Steward Fang flew into a rage. "Ridiculous! Qiu Feishui may have some renown in Huaixi Prefecture and oversee the tax affairs of Lihuo City, but what gives him the right to interfere in the private affairs of our Tianxia Association? Which law have we broken? Does he truly think the sacred laws of the Northern Sacred Court are mere window dressing?"
The Head Shopkeeper said, "If it were an order from Qiu, I wouldn't need to pay it any mind. But this order seems to have come down from the Prefecture."
Steward Fang's expression changed again. "Seems to have? From the Prefecture? What exactly is going on?"
The Head Shopkeeper said, "With such an overbearing demand, would the Prefecture Lord, in all his wisdom, issue an order like this and give people something to use against him? We're not afraid of an explicit order. What we fear is an ambiguous one, one that forces us to guess at the intentions above. Put plainly, breaking the law is frightening, but offending our superiors is ten times more frightening."
Steward Fang was displeased, but he deeply agreed.
Clearly, someone above had some dirty business to take care of and couldn't issue a direct order, so they were using this sort of hint to get it done.
If they refused to comply, they might not break the law, but they would offend someone.
Sometimes breaking the law wasn't as terrifying as offending a superior. "The authorities destroy households, the Prefecture Lords wipe out clans"—those titles hadn't been earned for nothing.
"It seems some big shot was tricked by someone into recording something unsavory. Tsk, what a grand undertaking. They're willing to destroy the Total Crystal Core at the drop of a hat. Just how many Shadow-Sound Pearls will that waste?"
Steward Fang found