Convince by Virtue Top

Renard handed one of the cigars to the youth and said, exhaling smoke rings, "I have an idea for you. Do as I say, and I guarantee you'll complete the task."

The youth took two deep drags of the cigar and, while Renard wasn't paying attention, quickly crushed it under his shoe before tucking it away.

Renard, of course, noticed his little action but paid it no mind. He continued, "Go to the slums in the east and find some ruffians. Tell them that whoever stays in front of Old Walker's shop for six hours will get a full meal from me."

Ruffians? The lackey blinked, clearly not understanding the meaning of the word.

"They're the kind of lowlifes who never learn their lesson," Renard explained with a frown, thinking he should use fewer advanced terms in the future.

"Oh, okay," the lackey replied vaguely, still somewhat confused. He then sheepishly asked, "Does this have some deeper meaning, young master?"

Renard smiled, cigar in mouth, and leisurely uttered four words: "Convince by virtue."

"How exactly should I do it?" The tall, thin youth wasn't one to be easily confused. He felt it was best to ask for clarification on matters he didn't fully understand to avoid major mistakes.

"Here's what you do..." Renard explained the process in detail, adding, "Don't be stingy with the outcasts who perform the best. Give them an extra ten copper coins as a reward."

He then added with a touch of unease, "Warn them not to cause any trouble."

He let out a long breath and looked at the bright sunlight outside the window. "Do as I say, and within a few days, Old Walker will come to us himself."

As he spoke, he pulled a few silver coins from his pocket and tossed them over.

The lackey caught the coins, a wide smile on his face. Although he felt the plan was a bit unreliable, he didn't dare to object and took his leave after accepting the order.

This was a tactic Renard had learned in his previous life to deal with deadbeats. At that time, a distant relative of his had opened a factory producing mechanical parts. As production scaled up, credit became common, and non-payment was rampant.

His relative had connections in both the underworld and legitimate circles, but deadbeats were still deadbeats. They would always whine and beg for sympathy, and when pushed, they'd retort, "I have no money, but I'll give you my life."

Finally, someone suggested a plan: hire a group of old ladies to block the other party's door every day, whether it was the company entrance or their home. There would always be six or seven old ladies squatting there.

They were told, "Start blocking the door at 7 AM. Lunch will be provided, and no one is allowed to leave. Payment is at 8 PM, 200 yuan per person."

These old ladies were very effective. They wouldn't budge no matter who tried to persuade them. If you dared to touch them, they would lie down.

It was a case of fighting fire with fire. If you were a deadbeat, there were people even more persistent than you.

In the end, the other party couldn't continue their business, and their lives were severely impacted. With no other choice, they had to pay up.

Renard intended to use this strategy on Old Walker, to the point where he would doubt his own existence, unless he no longer wanted to do business in Saint Brieuc Fortress. He would have no choice but to comply.

If everything went as expected, Old Walker would soon realize what kind of scoundrel he had offended.

The lackey was obedient. He went to the slums in the eastern district and conveyed Renard's request completely, with a slight modification: "Young Master Renard said that whoever stays in front of Old Walker's shop for six hours will be rewarded with one kilogram of rye bread."

Rye bread, made with a mixture of bran and coarse flour, was cheap. One kilogram could be bought for two copper coins. This meant the reward was quite substantial.

Even so, the lackey still felt he was being too generous and wondered if he could squeeze more. "They're just outcasts. What if I don't give it to them? Can they rebel?"

However, this thought flashed through his mind and vanished. He didn't dare to alter Renard's arrangements and hurriedly bought thirty kilograms of rye bread from the bakery before squatting by Old Walker's shop, waiting quietly.

After about ten minutes, several suspicious figures darted out from the end of the street. They peered around cautiously as they crept towards Old Walker's shop.

Judging by their ragged clothes, they were clearly the most lowly outcasts in Saint Brieuc Fortress.

This is a good place to elaborate on the class system of the Kingdom of Arthur.

Over two hundred years ago, the Papacy dispatched an expeditionary force to conduct a cross-sea campaign against the Eastern Continent. However, they were defeated by the formidable Tang Empire army, and the system of divine right of kings suffered an unprecedented blow.

Although the northern part of the continent remained under the jurisdiction of the Papacy, more than twenty countries in the southernmost part of the continent, including the Kingdom of Arthur, declared they would no longer accept the Pope's coronation. The era of the supremacy of royal authority had quietly arrived.

However, it was embarrassing that the prolonged absence of royal authority had led to regional governors acting independently, unwilling to accept the monarch's rule.

Take the newly formed Kingdom of Arthur, for example. Although the monarch was at the apex of the power pyramid, the nobles also held considerable power, even able to influence the king's will.

Fortunately, the king controlled the largest, most prosperous, and most fertile lands in the country, and possessed the largest, most loyal, and most powerful army. Therefore, no one dared to openly challenge him. Thus, the monarch and the nobles constituted the apex of the power pyramid.

Below them were the clergy. As the former rulers, even though they had lost their power, they still held a very high social status through their healing and exorcism abilities.

Below the clergy were the commoners, the largest class. Any free person could be called a commoner.

Of course, there were considerable differences between commoners. For instance, soldiers, artisans, merchants, and scholars had a higher status than farmers who toiled in the fields.

Below the commoners were the outcasts. These people had no freedom. They were either servants who sold themselves willingly, slaves or criminals who were forced to sell themselves, or wanderers without status.

In Saint Brieuc Fortress, commoners were the most numerous, followed by outcasts. For example, the tenant farmers who worked the land for Baron Hamilton and the maidservants and servants who attended to people in the castle were mostly outcasts without freedom.

These people were the private property of nobles, and their descendants would remain outcasts for generations. Unless a lord granted them a special pardon, they would never escape such a status, and pardons were practically unheard of.

Similarly, the gap between outcasts was even greater. Selina's current status was that of an outcast, yet her position in Saint Brieuc Fortress was higher than that of many commoners.

At least these lackeys, who came from decent backgrounds, respectfully called her Miss Selina because she was Renard's lover.

The above information is irrelevant to the task the lackey was to perform. His job was to keep an eye on these outcasts, watch them stay in front of Old Walker's shop for six hours, and then reward them with a piece of hard rye bread.