Chapter 49
During this time, John and others set off for North-frontier town . After getting the deed, John was now going to aggressively bring in a lot of new technologies which he was hesitant about in the past few days . He already understood that he needed people whom he can trust and he also needed to be strong enough if he wished to protect himself and his friends and this was also one of the reasons why he trusted men under him so he can judge them early on . Their return Journey this time was quite peaceful compared to their Journey when they headed south, maybe one of the reasons was because Knights of Marquis were escorting them on their return Journey and hence they never faced bandits on the road or problems when they crossed the borders of various nobles .
In the North-frontier town, Vlad met with all the slaves who were bought by John . Eric had settled all the slaves in the North-frontier town . After meeting the slaves, he could see that all the slaves showing Rays of hope . It was unlike the usual slaves where they displayed no hope who were normally bought by merchants and nobles likewise .
After this encounter, he understood that John was going to treat his slaves differently from how other nobles and merchants treated them . John to him appeared like a unique star standing out in the night sky which was different from others . He possessed fearlessness when it came to take action for sticking up to his values .
However, Vlad still wondered, for how long would John stick to values when he would have to choose between two evils in the future .
Unlike the slaves who never showed any positive emotions, he could clearly see those emotions from the slaves under John . Among the slaves, he could also see one guy who very different from all the slaves present, it was Jake who was training alone who had an expression of hope, determination and tenacity . Unlike the past where he was in disbelief, now he could see a way and hope where he could nullify the wrong he did to his family . This event was also one of the knots which bind his heart .
After asking Eric, he understood his situation and decided not to bother him for now and headed to the mansion and report the recent happenings of the day to Diana .
After a day whole day of traveling, the whole group returned to the North-frontier city . Their return caused quite a stir among the people in the north-frontier city as there were knights who were escorting them . Mayor Sam was already informed during the day about the transfer of ownership of land from Baron Mendez to John via a letter .
So during this commotion, he informed everyone of the transfer of ownership of land to the people . People also didn't know how to react but a lot of people were quite happy and cheered about the transfer .
It may be because many were farmers who benefitted a lot from John's proposal in farms and many were ones who were benefitted from John's Soap Factory . After the construction of his factory, the volume of people who came to the North-frontier town had increased a lot as well . The same was the case with merchants and so people didn't have to stock up on necessities and give exorbitant prices like they usually did .
Looking at the commotion, John decided to speak in front of everyone,
"I know that many of you might be confused and wouldn't know how to react on this current situation However there is still good news for you guys, from now I have decided that all the taxes on the yields will be reduced to the minimum 65% of the kingdom and in times of need I as the Baron, No, as one of your comrades from this land will do my best if the town faces danger in any form . Previously before I owned North-frontier town, I had already asked Mayor Sam about the problems of our town faced and hence I had first decided to buy the town first . This time as well I have decided to use my money if the town faces any problem when it comes to food . For this situation, I have also decided to construct various big granaries in the town . Mayor Sam will remain the mayor, as for the knights which you might be worrying about, they came from Marquis Ray's dominion and they will help us train more people in knight training for the protection of this town . "
After listening to John's spellbound speech, many people were happy with the most important being the reduction in taxes as it would help them lessen their burden, unlike the past where nobles usually squeezed most from the masses it was different for John . If it was in full control of John then he would have reduced the taxes like the modern times of earth however he didn't want to bring more unwanted attention from aristocrats towards him as this decision would practically mean that he was challenging all the nobles of Aelius Kingdom . However, this didn't mean that he did not have other ways to improve the situation of people under his rule and he had decided that when he got stronger he wouldn't care about them and simply reduce the taxes without giving two hoots to the nobles .
Mayor Sam was very happy with the change in ownership of the land because he already knew about the monster attack and Baron's plan to abandon North-frontier town if an invasion of magical monsters took place, however also he understood that Baron Mendez intended to defend his dominion from a better geographical area rather than defend from North-frontier town however he still felt that Baron should have informed the people of North-frontier town if he intended to abandon this place so people would be more prepared in case of an emergency .
Meanwhile, the folks in the town were continuously talking about the incidents John did which helped them previously .