Riz returned to the mansion in the evening. It is not dinner time yet so he is making his way to his room. As he is walking, he starts to recall what he saw during his tour.
His view and understanding of the town increased a lot. Although the town is not as bad as he thought, it's not good either.
Looking at the people in town doing various activities makes him start pondering.
'What am I going to do in this life?'
In his past life, all Riz wanted was to become rich. He studied engineering with this purpose in mind. Back there, most of the rich people in his country were involved in real estate and construction. Even some of the richest men in the world are related to engineering.
'Yup, that's it. Let's start a business and become rich. I have no chance to become a count anyway'.
If the world is like a human body, then money is like blood. Everything needs money.
'On top of that, Bideford's strategic location on the main trade route will make it easier to sell my product.
This town never lacks visitors since it's pretty much one of the major food producers of the kingdom'
'But what business should I start?' Riz starts to think. The product must be innovative yet not very complex to make.
As he was heading to his room, He stumbled across Robert.
"Urghh", Riz's face contorted as he didn't like the fact that he met Robert.
Out of all his siblings, Riz dislikes Robert the most. No, dislike is an understatement, he despises Robert with his entire being. Riz doesn't know why since he himself never has many contacts with Robert. Perhaps this is the feeling left by the former owner of the body.
'Why is he still here? Shouldn't he go back to the army instead?'. Robert serves in the army just like any successor of the noble house should.
He is in the army that guards against the Principality of Barlia in the north. Although the Barlian War ended more than 100 years ago, the Principality of Barlia never gave up their ambition to invade the south.
"You still alive huh? I thought you died in the forest", Robert started the conversation.
"Hahahaha, as you can see, I am still alive and doing pretty well". Riz laughing
Robert then said, "You...!!!" He was shocked to hear such an easy-going answer from Riz.
'Now I can pretty much be sure that it is this guy who is the reason why I ended up in the forest. But why does he want to kill me? It's not like I'm threatening his position as a successor.'
The Riz that he knows is always timid and doesn't dare to reply back.
"Pfft", Riz laughs seeing Robert's face turn red due to anger.
"Let's see who is going to laugh in the end" Robert whispered.
When Robert faces away, Riz's face turns serious "It looks like there is someone who wants me dead".
Riz doesn't know if it is due to the matter of succession or other reasons that he didn't know. He decided that he really needed to have his own wealth that he could use as he liked.
Riz doesn't care if he is hated, all he wants is to live a peaceful life and get rich of course.
However, if someone disturbs his life then he doesn't mind fighting.
....
At dinner,
"Riz, next year I'm going to hire you a tutor to resume your studies.", Richard informed.
"Huh?", Riz was shocked. He forgot that he is only 14 years old now.
'Damn it, I thought I don't need to learn anything. Except for history and politics, there's nothing worth learning', Riz thought is actually not wrong. After all, he has learned up to a degree level in the past.
Noble children usually receive education at home from a personal tutor hired by the head of the family. There is no public school in this era and only with wealth can someone gain access to education and it usually was only provided to the boys.
However, girls in the Ryntum family are lucky since Richard provided all of his children with an education regardless of their gender.
People need to know that the cost of hiring a tutor to teach one noble child is exorbitant. The cost of hiring a tutor depends on the number of students a tutor needs to teach.
Giving one noble child an education can cost around 75,000 Ros. For example, although Russell and Rachel are studying the same subject under the same tutor together, Richard needs to pay 150,000 Ros annually.
That's a lot of money given that the average income of the count is between 350,000 to 400,000 Ros.
The tutor hired usually is also a noble that was not a successor so hiring one tutor is enough to teach all the subjects. There is no need to hire multiple tutors for multiple subjects. If multiple tutors are needed, then only the duke and the royal family can afford full education.
"Yes, all nobles' children are required to finish their studies. I don't want to learn any excuse.", warned Richard.
"Yes, Father", Riz replied.
Among Richard's children, only Robert and Reina have finished their studies. Both Rachel and Russell currently are studying. The reason why Richard didn't let Riz study right away is that he want to give Riz time to prepare mentally. The death of Eve really gives a mental blow to Riz. Richard knows that aside from him, only Reina treats him well.
The reason why there's nobody bullying Riz despite having a commoner's blood is that everybody in the mansion knows how much Richard dotes on his youngest son. Nobody wants to invoke the lord's wrath. Even Maria herself only said spiteful words.
Until now, nobody knows why Richard married a commoner. Nobody. Richard didn't say anything.
If he lets Riz study right away, he is afraid that it will be hard for him to concentrate.
There are a lot of subjects that need to be learned by the noble's children such as horsemanship, swordsmanship, politics, history, geography, literature, mathematics and etiquette.
"There is no need to educate someone like him. It is just a waste of money", Maria said
"Hahahahaha", Robert laugh
"Looks like someone getting jealous about not receiving a full education", Riz provoked Maria.
"You little brat!!" Maria's face contorted with rage. She like many other noble ladies only learns necessary things on how to be a good lady of the house.
"Pftt" Josephine who always looks indifferent tries to hold back her laugh.
"Enough" Richard interfered.
....
"knock" "knock" "knock"
"Come in", Richard says. After dinner, Richard returns to his office. The life of the lord is never an easy one. The only time he can relax is when spending time alone with his wives.
"Did I disturb you, Father?", Riz said after seeing a pile of parchment on Richard's work desk.
"No, not at all. What do you want, Riz?" Richard says with a smile on his face.
"I was thinking about setting up my own business so I want to ask you how the taxation in the fief works", says Riz.
At present, the date is 7th April 299 Paign Era. He has eight months left until January next year when he will start his study back. He decides to start his business right now since he has time. He knows it will be disastrous for him when Robert becomes a count.
The name of the month and number of days in a year are the same as on Earth. That's convenient.
Richard is only 40 years old and healthy. It will be a long time before Robert comes to power but it doesn't hurt to prepare early on.
He needs something that belongs to him that can't be taken away. Wealth is the best option as it is convenient and it's usefulness.
"You want to do business?", Richard was shocked when he heard it but a bit happy. Since Eva's death, Riz seems to not care about anything anymore. Seeing his son finally want to do something makes him very happy.
"Of course, I can tell you.", Richard says and then he begins to explain.
"There are several taxes that the lord charges to the people which are 10 per cent income tax and 10 per cent business tax"
"What is the function of the guild?" Riz ask
"Anyone who wants to do business in Bideford needs to register with the merchant guild," Richard explained. "The guild handles everything from setting up stalls and granting the right to sell, to providing jobs and collecting business taxes. In essence, all business-related matters are overseen by the guild."
"Won't that make the merchant guild too powerful?" Riz asked.
"Don't worry, I'm the guild master of the merchant guild. There's no way I will let other people control the fief's taxes". Richard assures Riz.
"What about income tax?"
"That was handled by the town hall. Both taxes were collected annually".
"Then what's the point of a craft guild then?"
"That's just a place to find employment, training, information and make sure the quality of the product is up to standard or not. You can choose to join it or not. If you join you can gain access to the information regarding craft".