Romain turned to look at Seth.
His voice was calm. "If they were displaced, then I would settle them down. If they had no work, then I would give them work. If they had no food, then I would give them food... But if they refused to obey my orders, then they could die! Tell me, who in Sigg Town still owned their own land?"
Seth was speechless.
The answer was no one. He knew that all the land in Sigg Town had been reclaimed by Romain.
He exercised a lord's authority with exceptionally forceful methods.
Naturally, he had considered the consequences.
It was just that the worst-case scenario had not come to pass.
As long as they could live, no one wanted to die.
Slaves depended on their owners, while farmers depended on their lords.
Rulers had, without exception, divided the common people at the bottom into two classes.
One was slaves called Freemen, and the other was slaves called slaves.
The status of Freemen existed precisely to spur slaves into working harder.
Because when the gap in force between farmers and War Knights became too great, farmers were no different from slaves.
Romain had torn apart that illusion.
Brief mistreatment would not brew disaster.
But prolonged tyranny would certainly provoke resistance.
What Romain had done was enough to shake his position, enough to make those farmers who had lost their land organize themselves and overthrow his rule. Even if they died, they would be willing to risk everything just to drag Romain down with them.
So why was Sigg Town still stable?
Because of one free meal.
Just free meals had tamed the souls of most people in Sigg Town, worn away their will to resist, and brought them into an unfamiliar system of labor.
Seth had to