Eldenborg at night was stained by the orange-red glow of torches, and the thunderous rumbling from the streets made the residents crawl out of their beds once more.
“What's with all the commotion outside? What happened?”
“I heard that Baron Cody was dragged out of his home by the new priest because he refused an invitation!”
“Dragged out just for refusing an invitation? Who is this new priest? How can he act so arrogantly?”
“Who knows! But if you ask me, Baron Cody deserves it! He’s been lording it over the town for years, and now he’s finally run into someone who can handle him!”
“It’s not just Baron Cody! I heard that Hartmann the profiteer and Volsino the blood-sucking miller were also arrested! They’re being judged right now in front of the Rose Cathedral!”
Upon hearing this from the last resident, the others exchanged glances and immediately felt the urge to go see the spectacle.
During the day, they had to work the fields and had no time, but at night, there was nothing to do. Watching a good show was something they were more than eager for.
When the group of onlookers arrived at the Rose Cathedral, they saw the once-lofty baron, the wealthy merchant, and the miller—all of whom had spent years bullying the town—now lying on the ground with their arms and legs broken, pinned to the floor in front of the church.
Not far from these nobles and merchants was a group of emaciated people in tattered clothes, their expressions filled with deep-seated hatred.
After asking around, the townspeople realized that these people were actually slaves purchased from pirates by the baron and the merchants!
“They actually treated their own countrymen as slaves! Damnable!”
“No wonder I heard screams coming from the manor when I was delivering goods to Baron Cody before...”
“No wonder they locked down the district and wouldn't let outsiders in! It was to hide their slave trading! This is pure evil!”
Seeing the slaves with their flickering, fearful gazes—especially the several children among them who were barely ten years old—the residents grew furious and glared at Baron Cody and the others who had bought and sold them.
At that moment, two figures emerged from the church.
One was a familiar face to the residents, the local lord, Baron Pierce.
The other figure wore priest's robes and had black hair and black eyes. Behind him, a brilliant speck of starlight shone.
Looking closely, they realized it wasn't starlight, but a high-intensity Light Prayer Orb.
The light from the orb washed over the residents, bringing a sense of warmth.
However, for the nobles and merchants pinned to the ground, this Light Prayer Orb brought not warmth, but a stinging pain—the kind of sting felt when being licked by tongues of fire in a raging inferno!
Leon walked out of the Rose Cathedral with an expressionless face. Seeing the growing crowd of residents outside, he glanced at Pierce beside him.
Pierce understood the signal. He raised the document in his hand and read aloud:
“Cody Fischer, Baron of the Heron Empire, has illegally seized Salaya Street in Eldenborg... and has engaged in the buying, selling, and use of slaves... According to Imperial Law and the Royal Decree of the Cassius family, Cody Fischer is hereby sentenced to death! To be executed immediately!”
As the words fell, the Falcon warrior standing beside Baron Cody quickly raised his black spear and stepped toward him.
Hearing the sentence of "death to be executed immediately," Baron Cody's face was instantly consumed by terror.
“No! You damn Pierce! We are both barons; you have no right to judge me!”
With his arms and legs pierced by black spears, Baron Cody could not move. He could only scream and curse frantically.
However, facing his vitriol, Pierce didn't even blink. He simply stepped back respectfully to Leon's side.
Leon glanced coldly at Baron Cody. “He doesn't have the authority, but I do.”
With that, a Royal Decree made of a special refined steel material appeared in Leon's palm.
“The Royal Decree. Seeing this is as seeing a member of the Cassius royal family.”
Leon stared at Baron Cody with a calm gaze. “Does a member of the Cassius royal family not have the qualifications to judge you?”
At the sight of the Royal Decree, Baron Cody's expression froze.
A Royal Decree... How could this priest, who had been exiled to a backwater place like Eldenborg, possibly possess a Royal Decree?
“It's fake! It must be fake! I don't believe—”
Squelch!
Before Baron Cody could finish his sentence, a black spear wrapped in a gust of wind lunged forward, piercing through his neck.
Black Battle Qi erupted from the Falcon warrior, surging through the spear and into Baron Cody's body, instantly extinguishing all signs of life.
This clean and decisive strike caught everyone present off guard.
An Imperial Baron had been publicly judged and executed just like that?!
Like crushing an ant!!
Leon withdrew his gaze from Baron Cody and glanced at Pierce. “Continue.”
“Yes!” Pierce took a deep breath and continued:
“Hartmann Hamilton...”
Every time a name and a crime were read, a Falcon warrior would raise his spear and strike, ending the life of another 'great figure' who had long oppressed Eldenborg.
Leon watched it all calmly.
To stabilize the interior before resisting external threats, these wealthy merchants and nobles of Eldenborg were a bit too urbanized.
With the Royal Decree and twenty Bronze rank warband warriors, Leon was in no mood to play power games with these provincial nobles and merchants.
They weren't worth it.
To deal with such people, all that was needed was judgment and a purge—shuffling the deck in Eldenborg to allow things to develop according to his own vision.
Leon had learned from the experience of being influenced by the Sage King's mindset; he was determined not to view everyone as mere tools, which would cause him to lose his fundamental humanity.
However, that didn't mean he would become indecisive.
Facing these nobles and merchants who were laden with crimes and disregarded human life, he would never adopt a policy of conciliation or compromise.
Being soft-hearted toward such people wasn't called kindness; it was called being weak and a soft-hearted hypocrite.
As the executions began, curses and pleas for mercy rang out in front of the Rose Cathedral, one after another.
Soon, however, the shouting and begging vanished, and the area fell silent.
It wasn't that these merchants and nobles had stopped cursing; it was that they were all dead.
After all the criminal nobles and merchants were executed, Baron Pierce stood forward and announced:
“According to the instructions of Priest Leon, half of the wealth belonging to Baron Cody and the others in Eldenborg will be allocated to the ‘Eldenborg Development Fund’ to be used for the town's development.”
“The other half will be used to compensate the residents who were harmed by them and all the liberated slaves!”
This announcement left the onlookers stunned. While they were gratified to see the villains punished, they were also bewildered.
He's only taking half the property and giving the other half as compensation?
In the minds of these residents, the so-called "Eldenborg Development Fund" was just an excuse to swallow the assets. No one believed that Priest Leon would actually use that money for the town rather than pocketing it himself.
What surprised them was that this Priest Leon was actually willing to give up half the assets to compensate the townspeople and the liberated slaves—that truly made him a saintly figure!
Though some old residents who had struggled in Eldenborg for decades suspected that this "half" might not even amount to one percent of the total assets...
But... even proposing compensation made him one of the kindest great figures they had ever seen.
Leon noticed the suspicion and confusion in the eyes of the residents, but he was in no hurry to explain himself.
He knew that once the liquidation was complete and every oppressed resident truly held their share of the compensation in their hands, everything would naturally become clear.
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