Berserk, Total War: Second Son of Nobles

Min Caier had a vague impression of this child. He was a teenager who always sat quietly in the third row of the classroom. Although he did not have any outstanding skills, he was generally well-behaved.

After graduating from the parish school, this kind of child can go directly to various chambers of commerce to work as a helper, which is better than his father's job as a miner.

"Why do you suddenly stop studying?"

Min Caier asked, with a hint of doubt in his voice.

"My family has no money. My father's job at the mine has deducted his wages."

The boy lowered his head, twisting the corner of his coarse cloth with his fingers, his knuckles turning white from the strain.

"That's right..."

Min Caier was not surprised to hear this. The tuition for the parish school was not particularly expensive, only two silver coins per month, which was basically affordable for most families.

I have met the child's father, Min Ze'er, a few times. He is a taciturn miner and I have never heard that he has any bad habits, let alone spending money lavishly.

"Why don't you change jobs?"

Min Zeer continued to ask.

"My father owed someone money and he wouldn't let me leave until he paid it back."

"How much money is owed?"

"Hmm...it seems to be five gold coins."

Wow, Min Caier was really scared.

His income mainly came from the tuition fees of students in the parish school. After deducting various necessary expenses, he only had about fifty silver coins a month. He had to work for ten months without eating or drinking to pay off the debt.

"Just continue your studies. If you really don't have money, just owe it to them."

Min Caier comforted him in a gentle voice, he squatted down and patted the boy on the shoulder, then sent him to the classroom.

As a result, when it was time for class, more than ten students did not show up, which made Min Caier feel very uneasy.

It's okay if one or two are late occasionally, but now that one-fifth of them are not here, it must be a big deal.

"Who knows those students who didn't come? Why didn't they come?"

Min Caier stood on the podium, scanning the students in the classroom.

"Teacher, these students' families are all miners. I heard that the mines have withheld their wages, so they have no money to go to school."

Yeka, who was sitting by the window, said.

Well, this is the matter again. At this point, Minzer must discuss it with Father Walden. Otherwise, not only will the children be able to go to school, but it will also be another matter whether the parish school will have enough money to continue operating.

"I have something to do, you guys go study on your own first."

After saying this, Minzer immediately went to the nearby church to find Father Walden.

"This is a difficult matter."

After telling the situation to Minzer, Walden frowned in worry, and his fingers unconsciously rubbed the cross on his chest.

"According to what you said, there is nothing we can do. If we don't have money to go to school, we can only drop out."

"But the children have finally got a chance to change their destiny. It's not that they don't want to study. It's such a pity for them to give up their studies because of this situation."

There was a hint of indignation in Min Caier's voice. He couldn't bear to watch these children lose the chance to change their fate because their families had their wages withheld by unscrupulous businessmen. He had to do something.

"Okay, okay, I'll take you to meet the businessman and see what's going on over there."

Seeing that Minzer was getting a little carried away, Walden had no choice but to agree to meet with the businessman who owned the mine.

……

Fugger was lying leisurely in a lounge chair on the balcony of his manor house. The sunlight shone through the vine-woven awning, casting mottled shadows on his face.

He was wearing a silk shirt embroidered with gold thread, with his collar open to reveal his carefully trimmed chest hair, and his gold-plated pocket watch chain gleamed brightly in the sunlight.

As a shrewd businessman, he used his savings from loan sharking to buy several unattended coal mines and logging sites after Ludwig's fall.

With the arrival of winter, large amounts of coal and timber flowed into the market, allowing his wealth to quickly increase several times.

In order to maximize profits, the lower-level labor force working for him were all escaped slaves from various estates and people who owed him usury.

Because after the serfdom law was introduced, the manor owner could deal with runaway slaves at will, and as long as a non-noble debtor could not repay the debt with all his property, he would be forced to become a serf of the creditor.

Fugger then took advantage of these two points and threatened the escaped slaves that if they failed to complete his tasks, they would be sent to other landowners. He also threatened the debtors that if they did not listen to him, they would be sent to court and become serfs.

Of course, his ultimate goal is to obtain serfs of his own, so that he does not have to pay wages, and the children born by the serfs will naturally also be serfs. At that time, he will no longer lack free labor.

At the same time, he was also actively using money to build relationships in preparation for obtaining a noble title. Originally, it was impossible for him to have this status, but the House of Lords planned to sell some lordship titles due to tight military spending.

Originally, there was no distinction between high and low titles. No matter what noble title you were, if the person on the other side did not know your title but knew that you were a noble, they could call you Lord. In other words, the title of Lord was a general term for nobles, and there was no such thing as territory or other things that were associated with orthodox nobles.

But even so, the buyer must be qualified, either his ancestors are nobles or there are noble children in the family.

He is looking for a beautiful down-and-out noble lady, planning to buy her noble status after marriage.

"master."

Just as he was imagining his future life as an aristocrat, the butler came over and bent over to speak.

"Father Walden from town is here, and he said he wants to see you about something."

"Huh? Didn't I give him money? Why is he here again?"

Fugger thought so, but still said:

"Let him in."

Walden and Minzer were allowed to enter the main house.

Fugger came downstairs to greet him and said enthusiastically:

"What a rare guest! What brings you here? And the person next to you..."

"This is Deacon Minzer, who is in charge of archives and church affairs. He wants to discuss something with you."

"Oh? Then you two can take a seat first."

Fugger motioned for the servant to take them to the living room and ordered some fruit snacks to be prepared.

After sitting down, Min Caier said directly:

"Mr. Fugger, I have something to ask you. Have you been underpaying the miners?"

His voice was not loud, but it was like a sharp dagger, stabbing directly into Fugger's heart.

It's over, Walden's heart sank. Min Zeer came up and ended the conversation right away. How embarrassing.

His fingers twisted the corners of his clothes unconsciously, and a hint of worry flashed in his eyes.

As expected, Fugger's face changed when he heard this. His smile froze on his face, and a trace of anger and doubt flashed in his eyes.

"When did this happen?"

He asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Min Caier was about to say that the children took the initiative to say it, but because he was afraid that the other party would attack the children, he changed his words and said:

"Some of my students have been unable to pay their tuition recently. Their fathers are miners. I think there is no other explanation except that the mines have not paid their wages."

"Oh, that's how it is."

Fugger sighed and said:

"To be honest, the miners never signed a contract with me, so I never owed them wages, but they still owed me a large sum of money."