Our Family Has Fallen

Lance came here not to hear flattery, and immediately brought up some problems he discovered.

”Not only do students need to take exams, but teachers too. Those who can’t keep up should handle chores; it’s unacceptable for the students to know more than the teacher at the podium. What is this?

Moreover, we must pay attention to the inclinations of those teachers found among the refugees. They must receive training before teaching, and if issues occur...”

The school was hastily established at the beginning, and due to a lack of manpower, many teachers were actually forced to step up; they learned at night and taught the students the next morning.

This situation was quite helpless, and they have put in much effort.

But it’s true that some people can’t keep up; they can’t occupy a position without contributing, especially since we’ve found some more professional city scholars.

Of course, Lance wasn’t going to discard them indiscriminately and deny their contributions; he’d rather move them away from the podium to other positions, as long as their treatment remains unchanged.

It’s terrifying to have someone occupy a position due to so-called seniority, preventing those with ability from rising.

This monopolizes advancement space, solidifying the entire system he constructed.

Whether Hamlet can nurture talent is one thing, but if talent doesn’t receive respect, they’ll leave.

Lance understands Eugene’s background better than anyone; it was due to unfair treatment in Totnes.

Ability should rise; lack thereof should step down—this is Hamlet’s truth.

Lance needs to lay a strong foundation and cannot break the rules.

Yet, it’s important to acknowledge their contributions and also recognize that sometimes experience is very important.

Lance talked more about personnel adjustments, asking them to give up their positions, and the treatment wouldn’t be reduced without any mistakes.

Inevitably, some among them would be dissatisfied, but he’s not dead yet—it’s not up to them to be unhappy.

If displeased, they can challenge the Lord to a fight.

If anyone secretly causes trouble, Lance would be more delighted; he’d expose their pension.

Maintaining face wouldn’t require any treatment, saving a lot of money.

Lance isn’t exactly a good man—he suppresses feudalism and theocracy because he runs imperial capitalism.

With his crazed centralization, unlimited military expansion, exploitation of labor, and ruthless suppression of all opposition, and the secret maneuvers he conducts to manipulate the situation, if Hamlet were to execute a war criminal, he’d be the first on stage, while others would step back.

Yet the abstract lies in the fact that what he’s running is actually the empire’s most advanced system.

Truly reflecting the saying—what era is this, still engaging in feudalism? Please steer towards capitalism.

Lance discusses the school’s construction and development with the principal, only to suddenly hear a shout.

”Report!”

The appearance of someone interrupted their conversation, seemingly anxious as they whispered a few words.

Upon hearing this, Lance couldn’t help but frown, yet he didn’t rush to leave, instead raising his hand slightly towards Mrs. Rosa.

”It’s not a major issue, but I need to handle it.” He said and quickly got up to leave.

The principal Rosa realized something was wrong because the report came from a soldier, indicating urgency when the army is involved.

It’s only been about a month since the last attack by the heretics, and now there’s trouble again?

This naturally birthed a look of concern in her. However, there wasn’t much she could do besides managing the school and believing in My Lord.

She didn’t have any doubts about it because he is Lance.

Lance appeared in the command room at the army camp, where Reynard, Barton, and Dismas were previously discussing an issue.

But they all stopped once Lance entered with quick strides.

”My Lord!”

Lance raised his hand to stop their greetings, ”Let’s talk about the current situation.”

”Report, My Lord! Our soldiers on reconnaissance discovered a group of over a thousand people appearing west of Hamlet. If they stop tonight, it’s expected they’ll arrive in the town tomorrow.”

Reynard took over, detailing the report much like the soldiers, but he supplemented why this needed to alert the Lord.

”This size of refugee group has exceeded normal realms; to maintain such a large group without a power constraint is impossible. Also, we discovered a convoy of hundreds among these refugees.”

Everyone was seasoned and had experienced being in the refugee masses. Naturally, they understood the implication in Reynard’s words.

Because refugees usually lack a strong leader, each has their own agenda indicating uncontrollability, and without a unified voice, the more people there are, the easier it is to descend into chaos.

Having a team of a dozen to two dozen isn’t strange, even surpassing a hundred on the escape route is unusual unless there’s a heroic figure uniting them.

Typically, thousands or tens of thousands of refugees are driven out when a city falls and flee simultaneously, characteristically of short duration and short distances.

Because these vast groups quickly split due to the aforementioned reasons.

Reynard’s report to the Lord was not about the refugees but the situation behind them.

As now, the thousands of refugees appearing near Hamlet reveal something must have happened nearby within these few days.

”Indeed something has happened…”

Lance, upon hearing this, was not surprised. Last night Alhazred hinted something big had taken place; otherwise, the corruption wouldn’t deepen.

Though Wang Cai confirmed no issues around Hamlet, Lance sent out reconnaissance early today as a precaution.

Now, they’ve indeed detected anomalies.

Yet Lance wasn’t anxious; worrying was futile. If refugees have already flocked here, it indicates incidents occurred long ago.

”Specific location?” Lance looked back at the Hamlet Territory map hanging in the command room, which they had continuously developed and mapped, representing control scope in some capacity.

”I led the reconnaissance here this morning,” Dismas stepped forward, pointing at a position, ”These people are not on the main road; we wouldn’t have found them if their group weren’t large.”

Dismas, having braved many regions, had a skillset perfect for reconnaissance. Once cavalry numbers increased, Lance pulled some elites to form reconnaissance units with Dismas as the instructor.

The reconnaissance mission Lance ordered this morning was headed by Dismas, who quickly brought back news.

”What do you think caused them to come here?”

”These people are definitely not refugees from Ovando; never mind why they’re avoiding the main road. To get here, you’d need to take a detour, and would refugees have the energy for that?”

Today’s reconnaissance goal set by the Lord was initially Ovando, but Dismas first drew his own conclusions.

He had traveled the route to Ovando City several times, knowing unless the refugees were willing to detour, abandoning the better road conditions of the old path, they couldn’t appear here.

”That’s right, these people are definitely not coming from Ovando City but from Bastia.”

With this understanding, Lance agreed with Dismas and promptly retrieved a map confiscated from Alvin, unfolding it while tracing a finger across it.

”This is the first route the Bastia Order of Knights took into Hamlet Territory, and this is the current refugees’ location. Although there’s some distance between the two, it’s evident they’re coming from this side.

The reason for choosing this route is simple: these places are among the larger towns in Hamlet Territory, conveniently located along this line, and the paths between them are passable by convoys. These folks are more familiar with Hamlet Territory’s routes than we are.”

Lance’s expression was somewhat subtle as he spoke, because this map, whether in scope or detail, was evidently superior to the maps they had created.

Clearly, Bastia’s intentions were known to all.