Warhammer Divine Throne

Chapter 1380: Chapter 588: Royal Authority Law (2)

How did the Head Maid end up here?!

”Laine is upstairs; he invites you to come up for a chat.” Sylvia’s expression was not looking good. She had a stern face and spoke in an icy tone, making the two Counts quite uneasy. Durin and Larot did not know that the reason for the Head Maid’s displeasure was that the agreed-upon date had been interrupted yet again, and that odd, wonderful feeling had disappeared.

Soon enough, Durin and Larot were sitting across from Laine. The Head Maid originally intended to stand beside Laine to serve, but Laine directly reached out and pulled her to sit beside him: ”Bonsoir! To the two of you from Leonais, welcome to Gene.”

”Hello, my Duke!” The two Counts simultaneously performed a knightly salute to show their respect. They hadn’t expected Laine to meet them in a tavern: ”We really didn’t expect to meet you here.”

”I happened to encounter some matters tonight; I needed some time to deal with them. I thought it wouldn’t be appropriate to keep you waiting for too long, so I postponed it to tomorrow. It’s my lack of hospitality; please forgive me.”

”No, no, no! Lord Laine is busy with affairs; it was a bit abrupt for us to come here suddenly.” Durin quickly said, a bit unsure of Laine’s intentions, and thus emphasized: ”Lord Laine, as the rightful heir of the ancient saint Landuin, is our liege lord. We have come to pledge our allegiance and submit our petitions.”

”Allegiance? We will talk about allegiance once Adheid and we complete the cession contract.” Laine was indifferent to the sincerity of the two Old Musillon Nobles; the Duke’s face showed no emotion: ”Let’s first discuss the petitions, which are surely the true reason you have come here, right?”

Durin and Larot exchanged a glance, and Count Larot spoke first: ”We, the Old Musillon Nobles, want to know, Lord Laine, what are your expectations of us? How do you plan to govern this land?”

”Very simple, I basically have three requirements.” Laine nodded and calmly said: ”You can choose to accept or not accept, but you will bear the consequences.”

”Please continue.”

”Firstly, in my territory, tariffs must be unified. Then I have a table; if there are excessive or miscellaneous taxes beyond this table, they must be immediately abolished. Additionally, I require you all to change the Ten-Nine Tax to a fixed tax, the formulation of which I will send someone to verify. Can you achieve this?” Laine extended his first finger. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

”Yes!” This did not surprise the two Counts, as they already knew of Laine’s reforms. They naturally chose to support and agree, despite it costing them some immediate benefits, but they had no ability to resist. On the contrary, they desperately hoped their territories could undergo changes similar to Laine’s territory.

”Secondly, regarding vassals, my requirement is that the nobles under my command must not start wars with each other. If necessary, they may appeal to the Duchy Court. Vassals must contribute a small percentage of their income annually to the duchy treasury. In cases of treason and blasphemy, I can confiscate all noble titles and fiefs without compensation. For other crimes, the Royal Court and Her Highness Lake God Witch Mogiana will discuss, and the most severe offenders will lose their noble status.” Laine extended his second finger.

Sylvia looked at Laine with considerable surprise.

What was Laine doing? He was challenging the unwritten rule that nobles remain nobles forever!

Now the two Counts hesitated; they opened their mouths, momentarily unsure what to say.

”It’s okay; no need to rush your decision.” Laine knew this posed a significant challenge to the existing noble interests; it almost shook the entire foundation of the Brittania noble system!

But as he said, he had the ability and status now. He was a Holy Sanctuary Holy Grail Knight, the Divine Chosen Champion of the Lake Fairy! He came with the prestige of saving the nation and Recovering Musillon. Now was the best time to establish these new rules!

(Here, a side note: If Zhao Guangyi had achieved great victory in the Battle of Gaoliang River and the Yongxi Northern Expedition, restoring Yan Yun, he could have turned back with unparalleled prestige to deal with the overly bloated Civil Servant Group. Unfortunately, he did not.)

If not now, then when?

The two Counts looked quite uncomfortable. If the first point had been something they prepared for, then the second was truly hard to accept!

The Master Knights had gotten used to being nobles. In the feudal system, no matter how hard a peasant worked, they could never become a knight in their lifetime. A knight, regardless of how far they fell, remained a noble! Despite there being historical instances where knights lost their identity due to grave mistakes, leading to a Royal Court’s assembly declaring the stripping of knightly status, such assemblies had not exceeded ten times in a thousand-year history! The fact was that knight status was almost unshakable and irremovable. A knight could be executed, but they maintained their noble status even upon death!

Count Durin and Count Larot immediately expressed their need to discuss.

After Laine finished speaking, he quietly leaned back in his chair, calmly waiting for the Old Musillon Nobility representatives’ answer. He could give them some time to think, one day, or if not, two days, or if not, two months. But if it took too long, then the Duke of Musillon could only apologize. Many wished to become Counts, and he would not lack these two Legendary Tier Kingdom Knights among his followers.