Chapter 58
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Translator: Prime Works
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: Devil's Contract (3)
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“Of course, you’ll pay the water tax handsomely every month.”
Boom!
The viscount’s heart plummeted.
Even the viscount himself couldn’t figure out why.
In fact, he didn’t even understand what “water tax” meant.
Yet, even without knowing the meaning, he felt it.
The moment he heard it, a creeping anxiety began to rise.
A sense of crisis wriggled within him, screaming that he had “picked the wrong fight.”
Gathering his courage, the viscount asked back.
“Um, sorry, but… what’s this water tax?”
“Ah, you’ve never heard of it? It’s simple. It’s the tax you pay for using the clean water from our aqueduct.”
“So, a water usage tax?”
“You catch on quick.”
“A tax on water?”
“Yes.”
Lloyd smiled as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“From the intake point, through clean conduits, all the way to the territory’s reservoir. We supply the highest quality water that our customers can trust, stably and reliably. Water so pure that grandpa can drink it, grandma can wash her face with it, mom and dad can boil stew, and kids can splash around in it. How about that? Doesn’t just thinking about it make your heart race?”
“……”
The viscount had no reply.
Lloyd chuckled softly.
Yeah.
Of course his heart would race.
His heart was probably doing triple axels in 16-bit free rhythm just from the unheard-of idea of taxing water.
‘That’s why you picked the wrong guy.’
Lloyd’s smile turned subtly wicked.
Suddenly, he recalled the day he first planned the aqueduct.
It was probably the day he’d climbed the Eastern Mountains with Haviel for the surveying expedition.
At first, his mind had been filled only with the thought of overcoming the crisis facing the barony.
He’d comforted himself that even if it cost money, building a stable water supply system wouldn’t be a huge loss.
But deep down, he was furious.
Building the aqueduct.
Sure, it was great.
Really great.
But simply getting past the crisis and breathing a sigh of relief didn’t sit right—not when there was this lump of resentment in his chest that refused to dissolve.
‘I wanted to screw you over big time, no matter what it took.’
The viscount before his eyes.
What had he done to force the handover of Marez Reclaimed Land?
He’d dumped toxic wastewater straight into the river without permission.
When confronted, he’d acted like he didn’t give a damn.
No, he’d even resorted to threats.
He’d sent one of his knights with a message: the dumping wouldn’t stop until half of Marez Reclaimed Land was handed over.
It went far beyond rudeness or impropriety.
It was outright tyranny.
‘That’s why I couldn’t sleep properly back then.’
Whenever he lay down to rest, visions of gold coins danced before his eyes.
The ondol rooms he was still building and selling one by one.
Even while paying interest with the proceeds, a little money had been left over.
He’d used that to fund various construction projects.
And he’d scrimped and saved every spare penny.
‘Then suddenly, I had to smash it all to pieces because of you.’
Lloyd’s gaze toward the viscount grew icy.
Recalling those emotions made his blood run cold once more.
Perhaps that was why.
The day he’d been out surveying with Haviel.
When he’d discovered the limestone bedrock in a valley midway up the mountains, he’d unconsciously clenched his fist.
He’d shouted “This is it!” inwardly and let out a cheer.
A slightly exposed limestone outcrop.
A broad valley with water flowing to one side.
When he realized that water was the upstream source of the Prona River flowing into both the viscount’s territory and the barony.
Calculations exploded in his mind.
Angles came together in an instant.
A picture formed.
The plan that had nearly ended with just the aqueduct.
That was the moment the scheme to screw over the viscount got added.
‘That’s when it started.’
Lloyd reset the nature of the aqueduct construction plan.
It wasn’t just for the territory’s development anymore.
He’d set it as a secret weapon, literally, to strike at the viscount.
That’s why.
“Don’t worry. There will never be a shortage of water supplied to you. Why? Because when we first prepared the aqueduct construction, we designed the scale of the pipes and intake station calculating even the water volume needed for your dye workshop.”
That’s right.
Everything was going according to plan.
“And we’ve already surveyed the entire route for laying the aqueduct pipes from our territory to your dye workshop. The ground is very stable. The slope is just right, making it easy to set the water flow speed in the conduits.”
“What does that…?”
“It means we’ve finished not just the surveying but the design too. Just give the okay sign, and we can start construction tomorrow. You could be getting clean water to your dye workshop as early as two weeks from now.”
Leisure filled Lloyd’s smile.
In hindsight, he’d really wanted to see the viscount’s face trembling like that.
“So think it over carefully. Consider your position fully. You don’t think charging for water usage is unfair, do you?”
“That’s….”
“Yes, it’s a new concept, so it might feel off at first. But if you refuse, your dye workshop and Lacona’s specialty products—all of it goes down the drain.”
“……”
The viscount’s fingertips trembled pathetically.
Lloyd’s smile grew even more relaxed in response.
Watching the two of them, Haviel unconsciously clenched his fist.
‘Terrifying.’
Haviel brushed off the goosebumps on his arm without thinking.
The young master he served, Lloyd Frontera.
He’d known for a while that the guy held grudges fiercely and had a twisted personality.
But he hadn’t expected it to be like this.
‘To think he had a plan like this.’
Even when they’d finished the aqueduct work earlier.
Even when Lloyd had suddenly suggested going to collect payment.
Haviel hadn’t imagined this scenario by a gram.
No, he’d dismissed it as incomprehensible.
It had been the same when they’d descended the mountains with Lloyd.
When Lloyd visited the viscount’s mansion, even when he made that pointless appointment request that would surely be denied—he’d stayed consistent.
‘I just thought Lord Lloyd was venting his emotions, blowing off steam.’
So he’d tried to stop him.
Said it wasn’t rational.
That letting emotions dictate would only escalate the conflict.
He’d desperately tried to dissuade Lloyd.
‘But I was wrong.’
Haviel admitted it readily.
At this point, he had to.
The young master he served was truly….
‘Thoroughly, perfectly petty. The viscount who’s been so annoying all this time almost seems pitiful.’
That was his honest impression.
Lloyd was impressive, but the viscount was just as pitiable.
Truth be told, Haviel hadn’t thought highly of Viscount Lacona.
The man had oppressed his own liege lord, the baron.
Yet now, that viscount seemed pitiful.
No, he looked like the most pitiable, tragic figure in the world.
In fact, as Haviel watched, the viscount’s fingertips, lips, and even eyebrows quivered nonstop.
He felt like an ant trapped in an antlion pit.
That utter hopelessness.
‘Wrong. There’s no way out of this.’
He hadn’t expected the guy to be this thorough.
To corner him like this.
He hadn’t even dreamed of it in his sleep.
No, he’d never even imagined such a method existed.
An aqueduct.
Bringing clean water from afar.
And calculating in advance the water volume for the dye workshop while building it.
‘From the start, that bastard was dead set on strangling me.’
The viscount’s eyes turned to Lloyd.
The young punk still grinning at him.
He no longer seemed like a greenhorn.
The more he looked, the creepier it got.
‘Why did I ever mess with a guy like that?’
If he could, he’d turn back time two or three months.
He wanted to slap his own face for ordering the dye workshop overseer to dump wastewater into the river.
But it was too late.
No way to turn back time.
Only one way to revive the dye workshop.
“……Hoo. Fine.”
In the end, Viscount Lacona nodded gravely.
One corner of Lloyd’s mouth curled up.
“You agree?”
“I’ll accept your proposal.”
“You mean we can install the aqueduct at your dye workshop?”
“……Yes.”
“Good choice.”
Flutter!
The moment the words ended, Lloyd moved.
He pulled a rolled-up document from inside his coat.
Snapped it open on the table.
The viscount’s eyes wavered.
“What’s this?”
“What else? The aqueduct supply contract.”
“……”
The viscount was speechless.
He genuinely wondered what kind of person this was.
It hit him skin-deep once more.
He’d come fully prepared, even with the contract pre-drafted meticulously.
This guy was seriously set on scraping his bones clean and sucking the marrow out.
‘Kuh….’
The viscount’s somber eyes shifted.
He scanned the contract like reading a declaration of defeat.
Then his eyes shook massively once more.
“Th-this, what is this?”
“Which part?”
“Here, this.”
The viscount pointed shakily at the contract.
The spot he indicated listed the monthly water tax he had to pay the Frontera family.
“Isn’t this number wrong?”
“Why? Does it seem like there are one or two extra zeros?”
“Yes. It must be a mistake….”
“It’s correct.”
“……”
“The amount on the contract is right.”
“How….”
“Do you think it’s too expensive?”
“Of course….”
The viscount trailed off and peered at the contract again.
The water tax line had an absurd amount written on it.
‘It’s just water.’
Even pricing water was shocking enough to faint.
But that amount was so unrealistic it felt like three thousand slaps on top of the faint.
Lloyd’s reprimand flew at the viscount.
With a look of utter disdain.
“Come on. You still think water is free?”
“……”
“Just because it flows endlessly down the river, you thought you could use it without restraint? But what can we do? You’re the one who taught our territory’s people the hard way how precious that river water is.”
“……”
The toxic wastewater dumping incident he’d caused.
His face darkened as he recalled it.
Lloyd continued.
“Thanks to you, all our territory folk learned it bone-deep. Water isn’t free. It’s a resource that can be destroyed anytime. Sometimes, you have to pay a huge price to get it.”
It was true.
A sip of clean water.
A glass you could drink without worry.
To obtain that, most of the territory’s people had rolled up their sleeves.
Kids had carried stones to build temporary reservoirs. Ondol construction had halted entirely, sending the entire engineering corps up the Eastern Mountains.
They’d felled massive bamboos countless times, dug with shovels, built aqueducts, and sweated buckets.
Only after that grueling process could the barony’s residents reclaim clean water.
A painful lesson that water isn’t always free.
Now it was time to return that lesson to the viscount.
“So I really can’t understand. Why do you think this is expensive? Think about it. Don’t you consider the effort to bring clean water all the way here?”
“……”
“Is designing and installing aqueduct pipes something that happens snap like that? It requires massive technology and labor. And once installed, is that it? No maintenance? And who does the maintenance?”
“Well, of course….”
“Yes. Me. The Frontera family. We have to check for leaks constantly. Manage debris and sediment at the intake. Replace worn pipes sometimes. Does that sound like child’s play? And you still call the water tax expensive?”
“Th-that’s….”
“Then don’t use it.”
Flutter.
The contract spread on the table vanished.
More precisely, Lloyd rolled it up in his hand in an instant.
It was heading back into his coat.
The viscount reacted reflexively.
“W-wait a second!”
Grab!
Without thinking, the viscount reached out.
He seized Lloyd’s wrist as he was tucking the contract away.
Only then did he realize how desperate he’d been.
“Ah, haha.”
The viscount laughed awkwardly.
Lloyd flashed a bright smile at him.
“Changed your mind?”
“Y-yeah, seems so.”
“Good. Wise decision.”
Rustle!
The rolled-up contract returned to the table.
Lloyd said.
“No long talk. Both copies are identical. Sign here, here, and here.”
“……”
The viscount picked up the pen.
His face filled with gloom as he dipped it in ink.
But he acutely felt there was truly no other way now.
“Hoo.”
With a long sigh, the signature followed.
As the signing proceeded, Lloyd’s cheeks nearly rose to heaven.
‘Done. This frees us completely from the interest payments to those loan sharks.’
He clenched his fist.
He recalled the debt the baronial family owed the loan sharks.
The massive interest due every month.
But from now on, no more interest worries.
Simple reason.
The contract just handed to the viscount.
The monthly water tax it guaranteed.
That amount matched the interest owed to the loan sharks exactly.
In other words, from now on, the viscount would cover the baronial family’s interest payments.
A future with zero interest worries.
Now he could put every penny saved toward paying off the principal!
‘Honestly, I wanted to just swallow the dye workshop whole.’
Or demand they hand over the technology.
But Lloyd shook his head.
‘The viscount would’ve died before accepting that.’
He didn’t need to see it to know.
Not only would he refuse, it could provoke even greater backlash.
‘Worst case, he might bypass the noble court and petition the queen directly.’
Restoring their specialty by altering the river’s composition was one thing, but demanding the dye workshop itself was worlds apart.
The former could pass as a fair trade.
The latter was blatant extortion.
‘Pushing too far for a big prize could land me in scandals and get me on the queen’s bad side—huge loss. Stopping here is politically and practically perfect. We have to keep living next door to the viscount’s territory anyway.’
Reality isn’t a land-grab game like Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
Receiving massive water tax monthly.
Sucking money endlessly with an extra-large straw.
That was Lloyd’s wise, realistic maximum gain—his Maginot Line.
“Hoo. Sign here too?”
The viscount’s signing was nearly done.
The spot he pointed to.
One last signature, and the contract would be sealed.
Lloyd was about to reply when—
“Wait, my liege!”
Bang!
The audience chamber door burst open like it was shattering.
Through the open door charged a sturdy-looking man.
He shouted.
“You mustn’t give water tax to a coward like that! Please stop signing that unfair contract and chase out this utterly shameless scum, my liege!”
A fervent protest from between his black beard.
Not large, but solidly built.
Sir Kuruno, senior knight of the viscount’s territory.
Pointing at them, he bellowed sternly.
“Lloyd Frontera! Do you think you’ll get away with insulting my liege like this?!”
It was a total intrusion.
A tackle on a deal about to close.
That’s why.
Lloyd regarded Sir Kuruno with warm eyes.
He answered the knight’s shout from moments ago with utmost sincerity.
“Yeah.”
At the same time, he thought.
Come to think of it, that guy had been nagging at him for a while.
He’d oddly forgotten to deal with him, out of character.
‘But look at him, coming right to me asking for a smackdown, even appealing so eagerly. How cute.’
Lloyd’s smile toward Sir Kuruno grew all the more rewarding and pleased.