Ch.24Foundation of Reform (2)

“I greet the Lord of Burgundy.”

“…”

What the hell is with these guys?

I heard that the ones who rebelled with my big uncle finally came to Dijon, so I met them in the audience chamber… Hah.

Their expressions, breathing, tone, posture—nothing about them suggests they were rebels.

They don’t show any sign of feeling threatened by me, and they’re overflowing with confidence.

Do they think I can’t do anything to them because they’re blood relatives of the Burgundy family and because I can’t control the coastal regions without them?

‘If that’s what they think, it’s truly a grave mistake…’

Most of these guys are mid-sized nobles from the coastal regions, but their directly controlled territories are small since most of their lands are made up of vassal minor nobles.

To maintain stable control over the conquered coastal regions, Grandfather only beheaded the leaders and replaced them with his own people, while recognizing the privileges of the nobles below them as long as they remained loyal.

And the loyalty of those lower nobles has long since shifted to me. Big uncle is proof of that.

I can tolerate their blood relation to Burgundy figures. Even with blood ties, they aren’t part of the Burgundy family.

People who might be angered by news of their relatives’ deaths will quickly change their attitude and wag their tails at me once they learn those positions will come to them. That’s the kind of people nobles are.

“…?”

When I don’t give any response despite the wait, they look at me with slightly puzzled expressions.

They’re not in a position to look at me with confusion in the first place.

I somewhat expected this since they surrendered without resistance, but seeing it in person makes my mind go a bit blank.

“Count Leclerc, state the law regarding the treatment of traitors.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Leclerc bows his head respectfully to me, then gracefully turns to face the traitors.

At first, such excessive courtesy made my face burn, but humans are creatures of adaptation, and I’ve already gotten used to it.

Hmm… Should I give one of their positions to Leclerc, a judicial noble? A noble without land doesn’t look impressive.

No, things would be too difficult without Leclerc, so it would be better to give it to his child rather than to Leclerc himself.

“Simple participants will face a maximum penalty of title revocation after investigation, while close participants face a maximum penalty of title confiscation and execution. The criteria for judgment are—”

“…”

As Leclerc explains the law regarding treason, the expressions of the men before me gradually harden, and by the end, they’ve become what could only be described as pale.

Some of them are trying hard to maintain their dignity, but to my eyes, they just look like children trying to win a battle of nerves.

“…Your Highness, are you trying to intimidate us?”

“Intimidate… That word could be misunderstood.”

With those words, I stand up from my seat and look down at the traitors.

After all this, the best they can say is that I’m intimidating them?

“I have no reason to intimidate you. Intimidation means threatening someone to get what you want, but I don’t need to do such a thing.”

“What do you mean…”

“I’m saying I can get what I want without resorting to intimidation.”

“…!”

Now their expressions are changing to something worth seeing.

Yes, if they had come in like this from the beginning, I might have given them a less painful death.

“From now on, this audience chamber will serve as a court, and I, Claude de Burgundy, will pass judgment upon you.”

In the Duchy of Burgundy, the Duke can also serve as a judge. More precisely, judges can exercise the Duke’s judicial authority on his behalf.

Indictment? Appeal? Such concepts don’t exist in this world yet. There is defense, but it’s a somewhat different concept from the modern one.

“Your Highness, you will regret this. If we die—”

“Even if I regret it later, it has nothing to do with you.”

The rebels’ eyes widen at my response. Why? It’s the truth.

Tsk, the fact that these guys became lords of the coastal regions means their ancestors were greatly loyal to Grandfather…

It can’t be helped. Grandfather would understand.

“The verdict is title revocation followed by execution. From this moment, the titles of the traitors are inherited by the Duke of Burgundy.”

Simple execution won’t do. If that happens, the next heir would inherit their titles.

I’ll redistribute them eventually, but for now, they need to be inherited by me.

If they weren’t closely involved, they wouldn’t have come here, so there’s no need to meticulously determine guilt or innocence, making the verdict easy to pass.

“You lowborn bastard—kahaack!”

Thwack—!

Some of the nobles who tried to insult me are beaten by knights while having their mouths covered.

Oh… Our knights are so reliable. They’re even handling this quietly without shouting for silence.

“Take them away.”

“Yes, sir!!”

Nobles do train in martial arts, but they’re no match for knights who have spent their entire lives practicing the art of killing.

The disorderly nobles soon have gags placed in their mouths and are dragged away by the knights, and the places they soiled are quickly restored to their original state by servants and attendants.

……….

“…What is this now?”

What greeted me upon returning to my office was a massive mountain of documents.

I thought I’d finally get some relief after finishing one task, but this is—

“These are the results of the embezzlement investigation you ordered earlier, Master.”

So I was the cause.

I can’t blame anyone else.

“Haaa…”

Even though Chloe must have organized the documents as much as possible, there’s barely any space to place my hands on the desk.

When will I ever finish this… But since I started this, I should see it through.

“Let’s see…”

It’s a bit of a flaw that there’s so much paperwork due to the somewhat haphazard investigation, but the content is impressive. Very much so.

Using the compensation and precious metals received from Caroling to hire more officials first was a good choice. I never expected so much was leaking through the cracks.

The most absurd part is that many of the embezzlers were among the officials. Some auditors seemed reluctant to report their colleagues and covered for them, only to be caught by newly hired officials.

Haaa…

“First, as previously announced, arrest all embezzlers regardless of the amount. Determining the severity of their crimes comes after.”

With the limited administrative capacity of the pre-modern era, this is the best approach.

Without photographs or ID cards, if criminals disappear, that’s the end of it.

Even in modern times with CCTVs, ID cards, and smartphones everywhere, if there’s a high risk of a criminal fleeing, they’re arrested first before anything else—how much more so in pre-modern times.

“Also, throw the auditors who covered for their former colleagues in prison as well.”

“Yes, sir.”

To be honest, these bastards are worse than the embezzlers. The embezzlers were blinded by wealth, but these guys deceived me.

No wonder things were strangely slow before I hired more officials.

Hmm… Should things be alright now?

I’ve removed corrupt officials, hired many new ones, and the financial advisor I invited from abroad for administrative reform has finally arrived.

“Count Leclerc, where are the officials now?”

“Most have gone out for field work, and the rest should be in the office.”

In an era where everything is handwritten, they can’t work without going to the field.

Well, that’s fine. It’s impossible to inform everyone simultaneously anyway.

“Um… Chloe.”

“Yes, Master.”

Sigh… It’s still a bit awkward dealing with her, but I have to endure it somehow.

“Are you still using the method I taught you for keeping account books and ledgers? Using tables and graphs, I mean.”

“Yes, it’s very convenient.”

A while back, when I had just arrived here, I taught Chloe how to use graphs and tables to make keeping account books and ledgers easier.

I’m glad she’s still using them.

“That financial advisor who recently came to Dijon? Go with him to where the officials are and teach them the new document preparation method.”

“But… I don’t know anything…”

“It’s okay, just show him the documents you’ve written, and he’ll handle the rest… He might ask a few questions, but I’m sure you can answer them well.”

The financial advisor I invited, Luca, is from a commercial republic in the south and can naturally use advanced administrative practices like double-entry bookkeeping.

What’s most notable is that Luca has experience serving as a financial advisor to that commercial republic. Someone like that would immediately understand the meaning of documents written by Chloe.

It was incredibly difficult to find someone who knows how to use advanced administrative practices like double-entry bookkeeping—I couldn’t find anyone domestically no matter how hard I looked. The hiring cost was a bit expensive, but that’s what money is for.

It was a good decision to look abroad and focus on the commercial republics. As expected, they’re well-developed in these areas.

……….

“Mmph, mmph!!!”

“There, there… It’s okay, it’s okay.”

In a basement without a ray of sunlight, a person with a sack over their face is screaming.

But they can only tremble and struggle, unable to bend or stretch their joints. Their arms and legs are firmly secured with ropes and handcuffs.

Swish—

“Mmph…”

The person whose sack has been removed grimaces, then slightly holds their breath upon seeing the face of the girl right in front of them.

It’s because she’s so out of place with the surroundings.

“Hehe, don’t be too scared.”

The room is very grim.

The walls are old and cracked or missing tiles, the floor is thickly covered with dust, and all the furniture is rotted and broken, with nails sticking out—nothing is intact.

But… unlike the room, the girl before his eyes is very beautiful.

If he had seen her outside, he might have just thought she was pretty and moved on, but having such a beautiful girl alone in such a hideous room gives the man an unsettling feeling of dissonance and revulsion.

The fact that there’s only a small candle in this dark room also greatly affects the man’s emotions.

“You were sentenced to death because your embezzlement amount was too large, right?”

“Mmph…mmph…!”

The man finally recalls where he had been.

He was caught for embezzlement and thrown into Dijon’s prison, but when he regained consciousness, he found himself in this place.

“I didn’t bring the wrong person. That’s good.”

“…”

Seeing the man’s reaction, the beautiful girl realizes she brought the right person and smiles gently with relief.

However, the man feels a chill run down his spine at that smile. It’s clearly beautiful, but he can’t perceive it as beautiful.

“I’ll remove your gag soon, so don’t worry.”

Otherwise, you won’t make good sounds.

The girl says this and then approaches the fully restrained man slowly, with a twisted smile unlike before.

“…Mmph! Mmph!”

Only then does the man notice the tools in the girl’s hand and the basket behind her.

Instinctively sensing that something is wrong, the man trembles and tries to escape somehow, but it’s futile.

Shortly after, with his gag removed, the man begins to sing just as the girl wants.