“Stripping them of their right to govern?”
Viscount Finn was stunned by the words. He had always considered himself a fairly enlightened noble, but he never expected that Leon, a scion of the Douglas ducal family, would be even more radical and daring than him!
Stripping a noble of their right to govern a locality didn't just mean stopping their administration; it meant directly cutting off their source of wealth.
Every noble had their own shops and ways of making money, but these revenue streams relied entirely on the unique nature of their status—using administrative means to suppress competitors and ensure their own dominance.
Once the right to govern was stripped, it meant reclaiming the administrative power from the noble’s hands!
If this decree were implemented, it would inevitably spark fierce resistance from the nobility...
Viscount Finn opened his mouth, about to warn Leon, when he suddenly noticed Leon’s expression. He looked as calm as if he were merely deciding what to eat for lunch tomorrow.
Viscount Finn suddenly realized something.
Resistance?
This young man from the Douglas family, who held a Royal Decree, was practically begging for the nobles to resist!
One had to remember that on his very first day in Eldenborg, this young man had nearly purged every noble in the fortress!
If these nobles dared to resist after the decree was issued, Leon wouldn't hesitate for a second. He would lead his Falcon warriors straight to them, drag them out one by one, and wipe them all out!
“I understand,” Viscount Finn said, taking a deep breath. “Master Leon, what do you need me to do?”
Leon said, “After the banquet ends, lead the Blue Fox warriors to detain all seventeen traitorous nobles and execute them.”
“Afterward, coordinate with Baron Pierce to begin the work of the Policy Research and Investigation Department.”
Viscount Finn nodded solemnly and left the side balcony to give orders to the Blue Fox warriors in the city.
Leon slowly withdrew his gaze from Viscount Finn’s departing back.
Although he had been sent by the Sage King to manage the empire's southern coast, his primary goal was still to increase his own strength. He didn't have time for petty schemes and intrigue with these nobles.
Therefore, killing everyone who refused to comply or resisted, and putting people he trusted in power, was naturally the best approach.
Furthermore, the timing was perfect.
The education decree issued by the Sage King allowed the citizens of the Heron Empire to study and enlighten their minds. They only needed simple training to become competent for administrative roles in towns and villages.
As for himself, he had just organized a suppression mission and killed the rampaging Mad Shark King. His fame was at its peak, and his prestige was spreading widely among the people.
Once the commoners learned that these reform decrees were being pushed by him, it would be far easier to gain their trust compared to other nobles.
As for the disgruntled nobles...
After he had displayed the strength to kill the Mad Shark King, even if they were unwilling, they would never dare to lightly provoke his majesty.
Moreover, if any nobles were stubbornly defiant, their assets could be confiscated for public use after they were eliminated.
Building roads, training transcendents, hiring town and village guards... all of this required a vast amount of money.
“Toppling the local tyrants to secure reform funds is a universal truth!” Leon thought.
In this world filled with transcendent power, productivity had long since reached great heights. However, in some towns and villages at the southern end of the empire, there were still people who had to labor twelve hours a day just to earn enough food to barely stave off hunger.
Even to purchase a house of their own, some people had to take out loans from nobles in installments and struggle to pay them back.
This was clearly unjust.
The problem didn't lie in productivity; it lay in the method of distribution.
Someone was quietly siphoning away the wealth that should have belonged to the villagers and townspeople, hiding it in their own private treasuries.
And Leon couldn't stand people like that.
So.
They would either change under the new system or they would simply disappear.
...
The banquet ended.
Drunken nobles, supported by their attendants, walked out of the banquet hall one after another.
However, what greeted them was not their stewards' carriages, but a squad of Blue Fox warriors clad in shining heavy armor and brandishing weapons.
The murderous aura radiating from the Blue Fox warriors caused the alcohol-soaked nobles to snap awake, their bleary eyes instantly clearing.
“Lord Viscount, what is the meaning of this formation...?”
A baron who wasn't drunk stepped out of the banquet hall. Terrified by the scene outside, he quickly looked toward Viscount Finn at the front.
Viscount Finn glanced at him and then withdrew his gaze. “You are not a target. This has nothing to do with you.”
Hearing this, the baron’s heart returned to its place. He hurriedly bypassed the Blue Fox warriors and moved to the side.
But he didn't go far. Instead, he stayed behind the Blue Fox warriors, wanting to see what Viscount Finn intended to do with such a display.
Eventually, he saw Baron Reed, who was from the same town as him, walk out of the banquet hall.
“Reed Connery, for colluding with the Mad Shark King and leaking information about the suppression mission, seize him!”
Viscount Finn shouted. The heavy-armored Blue Fox warriors behind him immediately swarmed forward, lunging straight for Baron Reed.
Baron Reed hadn't drunk any alcohol during the banquet and had eaten very little. Seeing the Blue Fox warriors coming for him, he turned and scrambled back into the banquet hall without a word.
But in less than ten seconds, his legs were broken by the swarming Blue Fox warriors, and he was dragged out of the hall.
“Framed! I’m being framed!”
Two streaks of blood stained the white carpet of the banquet hall. The horrific screams made the nobles who had just exited turn pale.
Through the Mad Shark King’s previous response to the battle, they had already guessed that someone among the nobility had been secretly communicating with him.
However, they never expected that the execution of these traitors would come so quickly!
The banquet had just finished, and a noble was being publicly maimed and dragged away!
Inside the banquet hall, some nobles who had secretly colluded with the Mad Shark King were thrown into a panic by Viscount Finn’s roar and the screams of the noble being dragged away.
Some tried to fish in troubled waters, attempting to blend into the crowd of other nobles to escape, but they were quickly identified by Viscount Finn and seized.
Some nobles didn't dare use the main entrance and tried to escape through the balconies, but they were also caught by the waiting guards.
The last few nobles, who dared neither to use the main entrance nor the balconies, tried to hide inside the banquet hall.
However, as the other nobles gradually left, they had nowhere left to hide. Viscount Finn led the Blue Fox warriors inside and captured them.
All the captured nobles were dragged to the Great Square of Stormveil City and bound tightly with iron chains.
...
An hour later, the Great Square was packed with a dense crowd of onlookers.
They looked at the nobles bound by chains in the center of the square like dead dogs, then at Viscount Finn standing nearby.
Receiving a nod from Leon, Viscount Finn stepped forward. Circulating his Battle Qi, he announced to the public in a booming voice:
“The criminal Reed Connery, noble of Bird Town, is guilty of the following crimes: colluding with the Mad Shark King, leaking secrets of the suppression mission, forcibly seizing the property of townspeople... and multiple other offenses. In accordance with the law, he is hereby sentenced to death!”
As the voice fell, Leon, dressed in his priest robes beside Reed, slightly raised his scepter. His mental power surged into the scepter, condensing into a Hammer of Sacred Light.
Then, amidst Reed’s wails, the shining Hammer of Judgment slammed down—
CRACK!
Bones shattered, and blood sprayed everywhere!
At the same time, several streaks of light flashed across Leon’s panel.
Rate on N.U.
