The most dreaded time of the year

The four Quickhatches were traveling northward toward Hypnos the provincial capital of Nyx. Their encounter with bandits and the prospect of collecting reward did little to alleviate their mood for indeed, it was this time of the year.

Arc looked at the bag of heads.

- I hope at least one of those idiots was worth the trouble. (Arc)

Chris looked at him and answered.

- I doubt it. Who in their right mind attack a convoy of wagon protected by heavy repeating crossbow with crude melee weapons? They must have been refugee down their luck or peasant who could not pay taxes. (Chris)

Taxes, the word that was weighing their minds. Years after years the taxes kept increasing if the trend continued they'd soon be paying as much tax as a normal small business.

- We can't even skip taxes anymore with all the reforms that asshole put in place. (Arc)

- Careful with your words. (Belina)

- Come on, we're alone here. (Arc)

- Just be careful, habits sink in easily, I don't want to pay fine or worse because you mouthed the King in the wrong place. (Belina)

- Oh, come on, I play dumb because your reactions are amusing but I am not suicidal. (Arc)

- Oh, you're playing dumb? You're so natural at it I thought it was the real you. (Chris)

While the group was exchanging quips, Dalene was thinking about the recent trend, little did he know that at the same time, far north, someone else was agonizing over the same matter.

The young king Leopold cursed his father foolishness, his grand reclamation project had more than doubled the kingdom size but at what cost. Many rejoiced over the fact that the newly acquired territories had led to tremendously increased in food production which in turn led to an increase in population but Leopold was not among them.

Because of this grand project, the kingdom had more almost doubled in size, and the cost of defending the new territories overshadowed the tax revenue. When he forced his father to step down five years ago, the army was four-time bigger as it is now and yet he still has trouble paying them.

Despite the multiple budget reduction and taxes increase the national debt was still half of its current income, and it would take at least ten years for the new generation to become old enough to pay taxes and by then, so many things could go wrong.

Leopold attempts to push the cost of maintaining the army to the feudal lords was met with fierce resistance, and in the end, he had to abandon the idea due to the parliament sound, but selfish arguments.

He remembered the scene as if it was yesterday.

- Due to the centralized nature of the army commandment, its ability to respond to external threats has become less and less efficient. This is why I propose for each province to raise and maintain its own army. I know it is not something that can be done easily, this is why the Crown will lend you commanders and troops until you can raise your own, or delegate their command should you chose this option. (Leopold)

It was his only possible move if he wanted to continue defending the border towns while keeping a sensible budget, although he'd still have to raise tax for a while until he could repay the state's debts.

The feudal lord's delegate walked to the podium and the King did not like the look on its face.

- My lord, I am honored by the trust you show us. Your proposition to divide the army, one of the regalian function of the state, among your feudal lords show just how much trust you have in us, but sadly it is not one we share. We fear that letting lords keep their own army will induce rebellion. Even now, many small lords use the guards as though they were their private armies, not to promote the law, but to ensure their privileges... (Delegate)

Even if his real motives were transparent, he was nonetheless right. The King shivered at the idea of facing a rebellion, losing taxes while maintaining a war wasn't something the state could afford.

Since then Leopold had attempted more reforms and set up a more efficient tax collection system but it would take time to see results, time the frontier towns did not have. The future was grim, if too many of those town fell, then the kingdom faced famine and refugee crisis, but if kept increasing taxes to pay for the army then he risked facing rebellion before long.

He was stuck, he did not have the coffer for massive reform nor the income to sustain the current state of affair and all of this was because of those greedy noble and his stupid father.

Before heading to the central office, the Quickhatches dropped by the guard station to see if there was a bounty on one the bandits' head, but just like Chris had predicted, they were new to the job and instead ended up spending hours explaining themselves until the news of a merchant convoy getting attacked by the same bandit finally exonerated them.

- Next time we kill amateur bandits let's just leave them on the side of the road. (Chris)

- Can't say I don't understand the guards, but it sure is annoying getting attacked then having to prove yourself innocent. (Dalene)

- I'm not sure letting anyone come and go with cut heads is a better prospect. (Chris)

- Let's go to the central office and get done with this tax business. (Belina)

Whenever traveling hunters went to an office in search of works, they would have to produce a receipt proving they had paid taxes and cheating was no longer an option because nowadays, there were receipts for every single type of transactions.

After paying both the team and personal taxes, the hunters were finally free to look for work. Three requests caught their eyes, the one for a ptedon family of four or five, just twenty leagues south-east of their previous mission was no surprise for them. The other two were for a group of giant gorillas and some two-legged lizards resembling a small scale version of the bird-footed lizard.

All three of those missions had the same annoying trait, they were creatures that hunted in groups.

- Out of the lot, the gorillas should be the easiest to find. (Dalene)

- But also the most dangerous to fight, those bastards are known to use projectiles. (Belina)

- The other two have much larger hunting grounds, but since they tend to go after farm animals that should make thing easier. What do you say? (Dalene)