The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Jim was pulled out by his mother.

Even though he was locked in his room every day, Jim still heard about the Evans family's defeat.

Not only that, but their father Wesker was captured, and their brothers were either killed or wounded in the melee.

The entire Evans family is now in chaos. The elders of the family have sent countless sums of money to the gray-collar workers, but it has all gone unanswered.

Before the shoe dropped, everyone was filled with anxiety, and no one knew what the future held for the Evans family.

The situation in the North is completely different from before. After losing Grand Duke Lars as the nominal leader, the entire North has returned to a chaotic era of noble separatism. Although there are rules from the capital, they are few, especially after the king's deployments have been withdrawn back to the central region.

The winner takes all, which is why Wesker and other nobles were so eager to conquer the gray and white-collar workers.

However, now the Evans family has become the one being devoured.

Jim, who had been locked in his room, was dragged out of his room by his mother and brought to the living room.

At this moment, Jim finally realized that the shoe that had been hanging over the Wesker family's heads was about to drop.

The hall was lined with white knights of the Lars family and many soldiers carrying strange fire sticks. This was an absolute institution of violence, signifying that the days when nobles could sit down at the table and negotiate peacefully and pay fines were gone forever.

The former gray-collar lord, Lind Rol, sat with his legs crossed on a high platform, looking down at the crowd with his eyes lowered.

His demeanor was more reserved than Jim's when he was seen among gray-collar workers. His face was neither cold nor friendly, but carried a faint sense of authority.

After quietly observing his surroundings, Jim discovered that not only were all the other members of the Evans family present, but also many nobles from the surrounding area.

These were all noble families who had followed their father, Wesker, into battle. Back then, these people fought tooth and nail for a good position in the army, but now they were kneeling before the gray-collar lord, a symbol of equality for all.

The bard who had been so full of praise before the campaign was now standing humbly behind Lindroll, bowing low.

Jim, who had done business with many people, knew that the bard was no longer the obsequious person he had been with his father. Instead, he had put himself in his place and appeared completely as a servant.

Having confirmed that everyone had arrived, Lindroll took the document from the bard, compared it with the document in his own hand, and stood up.

"I have two documents here. One is the results of the bards' investigation into you, and the other is the results of my scribes' investigation."

"In order not to wrong you, I will only select the two parts of the investigation that are consistent, and judge you in accordance with the Northern Regulations promulgated by the Lars family and the laws of the kingdom. Do you have any objections?"

After Linde finished speaking, most of the nobles below the stage remained timid and shrank back, but a few of the bolder ones looked up and said to Linde, "My lord, the Northern Regulations have actually been abandoned for many years. There are many rules that we nobles no longer abide by. If you strictly follow the Northern Regulations, you may lose many of your loyal allies."

"I am not denying your authority, but perhaps this Northern Law...should be relaxed a bit?"

No nobleman would actually abide by the Northern Laws, because these were the laws used by the Lars family when they expanded and guarded the northern frontier, driving the demons to the eternal tundra—the Lars family at their most powerful.

The laws enforced were derived from military law. Although they were gradually relaxed after subsequent revisions, they were still considered a harsh law by these nobles. Even the Lars family themselves stopped abiding by the Northern Laws.

Linde did not answer, but occasionally glanced up at Lucanus behind him.

Lucanus understood immediately and stepped forward, speaking in a melodious tone: "Barton Wordsworth, thirty-four years old, the younger brother of the sixth head of the Wordsworth family, murdered the previous head of the family with his own brother. Oh, and when your brother died in battle, you even took the opportunity to abduct your sister-in-law and seize your brother's territory. I didn't expect you to still have the leisure to do these things."

Lind interrupted Lucanus's gossip, saying, "Keep reading."

Lucanus immediately refocused and continued listing Barton's crimes one by one, including illegally seizing other people's lands, committing adultery within his clan, abusing his power, illegally levying taxes and exploiting peasants, and taking advantage of the chaos to plunder other nobles.

Normally, these crimes would be handled by the clan itself, or they would simply be turned a blind eye and ignored. After all, no nobleman is clean, and it's common for everyone to help each other clean up messes.

"Let's handle it according to the law."

After Lind finished speaking, two of Lars's knights dragged Barton away.

"Wait, wait, my lord! I know where our family has buried treasure. My brother also has hidden gold shield coins and magic stones. Our family has more."

Barton was dragged out amidst such wails, and all the nobles present were too terrified to look up, recalling all the possible illegal things they had done.

Jim, however, somewhat approved of Lind's approach. These scum and disgrace among the nobility should have been dealt with long ago. The North was in decline because of these scoundrels. How could the North be governed well with such scoundrels around?

Lind wasn't interested in Barton's ramblings, so he sat down and said to Lucanus, "Continue."

Soon, one nobleman after another was dragged out by the knights. According to the Northern Regulations and the Kingdom's laws, those who committed serious crimes were taken directly to trial, while those who did not commit such serious crimes were dragged to mines. As for the nobles who had not committed any crimes, none had appeared yet.

Only a few nobles, whose power and territory were too small to commit any heinous acts, escaped death by paying fines.

No nobles resisted, because for some reason, the power transition between Lind Rol and Lars was exceptionally smooth. There was no infighting that the nobles had imagined. The Lars family chose to trust Lind completely and directly placed him in the position of patriarch.

No nobles complained about the unfairness, because all of Lind's judgments were made in accordance with the Northern Laws. Although the enforcement was a bit harsh, Lind was always in the right, even if the case went all the way to the capital. The only unreasonable thing was that Lind stripped all the nobles of their immunity.

Of course, there were a few instances where Lind felt the sentences were too lenient. After all, while the Northern Laws were strict, they were essentially laws enacted by nobles, and their bias was still quite evident.

Linde made the changes on the spot, but when it came to these offending nobles, he first judged them according to the old law.

If they repeat the same mistake, then all previous offenses will be dealt with accordingly.

Those nobles who had managed to survive vowed never to do it again, and were practically ready to lick Lind's boots.