Surviving As The 5Th Prince Of Hellman Kingdom [EN]: Chapter 109

109

– The Noble Honor Law?

– Hmm…

– Sounds unsettling.

The State Affairs Ministers murmured amongst themselves. I waited for the conference room to quiet down before speaking.

“Everyone must have felt a great deal after witnessing the recent revolt in the South.”

I made eye contact with each of the State Affairs Ministers, seeking their agreement. Ten people, ten opinions; ten gazes held ten different thoughts.

I turned my head and signaled to the magician manipulating the screen. He switched to the next slide.

The screen went blank.

I rose from my chair and approached it.

“Here is an empty field with nothing on it. Imagine a kingdom being born here. What would it need? First, it would need territory, right?”

Walls began to rise on the empty field.

– The Lionel Kingdom…

The territory surrounded by walls, as someone muttered, resembled the shape and form of our own kingdom’s map.

“Now, what else is needed?”

I turned my gaze to Milroa. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Royal Academy’s Department of Administration, she certainly knew the three elements of a kingdom. The answer would come immediately.

“People, Your Highness.”

“Correct, Countess Milroa. There can be no kingdom without its people.”

Tiny figures, like ants, appeared within the territory of the Lionel Kingdom on the screen.

The people.

“Now, with just one more thing, a plausible kingdom will be complete. What should it be? Shall we all observe the actions of those little people over there together?”

At first, the people inside the walls lived harmoniously. But gradually, some began to fight.

Suddenly, rough-looking barbarians with axes peeked from outside the territory, eventually crossing the walls.

People fell, bleeding.

Then, some emerged to protect the people, striking down the barbarians. Gaining the attention of the people, their sizes doubled.

The nobles.

Among the barbarians, some also began to grow in size.

The nobles all looked at one person. The noble who received their attention doubled in size. He threw all the barbarians outside the walls.

The nobles and the people bowed to him, and soon a crown appeared on his head.

The king.

The king built a large castle in the center of the kingdom.

The nobles scattered throughout the kingdom, building their own castles.

I signaled the magician to pause the screen for a moment and looked at the State Affairs Ministers.

“The king! The nobles! We here! Are all descendants of those who stepped forward to protect the people! What would happen if we didn’t fulfill that duty?”

The paused video began to play again.

Peace came to the kingdom.

The people offered meat to the nobles, and the nobles sent the largest piece of meat they received to the king.

The nobles mediated the people’s disputes, and the king mediated the nobles’ disputes. When barbarians invaded, the king and nobles stood at the forefront to protect the people.

Peace seemed like it would last forever.

However.

The people were starving, constantly offering food to the nobles, while the nobles grew larger and larger.

The size of the meat offered by the people continued to decrease.

The screen zoomed in on a territory in the South.

Exactly the location of the Runtia Duchy.

A noble, filling his hunger by preying on the people. Noticing he was being focused on, he smiled grotesquely.

A coldness began to creep into the eyes of the people, and they all rushed towards him.

They were no match.

The people, with broken limbs, begged for their lives, and the noble swallowed one of them whole as an example.

The people began to fill the insufficient meat they offered to the noble with people.

At some point.

Only children remained to be sacrificed.

!! marks appeared above the heads of the people. Men and women, young and old, rushed towards the noble.

The noble scoffed.

As before, he struck down the people.

However, the situation was different from before. They did not back down with just broken limbs. Eventually, the noble drew his sword.

Pandemonium.

If they lost an arm, they used the other; if both arms were cut off, they used their teeth. The people rushed at the noble, disregarding death.

But eventually, the end came.

The surviving noble looked around. Not a single person who had offered meat remained. He craned his neck and looked around the surrounding territories.

The same situation.

The people who used to beg with their hands clasped after a few punches no longer existed.

The king and nobles were starving.

As the people who had allowed them to maintain their size disappeared, they gradually began to shrink.

And then.

A giant barbarian head appeared over the walls.

The nobles were terrified.

Soon, the walls crumbled, and barbarians poured in like a flood.

The kingdom was destroyed.

With that, the video ended, and the screen turned black.

The conference room was silent.

Some looked displeased, as if I were treating them like freshmen in the Royal Academy’s Department of Administration.

But overall, they seemed thoughtful.

That was what I wanted.

Clap-!

The State Affairs Ministers turned their attention to me at the sound of the clap.

“Territory, people, and government! The three elements of a nation mentioned by a scholar of the ancient Rumeo Empire, which disappeared into history. But! In the South of our Lionel Kingdom! An incident occurred where one of the three elements of the nation, the people, almost disappeared. If the people disappear! The kingdom cannot exist! What do you all think of this situation? Don’t you think we should correct it right now?”

My voice echoed loudly in the conference room.

No one readily opened their mouth.

These were people who had risen to the position of State Affairs Minister.

They couldn’t possibly not know that the 『Noble Honor Law』 would become a shackle that significantly restricted the privileges they had enjoyed until now.

“Those born noble must act nobly. That was the unwritten rule of the ancient Rumeo nobles. And after that became vague, the Rumeo Empire disappeared into history.”

I paused briefly and continued.

“The core of the Noble Honor Law is largely two things. The first is taken from what the nobles of the Rumeo Empire held most sacred.”

A knight riding a warhorse appeared on the screen, breaking through the black screen.

“The duty of national defense! All noble men who have undergone the coming-of-age ceremony will serve in the military for a certain period. Those who do not fulfill this sacred duty of military service will be prohibited from inheriting their title. Those who have not awakened their magical powers must fulfill their duty of national defense even as soldiers.”

I saw ministers moving their lips.

They would have many questions.

What about those who will inherit the territory? What about those who are too weak to serve even as soldiers? What if they are only daughters? And so on.

Answering each one would make the meeting last for days.

“I will take all questions at once after I have finished speaking. Now, moving on to the second core of the Noble Honor Law!”

Near the knight on the screen, people in shabby clothes appeared, carrying trays full of meat.

The knight frowned at their appearance and began to ponder for a moment. Then, with an ‘Ah!’ expression, he returned half of the meat on the tray.

The people looked at the returned meat and the knight, then shed tears and expressed their gratitude.

“I will set a ceiling on taxes. Furthermore, all kinds of strange taxes that local lords have been arbitrarily creating, such as maiden tax (tax levied on unmarried women) and widow tax, are completely prohibited. Taxes can only be levied on items determined by the central government.”

Despite my request to ask questions after my statement was finished, the State Affairs Ministers began to speak, unable to hold back.

“There will be tremendous backlash!”

“That’s right!”

“The Noble Assembly will definitely exercise its veto power.”

.

.

.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Silence! Silence!”

After calming them down by banging the gavel, I spoke again.

“Listen to the end. I’m not saying we’ll implement it right away. I know very well that it’s impossible to implement it all at once on a kingdom-wide scale. So! I’m thinking of introducing it on a trial basis in certain areas.”

There was no way there would be a fool in the conference room who didn’t realize what ‘certain areas’ I was talking about.

“The southern region, especially the areas where the revolt occurred. The lords of those areas should have nothing to say even if they are subject to the Noble Honor Law on a trial basis. I’m not asking them to give up their heads, am I? They should take this much responsibility.”

The State Affairs Ministers looked at each other’s faces and exchanged glances. After a while, as if the exchange of opinions was complete, they began to speak one by one.

“That seems like a good idea.”

“I agree. If they made their territory that way because of their incompetence, they should be held accountable.”

“It’s rather light.”

“That’s right! Didn’t they make the prince kneel in front of the southerners? The trial application of the Noble Honor Law is a must, and more severe punishment should be imposed together.”

They had been living for nearly 10 years, saying they would kill each other. The misfortune of the southern nobles was the happiness of the nobles in other regions.

The southern nobles who were absent from the State Affairs Meeting were gathered somewhere in the South, probably near the Runtia Duchy, discussing a plan to stab me in the back.

Thanks to their absence, the passage of the 『Noble Honor Law』 proceeded smoothly.

‘The beginning is important.’

If the Noble Honor Law is implemented in the South, even on a trial basis, a written law restricting the authority of the nobles will appear for the first time.

It’s like sprouting a small seed.

It was my job to nurture that seed so that it could become a deeply rooted tree and become a shade for the people of the kingdom.

***

“Julian, is it? I don’t really need an introduction, do I? Ah~ I’m hungry. Shall we have a meal first? Royer, you sit next to me too.”

Derek, swaggering, went to sit in a sunny spot.

At his urging that he was hungry, Clian quickly ordered the meal to be brought out.

The food came out quickly.

With a bit of exaggeration, golden king crabs with claws as big as a person’s forearm emitted rising steam on the plate.

“Oh! Golden King! Eat it, Royer. You’ll be so surprised that you won’t even know if you both die while eating it. You guys eat too, right?”

The meal began.

Derek devoted himself to eating the crab meat without saying much. Julian did not touch the food and quietly observed him.

Derek Blant.

The head of the Blant Marquis family, which owns the eastern coastline, including Caros Port, the kingdom’s largest port.

He was the commander of the 2nd Knight Order, the Red Lion Knights, which only accepted nobles and has now been reorganized and disbanded.

Therefore, one might think that he would look down on commoners, but he is famous for being unpretentious in dealing with commoners, having often run away from home since childhood to play with commoner children.

He couldn’t swim due to the trauma of almost drowning in the sea as a child, but now he is overcoming his trauma by learning to swim from Royer.

And…

.

.

.

Various information about Derek quickly flashed through Julian’s mind and disappeared.

“Ah~ I’m full. Shall we talk now, Count Clian? What did you want to say that you called me out here so secretly?”

Clian put down the crab leg he was holding and wiped his mouth with a napkin.

“It is Julian who has business with the Marquis. You can think of me as being here to vouch for him as someone who I think is worth having a conversation with the Marquis. Feel free to talk.”

After speaking, Clian picked up the crab leg again. He looked as if he was enjoying a gourmet vacation.

Derek chuckled and looked at Julian.

“Julian, was it? The Crown Prince must have recognized you as someone worthy enough to send Clian as a guarantor… What on earth did you do to gain the trust of our Crown Prince? Could you perhaps be the behind-the-scenes power of the Crown Prince’s rumored secret organization?”

“I haven’t gained his trust yet. I’m just trying to gain his trust now.”

“Well, I can guess why you came to me. You want me to actively support the Crown Prince, right? Even Moria Runtia, that old woman, is urging me to meet her. Not long ago, they were so eager to devour each other. The world is really unpredictable.”

“I heard you cherished the Second Prince.”

“Well, rather than cherishing him, I just grew fond of him because I had many encounters with him in various ways. Damian may be remembered as a traitor in history, but he was really pure until he was about 10 years old. It seems like at least one person should mourn his death.”

“Are you saying that’s Marquis Derek?”

“Correct! Anyway, for various reasons, it’s hard for me to actively support the Crown Prince right now. Besides… I don’t like the fact that he didn’t come himself to persuade me and sent an unknown person instead.”

Cold sweat dripped down Julian’s back as he met Derek’s smiling gaze.

A suffocating pressure.

But Julian smiled brightly.

Derek is expressing his displeasure that Evan did not come in person. Proving his worth by persuading him would be a rare opportunity.