The Strongest Wizard Becomes a Countryside Guardsman After Taking an Arrow to the Knee

Chapter 182 – Levying the Death Temple’s Taxes

So this was the day after Yureena asked me to act like her lover.

I went to the kitchen and everyone was there.

Millet grabbed tight onto my arm.

「Good morning, Millet?」

「Nothing good about it! I heard from YUREENA!」

「Ah, about that?」

「What do you mean, THAT?! I never thought you’d have a relationship like that with YUREENA!」

Millet was tearing up for some reason.

「What are you doing, OLD MAN!」

Collette yelled at me, and then punched me in the stomach.

Then she started punching me in the butt, but it didn’t hurt.

「What do you mean? You told them, right, Yureena?」

「I told them.」

「Yeah, well that’s pretty much how it is.」

When I said “How it is” Cruz looked at me in shock.

But Luka was looking at me with a smirk.

「To think that our Al was going to be Yureena’s lover...」

「Hm, I’m not though!」

「What? That’s what Yureena was saying...」

「I thought I was just ACTING like your lover!」

Cruz looked at me, confused.

Millet looked a bit relieved.

「Hm?」

「Is that true?」

「Old man! What do you mean!?」

Collette was still punching my stomach.

Luka snickered to herself and nodded.

「I knew it.」

「Yureena, explain yourself!」

「Um, I was about to be married off, so I asked Al to be my lover.」

「That way of saying it causes more problems.」

「Hm?」

Yureena looked confused now. Now she looked worried.

She could hide it to someone dumb like Cruz, but now Yureena might be getting carried away.

So I explained all that had happened.

「I see...wow, that’s tough.」

「Glad to hear that.」

「Isth that the truth, old man?!」

Cruz and the rest now seemed to understand.

「That’s why I told her to get her story straight before seeing that guy again. So make sure you’re on the same page too!」

I said, and they all nodded.

「Especially you, Cruz.」

The one that would destroy the whole thing would be Cruz.

「Leave it to me!」

Cruz said, as she puffed out her chest.

After breakfast, Cruz said, 「Al! Come and help me take care of assessing the temple!」

「Sure, but, do you really need me?」

「Yes!」「PiggiiI!」

Cruz and Chel responded to be in chorus.

Chel jumped onto Cruz’ shoulder. They really were inseparable.

Seeing this, Yureena said, 「Then I’ll go along too.」

「If you come I’ll feel much better!」

Cruz said, taking Yureena’s hand.

「Eheh heh.」

Yureena’s cheeks turned red. They were really close too.

After telling Millet that we were leaving, we headed to the death temple.

「Moo moo」「Wuff!」

We went to the storage shack where Moofy and Femm were waiting.

Moofy and Femm were sitting.

「Uh, you want to go with us?」

「Moo moo!」

「I guess I can’t say no, Moofykins. Let’s go together, okay?!」

「Moo!」

Vi-Vi said to Moofy, and Moofy in kind replied.

Vi-Vi was acting like Moofy didn’t want to come, but I knew different.

「Sure, it’s not the capital, after all.」

「Moo moo」「Wuff.」

Moofy and Femm came with us to the temple.

It was those two and Vi-Vi, Shiggy, Cruz, Yureena, and of course, Chelnobok.

We were a larger group that I had expected.

We went through the magical transport and out of the room room. No one there.

But within a few moments, he joined us.

「Pant, huff, just in time.」

He was out of breath. He must have run here.

「When someone uses the magic circle, a bell rings in the priest’s room.」

Vi-Vi said proudly. It was a good idea of hers.

「Good morning! We’ve come for the tax assessment!」

「PigGGi!」

Cruz said with a smile.

Chel jumped off of Cruz’ shoulder and into the hands of the priest.

「Master! It’s been a while.」

「PiggGi!」

Chel looked happy too.

After Yureena introduced herself, the assessment started.

I had no idea what kind of standards they’d use for the assessment.

So I just stood back and watched.

「How much did you receive in offerings.」

「Um....」

「How much do you pay the gate guards?」

After Cruz began asking questions, the priest went for his account book.

Yureena took it and began calculating.

「ryaaa」「PiGggi!」

Because they were bored, Chel and Shiggy started playing around.

Shiggy climbed on top of Chel and shook as Chel jiggled away.

Shiggy was having fun...but I wondered how Chel felt.

「Chel, you okay?」

『Funnn.』

「Okay, then.」

「ryaa ryaa」

On the other hand, Moofy and Femm were circling around and sniffing away.

After doing their usual sniff-around, with the priest’s permission, they left the room.

After an hour, Femm and Moofy came back.

『We found it.』

「Moo mooo」

The priest looked a bit scared.

「What did you find?」

「I asked Moofy and Femm to sniff around for any money or precious metals.」

Cruz said with a smile. Nothing getting by her.

「Is that so? Well, it’s no matter as we have nothing to hide. Everything’s recorded in this account book.」

As the priest said that, he pointed at the page that Yurenna was calculating from.

It’s true that he had everything written down.

After that, we looked at the treasure Femm had found, and finished the tax assessment.

Seems that it wasn’t a large amount of money.

And the priest finally breathed a sigh of relief.