Chapter 925: Chapter 584: Knight Sisters_2
“I wondered who wouldn’t know better, turns out it’s the beloved Captain Tina…my lady.”
Cancelling the deadly fireball in his hand, the fat middle-aged man garbed in brocade, casually and unreservedly examined Tina’s curvy body from top to bottom.
Then, he sneered disdainfully, “Yes, I am a grain collection officer under a Marquis, but you’re nothing more than a watchdog he keeps. If it wasn’t for the Marquis’s charity, I suspect your so-called knights would have disbanded long ago.”
“A needy watchdog poking its nose into others’ affairs, we truly live in surprising tis.”
So saying, the portly middle-aged man known as Lord Jim arrogantly stuck out his belly and joined the surrounding soldiers in uproarious laughter.
“Jim, don’t you push it too far!”
Before Tina could respond, Tia stepped forward, her hand on her sword hilt. “To my knowledge, the free farrs in this village have already fulfilled the Marquis’s obligations for his fields and paid their grain tax in full. What you’re seizing now is the grain from the free farrs’ own lands, isn’t it?”
“And what if it is?”
Chuckling coldly, Lord Jim’s plump face, crisscrossed with lines of fat, showed an air of nonchalance.
Then, he rebutted, “The fields under the direct administration are the Marquis’s territory, aren’t the sharecroppers’ fields also the Marquis’s territory? As the Marquis’s grain collection officer, why would it be questionable for to collect the grains produced on his territory?”
“This is utterly sophistry!”
Tia’s youthful face blazed with anger as she retorted, “From the mont His Majesty the Heroic King established the Coldfla Kingdom, the first law decreed was the abolition of serfdom and the protection of the free farrs’ rights. Are you not clear about this?”
“I’m not aware of any kingdom laws.”
With the sa unaffected look, raising an eyebrow, Lord Jim feigned surprise, “Dear captain, you’re not telling that you don’t know the Marquis owns the legal rights to this land, are you? Yet another naiveté from a small, brainless lady.”
Having said that, Lord Jim looked disgustedly at Tia’s flat chest and burst into laughter with the soldiers around him.
“You villainous cur…”
On hearing this, the furious Tia was about to draw her sword, but was stopped by Tina at her side.
“He’s a loyal lapdog of the Marquis. We should avoid any conflict with him.”
Tina whispered to Tia before stepping forward, “Lord Jim, even local jurisdiction cannot override kingdom laws. This, Your Excellency, should know better than anyone.”
Pausing a mont, her delicate eyebrows raised ever so slightly, Tina continued, “Should this matter reach the Ironcastle Court, the Marquis’s reputation would inevitably suffer when word gets out. I presu this is sothing Your Excellency would not want to see.”
“Humph, when it cos to talking big, indeed no one can beat the captain.”
Snorting disdainfully, Lord Jim signaled his n to release the grain and the young won, then crouched down nacingly before the old farr, “Old man, you’re lucky this ti. I wonder how fortunate you’ll be next ti.”
“I will have your daughters sooner or later.”
Saying this, Lord Jim leered at the two feeble young won who had just been released, before leading his soldiers away from the courtyard, laughing boisterously.
“We thank Your Ladyship Tina, we thank Your Ladyship Tia!”
Seeing Lord Jim leave, the previously knotted old farr imdiately knelt down with his daughters in front of Tina and Tia, barely holding back tears, “Had you not stepped in, my family would have been ruined…”
“Kind sir, there is no need for such formalities.”
Looking upon the heartbreaking scene before them, Tina quickly helped the three people up along with Tia, “As knights, it’s our duty to protect the free farrs of this land.”
Upon saying this, Tina could not help but shake her head in dismay.
Even though from the inception of the Coldfla Kingdom, His Majesty the Heroic King had abolished the serfdom system, making all Coldfla citizens free farrs.
However, as the ownership of the land was still firmly in the hands of the nobility, the true freedom of the people in each territory still depended on the city lords.
Despite this, in the first three hundred years, peace spread across the lands of the Coldfla Kingdom, with almost no traditional nobility present who defied the laws put forth by His Majesty the Heroic King.
Over the next three hundred years, due to the outbreak of wars around the kingdom, a number of the new aristocracy, who accumulated rits through their contributions to these wars, began to rise steadily.
These new aristocrats, whose ancestors were mostly just free farrs, upon receiving judicial power granted by the Royal Family, beca increasingly unscrupulous in their territories.
One by one, they extended their hands of dominance over the free farrs, who were of the sa status as their ancestors.
No one had expected that these new nobles of the kingdom, with the cruel thods they employed in their territories, would make the traditional nobility pale in comparison…Ironcastle is the most typical representation of this.
Disregarding regulations also acted as the main source of conflict between the new aristocracy and traditional nobility.
Due to the rapid rise of the new aristocracy, the threatened traditional nobles felt compelled to catch up at all costs.
With overlapping interests and powers, small scale wars erupted between the two factions, as well as constant cunning and scheming behind the scenes.
Over several centuries, instances of alliances, subversion, assassinations, and even clan extermination beca commonplace across Coldfla lands, leading not only to the rise of many noble families but also to the decline of others.
And as the highest authorities in the Coldfla Kingdom, most of the kings of the Coldfla Royal Family turned a blind eye to these noble wars, considering both sides to be “their own flesh.”
Not until the coronation of the nineteenth Coldfla King, known as the Steel-wrist King, did matters start to ease.
This valiant king of Coldfla was the senior hero now lying unconscious in the Old Kingdom.
At this point, Tina sighed softly with her eyebrows slightly furrowed.
Speaking of which, the reason why Lord Jim behaved so wildly in the village earlier was, of course, due to the direct order of the Marquis, the Lord of Ironcastle.
This was exactly why she had been wary and chose not to step forward to discipline him directly.
Because behind him, stood the absolute ruler of this place, the Marquis.
As a radical figure among the new aristocracy loyal to the Second Prince of Coldfla, the Marquis had committed countless unforgivable deeds.
And why such a notorious nobleman would willingly fund the Blue Rose Knights was primarily to use them to salvage so of his reputation.
As for Tina, who had never stooped to their level, her reasons for staying on this land despite everything were complicated.
On the one hand, it was to aid the people of these lands as much as possible,
On the other hand, it was because her roots truly lay here…
“Sister…Captain, what should we do?”
After sending the old farr and his two daughters back to their wooden shack, a worried Tia stepped back out and asked, “It won’t be long before those vile n co back!”
“We’ll help as much as we can.”
Unable to see any other option, Tina gazed at their desolate surroundings and sighed softly, “With our power, this is all we can do.”
“Sister, do you think soone who could change this place will show up?”
Her starry eyes twinkling, Tia’s face was filled with anticipation.
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