The legend of the Crimson Demon clan started from Suqing

“Aqua, what are we going to do now! What do you mean, half? Don't joke around! At this rate, I don't know how many millions I'll have to pay in taxes!”

Satou Kazuma looked utterly despondent.

While other adventurers were orderly paying their taxes, he could only silently retreat back into the crowd.

He felt like a clown.

He had just been up there grandstanding about being a useful adventurer to the kingdom, but now he couldn't even come up with the exorbitant taxes he needed to pay... This is too much!

However,

he was definitely seeking comfort from the wrong person.

Aqua was equally distraught, shouting at him in a wail: “I'm already broke, okay? I've spent it all! As far as taxes go, declaring bankruptcy won't even work! I really don't want to be in debt again!”

The idiot goddess was a complete spendthrift… no, she should be called a debt-thrift.

This girl eats and drinks lavishly outside every month, and feels uneasy if she doesn't owe money. Asking her to save money or pay taxes is simply wishful thinking.

“That's right, Kazuma! Let's run away!”

“Run away?”

“The tax system in this world is very simple. Taxes are paid every year in the first month of autumn, and they must be paid in full before the end of the month!”

“That's certainly simple and easy to understand. Speaking of which, isn't today the last day of the first month of autumn? So, what about running away? What happens if we don't pay today?”

“Then we don't have to pay the taxes.”

The idiot goddess suddenly blurted out this sentence, causing Satou Kazuma to blankly say, ‘Huh!?’

Aqua, assuming he was new to this, kindly explained: “On the last day, as long as the civil servants' business hours are over, the previous taxes can be exempted.”

“—Isn't that a bit too generous!?”

This sentence expressed the feelings of every transmigrator.

Satou Kazuma couldn't help but scratch his head and asked: “Is that really okay? Won't the kingdom retroactively demand that we pay later or something?”

“What are you talking about!”

Hearing his confusion, Aqua explained that the laws of this world were custom-made by the nobles.

When the nobles made the laws, they naturally prioritized their own convenience.

It's more cost-effective for ordinary people with low incomes to obediently pay their taxes than to travel far away and escape to other places; but the wealthy and nobles go on vacation every year at this time and don't return home until the following month.

It's simply disregard for the law!

“Damn it! How did the kingdom become like this!”

Zunzun couldn't help but curse in anger.

How could this kingdom be managed well with such vermin? The thought of his hard-earned money being embezzled by these guys made him want to do something.

“They're just a bunch of oil-sucking pigs! Those nobles are too treacherous!”

Satou Kazuma also couldn't hold back.

In fact, he knew very well that Japan was the most corrupt major country, and the reason for the prime minister being ousted every year was almost always corruption, and incidents like being ganked by a Japanese Graves were rare.

“W-Wait a minute! T-There are also some kind nobles, don't tar everyone with the same brush.”

Darkness said this.

Come to think of it, she was also the daughter of a noble, and a daughter of the high-ranking Dustiness family.

Speaking of which, Zunzun remembered that her family was known for being poor, so how would they pay such a large tax?

Suddenly, he noticed something in her hand.

“…Darkness, what are you doing?”

“Hey, what's that in your hand? I'm warning you, I don't have time to play this kind of bondage play with you.”

Satou Kazuma was a little overwhelmed.

He saw the perverted female knight holding an iron shackle, and with a click, she handcuffed it to his right hand… Because this guy is a walking pervert, everyone is already used to it.

“What are you doing?”

Satou Kazuma said impatiently.

He didn't have time to pay attention to the perverted female knight's fetish right now. The most urgent task was to take Aqua, Megumin, and Yunyun and escape from here.

Although his speech just now had put him on the spot, if he didn't pay the taxes, he might get beaten up badly. But as Zunzun said—as long as there's money, everything can be thrown away!

However, when he looked for Megumin and Yunyun, he found that they were already lined up to pay their taxes, and they were right at the front of the line.

“Miss Megumin… your income is very low, so you are exempt from taxes. Thank you for your cooperation! As for Miss Yunyun… it's really surprising that you have been paying your taxes properly every month. You could have just paid on the last day! Thank you for your support, thank you!”

The two completed the tax payment procedures.

Megumin didn't have to pay any taxes at all because she was a low-income person; and Yunyun was even more of a model student, paying her taxes properly every month.

Perhaps sensing Satou Kazuma's gaze, one showed a smug smile, while the other was a good student.

Damn it!

Satou Kazuma clenched his fists.

In that case, only he, Aqua, and Darkness were left. He had to think about how to run away…

Click!

“What are you doing?”

Satou Kazuma stared blankly at Darkness. The perverted female knight didn't know what she was doing, but she actually handcuffed the other end of the shackle on his right hand to Satou Kazuma's left hand.

Was this some new type of play?

Just as Zunzun was curious about what she was going to do, Darkness unexpectedly revealed a fresh and cheerful smile, as if she had just changed into clean new underwear this morning, and said in a tone as light as inviting Satou Kazuma for a walk.

"Paying taxes is a citizen's duty. Come with me, the adventurer with the highest income in this town."

"Wait, wait! I'm not the adventurer with the highest income. That guy over there makes way more than me!"

Kazuma Sato pointed at ZunZun.

ZunZun didn't expect to be caught in the crossfire.

However, Darkness only glanced at ZunZun before turning her head and saying, "To correct you, it's the adventurer with the highest income who hasn't paid their taxes."

"You bastard---"

Thinking about it, it really was him.

Seeing Darkness's confident demeanor, Kazuma Sato decided he had to find a way to escape. So he turned to Aqua for help.

"Aqua, quickly cast support magic on me! Increase my strength and speed! Use enhancement magic so we can carry this guy away together! Hurry, help me!"

"Ugh...!"

"Aqua, you can escape wherever you want. If you can successfully escape from their hands, you can do whatever you want afterward. But the condition for letting you go is that you're not allowed to cast support magic on this man."

Darkness proposed an exchange condition.

Kazuma Sato naturally wouldn't give in. He shouted that it was a conspiracy and not to believe her. However, Aqua remained silent, only retreating backward.

"A-Aqua!?"

"Sorry, Kazuma, but I feel like having someone slower than me will increase my chances of escaping successfully. And if Kazuma escapes, I'm afraid I'll be the second highest earner in this town who hasn't paid taxes..."

The idiot goddess's brain worked quickly only at times like this.

She had luckily escaped after encountering a bear, but her companion, who had taken an arrow to the knee, wasn't so lucky.

Aqua first cast several support spells on herself, and then the guy ran away without looking back, not even having time to say hello to ZunZun and the others.

Kazuma Sato glared at the idiot goddess's departing back, gnashing his teeth.

ZunZun, HuiHui, and YouYou sat on the high platform, watching the development below with great interest, wondering what method Kazuma Sato would use to escape.

Pay taxes?

It's impossible to pay taxes. It's impossible to pay taxes in this lifetime.

The nobles here have many tricks, and the laws they make are very interesting. Kazuma Sato loves it here.

Kazuma Sato wanted to ask ZunZun and the others for help, but seeing their expressions of enjoying the show, he knew that his companions would definitely not help.

He gritted his teeth.

Seemingly forced to the end of his rope, this guy actually chose to hug Darkness from the front, trying to lift her up and carry her away.

However, he was purely overthinking it.

Darkness didn't budge. Even without wearing that ridiculously heavy armor, the team's female crusader could subdue Kazuma Sato with her strength.

"Heh heh heh, you're out of options, right? To prevent you from running away, for this day..."

"Did you specifically eat yourself fat for this day? You care so much about your hard abs, and now your stomach has more fat... Puh-ha!"

Before he could finish speaking, Kazuma Sato suffered a heavy blow to the abdomen.

"It's iron blocks! You show me clearly what these are! I hid a lot of iron blocks under my clothes! Look, look!"

Seemingly to explain, Darkness lifted her shirt, revealing not fair skin, but a large number of heavy, long iron blocks wrapped in cotton cloth. No wonder she hadn't said a word just now, it turned out she had been prepared.

"It seems you insist on not giving in..."

Kazuma Sato was forced into a corner, secretly becoming ruthless. Since that's the case, then don't blame him.

"Steal!"

This guy decisively used the Steal magic on Darkness, but not for her panties, but for an iron block.

"So that's it, he wants to steal a large number of iron blocks to reduce Darkness's weight, wanting to carry her away?"

"Isn't it the key? Change your thinking. As long as you unlock the shackles, you can get rid of Miss Darkness and escape easily, right?"

HuiHui and YouYou said one after another.

Rather, this should be the optimal solution.

"No, it doesn't seem to be like that..."

Kazuma Sato used the Steal skill again, and this time it was still an iron block. It looked like he wanted to steal the iron blocks to reduce her weight, as HuiHui said, but his blank expression seemed to say that it wasn't.

"What's wrong, Kazuma? If you want to steal my panties and make me embarrassed in public, then don't even think about it."

"W-What...! Wait, wait a minute... Darkness, could it be that you also..."

"That's right! I'm not wearing any!"

"You big pervert!!!"

Kazuma Sato cursed at the red-faced Darkness. He never expected that this guy wouldn't wear panties to prevent him from stealing them, just like ZunZun. It was really speechless!

"But! If you think that way, then you're dead wrong!"

"What do you want to do, Kazuma!"

"Steal---"

Kazuma Sato used the Steal skill again, but the object he stole was not Darkness, but other women in the venue.

And with this as a beginning, he used it dozens of times in a row.

Because everyone was lining up to pay taxes, the crowd was too dense. In just a few minutes, his feet were piled with panties of various styles and colors, colorful and daring, making people dizzy.

Then, Kazuma Sato was arrested by the security bureau under the charge of being a panty thief, and then successfully escaped the deadline for paying taxes.