Although Xu Yi had once owned the Private Fief of Falling Rain Valley when he was in the Lampari Kingdom, he had never grown accustomed to being a noble lord. He had simply developed Falling Rain Valley as a production base for the Xinfei Merchant Guild, without any real awareness of his role as its lord.
Later, circumstances had forced him to voluntarily relinquish his noble status and surrender that Private Fief, leaving him with even less of a tangible sense of what owning a noble's Private Fief meant.
This time, however, things were different.
The situation in the Stantin Duchy was entirely unlike that in the Lampari Kingdom. The duchy's upper ranks, represented by the Grand Duke of Stantin, exercised almost no meaningful authority over its noble lords.
Thus, owning a Private Fief here meant that Xu Yi had territory exclusively under his own control.
According to Lord Wellen, no one would interfere with anything Xu Yi did on this land. Even if he killed people and burned down buildings at will, no one would say a word against him, because no one had the right.
Of course, Xu Yi had no intention of murdering people or setting fires on his own land. But he sorely needed that freedom of control. Only then could he develop the territory however he wished, rather than face the many restrictions that had kept his plans for Falling Rain Valley from being perfect.
Moreover, this Private Fief covered over 240,000 hectares, a full two thousand square kilometers and more. It was dozens of times larger than Falling Rain Valley's paltry ten square kilometers, giving him far more room to work with.
Of course, he also understood that this degree of freedom rested on the strength he possessed.
If he lacked the strength to