Chapter 109: Balance

York Territory had once again fallen into slaughter.

Knight Wolf personally led the troops, visiting each door as instructed by the private letters from the Three Western Baronies, and in the end, wiped out four Local Gentry families.

Among them, two families had even produced Knights in the past.

Although none of their family members were registered as Knights now, the villages they managed had populations close to six hundred.

This level of village already qualified as a large village.

Before dying, they cursed Knight Wolf, calling him heartless.

Yet Knight Wolf did not care in the slightest.

Since the lord had ordered him to guard the house, he would not forgive these children trying to take away the family property and divide the inheritance.

Even though, during this period, after experiencing the Necromancer’s attacks, the lord’s cleansing orders, the Werewolves’ massacre, and the village rebellion—followed by this round of slaughter—York Town had lost over eight thousand people in total.

But if those people still dared to think about splitting the inheritance, Knight Wolf wouldn’t mind killing another eight thousand.

After all, people were like wheat. As long as they were scattered over the land, it wouldn’t take a few years for York Territory to grow back from the current twenty thousand to over thirty thousand, just like before the Necromancer’s time.

After the slaughter, it was Administrator Piero who handled the aftermath for Knight Wolf.

He ordered the remaining civilians from the four villages to migrate north and divided them into six villages to fill that portion of the territory.

At this point, York Territory’s southern part had eight villages remaining, and the northern side—counting Adams Village established by Terry—had seven villages.

In a certain sense, purely by numbers, one could say the north and south were indeed balanced.

However, as of now, the population gap was still quite large.

The total population of the southern villages was almost three times that of the northern side.

After the villages in the territory were redistributed, a group of refugees who had tried to sneak into the town under the lord’s original orders, along with the homeless civilians who had taken shelter in the town due to recent dangers, were mobilized.

They were all relocated to the northern villages to balance the north-south population and to relieve the severely overcrowded York Town.

After that, the town went through some behind-the-scenes balancing, and a number of families were relocated from the town.

These were families that no longer had any say in York Territory—just like Alton once was.

Their entire families, counting direct descendants, guards, hired workers, and purchased slaves, totaled only twenty or so people.

They were simply thrown over there, and the Tax Official and Guard Captain of the future villages would be directly appointed by York Town.

This maneuver completely separated the power of the villages.

It made the families who had not yet been visited by Knights extremely furious.

This kind of action was only slightly less threatening than what the Church once did to Daniels Village. After all, Tax Officials and Guard Captains were still normal people—

They could be swayed and corrupted.

They didn’t dare provoke Knight Wolf, but they certainly wouldn’t sit idly while being cut off from the family by people like Piero.

As a result, Administrator Piero had recently been subjected to several assassination attempts.

He told Bishop Corleon this when he sent someone over:

“Those people only think about themselves. They don’t understand the hardship I endure.” he complained.

Along with that, he handed over the guards he had forcibly squeezed out of those southern families to Corleon.

There were ninety-six in total—exactly matching the headcount from those villages, not a single one less.

Though these people looked relatively sturdy, their hands holding spears and shields were clearly untrained.

At least those sent from the six northern villages could swing flanged maces.

The people from the northern villages were sent on the ninth day of the ten days Administrator Piero had promised—along with a few youths their families had sent to enter the Monastery.

The northern families now had an extreme sense of insecurity. They didn’t have the accumulation of the former Gentry Families, nor did they control the taxes or the guards of their villages.

So, for the sake of survival, they actively leaned toward the Church.

Adams Village, established by Terry, only sent their people on the last day—and they were real warriors.

Half came from the Adams Family, and the other half were drawn from the village’s guard force.

Terry very strictly upheld her promise to Corleon.

All in all, the number totaled one hundred and eighty.

Even if they weren’t warriors, they were still able-bodied men—all lined up not far from York Town.

Corleon summoned Marl.

“Have the tests and verifications on them been completed?”Corleon asked.

After the Monastery was established, Marl had already received the Monk’s Robe that belonged to him.

“Teacher has already completed the tests. There are a total of one hundred and fifty-seven Lower Warriors and twenty-three Upper Warriors,” Marl said, holding the recorded list in his hand.

Marl had already recognized that Oscar was the one who had enlightened him.

Of course, it was not by his appearance that he recognized him.

Oscar was someone who frequently used aliases. When interacting with others, he would naturally alter his appearance.

It was merely that Marl found Oscar’s movements and habits somewhat familiar, so he gave a small probe.

As a result, Oscar, who could not lie, was exposed.

For this, Oscar complained to Corleon, asking if he could be granted a bit of freedom of speech.

Naturally, Corleon paid him no heed.

“Have you already finalized the ranking titles?”Corleon asked.

On the very first day of lecturing, Oscar could not wait to spread his ranking system to the Monastery apprentices.

When Nyx was auditing, he was hesitant to speak,

But seeing Corleon did not interrupt, he could only shut his mouth and listen.

However, after listening to just a couple of lines, the instinct of a scholar prompted him to join in, criticizing that Oscar’s ranking was too broad.

As the granddaughter of Nyx, Melia naturally sided with Nyx.

Therefore, after Nyx returned to the Small Church, Melia inherited her grandfather’s will.

“Everyone voted by raising their hands to decide, and chose the titles proposed by Priest Nyx and Melia, which incorporated the existing system. However, there are still six ranks,”Marl said.

As for how many of those votes were due to understanding or due to social obligations, no one cared except for Oscar.

“First Rank is Commoners, Second Rank is Lower Warriors, Third Rank is Upper Warriors, Fourth Rank is Knights, Fifth Rank is Grand Knights. As for the Sixth Rank, they haven’t reached a conclusion yet,” Marl continued.

“After Teacher tested the Church’s Temple Warriors, they were all confirmed to be Third Rank Upper Warriors.”

After speaking, he put away the list and said,

“Bishop, are we taking them to the Marquisate now?”He was a bit eager.

Corleon had already informed him that for this expedition, he would be a Monk accompanying the army.

“No, it is not the time yet,”Corleon shook his head.

“They still need training—not just basic combat training, but also memorization of the Holy Scriptures.”

“During this period, do not attend lectures. Go and arrange their logistics. I will give you some gold coins to ensure their adequate food intake.”

“You may also look for Agamemnon Adams to see if he can provide you with a batch of Meat Birds.”

Marl was somewhat disappointed but still replied,”Alright, Bishop, I will arrange them properly.”

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