"Lord Earl, let him go, and you will gain Scholar's Tower's friendship."
Mond Landon said this sincerely.
Brother, are you kidding me? An illusory friendship just trying to get someone out of my prison? It's better to give real money and silver.
But if you think about it carefully, Scholar's Tower has a great influence in the courts of various countries. The Mentor of Mond can decide on his own to accept a commoner child for a living, so he must have a certain status in Scholar's Tower.
The Mond Landon in front of me seems to be an honest and honest person, but the Mentor behind him may not necessarily be the same. I heard that all the elderly bachelors have very weird tempers. What if Hudu Qingshen uses his network resources to put his own shoes on? Alas, one more thing is worse than one less thing. Just let a little brat let it go.
What about lax law enforcement and the prestige of lords? How could the common people of this era understand this? What I just said was just for the occasion.
What's more, if we really look into it, it seems that what Kevin did wrong was just that he didn't report Lord's Manor after seeing through Baden's lies, but instead tried to blackmail Baden in exchange for conditions. According to the investigation, he neither killed nor robbed after the riot.
However, the advice he gave to the salt people was the direct trigger of the riot, so he was included in the list of the 50 most serious criminals.
Paul made up his mind and said seriously, "Okay, Mr. Scholar. You can take the person away, but you need to pay a certain bail."
Mond Landon immediately stood up and bowed deeply to Paul, saying gratefully, "I would like to thank the Earl on behalf of his parents. This poor couple has been extremely worried in the past few days."
Paul hummed, "You have to discipline your little brother well, study hard and make progress every day, and don't think about things all day long. In addition, I hope the [friendship] you talk about is not just talk."
"Yes, we must teach him well."
Mond hesitated for a moment and continued to ask, "Your Majesty, I heard that Lord's Manor will severely sentence 50 major criminals. I wonder how others other than Kevin will be punished?"
"It's okay to tell you that among the 20 people with the most serious crimes, 5 were beheaded, 10 were hanged, and 5 had their death sentences suspended. Together with 30 other people, they were sent to the northern forest to open up wasteland to see the consequences. Originally, Kevin was also going to be sent to open up wasteland."
Mond bowed to Paul again. "You are really a kind lord." He originally thought that Paul would behead all 50 people.
"Huh, after all, they didn't really rebel. Oh, by the way, what do you Scholar's Tower study all day long? Do you have any technical talents?"
"History and politics, literature and music, logic and philosophy, etc..., as long as you can think of it, Scholar's Tower has dabbled in it."
A hint of pride flashed across Mond's face.
"As for the technical talents you mentioned, if they are magicians and Alchemist, there will naturally be some."
Paul smiled slightly, "If you can go back and help me recruit some talents, it will be worthy of the friendship you just mentioned. It doesn't have to be too good, even if it's just literacy. Of course I'm talking about Aldo Language."
"This..." Mond sweated profusely and thought to himself, "We are the imperial capital Scholar's Tower. I guess there aren't many people who can't imagine being willing to come to this bitter cold place in the northwest."
But he still said, "I will try my best."
After the business was finished, the two continued chatting for a while. Aldo Language, a native of Mond Landon, spoke more eloquently than Paul, a Gulf native, and there was no barrier to communication between the two.
This scholar truly lived up to his reputation as Scholar's Tower, with profound knowledge and a thorough understanding of ancient and modern times, which made Paul secretly admired in his heart.
"I am working hard to let people live a better life by developing and promoting new technologies. Mr. Scholar, you can walk around Arda, go to the port to see our new sailboat, go to the field to see our harvester, go to the store to see..."
The ambition of the young earl surprised Mond Landon. Children of this age like to dream about things like knights taking adventures or leading troops to fight in wars.
Paul danced and said, "The arrival of the five hundred angels Church has enabled human beings to farm and weave, metallurgize and forge iron, allowing us to occupy the most fertile land in the world. But I believe that science... and technological progress have no limit. We can definitely improve our lives to a higher level. We can definitely feed more people and make everyone full to eat."
"Science? Technology?"
"Yes, understanding the principles of things is what I call [science], and applying science to our lives is what I call [technology]. It is these two that allow us humans to develop. I am not boasting, but it is precisely relying on these two that the lives of the people in Arda and Bairdin have been greatly improved compared to before."
Mond was noncommittal, "Your Majesty, with all due respect, your territory has just..."
Paul interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "I know what you want to say - a group of salt farmers have had their livelihood cut off due to the emergence of the salt farm, and they have to take desperate risks. But I want to tell you a fact. The emergence of the salt farm has saved most families a lot of money."
Mond showed an incredible look.
"Mr. Langdon, you live in a prosperous place like Gabella Imperial Capital, and you are also a distinguished tower scholar. Naturally, you don't know the hardships of a remote place like ours. The salt people cook salt using traditional methods, and the output is really limited, so the price on the market is high—— Of course, compared with now, no one would think that salt was expensive before, because it has always been that price. You know, if you don't eat salt, you will have no energy to work, so this thing is a daily necessity. Although the cost of buying salt flowers is not much, it will be a big expense over the years."
Paul proudly said, "Since the salt fields produced large quantities of salt, the price of salt has dropped unprecedentedly. This has saved a lot of money. If you don't believe it, you can ask a random woman on the street to hear how he feels about the drop in salt prices."
"This..." Mond pondered, "I believe there must be a better solution that benefits the entire public and gets the best of both worlds."
Paul spread his hands. "I also believe that, since we are not gods, sometimes you have to sacrifice a small number of people in order to take care of the interests of the majority. This can only be said to be... the trauma of the times. Fortunately, I am not the small group of people who are sacrificed. Unfortunately, as the leader of a territory, I am the one who makes such a decision."
Mond admitted. "What you said makes sense, Lord Earl. So in this case, a wise monarch is so important. He can take care of the vast majority of people and make the sacrifice as small as possible."
"Wise monarch?"
"Yes, Master Earl Greiman."
Mond Landon's eyes became firm. "Compared to [Science] and [Technology] you mentioned, I am more inclined to think that the key to making people's lives better lies in [Heroes] and [Wise King]."