my age of magic

Chapter 912 14. The Tyranny of Boris
On the entire stone street, there are homeless people who lie quietly in the shade and are only skinny and bone-hungry.

They just lay down on the stone slab decadently, allowing their bodies to slowly become moldy and smelly.

Compared with those homeless people, the life of the poor who owns a hut is slightly easier.

At this time, the men had not yet finished their day's work and rushed back from outside.Most of the women wore tattered fishing nets and sat under the eaves with disheveled faces.

A young woman is still holding a baby in swaddling arms. The baby is sleeping peacefully in her arms. There is a large water bowl in front of her. There are two shells floating in the soup in the bowl. Her lips looked a little chapped, and her eyes were only looking at the entrance of the alley, her eyes were full of expectation.

Helena covered her mouth gently, and complained in a low voice: "Why don't they go to the beach to pick up some food? Even if it's some seaweed, it shouldn't be a problem to fill their stomachs!"

Becky next to her also felt the same way, and asked Joan, "Don't people here know how to catch the sea? Even if there is no white sand beach, are there no shellfish on the reef? Look, the oyster shells on this wall It’s so big! Maybe you can catch some fish and shrimp in the shallow sea.”

Joan pointed to the city wall in the distance, and said, "Go over there and have a look, maybe you will find the answer you want."

Hearing what Joan said, Noah walked over without hesitation, and the Rand knight who fell behind the team quickly caught up and followed Noah closely. He put one hand on the hilt of his sword, vigilantly Scan the people around you.

There were too many impoverished homeless men on the street. Although they looked listless, Knight Lant was still very cautious. He was probably worried that there might be some desperadoes hiding among these homeless men.

After passing a fish shop, I saw that this shop was the only one on the whole street. There was a row of stone slabs outside the shop, which were filled with all kinds of dried and salted fish, but the fresh fish There are not many species, and they are still very small. A few small fishes as long as palms are placed on the stone slabs, exuding a stench, and a group of blowflies make a 'buzzing' sound, constantly surrounding these smelly fish mess around.

By the wall opposite the fish shop, there is a group of children. They are dark skinned and skinny. Each of them has a big head on their slender neck. Do it.

The stall owner was a burly and strong man. He was sleeping on a rattan chair in the shade, snoring loudly. A three-spine harpoon was erected by the wall. Children dare not act rashly.

A group of people walked through the alley, as if they were watched by countless pairs of eyes, with some fear, some envy, and some hope in those eyes.

Suddenly, a middle-aged woman pulled a young girl and ran out from the door, stopping the Rand knight.

Perhaps in the eyes of this middle-aged woman, the burly, well-groomed Rand Knight, who is wearing a gorgeous magic pattern armor, is the most powerful person in our group.

Knight Lant stood in front of the mother and daughter with a calm face. The woman's eyes were full of fear, but she still mustered up her courage and said to Knight Lant: "Master Knight, please take my child away, as long as you Give her a bite to eat, and she'll do all the chores for you."

The woman stretched out her cracked hand, and gently wiped away the teardrops hanging from the girl's face.

He also said: "The child has grown up and the family can't afford it. Please take pity on us!"

The girl lowered her head and stood beside her without saying a word. The woman brushed away the messy hair on her face, revealing a young face. Except for the slightly dark skin, the face was very delicate, and the skin was as delicate as a It's like brocade.

The woman said to Rand with a flattering face: "She is so young. She only participated in the coming-of-age ceremony last fall. She is very sensible and will not cause you trouble at all."

The Rand knight seemed a little embarrassed. Obviously, this upright knight was considering how to refuse. For him, refusing the request of a weak person violated the rules of a knight.

Joan glanced at Jacques for help, and whispered in Jacques' ear, "Can you ask that knight to accept Janet?"

Jacques shook his head immediately, and said to Joan: "Please give up that idea, that woman, the Rand Knight will not agree."

"I'm here to perform an important task. I'm sorry, but I can't help you with your request." Lante Knight rejected the woman.

Noah watched the scene with great interest, and kept looking at the girl standing quietly beside the woman.

Shirley Newman hurriedly moved to Noah's side, pushed him tastefully, and asked Noah, "Do you want me to let that woman bring that girl into your arms?"

"Hey, this...you know, I only like fair-skinned girls. Ah, now that I think about it, I haven't had dinner yet. I said why my stomach is growling, let's go!" Noah Immediately looked away, and said to Shirley Newman.

Regarding Noah's reaction, Shirley Newman gave him a sweet smile, reached out and gently took Noah's arm, and walked in front of the team together.

At this time, Joan immediately ran to the woman's side, persuaded a few words in a low voice, and then let the woman obediently take her daughter to the side of the road, watching Lante Knight and his team of Constructed Knights passing quietly.

Ying Li has been standing beside me silently, her brows are full of confusion, I have never seen Ying Li thinking so seriously, her white teeth bit her soft lips, her eyes have been looking at her own Toes, no smile, the dimples on the face became very shallow.

Maybe she has lived in a seaside city, and she can't understand the difficult life of the civilians in Galapagos City.

Katerina and Kalancuo standing behind me looked indifferent.

Katerina was born in a poor family since she was a child, and she is familiar with the poor life of the poor.

Kalantso's life is also very rough. Not only did he catch up with the great famine of the orc tribe, he also suffered a lot in El City. Naturally, he will not affect his mood because of the hard life of the poor here.

Jacques kept his brows tightly locked along the way. I was very curious about what he was thinking in his heart, as if he had a lot of words in his heart.

Joan didn't seem to want to show us around the Galapagos, she just showed us around the favela neighborhood where I don't think there are any good restaurants.

Now she took us to the edge of the city gate. There is a restaurant next to the city gate. The fishy smell, the bulging bag in the net bag, and the non-stop rushing home for a moment made me feel that the life of the people here is really hard.

A man with wet seafood on his back came out from the crowd, stood outside the door of the restaurant, opened the net bag hard to reveal some fish inside, the net bag was full of variety, seaweed of various colors, a few tails Unsightly sea fish, and some large and small shellfish.

The waiter standing at the door of the restaurant looked inside, stretched out his hand to pick and choose a few big conchs, threw them into the wooden basin beside him, then took out a few copper coins from the money bag, and patted them into the restaurant. The palm of the man's hand.

The man opened his mouth wide open, showing joy, waved his arms excitedly, tied up the net bag, picked it up again, and disappeared into the crowd.

It seems that many returnees will choose the best things to sell at the first time, and then take the rest home.

It turned out that no one went to catch the sea, but that the people who rushed to the sea almost burst the city gate.

Joan said to us: "If you want to taste some unique seafood in Galapagos, please come to this restaurant. The other food here is very ordinary, but the seafood is the freshest."

Since Joan was recommended by the hotel owner and a friend of Jacques, she had no reason to refuse to recommend this restaurant to us.

After we entered the restaurant, Joan pointed to the upstairs and asked the waiter, "Are there any seats up there?"

The waiter immediately greeted us kindly and led us upstairs.

Joan helped us choose a quiet corner, near the window, if it wasn't blocked by the high city wall, we would probably be able to see the sea view outside, but now we can only see the noisy scene at the gate of the city, maybe This is what a city should be like.

Joan told us that there used to be an abandoned pier outside the city gate, but there are a lot of reefs and rocks in this sea area, and many merchant ships coming here will knock down on the reefs if they are a little careless. Both fishing boats and sailing boats are reluctant to anchor here, and gradually the pier originally built here gradually became abandoned, and instead, many schools of fish grew and hid in the nearby reefs.

Many returnees stand in line at the gate of the city. The city gate guards will check the net pockets of every man who returns from the sea. Often the best seafood will be selected by them, and then they will be released to let those men leave the city. Pass the door.

Seeing a poor man carrying a net bag full of seaweed was stopped by the city gate guards, they savagely poured the seaweed in the net bag on the ground, and found that there was not even a small trash fish in it. They couldn't help being furious and threw the net bag away. He kicked the man several times and drove him out of the city.

The waiter came over and asked what we needed to order. Joan said a very convoluted name, and then waved him down to prepare.

I have never seen such a fast ordering speed, I even wonder if Joan only ordered one main course.

However, our minds were no longer on dinner, and we were puzzled by the scene at the city gate. The gate guards treated these poor people too roughly, but it seemed that those people were used to this kind of life.

Joan said to us, "Isn't it a little strange, what are those people waiting in line for?"

Noah and I looked at each other, and Noah said, "Is this paying taxes?"

The Rand knight and his companions on the table next to them also looked curiously at the gate of the city.

"That's right," Joan replied.

Then she added: "However, the taxes here are a little bit special!"

Joan's words successfully attracted our attention, and she became the focus of everyone's attention at this moment.

She stood by the window, pointed at the people at the city gate outside, and said: "These people who drive the sea are roughly divided into three categories. The first category is civilians who have tax certificates. When a part of the seafood comes out, the value of this part of the seafood will account for about [-]% of the total value."

I didn't expect the tax rate here to be so high, and the consul seems to have considered that these people have no way to pay the tax, so he chose to use the goods to deduct the tax.

Just thinking about it, I heard Joan say again: "The second category is the poor without tax certificates. They not only live in poverty, but also cannot pay taxes, so they have no way to get tax certificates. Therefore, they need to pay for all goods after going to sea. half."

Immediately afterwards, Joan said: "The third type of people are homeless people who have no right of residence. They don't even have a fixed place to live. They are those beggars lying on the street. If they want to go to the sea, when they return, they have to share the harvest. [-]% of the money will be paid to the city gate guards."

Probably because of this reason, those homeless people would rather lie in the city and wait to starve to death than run outside the city to catch the sea.

After this kind of taxation, I am afraid there will not even be much seaweed left.

"What do they want to do?" Noah slammed the table hard.

It seems that the city's consul will bear a large part of the responsibility for the city's depression.

"They obviously didn't say that!" Jacques finally said what he was holding back in his heart. "Damn it, these despicable guys, how can they break their promises?"

"They?...Who are they?" Noah stared at Jacques and asked.

"Boris promised me. He said that as long as I am willing to go back to Illinas City, he promised me to open the coastline near the pier to these homeless people and send troops to clear the low-level sea beasts in the nearby waters." Jacques held tight. He clenched his fists and said angrily.

"So you returned to Ilinas City with your name on your back?" Noah asked Jacques.

"But what else can I do? I originally wanted to help them and make their lives better, but there is nothing I can do! I can only go to Boris and ask him to relax the restrictions on the poor and the homeless. Taxation, Boris clearly promised me!" Jacques said to us.

Joan on the side sneered and said, "You are a real person. If a dog says that it has the stink of eating shit, will you believe it?"

"I think tomorrow, I should go see Uncle Boris!" Noah said. "Maybe I can change some of his minds!"

The book friend wrote a book called "The Golden Road of Entertainment". It currently has more than 6 words and [-] chapters. Those who like entertainment themes may wish to read it. It's not bad.

(End of this chapter)