Chapter 343: Cecil’s “Order”

Hearing Gawain’s words, Sir Philip was momentarily taken aback. He wasn’t quite sure what his lord meant at first—until Gawain asked a more specific question: “Back when the old Cecil domain still existed, how large was your fief?”

“It was two villages and a small hamlet southwest of the old castle,” Sir Philip replied, “…and a mill.”

Within the Anse Kingdom’s system, this was a modest holding typical of a lower-ranking knight. After the Cecil family’s decline, the knights loyal to them were basically left with just these small parcels of land.

Gawain nodded. “You’ve been with me for some time now. You should know that under the current land distribution system in the Cecil domain, there’s no longer any room for traditional landed nobility to survive. Even though the concept of a ‘fief’ remains, the privileges of the land nobles have been drastically curtailed.”

The Cecil domain had already passed its initial phase of establishment. As more frontier lands were opened up, land allocation became a pressing issue for its rulers. For Gawain, the pioneering and development of the Cecil domain was only part of the picture—his ultimate goal was to spread this new order across the entire world. But he didn’t want his new order to be just another meaningless regime change with no real progress. So when it came to handling the traditional landed nobility and their related institutions, he had spent a great deal of thought.

At first, he had considered a radical, one-step reform—completely erasing the concept of “nobility,” binding all land governance directly to the administrative bureau, and destroying any nobles who stood in the way during future territorial expansion. But his trip to the Grant domain had been a wake-up call.

Going too fast could lead to disaster.

Though the situation in the Cecil domain was different from Grant’s ten years ago, and though Gawain had already introduced education and enlightenment campaigns, built his own armed forces, and developed supporting productivity, he still had to face a hard truth: outside the Cecil domain, the old social order—deeply entrenched and nearly unbreakable—remained powerful. Even within Cecil, the officials, soldiers, and common folk who supported him had all grown up under the old system’s influence. And the reforms he planned were far more radical and profound than those Grant had seen a decade ago.

The old social order had seeped into every person of this world and era. His “one-step” approach risked unpredictable consequences.

No matter how fast the Cecil domain’s productivity grew, it would be nearly impossible to simultaneously conquer new lands and completely transform society. First, capable civilian administrators wouldn’t just appear out of nowhere; most of the talent needed to maintain social order would still have to be drawn from the old noble class. Second, extreme reforms would provoke the global nobility. Unless he could swiftly eliminate all opposition worldwide and replace it with a new system, external enemies would inevitably band together to attack—most likely when the Cecil domain was expanding rapidly and internally unstable.

Traditional nobles might be greedy or slow, but they were neither foolish nor unalert.

After realizing these risks, Gawain pondered deeply and studied the situation in the eastern Typhon Empire. In the end, he settled on a policy for future expansion: preserve the nobility, but gradually erode the foundations that sustain them.

He would keep the noble titles and some honorary privileges, even allowing them to collect tribute from their lands initially. But he would revoke all extraordinary powers granted to feudal lords—no more lawmaking, no private armies, no minting coins, no setting tax rates. This would drastically weaken their control over the land. At the same time, he planned to abolish the concept of “fiefs” and replace it with “territories,” severing the legal ties between old lords and their lands. Ultimately, he envisioned a new kind of noble:

A noble who holds a legal “territory” and receives a fixed percentage of its economic output as an annuity. Beyond this “dividend,” they would have no control over the land or its people. They could keep their family castles, treasuries, and honorary titles—but that would be all.

If they wanted more income or power, they could compete for a position in the administrative bureau or invest in factories and businesses.

It wasn’t a complete overhaul, but Gawain knew even this level of reform would deeply unsettle the traditional nobility—perhaps even more than in neighboring Typhon, where nobles still retained the concept of “fiefs.”

But that was fine. As long as their resistance remained within the bounds of Cecil’s “truth,” it wouldn’t be a problem.

After a little pain, they would come around.

Of course, much of this was still just Gawain’s plan in his mind. Though many in the domain suspected their lord was preparing to crack down hard, he hadn’t openly said so yet. But for sharp minds like Sir Philip’s, the current system already revealed the place of the landed nobility within the “Cecil order.”

“To be honest,” Philip said sincerely, “when you first announced the land distribution system, set up the administrative bureau, and transformed the lords’ powers into bureaucratic functions, I felt some resistance for a while.” Even facing his idol and spiritual role model of over twenty years, he didn’t hide his feelings. “I even discussed with Sir Byron when you might finally talk to us about the fiefs…”

Gawain smiled at the knight who was clearly speaking from the heart. “And now?”

“Your wisdom has brought unprecedented prosperity to this land,” Philip said earnestly. “I never imagined a land could become so wealthy in such a short time—not through farming and rents, but through factories and commerce. If you hadn’t abolished those old systems that bound the peasants to the land, and if you hadn’t built an efficient administrative bureau, none of this would have been possible.”

“Do you still miss your fief?” Gawain asked.

“A true noble doesn’t receive a title to rule over others or seek personal gain. It’s to protect the people, keep the subjects safe, and ensure the land thrives. All privileges exist to better fulfill that duty—that’s what you said in Anse four years ago. I’ve engraved those words on my shield,” Philip said solemnly. “So if your new order can keep the people safe and the land prosperous, and do it better than the old privileges ever did, then there’s no need to hold onto those privileges.”

“Good,” Gawain nodded with satisfaction. “If only everyone had your understanding…”

He paused, then gave an order: “I want you to gather all the enfeoffed knights of the Kant domain—the time has come for their oath of loyalty.”

Sir Philip had always been responsible for liaison between Kant and Cecil, making him the natural choice.

The young knight bowed his head. “I will fulfill this mission.”

After Philip left, only Amber and Gawain remained in the study.

The half-elf lady circled around Gawain twice—actually, twice around the entire desk. Her actions prompted Gawain to ask, “What are you circling for?”

“I think you’re about to do something big,” Amber said seriously, “but I can’t figure out exactly what.”

“That’s impressive—you can tell I’m up to something,” Gawain said, surprised. Amber usually knew nothing about the domain, laws, or traditional nobility. “How did you figure it out?”

Amber’s answer made Gawain want to smack her against the wall: “I’m the best at stirring things up in this life. Don’t you recognize a kindred spirit?”

“You… never mind. I didn’t expect you to understand.”

“Don’t say that—I can see the general idea,” Amber said, narrowing her eyes. “I know you changed ‘fiefs’ to ‘territories’ and took back a lot of privileges, putting them under the administrative bureau’s control. Before, besides you, there was only Lady Rebecca and Knights Byron and Philip. I was curious who you were targeting with this move. Now I see: you might not know who you’ll go after in the future, but the old knights of Kant will definitely be the first to get cut… Aren’t you afraid those knights will band together and resist?”

“Enfeoffed knights are ‘half’ the landed nobility. Their privileges are far less than true lords. They don’t have lawmaking, minting, or similar powers. Under the new Cecil laws, their rent income just becomes an annuity, and they lose legal control over their fiefs. But they can gain more benefits from the new social order… Anyone with a bit of wisdom and foresight will know what to choose.”

“Oh my god, you’re actually expecting them to have wisdom and foresight—two things nobles are famously lacking!” Amber said with exaggerated sarcasm. “What if they don’t?”

“That’s perfect. The annuities I save will be enough to open several steel foundries in Kant.”

Seeing the genuine smile on Gawain’s face, Amber suddenly recalled his earlier mention of “negotiation tactics.”

A chill ran down her spine.

“But I think it’s more likely they’ll see the situation clearly,” Gawain said with a smile. “Like I said, they’re not losing much privilege, so their resistance won’t be that fierce—at least not to the point of risking their lives. And once they witness the power of the Cecil order, they’ll realize how right their choice was.”

(End of chapter)