by Yume
* * *
Sir Mitchell strolled along the flat, abandoned land, tapping his cane on the ground with each step he took. As far as the horizon could carry, everything belonged to him. Him only. And yet, not anymore soon. The rented farms could now hardly satisfy his son’s daily needs. There used to be redundant revenue and profit. Ever since young Mitchell started spending wildly and uncontrollably, the family’s disposable income dropped drastically. Still, he had not the intention to stop his son’s behavior. He let him have his own way. Besides leasing out fifty lands he owned, he lent money to those poor, inexperienced farmers, charging them with high loans in return. He was best known for his infamous act of being an irresponsible creditor. Yet, he was probably the only one capable of lending money. People had no other way to turn to but to feed this giant monster.
The total income he got from rent and loan this month exceeded a million pounds, but his son spent half of the money in a day’s time. His son seemed to have frenzy towards every luxury. They had twenty golden carriages in stock and ten mansions near the sea shore facing the beach. In addition to that, his son had an instant idea of running some retail shops a few years back, so, he let him open several shops in the market and import some merchandises. Foolish was the young lad, having trusted the wrong people, the entire ship carrying the merchandises disappeared. Needless to say, the shops closed down right away and he learnt the lesson never letting his son run any business again.
They went back to their usual life of being landlords.
Recently, a new plan popped up in his mind. Sir Mitchell had decided to sell all the lands at once. This was the fastest and the best way he could think of earning the most. There was too much his son needed and if his diet and habit went on, things would become pretty unaffordable in a short time. Selling lands would be the right solution.
However, the lease on those lands would not expire until two years later. Chasing those farmers away would be an illegal thing to do. Plus, these poor peasants would most definitely refuse to move out. They might protest, go on strike or even threaten him.
“Wait a second.” He muttered to himself. “By law, those lands belong to me and if any damages to them are made…”
Then, he had a brilliant idea. If he could not make those farmers move out by force, he would just have to make them do so by law.
“Oh, it’s three.” He then looked down at his golden watch and smiled. “Tea time.”