Open the damn door!"
"What is the meaning of this?!"
"We're here to deliver some warmth!"
"Deliver what?"
The steward was utterly baffled. But confident in the power of the tax lords gathered inside, he didn't suspect the visitors had malicious intent, so he opened the door straight away.
"Oof!"
The door had barely cracked open when a massive hand shoved the steward to the ground. Seven or eight burly men, armed with short swords and cudgels, stormed inside.
From the floor, the steward caught a glimpse of the courtyard. Four or five of the manor's guards were lying in pools of their own blood. Realizing he was doomed, he simply rolled his eyes back and played dead.
The commotion outside naturally startled the tax farmers, who were busy toasting each other inside. But before they could react, the intruders were already upon them.
The leader of the group scanned the room and spoke slowly:
"We are the King's Secret Police. Your time is up!"
Secret Police? What in the Seven Hells is that? Where are my guards?
And how the fuck did you get in here?
The master of the manor, the man sitting at the head of the table, slammed his hand down and stood up, pointing a finger at the lead player.
"I don't care who you are! Breaking in here like this violates King Viserys's laws! If you leave now, I might consider asking His Grace to let you keep your heads!"
The player from the Action Squad grinned, his face full of disdain.
"Sorry, my Lord. Since there is no Master of Laws on the Small Council yet, the Kingdom's laws remain... incomplete. Hmph. Unlucky for you, your crimes are on the books. Ours aren't. Seize them!"
As soon as he gave the order, the players behind him pounced like wolves. The men at the table were bloated snakes and rats, powerless to resist.
They were pinned to the floor almost immediately.
"How have we offended the King?!" one tax farmer cried out in protest.
"The boss said I needed to find evidence before arresting you, but honestly, that sounds like a lot of work. So, I'd like to invite you gentlemen to the Black Cells for a little chat," the squad leader said coldly.
"Take them away!"
The Guild Master's orders were to plant evidence, but this player—whose ID was Wind-Sweeper—clearly had his own ideas.
In his opinion, once these guys were dragged to the Black Cells, they'd confess to everything themselves. Planting evidence was just an unnecessary extra step.
At the same time, similar scenes were playing out across all the manors owned by the major tax farmers. The Secret Police swept through like a swarm of locusts, slapping official seals on orchards, manors, and shops. Any resistance was met with immediate execution.
For a moment, panic spread through the common folk in the villages and farmsteads around Pentos.
---
"You just... brought them back directly? Forget it. Just make sure they talk. Fast."
Duck-Pointer looked at the group of tax farmers being herded into the Black Cells by Wind-Sweeper with some surprise. But he didn't argue; he just waved his hand, signaling for the interrogation to begin.
"Yes, sir."
Duck-Pointer watched Wind-Sweeper walk away, a complicated expression on his face, before finally looking away.
History has proven that no one keeps their mouth shut in the Black Cells. The players' methods were brutal enough to make these pampered tax farmers wish they were dead. For every question asked, they gave three answers. The interrogators even managed to drag out deep-seated memories, like who they peeped on in the bath when they were eight years old.
The effectiveness was undeniable.
With the confessions secured, Duck-Pointer immediately ordered his players—who hadn't even caught their breath yet—to gear up again. Their new objective: asset forfeiture. Meanwhile, he took the evidence of the tax farmers' crimes to present to Viserys.
Even though they had been running around all morning, nobody says no to a raid.
The Secret Police charged out of the city in high spirits, moving down the list to raid homes one by one.
Worried about being short-handed and potential riots, after Duck-Pointer submitted the evidence, Viserys immediately ordered Strong Belwas to dispatch five hundred soldiers from the Pentos City Watch to assist.
"Hang them all. Set the execution for tomorrow. Let all of Pentos see," Viserys said, casually tossing the list back onto the table, sealing the fate of dozens of men.
"Understood, Your Grace." Duck-Pointer didn't give a damn about the lives of these NPCs. All he cared about was what title and land the Boss would give him once the quest was complete.
---
Throughout history, East or West, the most efficiently executed command in any feudal dynasty is always asset confiscation.
From Pentos to the target locations, the Secret Police and the City Watch soldiers didn't stop to rest. They were fueled entirely by the allure of looting.
Once they arrived, they wasted no words. Blades came out, and work began. Anyone who resisted was stabbed, and then everyone made a beeline for the gold and silver.
Generations of family wealth were hauled out in chests, making the eyes of both the players and the soldiers glow green with greed.
"Damn, everything in the Player Shop is expensive as hell except for loot boxes. But just these four or five gold dragons are enough to buy me a new set of armor!"
One player gulped as he stared at the glittering chests of gold coins.
Although Viserys treated the players like little leeks to be harvested via the Player Shop, the players weren't stupid. If the shop items were too pricey, they'd just use the in-game currency to buy from NPCs.
Viserys, of course, realized this issue. After discussing it with the little fire creature, the two shady merchants came to an agreement: they would put Iron and Silver Loot Boxes directly on the shelves of the Player Shop with clear price tags.
Add to that the Skill Scrolls (combat and lifestyle), high-level magic items, and pet eggs dangled in front of them, and the players wouldn't abandon the Player Shop completely to dive into hoarding Gold Dragons.
However, despite this, quite a few players had already started trading virtual currency for real cash offline.
The biggest buyer was Zhao Xiaotian's uncle, Zhao Wuji. Backed by massive real-world capital, this uncle was buying up Gold Dragons in bulk and had already opened several shops in the city.
Rumor had it that this tycoon had already figured out how to make soap and perfume and was preparing for mass production.
Back to the raids. Excluding what the subordinates secretly pocketed, the total amount brought before Viserys came to over 2.1 million Gold Dragons. And that was excluding the hard-to-value rare treasures, jewelry, diamonds, and the immovable properties owned by the tax farmers.
In short, Viserys was rich.
Flush with cash, Viserys didn't forget the vacuum in the tax system. That very day, he knighted Duck-Pointer, granting him the title of Baron and awarding him several villages and a manor as his fiefdom.
More than a dozen players under him were knighted as Landed Knights, each receiving a village as their own fief.
Overnight, they had become feudal lords in the game. It wouldn't take long for this news to cause a massive uproar in the player community.
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