One Piece: Under the Throne

In the mayor's office of Beka Town, the young tax collector sat in the main seat, and Alfred leaned against the window with his arms folded, his eyes always looking at the street outside.

The mayor sat opposite the tax collector and pushed a box in front of the young man with a flattering look on his face.

The young tax collector opened the box and looked at it casually: "Is that all? Mayor, you are not doing your tax collection job well."

The mayor seemed to have expected the other party to say this. He immediately took out a bag of money from under the table and placed it in front of the young man. The tax collector did not open the bag to check, but nodded with satisfaction: "Thank you for your hard work, mayor. His Majesty will remember your contribution."

Just as the young tax collector was about to stand up, a long sword stopped him from reaching for the tax. Alfred turned his head and said, "It is illegal to accept bribes privately. I advise you not to do it knowingly."

The young tax collector blushed and said, "Alfred, mind your own business and do your job as a guard. Don't forget that I am the tax collector."

The mayor also quickly apologized with a smile, took out another bag of Baileys and put it on the table: "Master Alfred, why do you have to ruin the relationship over such a small matter? This is a gift from Beka Town to you, Master."

Alfred ignored the mayor, picked up the box with his sword, walked to the door, and urged the young tax collector to follow him, then walked out of the office first.

At this time, the young tax collector's face was pale with anger: "Asshole Alfred, you wait for me."

Seeing this situation, the mayor had no choice but to step forward to comfort the tax collector. He could not afford to offend either of these two big shots. After promising to send the rest of the "taxes" to the Royal Capital Tax Office, the young tax collector's expression improved a little.

After placing the box on the carriage, Alfred climbed on his horse and returned to the front of the team. Thinking of what had just happened, the Paladin felt annoyed.

Suddenly, a scream was heard from the commercial street opposite the mayor's office. Alfred looked over immediately and saw a group of thugs in flowered shirts beating a middle-aged couple.

Alfred was already full of anger, and now there were thugs who dared to bully the civilian knight in front of him, which completely ignited his anger. He knocked his legs against the horse's belly, and the warhorse ran to the group of people in a few steps.

The leader of the men in flowered shirts, seeing the knights of the kingdom coming, did not dare to be too arrogant. He smiled and said, "Sir, we will clean up this place immediately and it will not affect the cityscape." After saying this, the leader of the men in flowered shirts ordered his men to drag the middle-aged couple into the alley.

Alfred slashed the thug in front of him with his sword, jumped off his horse, walked up to the leader in the flowered shirt, and put the tip of his sword to his throat: "According to the laws of the kingdom, you are all arrested for committing a crime in the street. Now stand up and follow me to the police station."

Just as the conflict was happening here, the mayor came out with the young tax collector. Seeing Alfred punishing the thugs of the Gopher Gang, the mayor hurriedly stopped the tax collector.

"Sir, those people are from the Gopher Gang. They work for the Jon family. Can you please persuade Lord Alfred?"

The tax collector didn't take it seriously at first, but when he heard about the Jon family, his face changed immediately and he hurried over.

"Stop, Alfred. I order you to put away your sword."

When the Mole Gang thugs heard a government official speaking for them, they changed their expressions, sneered, and tried to move away the sword at their necks.

"You dared to resist arrest after committing the crime, which is an aggravated crime. You are sentenced to death." Alfred did not give the other party a chance and pierced the throat of the leader in the flowered shirt with a sword.

The tax collector just ran over at this time. Before he could catch his breath, he saw that the thug of the Mole Gang was killed by Alfred with a sword. He was so angry again that his face turned red. He pointed at him and couldn't say a word.

Huh! The young tax collector calmed down, stood up straight and looked at the Knight Commander coldly: "Lord Alfred, this man is a subordinate of the Jon family. I don't need to say much about the Jon family's contribution to the Kingdom of Gorud. They are the most loyal allies of His Majesty the King. I will report what happened today to His Majesty and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince." After the tax collector finished speaking, he stopped looking at Alfred, got on the carriage and immediately ordered to set off.

The rest of the mole gang members had already fled when they saw their leader being killed. The beaten middle-aged man looked at Alfred helplessly: "Sir, you really caused us a lot of trouble. Why do I have to encounter such a thing?"

The middle-aged woman ignored the injuries on her face and looked at him viciously: "It would be a blessing for us if you come less often. You don't know anything and you pretend to be kind. Please leave quickly and don't cause us any more trouble." After saying that, she helped the middle-aged man limp back to the store.

Alfred stared at their backs blankly. Such reprimands and such looks. Was it really him who did something wrong?

"Good job, uncle. You are a good man." Just when Alfred was confused, he suddenly heard someone talking to him.

He turned around and saw two little kids. The girl kept stuffing snacks into her mouth with her puffed cheeks, looking really cute, while the boy was looking at him with a smile. Was he the one who was applauding his behavior just now?

"Although you are a good person, you are a fool with good intentions but bad results. I guess that couple's store can't continue to operate. They will give the store to the gang and beg those scum to let them go."

Alfred asked doubtfully, "Has justice withered to this point? If so, I will go and destroy the Gopher Gang."

Leo smiled and did not answer the knight's words. Instead, he asked: "I heard from your companions that you would get into trouble if you did this. Why do you want to do something that is not recognized and will cause trouble for yourself?"

Alfred stiffened for a moment, then straightened up again. He reached out and rubbed Leo's head: "Because if no one stands up, this country will be completely ruined. And this is my justice, I cannot go against it."

After hearing what the knight said, Leo's mouth curled up slightly, "Uncle, my name is Leo, we will meet again."

"Um, if you can, please call me big brother. I'm only 27 years old."

Leo: "..." Ha! You look anxious.

……

Dark clouds covered the royal city. Alfred looked up at the sky, feeling as depressed as the weather. He escorted the tax collection team to the palace gate. Alfred reined in his horse and ended the escort mission. The young tax collector jumped off the carriage and walked straight into the palace, completely ignoring the Knight Commander beside him.

The tax collector came to the throne with a money box and said, "Respected King Grid, this tax collection mission has been successfully completed, and taxes from all places have been collected in full."

King Grid was very satisfied. He believed that it was the wholehearted respect of his subjects that ensured sufficient tax revenue.

Before King Grid could come back to his senses from his self-intoxication, the young tax collector poured cold water on him: "Great King, during the collection of taxes this time, Knight Commander Alfred did something out of line."

"Hahaha, that guy is too serious and doesn't know how to get along with others. How did he offend you?" Grid valued Alfred very much. If there was a conflict between his knight commander and his officials, he would not mind mediating.

"I did not have a dispute with you. Knight Alfred killed a member of Jon's family in Becca. I tried to stop him, but the Knight Commander insisted on having his own way."

Upon hearing that it was someone from Jon's family who was killed, King Grid frowned. After all, the tribute the other party gave to the royal family every year was very considerable, and King Grid didn't want to affect the cooperation with Jon's family because of this little thing.

"Okay, go down and ask Alfred to come in."

"As you command, great king." The tax collector bowed and took his leave. He thought to himself, damn Alfred, you have caused a big disaster this time, let's see how you end up.

Soon Alfred came to the throne, "Great King Grid, your loyal knights are always at your disposal."

"I heard that you had a conflict with members of the Jon family during this mission and killed one of their members?" King Grid's tone was very stiff as soon as he opened his mouth, and he seemed to be in a bad mood.

"Reporting to my king, I did kill a mafia member in Becca Town. He was lying in the street..." Alfred was interrupted before he could finish his report.

"Okay, no more words. I order you to apologize to the Jon family and obtain their forgiveness. Go down." King Grid didn't want to hear any more explanations and directly sent Alfred away.

At this time, the Jon family had also received news from the palace, knowing that the Knight Commander had dared to kill a member of his family. Although he was just a small character, it was a slap in their face. The Mafia valued face the most, so after receiving the news, many small leaders of the family clamored to take revenge on Alfred.

At this time, the head of the Jon family, Fusman, spoke up: "Shut up, everyone. The other party is the strongest in the kingdom. You want to die. But if you touch our people, you must give an explanation. I believe King Grid will teach this unreasonable Knight Commander what to do."

Fusman sneered. He believed that the other party would come to apologize on their own initiative without them having to do anything. The greedy king had been bribed by them long ago. The family's business development in the Kingdom of Gorud was so smooth all thanks to this "great Majesty the King". Thinking of this, Fusman felt happier.

But after waiting for a few days, Alfred still didn't come. Fusman was so angry that he laughed. Did the knight have a head made of iron? He had known for a long time that King Grid had ordered him to apologize to his family. Fusman had even prepared gifts to make friends with the kingdom's top master.

Although he was very helpless, Alfred decided to complete the king's order after struggling for a few days. The upright knight knew that the Jon family was a bunch of scum, and that their so-called industries were illegal, but sometimes people had to bow to reality, even if he was a great swordsman.

The world government's taxes and the heavy heavenly gold have made life more difficult for the lower class people. The prosperity of the Gorud Kingdom depends entirely on the mafia's industries to maintain the economy. Those illegal industries provide a large number of jobs and meager rewards for the lower class people, at least preventing ordinary people from starving.

Alfred also thought about using force to expel the mafia, but what would he do? The king and the nobles only cared about their own enjoyment. Even a small tax collector received more bribes than an average family's annual income. If he acted impulsively, he would be happy, but the people's lives would not be able to survive. So before there was a better solution, he could only endure. In the past, he could at least stay in the palace without seeing it, but this time he couldn't hide.