There are many ruthless bosses living in my territory

"Correct!"

Melv nodded.

"That's right, we've been investigating the reasons why theft has increased."

"In fact, the person in charge of law and order was already overwhelmed, and I even sent people to support him."

Tsk!

Liszt frowned.

"The sudden increase in theft may be just a cover-up."

"Look at this data. This is the percentage of armed conflicts between us and the Dick family among all armed conflicts."

Melv was suddenly shocked when she looked at the fan-shaped charts.

The proportion actually increased from 10% at the beginning to 40%! Almost half? !

"It's normal for people to have conflicts over water sources and farmland. Some jealous people will even deliberately spread poison in their neighbors' fields if they find that their crops are growing better than their own. It's not surprising that fights break out."

"But the conflicts between our family and the Dick family, which we don't have a very good relationship with, account for an increasing proportion of the total conflicts. I don't believe this is a coincidence."

Someone must be trying to sow discord between the two ducal families.

"Liszt, who has the guts to do this?!"

Lister glanced at the furious Melv, then pointed to the chart data on the other side.

"I'm afraid the perpetrator is much bolder than you expected."

"Similar situations have occurred in the six duke families within the Kingdom of Rennes."

"Some duke families even nearly died out."

"The patriarch of the Barlow family has only three brothers, all of whom died of illness one after another. His only son almost died in an incident nine months ago but still broke his leg."

"Although they are protected by the laws of the United States, as long as there are still members of their family, they don't have to worry about the title of Duke falling into someone else's hands, but the situation is already precarious."

"The duke even began to suspect his subordinates of purging their personnel, and the duchy became chaotic as a result."

Melv was suddenly horrified.

She looked at the map of the Kingdom of Rennes marked by Lister, which was filled with numerous conflicts at the border between the two duchies.

"Sister, that's a bit harsh."

“Although you and I are both called geniuses, I think it’s just because we’re more hardworking.”

"Most people in the United States are merely constrained by the Code and the Rites, and are doing their duty under the requirements of their faith."

"Some people even fail to fulfill their duties, but they will not lose their positions. At most, they will be scolded and looked down upon."

"In my opinion, the inspectors who were responsible for producing the inspection text certainly didn't think about it carefully. They probably just recorded the data and sent it to each duke."

"If the Duke only cares about the data for this month and the previous two months, he may ignore the dangers."

Liszt sighed.

"The person who secretly guided this situation must be very familiar with the working procedures of the United States and the temperament of the nobles."

Not to mention, he also tried to find loopholes, but who could have thought that his attempt would be nipped in the bud by his sister's use of connections to get it done in advance.

Melv slumped in her chair, trying to take in all the information she had just analyzed.

A force that can create such chaos within the kingdom and is extremely secretive... and can even command a sixth-level spellcaster, this is not an enemy that their Eler family can deal with!

What should I do? What should I do?

Melv looked up at her brother. The face that looked so similar to her seemed a little strange.

She had been competing with her younger brother since they were young. They both got full marks in scriptures, history, numerology, horse riding, archery, swordsmanship...

To be honest, she didn't really like her younger brother at first, because he was just a man and could inherit the title, even though they were both equally outstanding.

Although it is a pity, there is nothing to regret if the heir is an equally outstanding younger brother.

But what she didn't expect was that her younger brother, who had always behaved strangely, actually offered to give up the title and give it to her, which made her father so angry that he started cursing.

It seems that she has never seen through her younger brother.

Their scores were all 10, but the younger brother got 10 simply because the full score was 10.

"…If only you were the one who inherited the title. In that case, you would have noticed something unusual a long time ago."

"Don't curse me. I don't want to be locked in a cage."

Melv supported her chin with one hand and admired Liszt's handsome face, and the waves of anxiety in her heart gradually subsided.

"Brother, what do you think we should do?"

"The great Grand Duchess Bai Yue is here to ask for my opinion?"

"Don't keep me in suspense. I admit that I am not as good as you."

"alright."

Liszt spread his hands. There was nothing he could do. He would only respond to soft tactics and not hard ones.

"Directly organize all our current findings and speculations into a formal manuscript and send the most loyal subordinates to the imperial capital to report the matter directly to His Majesty the Emperor!"

Melv looked quite hesitant.

"But according to the Code and the Rites, we cannot bypass our superiors to report directly to the emperor, and we don't have any channels..."

"elder sister!"

Liszt looked at Melv very seriously.

"If you want to solve problems correctly and quickly, don't always think of turning to the Code of Law and the Etiquette for everything."

"This matter is not something we can handle. We are betting that the secret enemy has no spies around the emperor."

"Without a channel, the simplest way is to rush over and hand the letter to the other party when the emperor is on a routine inspection of the imperial capital."

Melv was silent, then stood up.

"Okay, I'll get this done as quickly as possible!"

"and many more!"

Liszt called Melv and asked.

"Is there any major event happening in the territory recently that will involve other dukes?"

Melv paused and pursed her lips.

"Duke Dick will bring people to congratulate me on my succession to the title of Duke. This is in accordance with the "Etiquette System", so..."

Liszt suddenly interrupted the other party and emphasized again.

"Sister! Remember what I told you before!"

"Also, in this kind of thing, don't first consider whether it complies with the "Rites System", but consider the purpose of their doing this and whether it is possible to benefit them."

Hearing her brother's sincere words, Melv nodded.

Suddenly, she asked.

"Liszt, then you are giving up your purpose of inheriting the title?"

Liszt was silent, and when his eyes met Melv's, he spoke.

"I want a group of people who love and support me, a territory where I can live more comfortably, and—"

"I don't want my sister to marry someone she doesn't love."

"It turns out that I was right. At least my sister didn't become the wife of the young master of the Barlow family with a broken leg."

A light flashed in Melv's azure eyes.

The corners of her mouth curled up and her long golden hair flew.

"Thank you. I owe you one."

"No thanks, I'll be happy as long as you stop snatching cake from me."

The two smiled at each other, and then Melv strode out of the study to meet their father.

Lister, who stayed in the study, took a deep breath and picked up the Zanpakutō at his waist.

The sword was unsheathed, and the silver-white blade reflected the cold blue eyes.

Hopefully his guess is wrong.

Otherwise...he can only kill people.

I believe that Madara and Aizen would not refuse to see the mysterious power of this world.

Chapter 25: Groups Divided by Ideas

When Lister came out of the study, he originally wanted to find Madara, but when he opened the system to check the other party's location, he found that Madara and Aizen were moving constantly within the inner city, probably collecting information.

It's normal for a ninja and an old bitch to do such things.

In that case, there is no need to look for anyone else.

So Liszt went straight back to his large bedroom in the manor house, where Reina and Elsa were packing their belongings.

"Go out with me."

The two did not ask much, but just carried some short-handled weapons in the standard long-skirt maid outfits, and followed Lister on horseback out of the inner city.

"My Lord, where are we going?"

"Let's go to the Holy Light Church first."

In large territories, multiple churches will be built and distributed in various corners of the city. It can be said that in urban planning, there will be a church in every residential area.

The number of churches can indirectly reflect the prosperity of a city.

The Temple has made great efforts to make every citizen of the United States focus on the belief in the Holy Light. Even the contracted people can pray to the Holy Light in the side room opened in the church.

As far as Lister knew, only a very small number of orcs could receive the favor of the Holy Light and become temple believers.

In his opinion, this was just a move by the Temple to give the orcs a glimmer of hope.

After all, one of the political correctness of the United States is human supremacy, and any alien race or half-human with alien characteristics is inherently lower in status than humans.

There was a prayer line outside the church, with humans and orcs clearly separated.

Many of the orcs queuing up in the open space next to the side hall had pale faces and thin bodies, and they wrapped themselves in patched and washed-out clothes.

Winter is coming, and they hope that this winter will not be too cold, as long as people don't freeze to death.

On the other side of the wooden fence, human civilians were wearing simple but complete thick clothes. They were talking and laughing, forming a sharp contrast with the other side of the fence.

They knew that much of the cotton in the clothes they wore and the wheat in the bread they ate came from the orcs.

But what does it matter?

That's what they, the orcs, are supposed to do.

They come to church to pray in order to tell God about their contributions.

As long as they do good deeds and work hard in this life, they will be reborn into a wealthy aristocratic family in the next life.

Lazy, cunning people and criminals will be entangled with the blood of inferior foreign races in their next life and can only be hard laborers for the rest of their lives.

Liszt and his two companions were standing in the distance on horseback, also in a different world from them.

"grown ups……"

There was some reluctance in Reina's eyes.

"Reina, I know what you want to say."

"I also told you that they are not our companions."

"In their eyes, you are the ones who have fallen and do not follow the rules set by the gods."

"Even they themselves believe that the alien blood in their bodies is a sin, so why should we do such a thankless task?"

Liszt said lightly.

He knew from the beginning the importance of unified thought in the territory, so he spent many years personally selecting the people who would develop the territory with him.