Chapter 51: The Curtain Falls? This is Just the Beginning.

The region where Fafnir was located was actually already considered a remote part of the kingdom. Aside from internal population circulation, very few outsiders would come here. The central core of the kingdom was very far away, let alone the eastern and northern territories; those were practically on the other side of the kingdom.

Fleeing all the way here was easier said than done.

“If I’m not mistaken, there has been a massive influx of new population across the entire west. It’s just that they happened to crash into our aggressive capacity expansion, which released an enormous number of jobs. By sheer coincidence, we absorbed them as workers.”

“But what if we hadn’t started these projects back then? Which territory could have withstood this influx? What on earth happened in the east?”

The two looked at each other and spoke in unison: “A massive famine?!”

Baron Kaibuli looked at his daughter somewhat awkwardly: “It was my oversight. The north is under the Regent’s control, and not much news flows out of it. I didn’t make inquiries in that direction either.”

He had been a bit too smug lately. Aside from burying his head in making money and showing off his child, he truly hadn’t paid much attention to the internal problems of the kingdom.

Su Na shook her head, offering comfort: “It’s just a lack of experience. Discovering it now isn’t too late. Our organizational structure reform was already failing to keep up with our needs anyway; we might as well handle it all together this time.”

Setting aside the fact that everything they were doing now was a first for them, most lords in the past managed their territories extensively by just glancing at reports—essentially “free-range” governance. What kind of management could you expect from lords who historically relied on the weather and land rents to eat?

It was nothing more than checking where they were short on people or materials; they just solved problems as they arose and called it a day.

As for why they were always short on people, and why they could always replenish them? Who cared? As long as they came and worked, that was the end of it. No one thought that deeply about it.

Judging the situation based on price fluctuations was even more absurd. An economy based on self-circulating land rents was inherently insensitive to the price fluctuations of basic commodities. Coupled with the state of road transport, goods were usually produced and consumed locally; they couldn’t be sold outward, and no one tried to.

The distances were too great, and the market wasn’t unified; every region had its own prices. As long as a territory wasn’t hit by a disaster and supply exceeded demand, combined with the general hoarding tendencies of the lords, the room for basic necessities like grain to increase in price was extremely limited.

The western region, where Fafnir was located, had fully transitioned into a commercial territory. Their stance toward the higher-ups was a strategy of neutrality, helping neither side.

The Regent couldn’t crush their united group, nor could he afford to discard the taxes they submitted, because aside from his own faction, the eastern Royalists certainly weren’t buying into his tax reforms.

Unlike the modern concept of a nation many envision, the so-called kingdom system of the past was merely a vessel. They swore fealty to the ruling William family itself, not the nation of Roriman; or rather, they didn’t yet possess a concrete concept of a nation.

Under this model, all lords and nobles had a direct subordinate relationship with the William family, not simply a superior-subordinate relationship on a national level.

It was exactly like the relationship between Baron Fafnir and the minor noble families beneath him in the Fafnir territory.

The fundamental reason Baron Kaibuli could command them was that they had sworn fealty to the Fafnir family, not because they lived there or because Kaibuli was the lord of the land.

In the past, noble lords possessed an extremely high degree of freedom. The kingdom’s administrative structure merely served as a supporting service for their convenience. Whether the kingdom assigned administrators or governors didn’t matter; these were just titles on paper.

Therefore, even though the Regent had taken over the royal capital, this was the root reason he still couldn’t control the entire kingdom.

He had not secured the fealty of the nobles in other regions, especially the die-hard loyalists among the Royalists. He could only control his own power base in the north.

What they recognized was not some “King” of Roriman, but a specific family. This resulted in the current situation where issuing policies did not yield the expected compliance. Allowing you to appoint a supervisor to govern us in name is already giving you enough face.

And because Princess Caitlin was the recognized heir of King William, she legally and smoothly received the fealty of the eastern nobles. The south, meanwhile, was split into two factions between Yulia and the Duke of Rose.

Therefore, the stance of the largest western faction, led by Fafnir, was of paramount importance at this moment. Because whichever side they took would grant that faction a dominant advantage.

This was why Su Na dared to establish a basic strategy of neutrality. They didn’t publicly oppose the Regent, cooperating with his centralization of military and tax powers, yet they maintained the same distant, “arm’s length” relationship with the central authority as the Royalists had during the enfeoffment era. They fought for maximum freedom, earning themselves ample opportunities for development.

But clearly, this relatively balanced and stable period of development was about to pass. Whether the Regent’s taxation had caused problems, or due to other sudden factors, he was being pushed to change the current situation.

Baron Kaibuli sighed softly: “If our guessed answer is correct, then the victor should be decided soon. For such a thing to happen at this critical juncture… it’s too fatal.”

Su Na, however, shook her head: “My opinion is exactly the opposite. This is the true beginning.”

“He has merely lost the possibility of a peaceful transfer of power, but that doesn’t mean war is off the table. He can seize everything he wants using swords and blood.”

Judging from the Regent’s actions in continuously suppressing the news, he had already made his choice. Violence was, without a doubt, the most direct and effective method.

Her father still clung to the traditional nobles’ method of resolving conflicts through negotiation and compromise. But for the Regent to have reached this point today, he clearly had nothing to do with the phrase “following the rules.”

If that were the case, their so-called neutrality would no longer hold. While neutrality meant not helping either side in theory, objectively it meant leaning toward the stronger party, because neutrality inherently benefited the stronger side more.

“Our most urgent task is to unite! Father, tomorrow we must reach a joint consensus to prevent anyone with ulterior motives from finding an opportunity to divide and conquer us one by one.”

“I believe that once we present our speculations, they will give us a satisfactory answer after they verify them.”

Baron Kaibuli nodded: “I also feel that reaching an agreement tomorrow shouldn’t be a big problem. But we have no weapons and no soldiers. If a conflict really breaks out, they will definitely demand that we take a side. Wouldn’t we be in great danger?”

In peacetime, everyone reasoned with each other. But once a real fight broke out, who cared about all that nonsense? The rhythm would become: “You hoard grain, I hoard guns; your house is my granary.”

Hearing this, Su Na smiled faintly: “The conflict won’t expand to our side that quickly. There’s a high probability the Regent will draw soldiers from the supervisor on our side. Regardless of whether he wants to or not, his first priority will inevitably be to pacify us.”

“And during that time, we will have enough time to rearm ourselves~”

“But before that, I need to probe the backgrounds of these new immigrants to see if they match our speculations.”