Chapter 455: The Second Step of City Construction
Roland arranged a feast for the innocent nobles the following evening.
The long table ran the width of the hall, laid in white linen and set with wines, meats, and winter flowers arranged too precisely to be accidental. The nobles sat across from one another in two rows, with the Honeysuckle and Elk families on one side — both already loyal, both known quantities. A few glasses of red wine, and the tension that had been coiled in the room since the trials began to loosen. With the great families gone and the only allies present being his own, these minor nobles were not about to strike a discordant note tonight. They were, in fact, volunteering their sympathies without being asked.
Roland waited until the plates had been cleared before distributing the booklet.
“Your Highness — what is this?” The surprise in the voices was genuine. “The illustrations — they’re impossibly precise. No paint works like this.”
“How does it hold such color?”
They were Stronghold nobles, which meant they knew artwork. Roland clapped once. “A painter did them. She happens to be a witch, and her medium is her own ability.” He watched the room still. “The local Church has fallen. What exactly are you worried about? Witches are no different from us. I’ve confirmed that many times.”
“Uhhmm.” Petrov made a sound that was very nearly a cough. “Your Highness is quite right.”
“Absolutely correct, Your Highness — ha—” The others found their laughs half a second behind.
Roland registered the inadvertent implication and let it pass with the expression of a man who has learned not to explain his own jokes. He’d been a prince for over a year; his capacity to remain composed in precisely this kind of room had grown into something he no longer had to consciously maintain. “The point is what’s inside it. The illustrations are there to make it readable.”
Aurelia Medde looked up from the pages. “Is this a noble’s family history?”
“Aurelia,” Rene murmured.
“It’s fine.” Roland waved him off. “He was a noble in the Western Region. Some of you may remember him.”
“I know him,” said a knight down the table. “Tigui Pine. His territory used to run next to mine.”
“I met him once,” said another. “He was a baron then — his father held land from Joe Kohl. After Lord Joe left the region, his holding shrank considerably.”
“Viscount Tigui is living in Border Town now.” Roland smiled. “The booklet is the story of how he came to be there, and what his life has become. He’s practicing with a flintlock. After the Months of Demons, I expect he’ll take his daughter and his guards out to Misty Forest to hunt. When he sold his territory east of Stronghold and settled in Border Town, he was promoted a rank and his holdings increased several times over.”
He let that settle. Fear of the unknown always ran ahead of reason; the system he was proposing was entirely foreign to these men, and foreign things accumulated dread before they accumulated understanding. Tigui Pine was the proof of concept rendered in Soraya’s precise lines: a noble who had made the transition and prospered. A dry accounting of the same facts would have been ignored. A story with illustrations was something you handed a person and watched them read.
“I’ve been planning a city in the Western Region for some time,” Roland continued, setting his cup down. “Border Town, Longsong Stronghold, and the land between them will be consolidated into one administrative unit. Not physically — the towns are where they are. The unification is legal and governmental. One set of laws. One set of policies. This is why the feudal and legislative powers of the nobility were rescinded.”
“Our territories—” someone began.
“Still yours,” Roland said. “The rescission is limited to those two powers only. Feudalism has always meant: grant land, receive military service and revenue, expand influence that way. Under the new system, a professional army handles defense, and you gain far more as administrators than you did as lords. A larger cake for everyone, divided by rule rather than by force.”
Silence. He lifted his tea.
“You’ve never been to Border Town, so you don’t know the numbers.” He set the cup down. “In the second half of last year, the town’s revenue was thirty thousand gold royals. It could have been ten thousand more if the Months of Demons hadn’t arrived early.”
The silence changed quality.
“Thirty — thirty thousand?” someone said.
Roland had already looked up Stronghold’s annual figures through Petrov. Thirty thousand was roughly what the City Hall here managed in a full year. The minor nobles across the table — the free knights, the second sons of second sons — were unlikely to see one hundred gold royals in a strong year. The number landed the way he’d intended it to.
“As district administrators, you’ll be well compensated,” he said. “Now, the other element of consolidation — geographic proximity. The distance from Border Town to Longsong Stronghold is currently a day’s travel. Once Kingdom Main Street is complete, it’ll be under a day on foot, half a day by horse. With faster methods — I expect within three years you’ll have had breakfast in Stronghold and be at work in Border Town before midmorning.”
“What’s a bike?” Aurelia asked.
“A manually operated riding apparatus — two wheels, runs fast on a flat surface.” Roland considered. “Three years. Possibly less.”
Most of the nobles at the table had very little interest in transportation. The knight who’d known Tigui Pine leaned forward. “Your Highness — you’re saying you want us to manage Stronghold?”
“Manage it, yes. Lead it in the old sense, no.” Roland leaned back. “Longsong Stronghold will be a district under the City Hall. Because commuting to Border Town daily isn’t realistic at present, I’ll establish a secondary City Hall in the Longsong district. Multiple departments, handling local administration — you’d work in those departments.”
“Secondary departments,” the nobles repeated, feeling their way around the phrase.
“Managing a city isn’t simple work, and I won’t pretend otherwise.” Roland looked around the table. “The pay is generous. The work is not easy. Which is why I want you to come back with me to Border Town when order is restored here. See a functioning City Hall before you take on one of your own. You have a great deal to learn. So do your administrators. So does everyone.”
He reached for his wine. Outside the windows the snow had stopped falling for the first time in days, and the night beyond the glass was still and very cold.
“But that’s why we start now,” he said, “rather than later.”
Chapter 455: The Second Step of City Construction
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
Roland arranged a feast for the nobles to ease their minds.
A long table covered with a white tablecloth stood at the center of the hall, with a large variety of delicacies, delicious wines, and beautifully arranged flowers on it. The nobles were seated on either side of the table facing each another.
After drinking a few glasses of red wine, everybody seemed to feel more comfortable and less stressful. Given that the Honeysuckles and the Elks were both Roland’s supporters and that all of the great nobles had been crushed, these petty nobles were unlikely to strike up a discordant tune at this hour. On the contrary, they voluntarily revealed their intentions to stand on Roland’s side during the conversation. Under such circumstances, Roland knew it was time to talk about his new policies.
After they all had been fed, he distributed the booklet that was prepared beforehand to each noble.
It was the “marketing graphic book” which he carefully designed and drafted.
“Your Highness… what’s this?” As he expected, the nobles soon asked in surprise, “Why are the drawings in this book are so lifelike?”
“Yes, they look so real.”
“It doesn’t look like a picture… No paint can express such delicate colors.”
They were, no doubt, nobles from the big city, who knew how to properly appreciate artwork. Roland clapped his hands and replied with a smile,
“They are indeed illustrated by a painter. The only difference is she’s a witch, and the paints she has used are actually her ubiquitous magic power.”
All of the nobles were startled by these words, not sure whether they should put down the booklet or not.
“The local church has fallen from power. What are you worried about?” The prince said, raising his brows, “Witches are no different from us. I’ve confirmed that myself many times.”
“Uhhmm… Uhm.” Petrov almost choked. “Your Highness is right.”
“Of course Your Highness is correct. Haha…” the other nobles chimed in, managing to summon up a laugh.
“Um… looks like I just said something that contains an unintended meaning.” Roland put on a look of indifference and switched the topic while thinking. Ever since he became a prince over a year ago, he had noticed that his ability to remain unflappable amid changes had improved by leaps and bounds—or rather he had become increasingly bold. “The point is the story inside it. The drawings are just to make it more readable and interesting.”
While the nobles were still absorbed in the story, Aurelia, the Elks’ girl, looked up abruptly and asked, “Is this the family history of a noble?”
“Aurelia!” Rene reminded her while lowering his voice, “You should call the prince Your Highness!”
“Correct. He used to be a noble in the Western Region.” Roland gestured Rene that it was fine and then continued, “Some of you may still remember him.”
“Your Highness… I know him,” answered one knight. “His name is Tigui Pine. We used to be neighbors and his territory used to be adjacent to mine.”
“I also met him once,” someone else recalled. “He was just a Baron back then. His father was a feudatory of Joe Kohl. But since Lord Joe left the Western Region, his territory has diminished.”
“Viscount Tigui is currently living in Border Town.” Roland said, smiling, “The graphic book records how we met… as well as what happened later. As you can see, he’s a noble living in a society regulated by the new system. He’s now busy practicing flintlock. I expect that right after the Months of Demons, he’ll take his daughter and guards to Misty Forest to have some fun hunting there. As far as I know, ever since he sold his territory to the east of Stronghold and settled down in Border Town, not only has he been promoted to a higher rank, but his properties have increased by several times as well.”
Fear originated from the unknown. The same held true for changes to the system. As the nobles were ignorant of what impacts all these changes would bring about, they abhorred anything foreign or unfamiliar. In order to reduce their fear and resistance, Roland picked Tigui Pine as a living example and asked Soraya to sketch out his life in a cartoon format. Compared with those dull biographies, cartoons apparently presented the details of the story in a more vivid way.
“You may have known that I’m planning to build a city in the Western Region. In fact, I’ve been thinking about that for quite a long time. By then, Border Town, Longsong Stronghold, and the narrow land in between will all be consolidated into one,” Roland continued, “someone may ask how the two towns, so distant from each other, can possibly be connected. I have to say that the unification will be confined only to administration. In other words, the new city will be governed by the same laws and policies. This is also the reason I take back nobles’ feudal and legislative powers.”
“Your Highness, but our territories…” somebody asked.
“They’ll still be yours,” he interrupted. “Like I said, you won’t lose anything except these two types of power. The very nature of feudalism is to grant lands to others who will then become your subordinates, and thereby expanding your influences, leading lower nobles to defend against enemies and fight for profits for you. However, a professionally trained army will be responsible for city defenses under the new system. As long as you follow the rules, you’ll gain far more than you used to. After all, you benefit more from slicing up a bigger cake than sharing a small one.”
While the nobles were silent, Roland sipped tea before continuing his persuasion. “You’ve never been to Border Town, so it’s perfectly normal that you don’t know how much you can actually gain. In fact, the town’s revenues for the latter half of the year reached 30,000 gold royals. It could have been 10,000 more if the Months of the Demons hadn’t come so soon.”
The nobles all gasped out. “30… 30,000?”
Roland had learned the annual financial situation of Stronghold from Petrov a long time ago. The annual income of the City Hall was no more than 30,000, and these petty nobles obviously earned much less than that. 100 gold royals would be a fortune to them.
“As you’ll be administrators of trades of all kinds in the future, you’ll certainly be well paid.” Roland went on, “Back to the consolidation matteraside from the unification of administration, the two towns will also be closer geographically. For example, it takes me one day to travel from Border Town to Longsong Stronghold now. Once the construction of Kingdom Main Street is completed, it’ll take less than a day to cover the distance on foot, and half a day by horse or bike, not to mention other faster transportation methods.”
“What’s a bike?” Aurelia questioned curiously.
“A manually operated riding apparatus that runs fast on a flat surface.” The prince mused, “I bet in five years… no, in three years we’ll be able to work in Border Town after having breakfast in Stronghold.” As Kingdom Main Street ran straight between Stronghold and Border Town, it reduced the distance to a mere 60 kilometers, allowing people to travel within half an hour by tram or car.
Nevertheless, most of the nobles cared little about transportation. The knight who claimed to be Tigui Pine’s neighbor asked cautiously, “Your Highness, by what you just said, did you mean that you want us to manage Stronghold?”
“Yes and no.” Roland shrugged. “Like I said, the consolidation of the two towns will be limited only to administration. The Stronghold will become a district of the city, directly administered by the City Hall. But considering
commuting a day to work still sounds quite unrealistic, for the time being, I’ll set up a secondary City Hall in Longsong District. It’ll operate in the same way as Border Town, with multiple secondary departments under it. You’ll work in those secondary departments dealing with local matters.”
“Secondary… departments?” the nobles echoed, looking bewildered.
“It isn’t simple to manage a town. Although you’ll get paid well, it won’t be that easy to do your part,” Roland said bluntly. “Therefore, I need you to come to Border Town with me once we’ve re-established order here. I want you to see with your own eyes what a well-functioning City Hall should look like. With respect to city management, you’ve got a lot to learn.”