Chapter 63

While Lucas was busy with Bryan, Carter and Fez were standing in the middle of the road in the Shopping Mall, staring blankly at the people around them. Everyone around them was nervous and happy, and all of them carried something in their hands. There were a few people that rested on the benches on the side of the road with something edible or what they call snacks in their hands.

Carter had a grim expression. Anyone would easily realize how much profit the Shopping Mall could bring to someone. He was pissed because he was the one who had given it all up. It had previously all belonged to him. He wanted to take it all back. He didn't bother to think about where the Shopping Mall came from or why there was no Shopping Mall in the time he had been the noble here. He didn't want to think about it, either.

'I must take this territory back. I will take it back. This is mine. All mine.' Carter thought while clenching his fist. 'As long as I have the Shopping Mall, I don't need to go to the central land. I can just stay here. The Shopping Mall here will allow me to have a better life than counts. When I take back this territory, I will move to live in the Shopping Mall and just watch the coins stack up. I can just take whatever I want to eat or use from the Shopping Mall. Even if they give me the position of a king- cough cough – a count, I won't leave this place.'

Fez looked at the somewhat insane Carter's expression and asked worriedly, "Lord Father, are you okay?"

Carter took a deep breath and said, "Go get ready. We're going to go visit Baron Lucas."

"What?" Fez was dumbfounded as the decision was a bit too sudden. "Wait, Lord Father, why are we visiting him?"

Smack!

"Idiot!" Carter raised his hand and slapped Fez on the face. "Don't you see what's happening right now? We must take back this territory by any necessary means."

Fez touched his face with his hands and slightly shrank back. He hadn't been hit by Carter for many years and was about to say something when he saw Lucas in the distance. "Lord Father, look, Lucas is over there." Fez tugged Carter's clothes and pointed in a direction.

"Don't expose us. It's not the time to see him yet." Carter said, pressing down on Fez's head with his hand. They then turned around and randomly pointed at shops from time to time.

"An illusion?" Mina muttered, turning her head and looking at the crowd. She had felt someone watching them.

"What's wrong Mina?" Annie asked.

Mina shook her head and got closer to Lucas. She swept the surroundings with a sharp expression in her eyes, causing many people to be scared to look at her.

Lucas raised his hand and patted Mina's head. "Okay, you can stop now. Your eyes are going to be sore if you continue this. Don't worry, the War Wolves are in the crowd."

Bryan blinked. 'War Wolves? What is that? There's a wolf in the crowd? Or is it a wolf beastkin?'

"Mhmm." Mina blushed and quietly put away the military knife in her hand.

Lucas turned his head and asked, "Sir Bryan, how do you feel today?"

"I feel very good. Today is the only day I truly felt happy." Bryan said. "This Shopping Mall is the best place I've ever been to. It's a pity there's no such place in Sakura City."

These words made Nicole grin. 'Even "The Love Diary of a Noble Girl" written by Princess Lucy didn't talk about a shopping mall. How could your Sakura City have it?'

"Then you can come over here often, or you can open a store or shop here." Lucas said, smiling. Some core aspects of making a shopping mall could be copied. While some were hard to implement because it was easy to lose money when not done correctly. It costs a ton of things just to take care of the infrastructure aspect. Lucas had cement, people, and resolve to do so, which is why he was able to make the Shopping Mall without spending too much money.

"Am I really allowed to open a store here?" Bryan asked. "Lord Lucas, you're not joking, are you?"

Lucas shook his head. "No, I'm serious. You also saw many stores inside that were closed, did you not? All of them can be rented out. You just need to pay rent and taxes every year." Taxes were his ultimate goal and would be the core of his income source. As long as someone does business, they would have to pay taxes.

"Taxes? Do nobles also have to pay too?" Bryan asked, frowning. It wasn't unheard of for a noble to pay taxes to other nobles, but it was extremely rare.

"Of course. In my territory, everyone has to pay taxes when they do business, no matter who they are. Either they are nobles or commoners." Lucas said.

"I understand. I will go back and discuss it with my father." Bryan said. He didn't agree as it was a matter of the dignity of nobles but also because he didn't have the power to do so.

"It has been a tiring day. Let's go back and rest." Lucas said, stretching his arms and leading the way out.

Bryan was distressed when he came out of the Shopping Mall. He had bought too many things and hadn't brought a carriage.

"The carriage over here, here, here." Someone next to him shouted.

Clip-clop, clip-clop, clip-clop.

Someone soon drove over a carriage and asked the man, "Customer, where do you want to go?" The carriage was a flatbed carriage, and there was a wooden sign at the back that said: "Limited to Four People".

"North of the city…" The man gave an address and climbed into the carriage. He handed over two steel coins to the coachman.

The carriage quickly left, leaving Bryan dumbfounded. He turned and looked at Lucas. "Lord Lucas, that person doesn't own the carriage, does he?"

"Of course not. The row of carriages over there, including the one that just left, all belong to the City Lord's Mansion. To help people get around better, the City Lord's Mansion rents out some of the unused carriages to help commoners get around easier within Sedona City. They just need to pay two steel coins to use them."

"That- that's amazing. How come no one has thought of it before?" Bryan asked, a little overwhelmed.

Lucas smiled. It's not that no one thought of it, but no one was willing to do it. The nobles with a ton of horses didn't care about the minuscule amount of money that could be made from this. Besides, there wasn't a smaller currency before, and no commoner would be willing to spend a copper coin to use the carriage for one trip.

"Lord Lucas, you are a genius. You should go to the capital. You deserve to be in the position of a minister in the court of the king." Bryan said.

Lucas only smiled faintly in response.

' Neither a golden nest nor a silver nest is as good as my own nest. Besides, I believe that Sedona City will soon become a golden nest that will be the envy of the world.' (Meaning: His own thing is better than something rental which can be taken away from him anytime.)

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