Chapter 4

Sora's parents were in the mansion for ten days, during which nine servants were "punished." If Sora hadn't protected them, twice as many would have disappeared.

Of course, physically.

Out of the servants who had been working there from the beginning, only eight still worked in the mansion.

Furthermore, the tax on the villagers increased by thirty percent. The official reason was that several villages had dispersed, but the collected taxes were used as a bribe, disguised as a promotion gift for a certain bishop.

Sora, sitting with his parents who were boasting about these matters, tried to suppress his aching head and growing murderous intent while they were at the dining table.

Various dishes that tasted like oil sprinkled with sugar were lined up on the table. Just looking at them made him lose his appetite, and eating them would make him feel nauseous. It was such a meal.

"Sora, aren't you eating?"

The pig father extended a plate to Sora, holding it up and down with his flabby hand. Sora, who was thinking how happy he would be if he could throw the plate at the pig father's face like a pie, showed no sign of noticing his hostility.

"Yeah, well... I'm not feeling well."

"What? Is Sora sick again? It happens every time we eat."

The pig father rubbed his chin or neck, and then looked at the cook.

"Cook, is it because of the food you serve?"

The cook trembled at the threatening gaze. Originally, this oily food was ordered by the pig father, but it seemed to have been erased from his memory.

While enduring the worsening headache, Sora interjected.

"Father, before you punish this cook, why don't you try something first?"

The cook looked at Sora with a glimmer of hope, a gaze that would never be directed at a two-year-old.

"Sora, what do you mean by 'try'?"

The face-wrinkled mother asked Sora. No one knew about his inner frustration with her.

—You're just a fake, be aware of it.

To him, the lord and lady of the Kleinzelt family were nothing but enemies who oppressed the people.

"Let the cook make the dish he is most afraid of. If it's not delicious, then he fails."

Before his parents could speak, Sora sent the cook to the kitchen, and the pig father looked at him with a dissatisfied face.

"Sora, there's no need to deliberately serve something bad. It's better to just kill him quickly."

"Father, I didn't say we have to eat it. Let's make a maid eat it. If a commoner's taste can tell it's bad, then that's it. If it's good, it just means our taste is too refined. It would be petty to punish the cook just because our taste is refined."

"Hmm, that makes sense. It might be interesting to test how poor a commoner's taste is."

The pig father and the face-wrinkled mother smiled creepily. Seizing the opportunity, Sora apologized to the attendant maid with a glance.

When the cook's dish was brought in and the maid said it was "delicious," the pig father and the others laughed heartily, saying that the commoner's taste was strange, and then left the dining room. The punishment of the cook was postponed, and the meal ended without any casualties.

The pig father and the others were to leave for the capital the next morning. "The sickly heir" Sora was to stay behind in the territory.

Watching the servants start to clear the table, Sora also stood up and headed to his room. Various things had happened during these ten days. A few young maids were almost assaulted by the pig father, the lord's army planned to enslave a village, and the face-wrinkled mother proposed a "beauty tax"...

It was a period of accumulating mental stress for Sora. The only consolation was that he had started to gain the trust of the servants by stopping these incidents one by one. Some still avoided him, finding him creepy...

"Sora-sama, that was a great help."

The attendant maid, Minan, praised Sora as she walked behind him.

"I'm sorry to have put you in such a difficult position. That cook really made a dish he's not good at."

Sora chuckled, wishing she could handle things a bit more skillfully.

"Yes, it was a terrible taste. By the way, the item you asked for the other day has arrived."

"Good job."

Sora returned a mischievous smile to Minan's report, which had a charming innocence like a two-year-old trying to act grown-up.

"What do you plan to do with that grass?"

Sora remained silent until they entered the room. The maid who could read the air followed him silently, closed the door, and then Sora turned to her.

"Well, I think you won't believe it, but here's the answer to your question."

Sora began, and Minan, who looked puzzled, was seated in a chair. He then explained his plan.

"—That's as far as I can go for now. If I do anything more flashy, the pig... Father will just be happy."

When Sora concluded his explanation, Minan sighed, fanning her head with her hand.

"To be honest, I didn't understand much."

Minan said tiredly.

"I know. If someone could understand, they'd be in high demand even in the capital."

Sora's plan was as follows: Make lottery tickets from processed wooden boards and use them to raise funds. Use the funds to buy food and gather homeless children to live in an abandoned coastal village. Dress them in old clothes to win their gratitude. Teach the homeless children fishing, which can be done with the help of a fisherman he had already secured. This part of the plan was understandable to the people of this world. He had to explain how to run a lottery, but that was all. The prototype of a lottery, the "fuku-kuji," existed even in the Edo period, so it wasn't a complicated system.

The problem was the next part: improving and commercializing salt-tolerant plants. Among them, the "ice plant," which is a plant that stores salt in its leaves, making them appear frozen, is particularly salt-tolerant. It can even grow with seawater, and it is being studied in Japan. Using this plant, agriculture could be done at sea, and since the farm would be in the middle of the ocean, it would be less likely to be discovered by tax collectors. In other words, it would be tax evasion.

—If it's discovered, just pay later. Even the Prime Minister of Japan did it.

Power is about making laws and morals cry and beg for forgiveness, and Sora was the heir of a corrupt lord.

"I didn't understand, but I can tell it's a devious plan."

"It's a charitable project."

Sora chuckled and whispered, still a two-year-old.

"...I want to improve the lives of the people. For that, I need to operate in secret."

Suddenly serious, Sora appealed sincerely.

"Father and Mother just take from the people and give nothing. If this continues, the territory will be gone before I inherit it. That's a problem."

"...Young master, are you misunderstanding something?"

"What?"

In response to Sora's question, Minan twisted her mouth. Then she slowly stood up from her chair, bowed gracefully, and said:

"How could an attendant to an important young master not be on the side of the lord and lady?"

"Hey, you can't be serious...!?"

The moment Sora realized the situation, Minan quickly turned around.

"Wait!"

He chased after her, but a two-year-old's running speed was no match. The maid quickly distanced herself and disappeared down the corridor.

"Damn it!"

He slumped in the corridor, cursing.

—That maid, she listened and then betrayed me!

Sora didn't think she understood the whole plan, but just teaching the pig father how to run a lottery could earn her some reward. Minan had chosen a sure profit over a two-year-old's uncertain plan. With the plan leaked, he had to start over. Moreover, if he was under surveillance, his movements would be restricted. Sora regretted not having a hold over her.

"I need to think of something else..."

He returned to his room, his mind racing.

—After all, I have my limits alone. If I could at least go down to the town, I could do something.

He needed even a cat's paw, but he would avoid a bad-tempered cat. Entering his room, he found an unexpected visitor. The fifteen-year-old girl, playing with her bright brown hair that reflected the sunset, turned around when she noticed Sora entering.

"Ah, young master. I brought the ice plant as instructed by Minan-senpai."

She held up the ice plant in her right hand and smiled warmly.

...There's a god who picks up what others discard.

Sora sighed, feeling heavy-hearted. Recently, a village had sent a daughter to serve in the lord's mansion, and the fishing village where ice plants grew wild could be identified with this information.

"If you don't want your village to be destroyed, do as I say."

Holding a weakness to prevent betrayal. Sora was reluctant, but he had no choice.

—The game is almost over, but there's a chance for a comeback. Before it's taken away,

"I'll checkmate...!"