Fifth Hundred and Fifty-Sixth Chapter: Bottom Line

"A gift?" Roland raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"The House of Hosse and the House of Lista in the North... Your Majesty, the two earls refused to obey your rule and even attempted to collude with other nobles to rebel. My father saw through their plot in advance and gave the two houses the punishment they deserved," Cole said regretfully. "However, due to my negligence, I didn't expect you to return to the Western Region ahead of schedule. The heads serving as evidence have already rotted on the way."

"Wait, your father directly executed two earls?"

"Uh," he tilted his head to look at his assistant, "Yes."

This level of dedication is more intense than I expected... Taking the heads of two earls as a certificate of allegiance means it will be difficult for them to gain the support of the Eastern Territory nobles again, and at least the possibility of uniting to rebel against their territory will be greatly reduced. Roland thought to himself, but now that Nightingale is not by my side, I don't know if the other party is deceiving me.

He pondered for a moment and whispered to Barov beside him, "Are there these two families in the North?"

"Horsehead Hosse and Twin-Gun Lista are both prominent families in the Northern Territory, with a reputation even more illustrious than the five great families of the Western Territory. Among them, Lista's ancestor fought for the Wimbledon family in armor, and the twin guns on the family crest are taken from the flag of the Kingdom of Graycastle," Barov said slowly, stroking his beard. "Of course, this was all more than two hundred years ago. On the other hand, the Kand family is not well-known. I remember it was a family that appeared only about fifty years ago... I didn't expect Tificeco to choose Calvin Kand as the head of the Northern Territory. Even if it is to contain the other two families, if the strength is too different, it will be difficult to play the due role and easily cause dissatisfaction among the old families."

"So what he said is true?" Roland automatically ignored the old butler's later rambling used to show off his extensive knowledge.

"Um... the possibility of lying is not high," Barov whispered. "This is related to the honor of the nobles. If you agree to accept their allegiance and it is later proved to be a lie, the Northern Territory itself will fall into chaos first."

That makes sense, he nodded slightly, and whether it is a lie is not a big problem, the key is that his bottom line has been set there. If they can accept giving up the right to fiefdom, everything can be discussed. If they insist on grasping power, then no matter how precious the gift is, it will be meaningless.

Thinking of this, Roland smiled at Cole, "First of all, I must express my gratitude to the duke. Maintaining the honor of the royal family is the responsibility of every noble, and your father has done a great job. Secondly, the two earls deserved their punishment, and the kingdom will not pursue Duke Kand's actions."

"Is, is that so? Father will be very happy to hear this," Cole seemed relieved. "He has always hoped to serve the true king, and now he finally has the opportunity."

"Is that so? I am also very happy to accept the allegiance of the Duke of the North... provided that he can abide by the new laws of Graycastle."

"New laws?" He was slightly taken aback. "What is that?"

"The regulations on reclaiming the power of noble fiefdoms," Roland looked at the other party's expression and said word by word, "In the future, there will be no more feudal nobles in the kingdom. You can simply understand that all the territories in Graycastle have only one master, and that is the king."

"What? Your Majesty, this..." Cole's expression changed drastically, and he turned his head to look at his assistant again.

Is this guy really the duke's second son? Although he looks a little young, he shouldn't be inferior to his female officer... At least the latter just opened her mouth slightly, and her appearance remained calm - of course, it is also possible that she simply cannot understand the meaning of my words.

"Don't worry, nobles are still nobles, and your comfortable lives will not change in any way, and there are still opportunities to reach a new peak," Roland clapped his hands and asked the servant to hand over the prepared "propaganda manual". "Longsong Stronghold has fully implemented this set of laws. In the manual, you can see many small stories of change and examples of nobles who have devoted themselves to it - it seems to deprive nobles of some privileges, but in fact it also frees nobles from their fiefdoms and throws them into the grand stage of the kingdom, or even the entire continent."

The other party looked blank. "But... I don't know..."

Cole's performance made Ro

land slightly disappointed, but thinking about it, it's normal. After all, he is just a second son who has only recently come of age, and it is estimated that this trip is only to fulfill the duty of a mouthpiece and cannot make a decision.

"It doesn't matter, you can send the message back to Duke Calvin. Before he replies, you can stay in Neverwinter City and visit the unique scenery here - I think you will like it here."

Although sending the second son here itself has the meaning of representing sincerity, Roland does not intend to waste this sincerity. He will temporarily detain him as a guarantee against the other party taking risks.

He originally thought that this meeting would come to an end here, but he did not expect Cole to make another request.

"Your Majesty, can I visit how your territory manufactures paddle steamers and steam engines?"

This is a novel request, and Roland looked at him with interest. "Are you interested in this?"

"Yes, I heard about this kind of peculiar ship in the royal capital, and only after coming to the Western Territory did I realize that it is ubiquitous. I am very curious about how paddle steamers travel without relying on sails," Cole said, holding his chest.

"I see," he nodded with a smile. "I will have Chief Manager Barov arrange it."

……

After dealing with the affairs of the Northern Territory envoy, Roland returned to his office, preparing to continue completing the design drawings in his hand, when he suddenly heard a rapid knock on the window outside. He turned around and saw two unexpected figures.

Lightning was lying on the windowsill, and Maggie was squatting on her head, pecking at the glass.

Roland's heart tightened. It was only the third day, and the paddle steamer should not be back so soon. Could something have happened?

"Why are you back first?" He opened the French window and asked anxiously, "Where are the others?"

"Your Majesty! We caught a devil!"

"But Anna, Leaf, and Nightingale were all injured, goo!"

"Fortunately, it's not a big problem!"

"But it still hurts a lot, goo! Can you ask Nana Wajxiaojie to go with us?"

After listening to the two of them finishing speaking one after another, Roland felt his heart like a roller coaster. He breathed a sigh of relief, "Really no big deal?"

"No goo!"

"I'll go get someone to bring Nana Wa over," he turned and walked out of the room, "Next time, remember to say everything in one breath!"

……

By dusk the next day, two paddle steamers finally appeared at the western end of the Clearwater River.

In order to avoid causing panic among the masses by seeing devils, the First Army's garrison troops had cleared the No. 22 trestle bridge and prepared a large shed carriage. A temporary wooden house was also built in the castle's back garden to serve as a laboratory, and research on devils and sigils would be carried out under Leaf's supervision.

Seeing Anna and Nightingale walking off the trestle bridge, Roland was completely relieved. Only four days had passed from departure to return, but it felt like months since they had last met. Especially after hearing the news of their injuries, time passed even slower.

"Thank you for your hard work on this mission," he raised the corners of his mouth and opened his arms to Anna.

The latter did not answer, but quickly rushed into his arms and hugged him tightly.

Nightingale sighed, "You said you would wait for us at the castle... The dock is not safe, Your Majesty."

"You too," Roland smiled. "Thank you for your hard work."

"Um..." She turned her head uncomfortably. "Actually, it's okay."

Anna let go of Roland and pulled Nightingale over as well.

Then came Wendy, Leaf...

This time, all the witches hugged Roland, Agatha and Iffy were no exception.

Under the red sunset, the shadows of the crowd were stretched out very long.