The Elves' Dilemma
In the Emerald Palace, the kingdom's leading figures gathered around the map, frowning at the circles marked upon it.
The war was over, and it was time to divide the spoils. Unlike previous major wars, this victory over the Beastfolk had come far too easily.
Originally, that was a good thing. The war had ended early, minimizing the kingdom's losses, while not a single bit of the expected spoils had been lost.
The trouble lay precisely there!
By past custom, rewards were distributed according to merit. Those who deserved promotion and titles received them, while those who deserved fiefs were granted fiefs.
But this time was different. Most of the nobles who had joined the war possessed only hardship, not merit. The few nobles who had earned military achievements had not earned enough.
The victory had come too quickly and too easily, concentrating most of the credit in Hudson, the commander-in-chief.
Now that it was time to divide the spoils, things had become awkward.
According to the kingdom's strategic plan, they were supposed to advance eight hundred li eastward. Looking at the Near East strategy, any planned expansion would only result in more occupied territory, never less.
Yet there were very few nobles qualified to receive fiefs, nowhere near enough to fill all that land. The remaining nobles had only suffered hardship. Not only was there no legal basis for granting them fiefs, there was also no way to ensure fairness.
After all, if everyone received land, so many nobles in the kingdom would be dividing it that each fief would become far too small.
That would not matter much in the kingdom's heartland. But doing this along the border would be suicide.
If each family received only several thousand acres, how could they possibly muster enough