Tsumi Kake Tensei Ryoushu no Kaikaku

Chapter 2 (Territory, what"s that?)

After coming back from the feudal lord office, he returned to his own room, a maid come running searching for Sora while having her face turn blue. 
The inside aside, the outward appearance is still that of 2 years old child, after all, having such child disappear, the one who holds responsible might get executed. 
Sora thought about his future while having the maid who confirms him being alright with tearful voice reading a fairy tale.

I dare say, the population must be bearing a grudge against Kleinselt family. 
If I were to leave it like this as a Kleinselt family heir, I would get rolled up, or so he thought. In the worst case, I might end up getting killed in a revolution. 

Sora thought that recovering the population trust is an urgent business. 

"But what does a two-year-old child can do... " 

Those two people won"t listen to me even if I intervene in management. I mean, if they listen to me, they are the one who"s weird  
If that is the case, should I control the feudal lord army in some way, then threatened my parents and governed the territory from the shadow? I was about to be tainted by such dangerous thought, but then I remembered the things that I saw inside the feudal lord office. 
There"s the evidence that the army commander also takes an active role kidnapping the populace. 
If I were to do a bad job, I might be getting myself eliminated as a hindrance, and get stabbed in the back. 

"...Is it a checkmate already? Though I have not yet done anything." 

Looking at Sora complexion, the maid heaves a breath of relief. 

"Nee, does Maid-san know what kind of life people in this territory have?" 

Sora turns his face, showing an innocent smile which detached from his inner thought, and asked while looking at the window. 
From the window, thought it"s only for several times, among the stone wall on the street, I can see a humble house building using a mud wall. Even a house with only a roof can be seen at a distance. 

"... Eh?" 

She opened her mouth dumbfounded, after noticing that what she does is rude, she becomes confused. 

"Umm, you see. The Kleinselt territory is blessed with wonderful development thanks to the feudal lord-sama and Madame, and it equals the Imperial capitalー." 
"You might try confusing children with difficult words, but, it won"t work you know?" 

I show a zero yen smile just like someone who is being trained at certain hamburger shop.  
In spite of the existence of stone architecture, a building with only a roof is weird after all. 

"I"m tired of lies. I want to know the truth." 

The maid held her breath. I asked her with a smooth face as smooth as sutra of a two-year-old child. 

"It"s not a lie you know?" 
"I will cry if you didn"t tell me the truth?" 

Children"s lacrimal glands are loose after all. When Sora was still an infant, he"s learning how to fake crying. 
Looking at me, the maid expression changed from the smiling one into the panicked one. 

"Please wait. I"ll tell you; I"ll tell you, so... Please hold on..." 

Sora apologi

zes to the maid who goes into panic inside his heart. 
Though it sounds like threatening, Sora has a quite uneasy consciousness, after all, one will get punished and become a slave if they disturb inheritor rest time. 

"Yatta~... Maid onee-chan, I love you~..."  

Maid-san began telling the story of a commoner life after responding to Sora follow-up like line that is not right coming from a child with a cramped smile. 

"In Kleinselt territory, there"s no mountain exist. because the land is facing the sea and having exposed to salty sea breeze, the crops are hard to grow." 

Sora then tries to compare the description with the data he found in the feudal lord office for the lack of information. 
In Kleinselt territory, because of high tide, sea water entered the river, thus making the soil salty. That must be the reason why crops did not grow properly in this neighborhood. 

"And, we cannot maintain gra.s.sland either. The livestock is also hard to bring up, thus making the people who raise them to almost nonexistence. Everyone just goes to the sea for the fish to stave their hunger." 

It is necessary to extract the salt from the soil, and prevent the sea water entering the river for the agriculture to work smoothly. The livestock production is also similar to that. 

"And here, I was thinking why we"re having fish food all the times..." 
"Are you dislike fish?" 

I shake my head answering the maid-san question. 
After all, I"m a j.a.panese; thus I have no dissatisfaction toward this world marine product. 

"How are you people goes for fishing?" 
"It would be difficult to describe it with just words, can I do it while drawing?" 
"It would be easier to understand it that way, after all, huh..." 
"Well then, excuse me..." 

Contrary to my expectation, I thought she was going to get a paper, but she just spilled some water on the desk and began drawing. 
The water shines because of the light, making the ship on the desk which she draws looks glittering. The form of the ship is similar to that of a canoe. Since there"s no sail on it, I guess they only use it near the sh.o.r.e. 

"You have an artistic taste eh..." 
"I"m honored... approximately five people get into this boat. then they go to the sea, and use a fishing line." 
"... What about the net?" 
"Net? what is that?" 

The maid-san looks at me wondering. 
As if finding it unexpected that they don"t even know what a net is, Sora then told her the rough form of it. 

"I see, If I"m not wrong, it does exist in my parent"s house." 

The maid-san put her hand on her cheek while pondering, listening to her, her house seems to be a fisherman household. 

"Why it"s not being used?" 

If there"s a net, then it would be more efficient to fish. Since it is hard to grow food, they should take a lot of fish beyond only for securing food. 

"They seem to use it at the time when my grandparents still young, but... " 

The maid eyes wandered around and spoke in a vague manner. 

"If maid-san is not telling the truth then, I"m going to scream 『Maid oneechan; I hate you!』 in the corridor?" 
"W-Wait a moment! I will tell you..." 

The maid heaves a sigh and brings her face closer. Catching the meaning of the maid-san wanting to began a secret talk, Sora brings his ear closer to her. 

"The previous feudal lord says 『it"s outrageous for the plebeians to have big ships』 in anger, then the ship size being restricted, thus we"re unable to use the net." 

Previous Feudal lord, that means Sora"s grandfather. 

"... I wonder, if he"s properly going to h.e.l.l?" 
"Sora-sama?" 
"Hmm? Oh, nothing..." 

For preventing her asking again, Sora shows a fake smile instantly. The maid looking at that smile make her thought that she misheard it. 

"But still, the boat can bring five people, right? then it would be easy to bring just a net isn"t it?" 
"Due to many islands in this area, the stream ran fast, thus making it very complicated. If there"s no considerable weight placed on the net, it will get carried away by the sea stream. That"s why no one brings it on the boat." 

The maid-san frown her eyebrows and shows a troubled face. I hear that, even with skilled fisherman, there"re some people who went missing in the sea each year. 

"I can understand from the story, that means, it"s very difficult to even just for securing food huh?" 

As Sora summarized, the maid-san nodded in affirmation. 

"With that condition, how are they going to pay taxes?" 

Sora asked her while tilting his head to make him looks super cute, but due the gap between the content and the appearance is too huge, the effect is small. 
The maid looked at him as if looking at something weird. 

"Taxes, is it?... " 
"You understand what it is? Or rather, I want to continue. ..." 

Being unable to believe what Sora had said, the maid opened her mouth while wiping the table where she draws the ship previously. 

"I was paying the tax by lumbering the trees." 
"Was?" 

I did not miss the past tense from her words. 
Sora would have a thought if the populaces were being exempted from tax due to poverty. 

"The current existing Lord oblige us to pay tax with money now." 
"I see... since there"s no food in this territory, thus the tax need to be paid using currency, with that money, one can import food from a different place to distribute it to the populaces huh." 

It seems, the first impression that his father being a garbage is wrong, which make Sora feels a bit relieved. 
I"m sorry for calling you pig, I sincerely apologize, father. 

"No, there"s no such thing as food distribution. The feudal lord always brings the collected tax money every time he went to the imperial city." 

Sora then took a deep breath after hearing the maid words. 

It seems like my father here is a real garbage. Probably, he spends the tax money for bribes at the imperial capital.