Chapter 40

The duke was dead, and the turmoil had ended.

The peace the estate owners and commoners had hoped for had finally returned, but there was still much more to deal with afterward.

The Gadayat Kingdom no longer existed, and Kaies was no longer the royal capital.

—In its place stood the vast Desinia Territory, with Visas as its administrative center.

The Desinia Territory belonged to no nation and existed independently. The Lord of Desinia was no longer anyone's vassal.

Cyrus Desinia held absolute ruling power within the territory.

The fifteen cities, including Visas, would recognize only one lord. The practice of dividing up land again and granting it to vassal lords was abolished.

Other than Visas, the remaining fourteen cities would implement an administrative ranking system, establishing offices and ranks at different levels.

The highest official in the other cities would be the mayor, an official who served the lord and managed affairs on his behalf.

Mayors were not the lord's vassals, but his subordinates. They no longer possessed privileges within the cities they administered, nor could they privately establish taxes, courts, checkpoints, or anything else. They also had no right to raise troops on their own.

Only the lord possessed the right to recruit soldiers.

At the same time,

each of the fifteen cities in the Desinia Territory would have soldiers stationed there, with a clear hierarchy established among them.

However, command over all soldiers belonged to the Desinia Cavalry Corps.

For cities that had lost their lords because of the duke's rebellion, suitable candidates would be selected anew in Visas.

They would serve as mayors in their respective cities, handling all affairs on the lord's behalf.

Furthermore, officials would be appointed beneath the mayors in different tiers. Every official, including the mayors, would need to pass an assessment before taking office.

The new regulations issued by the Lord of Desinia were rapidly spread throughout the fifteen cities through official documents and publicity distributed by the Thorn Merchant Guild.

Quite a few people were shaken by this.

Cyrus Desinia was still a lord, not a king.

He had abolished the system of granting lands to vassal lords within his territory... such a thing had never existed anywhere on the Western Continent.

As a result, some old-fashioned nobles strongly disapproved and even began opposing Cyrus's decisions.

They demanded that Cyrus restore the system of granting lands to vassal lords, appoint nobles to serve as lords in the other cities, and restore the highest ruling authority lords once held within their own territories...

Everything was to remain as it had been. Nothing could be changed.

Most of these old-fashioned nobles lived in the royal capital and had never been granted territories.

They had previously supported Bass Riches's ascension to the throne only because he had either threatened, coerced, or controlled them...

Now, because Kaies was no longer the royal capital and the system of granting lands to lords had been abolished—matters that struck at their fundamental interests—they had joined forces to oppose Cyrus.

[Honestly, I've recently been using this reading app to keep up with updates. It lets you switch sources and has many narration voices, available on both Android and Apple.]

They even claimed that there were other members of the royal family's collateral branches. Since Cyrus Desinia would not inherit the throne, someone else could be chosen instead.

The words were laughable.

The other collateral branches of the royal family had lacked the ability to stand against Bass Riches.

Yet after Cyrus had successfully resolved the unrest, they suddenly raised such unreasonable demands.

Cyrus's response was to send soldiers to personally invite them, one by one, to Visas for a "thorough discussion."

If they no longer objected to the policies he had proposed, they would naturally be sent back to Kaies to continue their original lives.

But if they still had objections, then they could remain in Visas until the matter had been discussed properly before returning.

Anyone with the time to jump around and cause trouble was probably just too idle.

Since that was the case, Cyrus did not mind keeping a few more idle people in the city.

During this matter, he happened to make an unexpected discovery.

That was, Marquis Marco Case's son, Nat Case, was exceptionally gifted with words and remarkably eloquent.

He verbally battled the gathered nobles and refuted them until every last one was speechless and left without an argument.

Cyrus was quite puzzled. Since Nat was so good with words, why had he been tricked into selling Ferdinand for a single gold coin back in Kaies?

He asked him directly.

Nat blushed and stammered, "Well, well... it was the first time someone had called me big brother so sweetly."

And he was cute too.

Embarrassed, Nat scratched his ear. "Besides, he was only a slave. I didn't care whether I had one more or one less... B-but who could have imagined that he would later become the commander-in-chief of the lord's Black Cavalry..."

Nat muttered softly, "If I'd known, I wouldn't have sold him."

Cyrus said, "If you hadn't sold Ferdinand to me, how would he have become the commander-in-chief he is today?"

Nat grumbled, "Then I guess I sold him to the right person."

After arriving here, he often ran into Ferdinand in Visas, which made him feel uncomfortable and awkward all over.

After all, he had beaten Ferdinand terribly in Kaies back then...

Cyrus said, "I plan to appoint Marquis Case as the mayor of Kaies."

"After all, he once held an important ministerial post in the royal capital. He will certainly be well practiced in handling the city's affairs again... Before long, you can return to Kaies with your father."

Nat pursed his lips and nodded vaguely, seemingly lost in thought.

Not long afterward, he took the initiative to find Ferdinand and awkwardly apologized for what had happened. "...I hope you, Commander-in-Chief, won't hold it against me because of that."

Ferdinand said, "I don't hold it against you. It wasn't your fault. Back then, I thought I had avenged myself and had nothing left to care about. I wanted to die, so I deliberately provoked you."

Nat let out a sigh of relief.

Patting Ferdinand on the shoulder, he said, "Actually, I think I wasn't really at fault either."

"After all, I was a noble, and you were a slave at the time. You offended me, so wasn't it normal for me to hit you... Cough, cough. Of course, I now deeply understand my mistake. I was young and ignorant, and far too arrogant..."

Under Ferdinand's silent gaze, Nat finally yielded dryly. The paw he had placed on Ferdinand's shoulder trembled as he withdrew it, and he gave an awkward smile.

Ferdinand asked, "Why exactly did you come to apologize to me?"

Nat hesitated. "I want to work by the lord's side. I don't want to return to Kaies with my father..."

"You also serve by the lord's side. If the two of us develop a rift because of what happened before, it will definitely make things difficult for the little lord. I just wanted to resolve it first."

Ferdinand said, "Isn't it a little early for you to be considering that?"

Nat immediately realized what he meant. "...You're making fun of me!"

He pursed his lips again and said, "You're right. I never learned anything before, and now I really feel like I can't do anything... I don't even know what I can do for the little lord..."

Nat scratched his head, looking troubled and frustrated.

Ferdinand said, "The lord has decided to arrange assessments throughout the territory to select mayors and officials for various positions. If you are interested in these affairs, you can study them properly and prepare before the assessments."

Nat looked hesitant when he heard that, clearly lacking confidence.

Ferdinand said, "If you fail the assessment, then return to Kaies and help Marquis Case."

After saying that, he turned and left.

Nat gritted his teeth behind him and shouted, "I can definitely do it!"

For the little lord's sake, he had to persevere.

Since Cyrus's territory had expanded to encompass fifteen cities,

the number of soldiers currently in the cavalry corps was no longer enough to fully station troops in every city.

In short, there were not enough men.

Cyrus ordered the Thorn Merchant Guild to spread the news widely through its branches and subordinate contact points in every city.

—Because of this year's special circumstances, an exception would be made and recruitment would be carried out once more.

He would establish recruitment stations in every city. Anyone who met the requirements could participate, including but not limited to commoners and slaves...

If slaves wished to participate in recruitment, their estate owners had to allow them to go. After slaves passed the preliminary inspection and left, the estate owners could receive compensation at a Thorn Merchant Guild branch or contact point.

At the present stage, there were too many matters to handle and too few available people.

Cyrus was so busy his feet barely touched the ground, overwhelmed by everything coming at him.

The first matter to resolve was arranging a mayor in every city as quickly as possible to manage it.

Kaies was already under the responsibility of Marquis Marco Case, but the other thirteen cities, including Komoy Fort, still lacked administrators.

Cyrus exchanged quite a few relevant books with reputation points.

For example, materials covering the contents of administrative aptitude tests.

Judas entered the study carrying lemonade and saw the little lord lying over the desk, scribbling and drawing. He did not even notice that ink had accidentally smeared one side of his cheek, so focused was he.

Judas gently set down the lemonade, walked to Cyrus's side, and wiped him clean.

Cyrus obediently raised his head, then recalled something and asked, "Judas, have those priests from Kaies arrived in Visas yet?"

Although Kaies's church and temple had been destroyed, and the bishop and acting bishop had been dealt with,

there were still quite a few priests, deacons, and others beneath them.

They had acted under orders, so their crimes were not serious enough to warrant execution.

Moreover, anyone capable of becoming a priest or deacon was educated without exception. At the very least, they could read.

People like that were talents wherever they went.

It would be too wasteful to simply overlook them.

Furthermore, the Holy See had a special Theology Day. On that day, clergy members in the churches specifically spread and taught theological knowledge.

Some clergy members had even achieved considerable accomplishments in music, mathematics, and other fields.

Otherwise, clergy would not be held in such high regard.

Cyrus thought, *I'd be letting myself down if I didn't bring back ready-made teachers and squeeze them dry :)*

Judas said, "They are expected to arrive in Visas in another two days. What do you want them to do?"

Cyrus said, "Write questions and prepare exam papers."

He wanted them to create a set of papers for the Comprehensive Administrative Aptitude Test.

It would assess verbal comprehension and expression, judgment and reasoning, data analysis, logical problems, and so on...

Those participating in the mayoral assessments throughout the territory would also need to meet strict requirements, such as falling within a certain age range and possessing basic arithmetic and logical analysis skills.

Cyrus would release the assessment information and requirements through the Thorn Merchant Guild. Anyone interested would have to travel to Visas within two months to take the examination.