs have died, but no one there pitied him.

Jonah was a notorious bully who had been causing trouble for many years, and Hansen was someone he had personally trained. Now, because of his public display of violence, he deserved to be crippled.

Many people even maliciously hoped that the governor would pin a serious charge against him for attempting assassination and hang this wicked fellow at the city gate.

However, the expected outburst of anger did not occur. Dick first gestured for his guards to withdraw, then personally went to the heavily injured Hansen, offering words of comfort and reassuring old Jonah not to be sad. Although the young master was indeed seriously injured, there was still hope if a priest was brought to treat him as soon as possible.

Anyway, your Saxon family isn't short of money, and your son's life is more important.

Old Jonah's face was contorted with rage. He was now convinced that Dick had deliberately ordered his men to cripple his son, yet Dick was now feigning concern, leaving Jonah seething with anger and nearly suffering internal injuries.

In the end, they could only leave in disgrace with Hansen, who was seriously injured, and their families.

The Saxon family's early departure did not dampen the excitement of the tournament. Dick personally conferred the title of apprentice knight upon Black and White Spear. The third person to be knighted was John, an honest knight whom Dick favored.

He challenged the winner of the second match and easily defeated him.

After the tournament, Dick returned to the castle and learned that Tia and Lily, who were in charge of monitoring David, had successfully closed in and found the location of his hidden cold iron ore and treasury.

David was also brought back to the castle, where he knelt on the ground, dejected, awaiting his fate.

Dick looked at his pathetic state and gestured for someone to untie him. It was dinnertime, so he told the kitchen to prepare the meal and had David sit down opposite him.

"I've been in Laguge for so many days, and this is the first time we've eaten together."

"I've lost. There's nothing more to say. Do with me as you please."

Hearing David's deliberately defiant statement, Dick chuckled and asked Tia, who was standing beside him.

"Is he really not afraid of death?"

"It's fake, my heart rate is almost 200."

"Pfft! Don't be so nervous, Cousin David. Believe it or not, I really have a way out for you. I just don't know if you'll be interested?"

"W-What way to survive?"

"I want to get rid of the Saxons once and for all, you know what I mean, once and for all."

Upon hearing Dick's request, David's astonished expression was as if he had heard a joke, and he suddenly burst out laughing.

"That's it? You have three hundred professional private soldiers who obey your every command, as well as these skilled assassins. If you want to wipe out the Saxon family, it's just a matter of issuing a warrant."

"If I were to kill the entire Saxon family, who hold knighthoods, on fabricated grounds or without any legitimate reason at all, it would be against the rules, illegitimate, and unacceptable to the people in the future. First, I wouldn't be able to explain it to my duke father, and your aunt, my stepmother, would certainly take the opportunity to attack me. Second, the local people and gentry would feel more fear than respect for me, which would be very detrimental to my future governance of Lagug. You should understand what I mean, right?"

"But why should I help you?"

"A way out! Didn't we just talk about this? I saw the video crystal Lily brought back, it's really something, you're quite the hider! According to Imperial law, smuggling more than 30 kilograms of cold iron ore is punishable by beheading, and the amount in that mine, converted into cuts, is enough to finely chop you into mincemeat... like meat paste. And this hasn't even traced where this batch of cold iron you smuggled and resold went. If it eventually flows outside the Empire... tsk tsk! I'm afraid there will be rivers of blood!"

"Then how will you save me? And how can I trust you?"

Do you have a choice now?

Dick's question silenced David, who then leisurely finished his dinner and had someone escort him back to his room to rest and think things through.

In fact, even without David, Dick could have gathered enough evidence to deal with the Saxons by continuing to observe them secretly with his ninja group, but that would have been too time-consuming. Dick didn't want to waste too much time on a small local tyrant and wanted to settle things before the heavy snows of winter closed the mountains, which was why he made a deal with David—simply to save time.

Dick then got up and walked toward the castle’s large bathroom.

During his stay in Lagogburg, Dick was very dissatisfied with the accommodations.

Lagog Castle is an old-style military fortress built three hundred years ago. Although it has been repaired, renovated and expanded over the past three hundred years, it is significantly improved compared to the original version three hundred years ago. However, the foundation is still there. The lighting inside the castle is terrible, and it is very dark and damp.

Living in such an environment for a long time, it's no wonder that one's health would be poor!

If there was any part of the castle that Dick was relatively satisfied with, it was the Roman-style thermal bathhouse.

Dick came to the bathroom alone. He didn't call Rita or Belfast to serve him. He took off his clothes and put on only a towel before entering the steamy bathroom. He soaked comfortably in the warm spring water and felt the fatigue that had accumulated during the day disappear without a trace in an instant.

"The hot springs are really great!"

"I think so too."

"!!!"

Dick had barely finished speaking when he heard a woman's voice coming from the mist. Even with his keen elven ears, he couldn't detect anyone else in the bathroom.

Fortunately, the voice sounded familiar, and Dick quickly saw that it was Black Saber walking towards him naked. Although Dick was no longer a virgin, the scene was still somewhat awkward. Black Saber, on the other hand, didn't seem to care at all that her lithe and sexy body had been seen by her Master. Her proud expression even carried a hint of showing off.

"Master, your knight, are you satisfied with today's performance?"

"very nice."

"Oh! So, between me and White, who's better?"

With a teasing grin, Black Gunner moved closer to Dick and, taking advantage of his fully developed physique, pulled the petite Dick into his arms.

Dick's face suddenly collided with a soft and incredibly elastic perfect sphere, slightly moist yet very smooth.

Obviously! Black Gunner Alter did it on purpose; she wanted to see her little Master's adorable embarrassment due to shyness.

But who is Dick? He's someone who's seen it all, tasted it all, and even flown the world. Would he be intimidated by being honest with someone?

Well! His pair of unruly elf ears turned red again.

"Master, you still haven't answered me. Between me and White, who is better?"

Black Gunner deliberately moved very close, his warm breath brushing against Dick's elf ears, making her gradually understand why the girls who were also summoned were so fond of the young master's ears.

But to Black Gun's surprise, Dick didn't blush and stammer. Instead, he looked up and stared directly into her eyes, smiling as he spoke.

"I'm afraid I'll have to try it before I can answer that question."

Black Gun was slightly taken aback, and it took him a while to realize that he had been teased in return. He then burst into laughter.

“Master, I must admit, you are more interesting than I initially expected. Many people have been deceived by your immature appearance. Beneath this skin lies an ambitious soul, but... I don't dislike ambitious men.”

As Black Gun said this, he lowered his head and kissed Dick. The young elf also unceremoniously reached out his hands to seize the high ground, only to find that the two breasts were difficult to grasp, and his small hands almost sank into them.

Feeling the almost pleading kiss from Black Saber Alter, Dick knew that she wanted to replenish her mana. In this world, Servants like them couldn't naturally absorb external magical energy; they could only obtain it from Dick, their Master, through a contract.

Compared to the reserved White Gunner Alter, the unrestrained Black Gunner Alter obviously has fewer concerns and will come to Dick to "hunt for food" as soon as he gets hungry.

At this moment, Black Gun's hand had already penetrated deep into the hole, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

"You really can't judge a book by its cover! I never imagined that Master would also possess such an extraordinary holy spear."

"You flatter me. It's not the complete form yet; it's more like an EX-level curry stick!"

"Oh! So Master is looking for a suitable scabbard?"

Black Gun's smile widened, and he pressed Dick against the edge of the pool as if riding a horse. His floating upper body swayed gently, and the scraping sensation from underwater made both of them somewhat unable to control themselves.

In the end, it was Black Gunner who couldn't hold back any longer and slowly sat down, secretly thinking to himself with a sense of smug satisfaction.

"I'm sorry, White (white), I won today's match!"

Chapter 013: Only Death and Taxes Are Inevitable

"In that martial arts competition, I should have performed the best at the end, right? So why did Blake insist that she won when she passed by my door that night?"

In the castle's study office, Rita, Belfast, and Joel, who were organizing documents, all listened silently to White Gun's mutterings. Black Gun's words from the previous night had left her completely perplexed, to the point that she was suffering from insomnia.

So when she woke up in the morning, she came to the study, intending to ask Master for help, but Dick himself had gone to inspect the military camp, and only the three secretaries were there. So she told her doubts to the three smarter ones (?).

"Oh, right! She also said Master is very moisturized. What does that mean?"

As soon as Bai Qiangdai spoke, Joel was still full of doubt, while Rita and Belfast paused slightly, but quickly recovered, though the corners of their mouths unconsciously turned up.

Belfast put the organized documents into a file bag, walked up to Bai Qiangdai, patted him on the shoulder to comfort him.

"It's alright, this is all healthy internal competition. You'll be able to turn the tables in the future."

"Ok."

After a short while, Dick returned from outside.

The recruitment for the territory's private army went smoothly. Although Lagug was small in number, Dick's expansion plan only increased the standing army from three hundred to five hundred, while also reorganizing a new self-defense force of one hundred and fifty men. With yesterday's martial arts tournament generating buzz, the local youths' desire to sign up was immediately ignited.

The recruitment quota was filled in almost one morning.

The expanded private army had an infantry, archer, and cavalry ratio of 3:1:1.

These are all relatively conventional troop types, and their structure is fairly reasonable.

As for high-end troops, Dick is currently unable to assemble them, nor does he have the authority to do so.

Under the influence of the Earth transmigrators, this world also developed firearms and incorporated some local magical memories. However, due to the constraints of the nobility and the lack of truly high-end military research talent, the current level of firearms, in terms of manufacturing technology, is equivalent to the Napoleonic Wars period in the early 19th century, with muzzle-loading smoothbore cannons and percussion caps equipped with paper-cased cartridges.

Moreover, because these weapons utilize some magical rune technology, their performance is significantly superior to similar products on Earth.

At present, however, both cannons and muskets are only allowed to be equipped by the Royal Guard in an organized manner. It is not difficult for ordinary nobles to get one or two muskets, and it is not impossible for them to get a cannon, but they dare not use them openly.

Incidentally, Dick's staff only looks like a musket; it's not a real gun.

However, the reverse engineering of Earth's weapons has stopped here at this stage, because after many trials, the Hessians discovered that the probability of "going to Earth in both directions" in response to Earthlings' summons is higher.

In other words, those who are already disappointed and dissatisfied with Earth are more likely to be summoned here, while many highly qualified professionals, who are often outstanding and successful in their careers, naturally do not have the idea of ​​going to another world to start over.

Dick had heard back in the capital that a rich young master had become obsessed with summoning and almost went bankrupt with a "ten-pull," resulting in the summoning of two American drug addicts, three Runruns who were crossing the Amazon in a group, an old Mexican who was forced to hide "flour balls" in his body, and four Muslim black pigeons who were preparing to smuggle themselves from the Mediterranean to France.

Of course! This is an extreme case; some people's faces are indeed darker than the average person's.

The recruitment of new soldiers has been completed, and the next step is training. Dick has entrusted the task of training the soldiers to Sir John, giving him three months for intensive training.

Dick had high standards for these soldiers and stricter military discipline, but in return, their pay and benefits were top-notch, almost on par with the Royal Guard.

Including previous purchases of food and the efforts to win over the army, Dick's personal savings were almost depleted.

During his time in the capital, he did indeed do business with partners, but the profitable businesses were either things that the early transmigrators had already done, or they were monopolized by the nobles or even the royal family.

In addition, Dick needed to keep a low profile, so he didn't earn much money during his time in the capital because he didn't dare to go all out. Thanks to David's arrest, he can now use his savings to get by for a while longer.

Because of his financial problems, Dick is now in a hurry to take action against the Saxons.

And it was at this very moment that, after a night of deep thought, Brother David finally came to his senses.

Just like Dick said before, he had no choice now. Rather than grit his teeth and bear all the blame alone, he might as well take the Saxons down with him. After all, their relationship had been one of mutual exploitation from the beginning. Why should he, David, go to the guillotine while the Saxons go unscathed?

So, with this "we'll die together" mentality in mind, David decided to betray his old buddy!

"The Saxon family did not participate in the business of reselling Cold Iron. Because the interests involved were huge, and there were several unreliable people in that family. I only used my own people."

"Where are your people?"

"Those are the ones who died in the woods."

"Only a dozen or so people? Your strength isn't that great!"

"The worst thing you can do in this kind of business is to have too many people. Those people are my confidants, my most trusted subordinates. I was just careless and underestimated them. I didn't expect... I didn't expect your men to be so capable."

David still felt indignant when he mentioned his men who had died tragically.

Dick also remembered that when Hongye was evaluating this group of assassins that day, she said that their strength was not particularly outstanding, but as a team they had great tacit understanding and were good at cooperating in combat. Their temperament was different from that of ordinary mountain bandits; they were more like active-duty soldiers who deliberately dressed up as mountain bandits.

If it were an ordinary person, the assassination attempt that day would have been virtually impossible to fail.

Unfortunately, they encountered no ordinary people; they were three female ninjas whose skills were equivalent to those of high-ranking warriors in this world, and the battle took place in a dense forest late at night.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this is the ninjas' home battlefield.

Many assassins never even saw what their enemies looked like before their throats were slit by a dagger that silently emerged from the shadows behind them.

David provided a great deal of dirt on the Saxons.

As mentioned before, the two sides have a cooperative relationship, with each having their own main business.

The Saxon family were ostensibly farmers, owning thousands of acres of vineyards and making money through winemaking.

This was already a highly profitable business, but human greed often leads to irrational behavior. As a result, the Saxons secretly colluded with bandits to engage in kidnapping and the slave trade, and were responsible for more than thirty murders. This does not include the several miners' suppression operations in which the Old Self-Defense Corps participated, each of which injured hundreds of people, resulting in incalculable indirect deaths.

Ironically, what would be considered heinous crimes by Earthlings were minor issues in the Hessen Empire. The slave trade was a "legal business," at worst subject to public scorn.

Suppressing a miners' "riot" is perfectly reasonable and legal, and could even be rewarded.

As for colluding with bandits and kidnapping for ransom, the Saxons have always been very careful, and it is almost impossible to find any substantial evidence, so the rumors are not to be taken seriously.

The only "dirt" that could truly deliver a fatal blow to the Saxon family was actually just one piece of "dirt."

That's "tax evasion"!

Yes! Only death and taxes are unavoidable, and brewing alcohol happens to be a heavy tax, a rule established by the founding emperor of the empire, Hesse I. Because at that time the empire was newly established, years of war had just ended, the country was in ruins and food was not enough, so the emperor considered prohibiting alcohol, but later, on the advice of his ministers, he changed it to levying a heavy tax, a law that has been in effect ever since.