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Chapter 110.1: Impartial Rex

The eighth month\'s weather was really too hot. Enduring the stifling heat for an entire day at the duty post made him sleepy when the weather cooled at dusk. This current duty personnel couldn\'t wait to change shifts and get off work.

After waiting for some time without seeing anyone come over, this security officer grumbled, "Kelly and Sandy are always so slow. Changing shifts with them every time takes far too long. I\'ve had enough! Hey, Jimmy, how about finding someone to swap shifts?"

Jimmy, who had just finished yawning, eyed his partner lazily. "Forget it. Whoever takes the shift would still take forever. We weren\'t timely either when we came at noon."

Previously, guarding the town gate was a coveted duty, especially during the late afternoon to midnight shift. Those lacking sufficient experience could only dream about getting such a chance.

But now, the duty of guarding the town gate was something no one wanted

Standing monotonously at the guard post and unable to leave for many hours, prohibited from drinking, cursing at passersby, or behaving in a frivolous manner What were gate sentries now? Wooden stakes?

While the new nauseating rules like no drinking, no harassing people, no extorting or blackmailing businesses and vendors applied to patrolling within the town too, at least there was the freedom to roam around and chat with familiar faces, unlike the boredom at the town gate.

Jimmy disliked being stationed at the town gate. When it wasn\'t his turn for this dreaded duty, he preferred wandering around the construction sites scattered throughout the town There was nothing more satisfying than witnessing the gradual destruction, elimination, or transformation of the places he had once detested.

Occasionally, he would stroll through the alleys of the residential area, observing how the revelers and pleasure seekers cleaned the filthy gutters under the watch of the undead.

Jimmy detested the red-light district, the sex workers, and, even more so, the clients.

When he was young and ignorant, he harbored resentment toward his powerless father who squandered the family\'s livelihood on women. He remembered how his family survived on plain boiled potatoes for almost two months after his father\'s reckless spending. As he grew older and understood what had happened, the thought of using the same spoon as his father made him nauseous.

"Oh! Oh oh oh!"

His duty partner at the guard post suddenly pointed excitedly in the direction away from town. "Look, Jimmy, isn\'t that Simon and his gang?"

Jimmy quickly went to the window to take a look.

Indeed, on the town road, a crowd, kicking up quite a bit of dust, was approaching. Leading the way were several bold and daring figuresSimon and Allen\'s gang.

Yesterday, Jimmy and his partner were assigned the task of patrolling the town\'s main street and maintaining order. While wandering toward the northern residential area, they noticed the residents making a lot of noise and, upon inquiry, learned that Simon and his group had dared to start a business on credit with the new lord, and that was the talk of the town. Jimmy\'s and his partner\'s eyes had nearly popped out when they heard this.

The reactions of most neighbors were similar to theirs. Those closer to Simon advised them kindly to quickly apologize to Mr. Rex and return the fabric to avoid causing more trouble.

When Jimmy returned home after work that night, his wife told him that those few families had sought help from many people, gathered up a large group, and managed to transport the fabric out of town before noon.

Was business a walk in the park in these times?

And that was just local businesses. Recklessly bringing valuable goods to another place was even riskier. Aside from making enough profit, coming back alive was already considered a blessing from Lady Gold Coin. In any case, Jimmy didn\'t have much confidence in this venture succeeding.

However, at this moment Jimmy was astonished to find that Simon and the others didn\'t seem to have been robbed or attacked. Although all 20 of them looked disheveled and worn, they seemed to be in high spirits. The little rascal, Benjamin, even waved excitedly when he saw Jimmy.

As they approached the town gate, Jimmy and his partner couldn\'t resist coming out from their post and peered curiously at the two steel-framed tricycles surrounded by the crowd

Those tricycles, previously loaded with rolls of fabric, were now empty, the canvas covering the top flapping loosely.

"You guys, sold everything?" Jimmy asked in disbelief.

"Hehe, yeah, all sold!" Simon, Allen, Caroline, and Benjamin approached, their faces beaming with wide smiles.

"You guys didn\'t encounter any trouble? Those outsiders didn\'t give you a hard time?" Jimmy\'s partner asked in astonishment.

"Of course, we did, butah, Dad, what\'s up?" Benjamin, eager to boast, was nearly about to spill the details when his father pulled him back via his collar and redirected the conversation.

Simon gave Benjamin a stern look, then chuckled as he said to Jimmy, "We need to go to the town hall. Catch up later." With that, he hurriedly led his contingent into town.

Jimmy\'s partner was curious and wanted to ask more but was hauled back to the post by Jimmy.

"I just wanted to ask how they resolved the trouble. Can\'t I just do that? You are so stingy!" protested Jimmy\'s partner.

"Forget it. They made it clear they didn\'t want to talk about it. Don\'t go annoying them." Jimmy waved dismissively.

Everyone knew that the undead fabric sold by the new lord could fetch a good price outside. But why hadn\'t anyone thought of engaging in the resale business? Was everyone foolish?

Since Simon and his group had found a safe way to sell the fabric, they certainly wouldn\'t be willing to share it with others.

Elsewhere, the four families were forced to join the "short-distance merchant caravan," and their summoned relatives didn\'t rush to disperse after entering the town. They also didn\'t engage in conversation with the curious residents they encountered on the way and hastily made their way to the town hall.

Rex, who had just returned to the town hall and hadn\'t caught his breath yet, heard that Simon and the others had come to pay for the goods, so he hurriedly emerged from his office.

Seeing more than 20 town residents standing in the courtyard, covered in dust, with many faces barely recognizable, Rex didn\'t know whether to laugh or cry. "Just got back? There\'s really no need for such a hurry. Go home, rest up, and come back tomorrow."

The four youngsters smiled awkwardly but didn\'t abide by Rex\'s words None of them had ever come into contact with so much money. They wouldn\'t feel at ease leaving it anywhere, afraid of losing it and resulting in an inability to repay the debt. Since they started the journey back, not a single one of them had dared take their eyes off the two tricycles for a second.

Seeing their nervous expressions, Rex quickly waved for two clerks to come over to count the money and settle the accounts.

The bottoms of the cargo compartments of the two tricycles were filled with copper coins, and they had covered the canvas loosely so as to pretend there was nothing inside. Their group had also tightly surrounded the two tricycles, fearing that experienced thieves might notice and cause trouble.

Rex had sold 30 rolls of fabric to the four youngsters, each measuring 60 meters. Due to the hand-cutting and retailing of the fabric by the meter, there might be some discrepancies in the cutting process. Rex, therefore, calculated each roll as 59 meters.

The four youngsters, along with their family members and relatives, toiled for two full days and one night, exchanging these 30 rolls of fabric for over 35,600 copper coins.

The circulating copper coins in the market didn\'t have a standardized weight due to the complex sources involving private minting by nobles and churches. Usually, a coin weighed around 10 to 13 grams, and they weren\'t pure copper, containing about two to three percent of other metals.

Even so, this amounted to over 300 kilograms of copper coins

With so many copper coins escorted by 20 or so ordinary townsfolk, it was no wonder they dared not return home and directly made their way to the town hall.

The two clerks and Rex himself went to work. Using a box for counting copper coins (a tool specially designed for sliding coins along the internal track and stacking them in piles of ten or twenty), they counted the over 300 kilograms of copper coins. Rex, who was good at math, jotted down calculations on paper until it was pitch dark and lanterns had to illuminate the courtyard. Finally, the copper coins were split into two piles.

Pointing to the pile on the left, Rex said, "30 rolls of fabric, calculated at 59 meters per roll, amount to 1,770 meters. The price granted to you is 10 coppers per meter, totaling 17,700 coppers. Consider this pile as settling the fees for the goods."

The 20-odd townsfolk nodded in unison.

Pointing to the pile on the right, Rex continued, "The remainder is your profit. This stack amounts to 17,862 coppers."

The contingent of townsfolk stared blankly at Rex.

The figure was too huge, and they couldn\'t react.

"S-seventeen thousand" Caroline mumbled in a daze, her voice dreamlike. "If converted to silver coins, it\'s over 170 If converted to gold coins, it\'s 17 gold coinsO Lady Gold Coin, have we earned 17 gold?"

"Yes." Rex nodded approvingly. "This is all your hard-earned money. You\'ve done very well."

Caroline was utterly shocked. Beside her, Allen slumped to the ground limply

Rex quickly reached out, grabbing Allen, who was disoriented by the windfall, to have a seat. He chuckled. "Alright, don\'t get too excited yet. Did you forget I\'m still the lord? If your monthly income exceeds 1,800 coppers, you have to pay a high-income tax. Don\'t tell me you\'re planning to evade taxes right in front of me?"

The four youngsters shuddered and shook their heads vigorously, indicating that they wouldn\'t dare do such a thing.

"Ah!" Caroline suddenly exclaimed and covered her mouth with her hands.

"What\'s wrong?" Rex looked over.

"N-nothing." Caroline had a strange look on her face as if she wanted to laugh wildly but found it absurd as well.

Just a few days prior, Caroline had just told her mother that there were very few people who needed to pay this sort of high-income tax. Little had she expected she would have to consider paying these taxes now