Chapter 8 Men in the Night

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That night, Kotori was awoken by a commotion at their door.

Her father with sleepy eyes walked to the door and wondered who would knock on their door at this late hour.

When he opened the door his body stiffened when he saw the visitors were. Standing at the door was a group of men with swords at their hips.

Her father audibly gulped.

"Hello, do you men need anything?"

One of them smirked and spoke

"It's tax time"

Her father looked confused.

"Taxes at this hour? You must be mistaken"

The man looked bored

"No mistakes here, it's tax time, Unless of course, you aren't going to pay"

He threateningly waved his sword hilt at Kotori's father

Her father balked at the gesture.

"Of... Course we'll pay. how much?"

His face was filled with worry. They had spent much of the money they had on supplies yesterday and were waiting for the spring harvest. This sudden need for taxes was unusual considering that tax season was typically in early spring.

"Ten gold"

Her father's face which was already unsteady went completely white in shock.

"C-can we take some time to gather that amount."

Kotori knew that the amount the guard gave was completely unreasonable. For, one her family usually only used copper coins in basically all transactions. The most money she ever saw was the one silver coin her father used to pay their yearly taxes. She knew that her family had nowhere near enough money to akin to gold coin levels of value. Let alone the ten gold coins the man was asking for.

"M-Might I ask what the new count would need this money for"

"Restitution" the man answered "A small little bird hurt our plaything"

With this line, Kotori and her family instantly knew that the purpose of these men's visit was not about taxes at all. Apparently, Kotori's actions in the village had angered the count to the point where he wanted to make an example out of her and her family.

Kotori herself felt a lot of shame. She was only trying to do the right thing. But it seems that her actions were causing a lot more harm than good.

Her father tried to lie

"You must be mistaken, we didn't do anything that man"

The man snarled

"You're calling me a liar! That man escaped tonight"

"We promise we didn't touch him" Her father argued

"You sent your spawn to loosen the bindings! All you trash are in on it."

Kotori could not understand these claims, All she did was feed him a little meat. She didn't do anything to his bindings.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her father being pushed out of the doorway and thrown to the floor.

Her mother screamed and her brother started crying.

"Please!" Her father pleaded "just give us time"

The man scoffed

"Just for you to not pay?"

Her father was silent. He had no response to that fact. He himself had realized that this was never meant to end well for them.

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