Old Hunter replied:
“Regarding this penalty, the city's nobles believe that Baron Sori simply failed to discover the vampires hiding in his shops in a timely manner. They see it as a mere oversight and feel such a heavy punishment is unwarranted.”
“They’ve even... started discussing the Human Rights Bill enacted by His Majesty...”
The Human Rights Bill?
Leon searched for the term in his mind and quickly recalled the relevant information.
The current monarch of the Heron Empire, known as the Sage King, had been on the throne for only two years when he successfully quelled all the turmoil caused by the imperial succession.
Once the situation stabilized, the Sage King immediately implemented a series of drastic reforms throughout the empire.
The Priest Assessment system Miles had mentioned earlier was one of the Sage King's most recent reform measures.
Prior to the Priest Assessment, the Sage King had also enacted a law called the Human Rights Bill.
The core purpose of this bill was to elevate the status of commoners in the Heron Empire, explicitly prohibiting hereditary nobles from arbitrarily oppressing commoners or treating them like livestock.
The enactment of this Human Rights Bill caused the Sage King's prestige among the empire's citizens to soar, and the title of "Sage King" became widely known from then on.
In Leon’s memories, his father, William Douglas—the Sage King's most trusted Prime Minister—had once praised this bill highly at home.
He pointed out that while this bill would offend a small number of nobles, those nobles were weak by nature and not worth worrying about.
The benefits it brought, however, were that the citizens of the Heron Empire would truly devote themselves to the Sage King. Even if future reforms might temporarily harm the interests of the commoners, they would still offer their firm support.
Not only that, but the bill would give commoners a strong sense of belonging to the Sage King, making them more proactive in responding to his calls.
To make the Heron Empire increasingly powerful and to stimulate the vitality of all its citizens, this was undoubtedly an indispensable step.
And just as Leon’s father had predicted, five years had passed since the bill's enactment.
Over those five years, the citizens' enthusiasm for labor and military service had increased significantly, and the practice of spontaneously hanging portraits of the Sage King had also grown considerably.
As for those nobles who could no longer boss the commoners around at will...
“They can only grumble in private,” Leon said.
The citizens were worried about vampires hiding in the city and angry about the plight of their fellow people. These nobles, however, only cared about the Tribunal's punishment of one of their own. They thought that for the sake of just a few lives, such a large fine and an order to overhaul shops were excessive.
Leon thought that if those vampires had dared to kidnap the children of nobles instead of just commoners, these so-called hereditary nobles probably wouldn't care about the punishment anymore.
Instead, they would be scared out of their wits, frantically pressuring the Lionheart Warband to root out every single vampire hidden in the city, letting not one escape.
“No matter where you are, the feelings of the rent-seeking class and the common people will never be in sync...” Leon thought to himself.
He looked down at the magnificent noble tunic he was wearing. Now that he carried the Douglas surname, which class did he belong to?
Leon suddenly smiled. He was a Douglas now, but he was also a transmigrator.
Before he crossed over, he was a warrior—not just a Pure Love Warrior, but a Red Warrior who came from the masses and lived for the masses.
...
After Alicia returned, Leon continued to "fleece" her for experience.
Perhaps affected by Juliet’s death, Alicia often spaced out during their sparring sessions and couldn't fully concentrate. She was defeated by Leon’s Hammer of Holy Light after only two rounds.
As a result, the "audience feedback" was insufficient, and he only received a 【Poor】 rating on the divine spell panel.
The experience points for Hammer of Holy Light only increased from 90 to 93.
Leon understood that this sort of thing couldn't be rushed. The more anxious he became, the more it would affect his state of mind, leading to lower ratings and making it even harder to gain high experience.
Therefore, after finishing dinner, he didn't try to grind out the final 7 experience points for Hammer of Holy Light. Instead, he returned to his room, cleared his mind of distractions, and continued his Holy Light Meditation.
He meditated until the next morning, feeling his mental energy pool expand a bit more.
Although he was still a significant distance away from reaching the Silver rank, Leon was satisfied.
“Young Master, Captain Thomas sent a transmission. They’ve arrived outside the gates of Solainem,” Old Hunter’s voice came from outside the door.
The guards sent by the family had arrived?
Leon nodded and put on his noble tunic.
...
A moment later, a squad of warriors clad in heavy plate armor arrived at the manor gates, their helmets bearing vibrant purple emblems.
These warriors were exceptionally burly and possessed a murderous aura that caused the curious onlookers nearby to instinctively lower their voices, afraid to make a sound.
“Who are they? Why is their armor even heavier than the bloodline warriors of the Lionheart Warband?”
“Purple emblem, double-headed eagle, black spear... They are... the bloodline warriors of the Falcon Warband under Duke William!”
“Duke William?”
“Idiot! That’s Prime Minister William, the one His Majesty trusts most!”
“The Prime Minister’s warband? Why are they here in Solainem?”
“This manor seems to be where Priest Leon lives... Wait, what’s Priest Leon’s surname?”
“Douglas! Priest Leon is actually the son of the Imperial Prime Minister?!”
As the ten-man warband squad entered the manor, the people outside continued their animated discussions.
Leon, Old Hunter, and Alicia were already standing in the manor’s central square. When he saw the squad, Leon took the lead and stepped forward to greet them.
“Uncle Thomas,” Leon said with a smile, opening his arms.
The squad leader, Thomas Carter, also opened his shoulders—which were wider than a giant bear’s—and gave Leon a solid hug.
“Young Master Leon, it’s been a long time!”
Thomas spoke in a deep voice, his tone full of emotion: “The last time I saw you was at your eleventh birthday banquet. I didn't expect our next meeting to be five years later!”
Leon also felt a sense of nostalgia. “In the end, I wasn't able to follow the path of a bloodline warrior like you, Uncle Thomas.”
Five years ago, it was Thomas, a Silver rank bloodline warrior, who had been responsible for teaching Leon combat techniques in an attempt to awaken the warrior bloodline within him.
However, Leon truly had no talent for the path of a bloodline warrior and eventually joined the Sacred Light Church to become a priest.
Thomas patted Leon’s shoulder and said, “There’s not much of a future for bloodline warriors anyway. A priest of the Sacred Light Church is much better suited for the Douglas name.”
The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before Leon invited Thomas into the manor’s great hall.
His gaze swept over the Falcon Warband warriors behind Thomas and suddenly fixed on the back of one of them.
The man was also very burly, but the ticking device he carried on his back was even more massive, nearly two meters wide and four meters tall.
Noticing Leon’s gaze, Thomas explained:
“That is a small Gray Mist Barrier. Once activated, it can repel all gray mist within a thirty-meter radius of its center.”
“It’s a magical item Viscount Clyde requested from the Imperial Ministry of Magic. Since we received the Master’s orders to come to Solainem, we brought it along.”
Leon asked curiously, “Then why bring it to the manor?”
Thomas replied, “We originally planned to visit Viscount Clyde first, but we were told that the Viscount had received orders from the Imperial Capital yesterday and had gone out to handle official business.”
“Since the small Gray Mist Barrier is extremely valuable and cannot be lost, the Ministry of Magic instructed us to hand it over to the Viscount personally. But with the Viscount suddenly away, we could only bring it to the manor for safekeeping until he returns.”
Leon nodded and glanced at the small Gray Mist Barrier again.
A magical item that could repel the gray mist... what a wonderful thing!
He wondered if he could get one for himself?
He instructed Old Hunter to lead the warriors to the manor’s warehouse while he led Thomas toward the great hall.
Thomas followed half a step behind Leon. He glanced at Alicia, who was following blankly, and asked:
“And who is this lady?”
Rate on N.U.
