He had previously heard Berg explain that any title written in white was considered Mortal Rank.
Above the Mortal Rank was the Transcendent Rank. Once someone reached that level, the words above their head would turn emerald green.
After reaching this rank, no matter what profession a person had—even if they were only a farmer—they could gain all kinds of strange and unbelievable abilities.
Furthermore, people at the Transcendent Rank could hide their occupational blessing.
The Clay traveling merchant they had ambushed earlier had no profession displayed above his head.
That meant he was most likely a Transcendent professional.
Fortunately, the man had been a merchant.
If he had been a Transcendent knight like the one standing in front of them now, Xia Mingyu had no doubt that even if he and Berg joined forces, they probably wouldn't survive a single strike from his sword.
Status rank and profession rank were separate things.
It was entirely possible for someone's status blessing to be white while their profession blessing was green.
Berg had always hoped to raise his Hunter blessing to the Transcendent Rank.
Unfortunately, no one had ever taught him how, nor did he possess any knowledge about advancement. Because of that, he had made absolutely no progress for three whole years.
Xia Mingyu adjusted the straw hat on his head as he secretly thought,
That chainmail really does look impressive.
If someone fought while wearing that, along with a proper helmet, taking on ten ordinary people alone probably wouldn't be difficult at all.
At the moment, Xia Mingyu was wearing an enormous round straw hat.
It was so large that it almost looked ridiculous.
Although it wasn't exactly attractive, it perfectly covered the labels floating above his head.
If he hadn't had this hat, Xia Mingyu would never have risked exposing his identity by coming here to watch while a noble's people were present.
Besides that, he had wrapped himself in a long hemp robe to hide his modern clothes.
Once the crowd around him stopped growing, the knight suddenly shouted,
"Village chief of Fruit Basket Village! Come forward and meet me!"
A short while later, Robert, dressed in a sheepskin robe, walked out from the crowd and slowly approached the knight.
"Respected Knight Solin, I am Village Chief Robert. On behalf of all the villagers, I welcome your arrival."
Robert bent at the waist and spoke respectfully.
"Is everyone here?" Solin asked coldly.
His expression was stern, and his voice sounded like two pieces of icy metal striking against each other.
Robert looked around before bowing once again.
"My lord, every villager of Fruit Basket Village has gathered here."
Solin spoke in a deep voice.
"According to the decree of my master, your great lord, Viscount Hughes, your village must pay a total of twenty-one silver Sols and seventy-four copper Sols this year for agricultural tax and hunting tax."
"Have you prepared the full amount?"
Robert immediately smiled.
"My lord, everything has been prepared."
He gestured behind him.
One of the villagers stepped forward while holding a bulging money pouch and carried it beneath the old oak tree.
Solin casually pointed toward one of the attendants behind him.
"You. Count it."
The attendant dismounted and began carefully counting the coins inside the pouch.
The constant sound of coins rubbing together echoed through the area.
Every villager nearby stared nervously at the scene.
After all, the result would determine their fate.
Would they continue living peaceful lives as farmers?
Or would they be reduced to slaves, forced to spend the rest of their lives suffering endless humiliation and exhausting labor until they slowly worked themselves to death?
After a long while, the attendant finally raised his head.
There was even a hint of happiness on his face.
"Lord Solin, I have finished counting."
"There are twenty-one silver Sols and eighty copper Sols in total."
The tightly drawn brows on Knight Solin's face relaxed slightly when he heard this.
He looked at Robert with approval.
"Well done. You have perfectly fulfilled your responsibilities as subjects of the territory."
Robert hurriedly bowed.
"It is our honor, my lord. May the gods bless the great Lord Hughes."
At this point, Robert had already lost count of how many times he had bowed today.
Knight Solin nodded slightly.
"Very good. If only the other villages were as loyal as you."
He then sighed with obvious irritation.
