Chapter 77 - A Corrupt Leader

"So you’re telling me that you left your wives behind in the village for this entire revenge mission, and you didn’t even prepare for it at all?" Erick asked

I don’t know where he came up with that.

Of course I prepared, I had an entire plan for what I was going to do to Duke Charles depending on his levels of guilt.

"Of course I prepared," I answered. "I know exactly what I’m going to do."

"Riight," Erick said, clearly very sarcastic. "And do you know how you are going to achieve this mission?"

"Do you know how many personal guards the duke employs?" He continued, interrupting my answers with a raised hand.

"Do you even know where he lives?"

"Or what is considered his territory?"

"Apart from the fact that you suspect he tried to have Julia killed, do you have any idea what kind of person he is?"

Of course I knew none of these things, but did any of that even matter?

I mean I was just planning to sneak into his mansion, or castle or whatever the hell he lived in, and dole out the punishment. What would the answers to any of those questions even matter, it’s not like I was going to attempt assassination in front of the entire city, or even in front of his guards... I’m not an idiot.

And apparently Erick could see that I had absolutely no idea about any of his questions, because in the next moment, he heaved one of the biggest sighs of resignation I’ve heard in a long time, and shook his head.

"Do you not know that by knowing your enemy and his weaknesses, you can dole out punishment that is much more effective than simply threatening him, or killing him?" He asked.

And honestly... it actually made sense.

I mean if I knew what kind of man he was, I would know what his weaknesses were, I would know what he desired more than anything, and what would hurt immensely for him to lose.

And honestly the thought had crossed my mind that if I didn’t kill him, but simply punished him, he might send his entire army after me, which would endanger my wives, my businesses, and Lofie Village.

But simply killing him would be so... anticlimactic.

Maybe if I could do some more research, I might be able to pull some strings from the darkness that would deliver a more fitting punishment. One that he had to suffer through for the rest of his miserable life.

"Tell me more," I said, a wicked smile spreading across my face.

"It’s good that you see the benefits now," Erick smiled back.

Now Erick dove deep into the specifics of Duke Charles, his life, and the kind of person he was, specifics that I’m not going to bore you with, instead I’ll give you the summary of what he told me.

It turned out Duke Charles lived in a city about a week’s travel by carriage from Stellor City. His territory though, included everything from Stellor City to the very city he lived in, which seemed to be quite a vast piece of land.

And, according to Erick, like most of the nobles in the human territories he was extremely corrupt, always placing his own interests above those of the people he was supposed to govern. On top of the taxes that his people have to pay to the kingdom, he also taxed them for his own personal gain, which meant that he not only pocketed the income that was subsidised to his territory by the kingdom, but also the revenue he made from his personal taxes.

And what I mean by pocketing the subsidies from the kingdom is that he literally took all of that income for himself, barely keeping his territory afloat with the meager amount he actually dedicated to it.

Apart from that, he also used his station to basically do whatever he wanted, with whoever he wanted.

There were rumors of him sending men to die in the border skirmishes just so he could take their wives for himself. He would then use these women until they were only a broken shell of the beauty they once were, and then he would discard them.

As you can see the man was a complete animal.

With each new sin Erick told me about, my jaw couldn’t help but tighten, I had been gripping my mug of ale so hard that my hands had started to shake.

"Yeah," I whispered. "Death would be far too light of a punishment for that monster."

"I agree," Erick nodded.

"I can’t believe that leaders never seem to realise that they are nothing more than employees to the people they govern," I said.

"That’s... an interesting way to look at it," Erick said with a frown.

"What do you mean by that?" Jackson asked, still sipping on his ale.

"A leader without people to govern, is nothing," I answered. "But people without a leader are still people."

"A person can only become a leader because of the people he is duty bound to serve."

"And if you think of it more practically, the taxes that his citizens pay is technically his salary, which means that he is in essence their employee." I finished.

For a few moments Jackson could only look at me with a slack jaw.

"That actually makes sense," he finally said.

I mean it’s not like that was a majorly revolutionary thought, it should have been something that was obvious to anyone, yet it never seemed to be. Even a king, or queen, was only able to be in their positions because of their people.

"What about heirs?" I asked, the beginnings of an idea starting to form.

"He has a few," Erick answered. "But each one seems to be worse than the last."

That was actually quite normal, and something that I probably should have expected.

"However, there is a bastard son from one of those women he stole," Erick continued. "It’s rumored that he absolutely despises his father."

I couldn’t help a smile from starting to form again.

"And where exactly is this son of his?" I asked.

"It’s said that he is one of the strongest fighters in the entire territory, so his father has him constantly fighting somewhere in some sort of skirmish or dispute." Erick answered.

Which once again made me frown.

"If he hates his father so much, why hasn’t he left the territory?" I asked.

"Because Charles still has his mother captive," Erick answered.

"This is perfect!" I couldn’t help but exclaim, these little tidbits were the perfect combination of situations that would help me start the ball of Duke Charles’ demise rolling.

"It is?" Erick and Jackson asked at the same time.

"It is," I answered, my smile spreading all over my face again. "I think it’s time for us to go shopping Erick, we have some preparations to make."