Mystery: The Stranger

Chapter 19 Tamara

When Snow returned to the castle with his guards, dusk had already shrouded the mountain mist. Without pausing for a moment, he went straight into his study, tapped the edge of the oak table with his fingertips, and said in a deep voice, "Summon Rodney."

Footsteps soon sounded outside the door, and the clerk Rodney bowed as he entered. His dark blue nobleman's robe was impeccably tailored, and his usually composed demeanor now carried an undisguised air of awe.

Snow's successful hunt for the Sons of the Forest made this assistant, who had served the Hawke family for many years, feel even more that the young lord before him was unfathomable.

Although Rodney was only Sequence 9, he had been in charge of the territory's external affairs for many years and knew very well how much a suitable and powerful sealing artifact could enhance a transcendent being, especially a sealing artifact that could be paired with other magical items.

"My lord."

He bowed respectfully, his forehead slightly lowered.

"Have you found out anything about what I asked you to inquire about?"

Snow's fingers continued to tap lightly on the edge of the table, the rhythm steady and devoid of emotion.

Rodney straightened up, took out a roll of parchment from his pocket, and unfolded it, saying, "My lord, as you instructed, we inquired with officials in the surrounding territories and with the caravans that came and went. The Earl of Cullen in the south is not hostile to us old Solomon nobles, but he is certainly not friendly either."

He paused, his tone becoming more earnest: "I dare to advise you against siding with this count. Her title was not bestowed by the empire, but rather she seized the territory of the demigod Solomon royal family through her own strength, and declared herself a count after defeating all those who coveted it—although her strength is acknowledged, most of the traditional nobles in the southwestern counties secretly resent her. More importantly, her reputation is far from good, especially since she likes to interfere in the affairs of her vassals' territories, meddling far too much."

Rodney understood that the lord's move was to find a demigod for protection, to preserve the territory and family lineage in this chaotic world. But in his view, Earl Cullen was hardly a good choice.

Forcibly occupying territory?

Are you referring to Solomon, the demigod who abandoned his territory and fled after the Black Emperor's fall?

That's called getting something for free.

"It's just a boast," Snow said calmly, his tapping ceasing. "She's from the Tamara family, and she's already a demigod. It's only a matter of time before her title is officially recognized once the new empire is established."

He had already made his plans. The Tamara family was an angelic family in the mysterious world that had survived until the war of the Four Emperors. They inherited the path of arbitrators, but because it was adjacent to the Solomon family's path of lawyers, they naturally had a competitive element. They were relatively low-key and not well-known, but their foundation was not bad.

During the three hundred years of the Black Emperor's rule, the Tamara family, who were neither relatives of the royal family nor actively submitted to the emperor, could only lie low and remain unknown. Their fame was far less than that of the Augustus and Castile families, who also followed the path of arbitrators. After all, these two families had submitted to the Black Emperor and obtained a status and position close to that of dukes, but they were also subject to extremely strict supervision.

But now that Solomon has collapsed and the royal demigod who was originally guarding the southwest has fled, Karen was able to take advantage of the vacuum and defeat all her competitors to declare herself a count, which shows her methods and strength - in this remote borderland, there is no one more valuable backer than her.

"You're right." Rodney didn't dare to refute, but his tone remained hesitant. "But the problem with her reputation isn't the source of her title, but the laws she enacted."

"Laws?" Snow raised an eyebrow. "She's using imperial law, but has she added extra rules?"

"Yes." Rodney looked troubled. "She did not abolish the imperial laws, but she added her own set of laws and required all vassal territories to comply with them."

Snow frowned almost imperceptibly, but didn't take it seriously. He knew that the Law Mages of the Arbitrator Path Sequence 4 had a role to play. Formulating their own laws and maintaining order was beneficial to the role. If they simply followed the laws of the Solomon Empire, it would not be in line with the habits of this angel family member, which would be equivalent to being bound to the Solomon Empire to some extent.

"Does she want to interfere in the governance of the territory?"

He asked it casually.

"It's not that she's interfering in governance," Rodney hurriedly shook his head, but his tone carried a hint of disagreement. "It's that she's too 'lenient' towards mortals, which makes us nobles feel constrained."

Snow picked up the cold tea on the table and took a small sip.

He could understand Rodney's thoughts. This old clerk was the most loyal supporter of the Solomon Empire, and even though the empire had long since collapsed, he still firmly believed that it would one day regain its glory. In his eyes, the laws established by the Black Emperor were already perfect, and any modification would be superfluous.

Snow knew perfectly well that while the Black Emperor's laws appeared comprehensive, they were actually quite broad. When He sought to rule the entire Northern Continent and balance the power of the Six Gods Church, the secret organizations, the Angelic Families, and other factions, the laws could only establish a general framework, relying more on customary law for flexibility—this was to maintain order, and also an inevitable compromise. And for the Tamara family to establish a new order, the easiest things to amend were the provisions concerning mortals.

"She forbids us from using force against mortals?"

Snow made a joke on purpose, still feeling it wasn't that outrageous.

"Of course not." Rodney shook his head, his tone growing increasingly agitated. "She only forbade us from using human blood sacrifices."

"We don't need human sacrifices." Snow seemed stung; he put down his teacup, feigning confusion. "Hawk Territory never does such wasteful things!"

"It's not something we do often, but it's a noble's prerogative!" Rodney hurriedly defended himself. "If any mortal offends a noble or blasphemes against the gods, we should have the right to correct it! Just as you have always emphasized, we must never allow followers of the Eternal Sun, the Lord of Storms, or the God of Knowledge and Wisdom to appear in our territory—in the past, we would simply execute them, but Earl Carlen's decree deprives us of our right to execute them."

His cheeks flushed slightly, and he said indignantly, "She wants to establish a special execution agency, where mortals will judge mortals, and we nobles can only give orders, not make direct judgments! This is undermining the prestige of the nobility, my lord!"

Listening to this almost magical complaint, Snow couldn't help but raise his hand to cover his slightly twitching lips. Sure enough, he heard Saratas's low chuckle, filled with undisguised mockery, as if he were laughing at the stubbornness and ridiculousness of these old nobles.

He paused for a moment, then his fingertips landed on the edge of the table again and began to tap lightly.

This is indeed...not very free.

By stripping nobles of their right to execute criminals and establishing specialized agencies, Karen's move is clearly an attempt to take advantage of the fact that small places lack sufficiently powerful extraordinary individuals. So, he's not even pretending; he's simply laying out his own laws according to his own role requirements.

It couldn't be called coercion, at least not by directly forcing all the nearby minor and medium-sized nobles to submit and obey. Instead, it carried an air of indifference, as if they didn't care whether they listened or not.

Snow considered that flexibility was a traditional virtue of the empire...

"I understand." He spoke slowly, his tone calm and even. "Prepare the carriage. I will personally go to see Earl Cullen tomorrow."