My Soul card is a Reaper

The three subordinate clan leaders walked out of the palace in great embarrassment; they didn't give the petition to Azzy, of course, as they were merely trying to threaten him at Francis Blood's request.

How would they expect Azzy to be so resolute in his decision that he is willing to kick them out away, too, if they intend to side with the Blood Clan? At the very least, the Blood Clan is getting their lands, but they won't be getting theirs. Moreover, their clansmen wouldn't leave the clan village to settle elsewhere. The majority of their folk are simple farmers who have no idea about the outside world. They were actually scared to go outside of the village in the first place.

While their plan failed and Azzy also promised them that this matter would be deeply buried between themselves, their ego was deeply hurt in the process, and Gredor has now sworn to have revenge on Azzy no matter what.

But, before that, there was something else he had to do now. That is to go through the account books. Before they leave, Azzy warned them to be prepared for a formal inspection of the clan, and he would deal with them accordingly.

After sending the message to Francis, Gredor hurried back to the Crescent Clan compound but little did he expect to see Azzy already at the entrance of the clan compound by the time he reached there. The elders gathered around him.

"Oh, you are here, Lord Crescent. I was waiting for you. You are quite slow," said Azzy as soon as he spotted his distant uncle/first cousin once removed.

Gredor awkwardly greeted him, "Your Majesty. I apologize for letting you wait. Please come to the mansion and enjoy our hospitality…"

Azzy shrugged his shoulders, "Nah, I'm not here as your distant nephew, Lord Crescent. I'm here on an official business. Follow me." Amid curious gazes, he glanced at the elders, "You all should too. Lord Kyle, you are retired. You may take rest."

As his maternal granduncle nodded in understanding, Azzy started walking. The others were forced to follow him.

Kyle Crescent grabbed Gredor and pulled him to the side, asking him what he had done now that brought Azzy to their doorstep. After all, he knew the party happened the previous day and Gredor's visit to the palace not so long ago.

Gredor didn't reveal it and simply said, "he wants to do a sudden inspection of all the clans. Just let me handle the problem, father."

"I hope so," Kyle furrowed his brows in seriousness, "there is something off about him for sure."

"Lord Crescent?" Azzy's voice then heard from a distance and Gredor rushed at the group.

For the next half an hour, Azzy didn't do anything but simply walk all over the streets, showing his face to the clan members and returning their greetings with a nod.

But once they had finished touring the clan compound and returned to the main family residence, Azzy, and the clan elders sat down; they were served tea from the servants. Obviously, as the clan head, he was served first. However, Azzy didn't drink it first and let others get served too.

None managed to take a sip of tea first, and Azzy finally opened his mouth, "Clan Leader Gredor, explain about the tea."

"Eh?" Gredor was taken aback. The Elders were also equally surprised.

Azzy looked at him and asked, "Why? Do you think it is beneath your status to explain the tea leaves that your clan has specialized in cultivating for several millennia and making a fortune out of it? Or did you have no knowledge about it?" His gaze was quite cold, enough for the elders to feel tremors in their bodies just from looking at him. At the very least, they could understand that the clan head was not in a good mood. They could only wonder why.

"No, not at all. It is my pleasure," Gredor shook his head and explained, "The Crescent Tea leaves is an A-5 grade…"

Gredor explained the specialties of the tea leaves cultivated by the farmers of the clan and their brief history to Azzy, which is actually a well-known knowledge to almost everyone in the village. However, since Azzy is here for the account, he did mention how much they earn from exporting to the outside world using a different name.

After listening to his explanation in patience, Azzy said, "And yet, the farmers that cultivated these tea leaves, supposedly served only for the elite in the village and worth 1000 credits per gram in the outside world, were living in run-down huts and barely surviving on two meals a day. It's not just the tea farmers, but even the situation of the farmers that cultivate wheat and paddy happened to be the same." A pin-drop silence ensued in the room and the elders seemed frozen in their spots. Azzy squinted his eyes as he questioned, "Do you have anything to say about it, Lord Crescent?"

Gredor went stiff, "Uhh…"

Azzy raised his voice at Gredor's silence, "Answer me, Gredor Crescent."

Gredor involuntarily shivered for a moment, stuttering, "It… it… it hasn't been that… that long since I became… became clan lord, Your Majesty. I'll look into it."

Azzy hit back at his reply, "Well, haven't you been the clan heir for several decades?"

"That's… that's…" Gredor looked to the right and left, spotting one of the elders. He immediately pointed his finger at one that was sweating bullets, "it's Elder Fowler's fault. He is the one who manages the wages of the farmers working in our fields." Continue your journey at m_v--NovelBin.net

"I…" "I…" "I…"

*Tap*

The Elder lost the grip on his teacup, which fell to the floor and broke into pieces, "there are too many farmers working in the fields, Your Majesty, and land per farmer is getting lesser each year. Raising their wages would put a dent in the clan's treasury. Meanwhile, the prices of other products are also being raised by other clans every year. So…"

Azzy glanced at the steward of the mansion, "Go and fetch a farmer."

In a minute, the steward of rank 6 returned with a farmer who was rather wearing good clothes. The latter looked quite afraid.

Azzy questioned him in rather a soft tone, "What is your name?"

The farmer looked a bit surprised but still answered nervously, "It's Al… Alcaraz, Your Majesty."

"Okay, Mr. Alcaraz, how much do you earn per week?" Azzy asked, crossing his arms.

The farmer nervously glanced at the elders and then at the steward who squinted his eyes and gave a subtle nod as if he gestured something. "It's 30 necra shards per week, Your Majesty."

"30 necra shards, huh… wow…" Azzy started clapping as he got up from the seat. As the elders followed suit, Azzy's voice turned colder as he said, "At the moment, hundred necra shards is equivalent to 1 clan merit here and 12 credits in the outside world. To get a temporary village pass for 24 hours, the normal citizens that aren't associated with any pavilions would need to pay 1 clan merit at the Merit shop. And we need to pay 250 credits for one-way travel to the Arcana world.

Here is a citizen of one of the strongest clans in the entire world, who seems to be in better condition than 80% of his fellow farmers of the village and yet could only afford to make one trip to Arcana world for one entire fuc*ing week."

Azzy clenched his fists tightly, trying to control his raging soul energy inside his body. He suppressed it with his sheer will but stared coldly at the clan lord, "Gredor Crescent, I'm giving you four days to come up with a solution to reform your clan's policies and improve the conditions of your clansmen. And I'm not merely talking about farmers. I'm also talking about the warriors too. If you fail to accomplish this task, the Garcia Palace will strip you and your elder council's powers over your clansmen, enforcing the Monarch's rule on the Crescent Clan."

"This…"

"Monarch's rule?"