Knight and Wand

Chapter 244 Territory Affairs and the Four Rangers

Azerien, who had been planning major events in his life, knew more about the marriage style of the Orland nobles than Leon, and had already prepared a marriage contract with Raya.

After discussing the celebration process in advance with Leon, he planned to hold a wedding that combined the traditions of Orland and Serrian. While the process complied with local customs, he and Raya were both Serrians after all, and both were believers of the Holy Sun who grew up in the Holy City of Rolandar. They still didn't want to miss the process of the Holy Sun witnessing the wedding.

The only problem was that there were no priests from the Holy Sun Church nearby.

"Why not ask Miss Sally to be the witness and preside over the wedding ceremony?" Leon suggested.

“Okay, I’ll go back and discuss it with Raya.” Azerien nodded. There was no time to find clergy from the Holy Sun Church in Orland, but Miss Sally was familiar with etiquette and church rituals. She was also a devout believer of the Holy Sun and a close friend of Raya. It was indeed appropriate for her to preside over the event.

Leon thought about it and couldn't help laughing: "If you want to get the blessing of the Holy Prophet, you two might as well hold the ceremony outdoors in the Fountain Square."

"Why?" Azerien was puzzled. He had originally planned to hold it in the main castle hall.

Leon didn't know how to tell him that he could invite the Prophet himself to witness their marriage on the balcony of the tower, so he just laughed it off.

"We don't have priests or church sanctuaries, but the sun is shining in the sky. Isn't it also witnessed by the Holy Sun?"

"Well, that's a good idea."

Azerien also felt that it made sense. To some extent, directly bathing in the light of the Holy Sun might bring him closer to the great God than the testimony of a priest.

After discussing his brother's wedding preparations, Leon picked up the stack of design drawings beside him while he was still there.

"I need Miss Raya to organize painters and scribes to make several copies of these drawings for making magic lanterns and lighthouses. They must be carefully checked and verified to ensure there are no major mistakes."

Azerien picked it up and looked at it, wondering, "What is it for?"

"It is a powerful weapon against the undead disaster, called"

Leon paused, remembering that Laura really hadn't given it a name. Functionally, it could be called a Horcrux, but it just didn't sound very good.

"This is called the 'Sacred Lamp of Soul Protection'. Once the caster activates it, it can protect those around them and fight against magic that harms the soul."

He casually gave the magical device a decent name.

When Azerien heard that it was such an important thing, he didn't dare to delay and immediately picked up the manuscript paper: "Okay, I'll ask Raya to do it."

Seeing him leave in a hurry, Leon turned back and saw that Olivia had finished writing their marriage contract, so he took out the leather tube, rolled it up and put it away.

Seeing that Leon didn't notice, the girl quickly and unnoticedly put the cheesy version into the bottom layer of the drawer and hid it, intending to savor it in private later.
After dealing with the marriage issue, Leon sat back at his desk and began to read books, checking the territory affairs with Olivia, who had been managing the government for him during this period.

After reading the market report submitted by Ms. Martha, he then checked the security situation in the territory during the expedition.

The entire barony had a population of just over 10,000 before the post-war title was conferred, and the social environment was relatively simple. Logically speaking, there might not be one or two major criminal incidents a year.

Of course, petty thefts, drunken disturbances, fights over water, and other such disputes do occur from time to time.

In the archived case records, Leon did not find anything inappropriate in the various investigations and judgments made by Olivia and Ms. Elena on public security cases in the territory.

However, he unexpectedly saw that during the time when Olivia was away on the expedition, she recruited new soldiers from the Selva military camp and went to the villages and towns in Glade County in the south to wipe out a group of bandits.

The last time I went on a tour to the south, I didn't encounter any bandits along the way. It was probably because I saw the lord's army marching and patrolling. Even if there were bandits, they would definitely hide far away and dare not show up.

".It was a band of robbers consisting of a dozen deserters, most of whom were killed in the battle, none escaped, only four surrendered and were captured, and are now imprisoned in the dungeons of Avalon.

After interrogation, we found out that they were from Mamor County. The bandit leader discovered that our Avalon army was on the march a while ago, and felt that the territory was unprepared, so he robbed a village in the south, killing three local villagers and injuring several others."

Leon listened to Olivia's story and saw the death sentences of the four men, waiting for his approval.

After confirming that there were enough villagers and surviving women who had been abducted and rescued in time to serve as witnesses to identify the four criminals, Leon immediately stamped his seal and approved the hanging.

The reason why Olivia still sentenced them to death even after they surrendered was not just because of robbery and injury.

Although the culprit who directly killed the villagers was indeed killed by the female knight and the soldiers in the battle.

But the remaining four still participated in the process of "insulting" the abducted woman.

Although the woman was rescued in time and saved by the soldiers of the Knights, she survived.

But this does not prevent them from being charged with robbery and rape, and being punished for both serious crimes and executed according to the law.

In this era, the concept of protecting victims from escalating crimes is not popular, and the judgment and sentencing standards in each territory are varied, extremely chaotic, and completely inconsistent. If other places are strict, but if the management of a certain area is lax and criminals are lenient, it will not only fail to protect the victims, but will condone the increase of criminals in the territory.

The modern legal spirit is obviously not suitable for use in an era that is not in line with it. Leon can only combine the current era and try his best to explore laws that are in line with the social environment and as fair as possible to the people.

However, the laws governing the barony are still relatively simple today, because the difficulty of the rule of law lies not only in making rules, but also in popularizing the law.

Punishing without teaching is called cruelty, and not warning and allowing success is called violence. The common people have too low a level of education to understand complicated laws, so how can they make arbitrary judgments?

Currently in the territory, there are very few people who truly have the ability to understand legal provisions, let alone those who can go out on their own and popularize the law to the grassroots people.

Whenever he came here, Leon couldn't help but remember the church clergy he had met in the countryside of Serian in the past.

They read religious laws to the people, were able to read and write, and had medical skills and knowledge of guiding farming and gathering. They not only controlled the people's faith, but were also the grassroots officials sent out by the church.

However, he did not have as many talented people as the church did. Before those students from Avalon College graduated and started working, he could not make drastic changes to the traditional laws that were deeply rooted in people's hearts in the current era.

After all, the customary laws that are deeply rooted in people's minds, such as the death penalty for killing, injury and theft, are more than enough to manage a population of 10,000 or 20,000 people, and these three rules can be understood even by illiterate civilians.

However, he did not mean to change nothing. Leon would not tolerate some obviously absurd customary laws to continue to maintain the status quo.

For example, in some villages and towns in the territory, especially in the southern part of Kantadar, in a civilian family, if the husband violently beats his wife to death, he will not even be sentenced to a severe punishment as long as he shows repentance and regret for his "impulsiveness". In common domestic violence, if one beats his own children to death, the punishment is so light that it is almost negligible. Even more absurd, such as the behavior of some ghost fathers, there will be almost no substantial intervention and punishment. Leon knows that there must be more crimes under the water than what he has heard.

There are practical reasons for this. For the lowest class of civilians, clothing and housing are luxuries. Many poor families are barely clothed. In many poor huts there is only one bed for the whole family. Such a crude environment is also a hidden danger that breeds such crimes.

There are also spiritual reasons. The North and South Kingdoms obviously do not have the secular Confucian consensus of the ancient motherland in the previous life. The country controlled by the church like Serian at least has the spiritual constraints of the Holy Sun Faith as the bottom line, but Orland and Cantadar only have folk traditional morality. How effective the latter is depends on personal morality, and the external constraints of the environment are almost non-existent. If personal morality is reliable, there will be no need for laws and rules in this world. Not all obvious injustices and sins have to conform to the times. On this point, there is no room for negotiation for Leon.

Of course, filling such loopholes in the rules that should not be ignored is still only a temporary solution. If we really want to put an end to such things, the only fundamental solution is to ensure that the people have enough food and clothing and have better shelter from the wind and rain.

When the granaries are full, people know etiquette; when they have enough food and clothing, they know honor and disgrace. If they want to govern the land and the people well, they still have a long way to go.

In addition to these obvious injustices that need to be corrected, many absurd folk customary laws must also be strictly abolished.

Leon didn't think there was any need to keep such nonsense as soaking suspects in hot water like idols, with the innocent ones floating up and the guilty ones sinking.

He confirmed with Laura again and again that the gods traditionally believed in by the Feru people were all non-existent false gods. They were merely the primitive beliefs of the mountain people. It would be a miracle if this kind of rural divine judgment could be useful.

After finally reviewing all the major and minor events and government affairs in the territory during this period, Leon looked at the time.

It was almost noon, and it seemed like a good time to go meet those knights-errant during lunch time.

After leaving the office, Leon did not ask anyone to summon them, but took the initiative to go to where they were staying.

The main castle of Avalon is very large, and it can accommodate the army under Garron's command. There are enough guest rooms and restaurants, and it can be easily divided into many areas for entertaining guests.

Led by the maid, Leon walked through the corridor and arrived at the northeast corner of the main castle, where he met several strange warriors who were having dinner.

One bearded old knight, three middle-aged knights, and three young knights.

Larian was among them, and when he saw the lord coming, he put down his cutlery and stood up to greet him: "Good day, Lord Leon."

When the other people heard his address, they also stood up and saluted.

Leon quickly returned the greeting and asked the maid to bring him another portion of food as he wanted to have lunch with the rangers who had come from afar.

After Leon took his seat, Larian took the initiative to introduce him to the fellows who had come to respond to the oath: "This sir is Greenthorn from Upper Besso. He once defeated the giant water monster that plagued the banks of the Pissia River. He is a famous hero in Ostania."

Leon looked at the bearded old knight and raised his glass in surprise: "I salute your bravery. Please forgive me for being young and ignorant and not knowing your reputation earlier."

The old knight raised his wine glass and smiled heartily: "It's just an empty reputation. The killing of the monster was not entirely my own achievement. However, I, an old man, have heard of the great name of Lord Leon for a long time.

But you are much taller than I thought. Forgive my previous speculation. I thought you were a child. "

"Child?" Leon asked in confusion.

"Don't blame Greenthorne. I thought so before. Master Goliad described you as a young man in his poem. I didn't know you had such a strong physique. No wonder you could kill the basilisk with your own hands." A middle-aged knight interrupted and laughed.

He spoke very quickly with a strange accent, but it sounded vaguely familiar to Leon. It seemed that Aorad from the East also had a similar accent.

"This is Lord Derek from 'Higix'. He once single-handedly destroyed a group of wolf cavalry bandits entrenched on the border of Roman Territory. The locals respectfully call him the 'Wolf Hunter'." Larian immediately introduced.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Wolf Hunter." Leon saluted.

Derek smiled bitterly and waved his hands. "Baron, just call me Derek. The so-called 'wolf hunting' is just a misunderstanding. Those who were killed back then were bandits riding dire wolves. I love those loyal 'big dogs' very much. I have a dire wolf that has been with me for many years. How could I hunt them?"

Soon, while everyone was chatting and laughing, Larian introduced the other rangers at the table to Leon.

After a round, Leon became more and more pleased as he listened.

None of the knights-errant at this table from the Kingdom of Orland is a vegetarian. All of them have extraordinary deeds that made them famous. Some have conquered vicious monsters, while others have a reputation for being chivalrous and righteous.

Leon suddenly realized that it was no wonder that General Trosa boasted about saving the village of Selva and said that he had the "chivalrous knight" spirit of Orland. It turned out that it was a real analogy, not empty talk.

Now it seems that when Larian and Corvis went out for a stroll, they attracted not only a few knights, but also a group of "hero units".

That's right, in this day and age, if one can be a lone hero and not die in the wilderness, who can do this ancient idealistic business without real ability?

It seems to be some kind of survivor bias. Those who were unable to survive and become famous after facing powerful enemies and disasters have unfortunately died in some corner of the world, and I can't see them now.

After getting to know the rangers, Leon once again expressed his gratitude to everyone for coming to help, and then asked the question that had just arisen in his mind.

"Have you all heard of Goliad's poem? Has the story spread so far?"

Upper Beso County is relatively close and the road is relatively convenient, but Hijiks County is located on the eastern border of the Kingdom of Orland, and the road to Kossos County is quite far and difficult.

Leon suddenly remembered that even Count Yasen in the south had heard his story.

What exactly does that dragon poet want to achieve by helping to spread his fame around the world?

Just because they met in Dragonmaw City, I stopped Mr. Rotty's men from dealing with him?

In hindsight, as a real dragon, wasn't he just role-playing fishing? What impact would it have on me if I intervened or not? Could a few gangsters really scratch his scales?

Was it really just because of the promise he made when he was in prison that he would make a name for himself?

"Don't underestimate the talent of Master Goliath. The story is wonderful. It has become one of the must-order poems in taverns across the north. Many people are eagerly waiting for the third chapter and are looking for Master Goliath everywhere. It's a pity that the great poet's whereabouts are always elusive." Greenthorne put down his wine glass and sighed. There is not much entertainment these days. Even a ranger needs to rely on the stories told by bards to relieve the boredom of the journey.

Wolf Hunter Derek said, "I am different from Greenthorne. I met Master Goliad himself in a tavern on the border not long ago, singing the story of Lord Leon in person. In Loman Territory, the poems about you have not spread yet."

"Have you seen Goliad?" Leon's heart moved, and he asked quickly: "Do you have any news about him now?"

No matter what the dragon poet's purpose was, at least he had been doing good things along the way and had not shown any malice towards him. If he could ask for help from the dragon poet in this undead disaster, it would undoubtedly be more effective than a large army.

Leon has learned from Laura how powerful the real dragon is.

Derek shook his head. "Unfortunately, I only met the poet once. He has now traveled east. When I heard that he was going to pass through the Hector Wasteland, I offered to escort him, but unfortunately he declined."

(End of this chapter)