Seeing that Lutt did not speak, the goateed man repeated the words he said to Zhou Jing before concluding in trepidation.
“…I didn’t tell the Mutant Beast Hunter the truth. I made him believe that this was just a matter of reselling the stock of potions, thinking that it was just a matter of money and that I was responsible for everything. I used this reason to bet that he would bring me to you to deal with. That’s why I can come back alive and report the situation to you.”
“You reacted quickly.”
Lutt did not agree or disagree with his action.
The goateed and hurriedly continued, “It’s all a forethought and a reason… I’ve already stabilized the problem of that hunter.”
Hearing this, Lutt snorted. “You want to take credit? You’ve already made a mistake when you were captured.”
“No, I don’t dare.” the goateed man hurriedly lowered his head.
Lutt said in a low voice, “Not only were you caught red-handed, but you also interfered in the Hunter Potions business without telling me… I told you not to touch the Hunter’s section. It seems that you’ve grown bold. You really want to make a profit behind my back. Are the other blood relatives of the tribe that you planted also doing the same thing now?”
“I-I don’t know.” The goateed man trembled.
Lutt slapped his face hard in response.
“Don’t forget why the tribe and I asked you to do such a thing. To think you’re actually scheming of making money through this. Are you not thinking clearly? Are you also embezzling the resources that are secretly transported back to the tribe every year?”
“No! I didn’t! I didn’t dare!” The goateed man defended himself in fear. “I didn’t lose any of the supplies that should have been handed over to the tribe. I only secretly replaced some of the Hunter Potions in the apothecary. I didn’t dare to touch anything else!”
“That better be the case.”
Lutt squinted at the goateed man as he snapped.
He then straightened up and paced around the dungeon.
“Speaking of which, I’ve checked the background of that hunter called Jason. He suddenly appeared around Frostwood Village half a year ago. There were no records of him before, and he was very mysterious and suspicious… However, he was the one who discovered your actions.”
“Your mean…?” the goateed man jerked up in shock.
Lutt frowned. “This man’s origins are unknown. He might be a secret envoy sent by the Empire. If the Empire senses something and sends someone to investigate, that won’t be good.”
The Empire had people in charge of checking the accounts in every town and city. Even if they could be bribed, whatever evidence they got hold of would be a card to use against them.
Even if the goateed man was found out, he could be disguised as an individual acting on his greed. It would have nothing to do with the lord and White Plains Town itself.
It was not so easy to trace it back to the Lord himself.
Lutt closed his eyes briefly as various thoughts raced through his mind.
Although the lord could monopolize many things and had a high degree of autonomy, the Terra Empire always wished to have the final say.
There was more than one town in the Empire. If they went too far on the surface, others would just move to another town. Therefore, many things could only be done in private.
For example, the collaborative pharmacists in the apothecary. As a feudal lord, he was only responsible for collecting taxes. The goods were not considered his just because they had entered his inventory. He had to guarantee the profits of the pharmacists who were collaborating with him. Otherwise, no one would join him. Hence, he could only use the insider operation of replacing the inventory.
However, the Hunter Potions was considered as an option for replacement. The hunters were an important force in protecting the town. Thus Lutt did not want anything to happen to the Hunters. He was, in fact, counting on more hunters whose minds were filled with honor to be willing to sacrifice themselves.
However, the people below secretly extended their hands and pushed their luck to obtain more benefits. As someone detached from this, he could not immediately discover the embezzling.
The matter of the potion shop was only the tip of the iceberg. The blacksmith shop, armor workshop, grain shop, and other facilities all had different insider operations.
As a lord, he controlled the tax collection rights of the city. Of course, it was not for money. He was not short of money.
He was not only the Lord of White Plains Town but also the current leader of his tribe. His dual identity brought about benefits from both the light and dark factions.
Their goal was to transport all kinds of supplies to the tribe, stockpile them, and accumulate the strength of the tribe.
As for the price of the inferior goods, it would be borne by the town residents and the passing merchants. In any case, the quality was slightly poor, but no one would die.
White Plains Town used to be a tribal settlement. Later on, it was transformed into a city and accepted foreign residents. However, the tribe members quietly moved out and established a secret settlement in a new place.
To Lutt, the town residents were just productive forces that generated profits for him.
White Plains Town was just a business, while his tribe was his foundation.
Due to the history of White Plains Town, the Terra Empire allowed his tribe to continue leading the town and let the tribe leader become the lord, so the position of lord became him naturally.
However, his position still wasn’t secure. The Empire could take his appointment, covet new cities, and appoint imperial officials to “parachute” down as lords. Should they then listen or not?
(TL Note: Parachute means for people who are given preferential treatment to enter a company or be promoted because they know someone high ranking that can take care of them.)
Using the town to feed the tribe was his plan.
The Terra Empire had been building new towns and moving its people over. Because there was no historical reason for the new cities, they could parachute lords without any obstruction. Therefore, batches of “new nobles” who had created new surnames were created to compete with their tribal blood relatives.
Therefore, Lutt could tell that the Terra Empire wanted to consolidate its royal power and slowly disintegrate the deep-rooted power of the tribe… In fact, this process had been pushed forward since the establishment of the Empire.
Based on the survival environments maintained by the tribe, groups of people could live together and constantly integrate, annex, and accept outsiders, making the world acknowledge themselves as members of the tribe. And with the survival environment maintained by the Empire, people acknowledged themselves as citizens of the Empire.
The change in the living environment and identity brought about a violent shake to the foundation of the tribe.
In the foreseeable future, as the trend developed, the situation would become increasingly disadvantageous to the tribe.