Surviving The Fourth Calamity

77: Chapter 71 The King’s Highlight Moment 77: Chapter 71 The King’s Highlight Moment Hill continued to flip through the newspaper.

Indeed, this King seems to be a refreshingly straightforward good person, who posted a notice straight out:

He explained that the reason for sending troops to follow the Noble Temple into Saral and falling into such a plight was instigated by the Great Nobility, who wished to divide Saral’s land.

Now that things have come to this pass, no one should try to push all the blame onto him, the King.

Hill looked carefully and found that all the Dukes of Haifasardo were listed, as well as more than half of the Marquises.

Even a substantial number of Earls and Barons were included.

Hill took out the book of noble codes that he had not looked at for a long time, which included all the nobles of the human world.

This was one of the Noble Temple’s major revenue sources; every noble had to buy several copies each year.

It came in handy when encountering an unfamiliar noble, at the very least for reference.

This book was given to Hill when he split from the family, along with the noble documents.

But when he returned to the Earl’s Castle to receive a traditional noble education, he also memorized it several times over.

Particularly for the Dukes of every country and the titled Marquises—even his brainless brother Manton could recite them by heart.

The Hill Family being Earls had to remember the Marquises as well.

That strange rule among the nobles dictated that one could offend peers, disdain those who were lower ranked, but must always maintain respect for those of higher rank, whether they were from one’s own country or not.

Titled nobles were also a notch above untitled nobles.

That’s why Manton only needed to recite by heart the Marquises with lands and above.

But Hill was required to remember even the Barons.

Hill knew back then that the outcome of his splitting from the family would definitely be poor.

However, for a Mage, recollection was not a problem, and he did not wish to fall out with the Earl over such a matter.

Enduring until the age of 16, the world was vast and the path of a Mage was broad and beautiful.

Hill had no desire to look at the petty squabbles within the nobility.

But Hill truly didn’t expect that the King wouldn’t even spare the Barons!

He could scarcely believe his own memory and had to compare it to be sure.

Hill started counting with his fingers down the list, stopping finally at the name of Duke Steven.

Hmm, this was the penultimate straw that broke the Queen’s back.

Even the family of his own flesh and blood’s maternal grandfather was not spared.

No wonder the nobles of Haifasardo all wanted to flee.

It had been made clear that they originally wanted to deal with William, and William could absolutely confiscate their fiefdoms directly.

They were indeed guilty of insubordination!

The nobles, who were best at exploiting those tedious traditional rules, would never trust William to let them off the hook.

This King truly wanted to trouble William.

As soon as William entered Haifasardo, there would be nothing left but soldiers turned into thieves and lands without governors.

At the same time, he also cut off any path for these nobles to pledge allegiance to William.

If he had to step down, why should they live well?

Hill thought it was a fortunate mistake that saved William the trouble of cleaning up the nobility.

After more than a year of foundational education and training, the most basic level of government could barely be organized.

It was just right to assign the Saral Nobles following him to deal with the government affairs with some clerks.

William’s past year hasn’t been as easy as others have seen.

He refrained from attacking Haifasardo directly because he was preparing for the establishment of the government.

Although his steps were small and proceeded slowly, for Hill, it was very apparent.

He didn’t plan to continue using the nobles’ method of governing their fiefdoms; even if the government couldn’t be as mature and robust as a modern society, it had to be at least a normal municipal structure.

And the nobles who had followed him up to this point, although they were awarded titles for their merits, didn’t receive any lands.

Even with adequate salaries, many of them felt psychologically shortchanged.

By assigning these people to positions like mayors, their aspirations were met.

But these were not hereditary positions; William could reassign them at any time.

The clerks who served with these nobles were trained by players appointed by William as instructors and weren’t so easily bribed or swayed by the nobles.

The towns and villages of Saral that William had reclaimed were already gradually adopting this form of government.

Now, the old-school nobles who still held lands typically kept a low profile and certainly dared not oppress the common folk.

In that one year alone, the nobles who had been reported by the players for oppressing commoners, under the banner of the Kind God that William held high, were all punished once the evidence was verified; the few most severe cases even had their lands revoked.

If the former Kings had done this, they would have been attacked by the Great Nobility en masse.

But what about now?

Are there still Great Nobility like the Adrian Family?

If they had the capability, why would there be a need to cultivate an Archmage for support?

But among the nobles that remained in Saral, they are now the elite.

Looking at the current state of Saral, being denounced by William and publicly announced to the world, no wonder the nobles of Haifasardo fled en masse.

If we go by the rules of this world, this King indeed did his utmost to trouble William.

Unfortunately, the information asymmetry is complete, and he unwittingly offered a great help!

Hill continued to scroll down, feeling somewhat pleased.

For the nobles of Haifasardo, it’s all bad news.

But what does it have to do with him?

It’s all entertainment, as far as he’s concerned.

The King’s shenanigans were one after another.

The Mage Association’s absence also had a little to do with him.

He invited the Bishop of the Temple and the Vice President of the Mage Association to the Royal Palace, telling them that once William arrived, he would surely expel the temples of other deities, and the Mage Association would be suppressed; he hoped they would resist strenuously.