Chapter 113

The tax alone comes to 1.2 gold coins!

He knew the taxes would be steep, but not this steep.

He was only buying these things to ship back to his territory.

The clerk nodded: "Yes, Mr. Most of what you bought is merchandise, not living supplies, so the fee can only be charged at the normal rate. This is the tax invoice; please review it."

He glanced over the invoice roughly — different goods carried different tax rates, but it really did add up to that much.

Nothing to be done about it. Pay up.

The 10 gold coins he had just borrowed were now down to less than 4.65 silver coins.

Adding in what he had left before, he only had 5.54 silver coins to his name.

Damn it.

"Zhao Chi? What are you doing here? Buying something?"

A familiar female voice.

He turned and saw it was Chief Instructor Li Ruanyu.

Still wearing that instructor's uniform.

She looked mature and elegant.

Zhao Chi nodded: "Yeah, picking up some supplies to ship back."

"You bought… stockings?"

Li Ruanyu stared at the goods on the counter in surprise.

In her impression, Zhao Chi kept his distance from women, was reserved and deep, single-mindedly devoted to his studies, and had made great progress in learning.

And his temperament was decent — trustworthy.

Zhao Chi felt a little awkward.

The tax was already paid, so he quickly stowed the supplies into his system space.

"Mm… these are uniforms, for the heroes and soldiers back in my territory to wear."

Li Ruanyu nodded with a strange look on her face.

"Better get going, it's already afternoon. Some nobles from District 7 are heading to our academy — be careful on the road."

Zhao Chi nodded: "Alright. You be careful too, Instructor Li."

Li Ruanyu smiled confidently: "They wouldn't dare lay a hand on me. Don't worry about me — you hurry on. Whatever you do, don't clash with them. If you run into trouble on the road, contact me right away."

Zhao Chi thanked her: "Thank you, Instructor Li. I'll head back now."

With that, he turned and left.

But he noticed every clerk around was staring at Li Ruanyu.

Li Ruanyu waved a hand: "Go on, stop staring."

"Alright, Instructor Li. See you."

"See you. Develop your territory well."

There were even fewer people on the road.

Plenty of private shops on both sides had all closed their doors.

Zhao Chi couldn't help quickening his pace.

Fortunately, the trip was smooth.

He soon made it home, and entered his territory panting for breath.

Before his vision had even cleared, waves of battle cries reached his ears.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Those female soldiers were training very seriously.

Sweating buckets.

Off to the side came the bang-bang-bang of the construction crew.

Fang Li and the four other female builders were putting up a defense tower.

There was plenty of timber now — all ready-made, ready to be used directly.

Tang Ruan, seeing Zhao Chi return, sent a signal to Gu Qing.

"Sister Gu, he's back."

Gu Qing turned and saw Zhao Chi, gasping for breath.

She called a halt to the training: "Everyone rest for a bit. Assemble again in ten minutes and continue training."

The female soldiers all heaved a sigh of relief.

They shook their aching, swollen arms and went off to find water.

Today they were all equipped with wooden shields and wooden spears, so both arms got a workout.

Yesterday only the right arm had ached and trembled; today both arms were trembling together.

Gu Qing bounded over to Zhao Chi in two or three steps: "My lord! You're back?"

"Mm. How's the territory?"

"Everything's going smoothly!"

"Those two dogs didn't bark, did they?"

"No, they've been roaming around nearby. They've already settled into our place."

Those two dogs had both recovered their spirits now.

But Zhao Chi didn't tie them up again — he let them patrol freely around the territory.

It was obvious the two dogs were very pleased, galloping about with joyful abandon.

At the slightest disturbance, it would bark wildly.

It had already scared off several animals.

Zhao Chi said, "Gu Qing, I'll need to hand the next stage of training over to you. I'm going to the tailor's shop to make some outfits for you all."

"Make outfits? My lord, you know how to make outfits too?"

Gu Qing was very surprised.

"No, I mean improved outfits. What I just said wasn't quite accurate."

"Oh, why not let Feng Xiu do it? Isn't she a professional tailor?"

Zhao Chi smiled and said, "The level of our technique seems to be quite high, so letting Feng Xiu do it would be too much of a stretch. After all, she's only a beginner tailor. If she forced it, she might fail and waste the materials."

Gu Qing nodded. "From the sound of it, my lord actually has confidence in this? You're really impressive."

Zhao Chi smiled but offered no explanation.

Gu Qing asked again, "Tang Ruan is very interested in sewing. Should I let her come assist you?"

"No need, I can manage on my own. Tang Ruan's stats are very high, so let her focus on training."

Gu Qing smiled slightly and said, "Alright, then I won't disturb you. I'll go properly train them and turn these young misses into qualified soldiers for you."

"Keep it up. Thank you for your hard work."

"It's no trouble. I'm looking forward to the little socks you'll make for me, my lord."