Early the next morning, just as the sky began to lighten.
The farmers and vendors who headed out to work earliest found a special notice on the boards in Firefall Town's square and by the market entrance.
The notice had been posted in the most prominent spot on the board. It bore the seal of the Summerstar Family—three gold stars on a blue field—as well as the town mayor's seal:
"By order of Lord Ye Wei'an Xiaxing: the town has thoroughly confiscated the ill-gotten gains of the outlaw Gray Crow. Any residents of Firefall Territory who were harmed, extorted, or robbed by Gray Crow and his gang may collect compensation at the former Old Oak Leather Shop."
A densely written list below the notice named everyone from farmers whose oxen had been stolen to vendors who had been extorted for stall fees. Every old debt was clearly recorded.
A final line at the bottom added: "Anyone who believes they were victimized but is not on the list may also come forward for verification. Compensation will be paid once the claim is confirmed."
"Is this for real? I thought seizing the shop and arresting the thugs meant it was all over."
"Will a noble really give back money he's already swallowed? I've never heard of such a thing in my life."
When money was involved, news sprouted wings. One person told ten, and ten told a hundred,
and soon all of Firefall Town knew about it.
Some scoffed, thinking it was just the new young noble trying to win people over;
others were skeptical, figuring he'd hand out a few coppers at most, just for show.
Still, even if it was just for show, a few copper coins were better than nothing.
But when the first victims came to collect their compensation, the doubts fell silent.
The first was an old widow from the western part of town. Gray Crow's men had crippled her son's leg the previous year and seized the apothecary that had been her family's livelihood.
When the young noble personally placed a heavy bag of gold coins in her arms, the onlookers gasped.
"Chauntea above... Those are gold coins! Real gold coins!"
"Judging by the weight, there must be at least sixty!"
And so, from morning onward, a crowd gathered outside the former Old Oak Leather Shop.
Ye Wei'an didn't hide away in the shade of his study. He hauled out a chair, sat boldly in the shade at the shop's front entrance, and personally supervised the distribution of compensation.
On the long table beside him, bags of gold and silver coins were piled up like little mountains, their alluring glimmer catching the sunlight.
Naturally, there were many people who had not been included on the list but had indeed suffered at the hands of Gray Crow's gang. They nervously came forward to make claims.
Most of them hadn't expected much when they set out.
But when they arrived, they discovered that the lord not only didn't consider them a nuisance, he turned no one away:
All they had to do was bring the perpetrator forward for verification, and the compensation would be paid on the spot.
What's more, for every confirmed crime, Ye Wei'an ordered the guilty thug to be flogged in public.
This forceful approach—"face-to-face confrontation, immediate compensation, immediate punishment"—showed the townspeople Ye Wei'an's determination to wipe out the last remnants of the gang.
Whenever money was handed out or a whip cracked across a thug's back, the crowd erupted in cheers.
By noon, the line stretched all the way to the town center.
"Hello, sir. Are you on the list?" Ye Wei'an asked a weather-beaten farmer gently.
"N-no... No, sir, I'm... I'm not on it." The old farmer was so flustered he didn't know what to do with his hands, and his words came out in stammers.
Between Ye Wei'an's noble status and his 18 points of Charisma, the old farmer saw him as almost a god. The man couldn't bring himself to deceive him.
"That's all right. Please tell me your name and what happened to you."
"Everyone calls me... Old Tom. Three years ago, Gray Crow's man, 'Black Dog' Hawthorne, broke my son's leg and stole the only two milk cows my family had left..."
"Renn, bring Black Dog Hawthorne over." Ye Wei'an gave the order without turning around.
"Yes!"
Behind Ye Wei'an knelt a row of Gray Crow's thugs, chained in irons. Every one of them was bruised and swollen, clearly having been given more than a little attention.
Renn quickly pulled a dark-skinned man out of the group and brought him over.
The moment he saw the man's face, Old Tom trembled with excitement. "Yes! That's him! Sir, I'll never forget that face as long as I live!"
"Old Tom says you broke his son's leg and stole his cows three years ago. Is that true?" Ye Wei'an asked coldly.
"Y-yes! I remember!" The thug hurriedly bowed his head in confirmation.
He didn't dare take the slightest chance. Just a moment ago, one clever fellow had tried to deny his crimes, but the moment the wizard lord glanced at him, the man had gone blank and confessed to everything.
As a result, the unlucky thug's sentence had been doubled, and he'd been flogged into unconsciousness.
With the crime confirmed, Ye Wei'an delivered his verdict without mercy. "The evidence is conclusive. Renn, give him ten lashes in front of everyone."
A moment later, the crack of a whip and a man's screams rang out behind him.
Ye Wei'an turned back to the farmer, whose face was alight with satisfaction, and spoke gently again:
"I'm sorry I didn't learn of this sooner. Under the compensation rules, your son will receive ten gold coins for his broken leg, and you'll receive thirty for the two cows."
With that, he pushed forty gold coins toward the old farmer.
When Old Tom received the fortune—enough to turn his family's life around and hire a cleric to treat his son's leg—he could no longer hold back his emotions. He dropped to his knees in the dirt with a thud and slammed his forehead against the flagstones.
"My lord! You must be a savior sent by Torm, the Hand of Justice! You are the embodiment of fairness!"
Scenes like this happened again and again.
A few elderly people even refused the compensation, instead pushing their own children toward Ye Wei'an. "My lord, please show mercy and take my son! He's strong, and he could serve you as a stable hand or a foot soldier! To serve a kind lord like you would be a blessing, even if he died on the battlefield!"
Those with no sons wanted to offer their daughters as humble maids.
To many common folk, attaching themselves to a powerful and just lord was the best future they could imagine.
"This is what it means to have the people's hearts," Cain said, standing beside Ye Wei'an. He watched the townspeople, worked into a frenzy, their eyes shining with tears and fervor, and felt deeply moved.
As a knight who had served the Summerstar Family since childhood, he couldn't help feeling more and more regretful. If the young lord before him weren't Baron Summerstar's illegitimate son but his legitimate heir, how could the Summerstar Family fail to flourish?
Even the other townspeople, though they hadn't received any money from Ye Wei'an, still held him in high regard.
"Look at that! Now there's a true son of Baron Summerstar! If only he were our lord!"
"Compared to that 'legitimate heir' in the castle, who does nothing but ride around knocking people over and abducting women for fun, Lord Ye Wei'an is practically an envoy sent by the noble goddess Sharess."
"The law says we have to bow and show respect to nobles. I used to bow because I was afraid of getting whipped, but if all nobles were like Lord Ye Wei'an, I'd gladly get down on my knees."
"Shh! Keep your voice down... But you're right. If this lord takes charge of Firefall Valley one day, then our good days will finally begin."
Before you continue