novelraw Chapter 166 : Chapter 166
Chapter 166 : Chapter 166
Chapter : 166
“?!”
The shock the jurists and judges had received was not small.
It was an element they had never considered in their daily thinking.
The social contract theory?
What scholar with such nerve would ever look for the legitimacy of blue blood in a contract? Of course, the relationship between a monarch and nobles was, indeed, a contractual relationship. However, this was a sacred bilateral contract and a right between parties who possessed blue blood.
In their worldview, status was a natural right bestowed by heaven, not something delegated by those beneath them.
But despite those thoughts, no one could rebut my argument.
At a glance…. At a glance, it sounded plausible.
“…….”
“…….”
The commotion in the conference hall was suppressed in an instant.
To refute it, they would have to stay up for at least several days, grasp that logic, and build arguments to match it.
Thanks to that, the jurists and judges, as if they had never argued at all, ultimately had no choice but to leave the hall in silence and pour all their energy into compiling the legal code.
Well, it seemed like they were sharpening their knives inside to dismantle my argument, but at least on the surface, that was how it looked.
‘I was slightly worried, but it worked better than I expected. Hehehe.’
At least in the near future, it did not seem like my logic would be refuted.
From that day on, the jurists and judges had been focusing solely on compiling the legal code without a word of complaint.
Every day, the jurists and judges summoned administrators to confirm the relevant details, and if necessary, they even requested me, and they were too busy improving the completeness of the legal code.
Thanks to that, the legal code that would become the foundation of my domain was being completed step by step.
“Hehehe. Good. Good. Very good.”
As expected, scholars were the sort who needed to be pressed down theoretically. With the progress going smoothly, I could sit alone in my office and bloom with laughter.
‘With this, it is as if I have taken one step toward the next step.’
A clear governing system and stripping judicial authority from local nobles were important elements on the road to centralization.
And for that, a legal code was absolutely essential. Especially a legal code that no one could attack and that anyone could trust and follow.
‘Since I am making it anyway, I should try getting authorization from The Holy See too.’
No matter how much I disliked religion, the strongest authority in [Pangea Universalise] still was, after all, religion.
If I even received authorization from The Holy See, its justification and legitimacy would be tremendous.
---
While the legal code for my domain was being completed.
The small flap of wings I had caused created no small ripple across the entire continent.
-No…. How dare a mere local noble make laws?
-The Elang Kingdom is a complete mess too. How incompetent is the king for that to happen. Hahaha.
-Wait, no. Could our nobles end up doing this too?
The kings of each nation that ruled the continent found my moves extremely uncomfortable. Creating an individual law and leading independent actions with it.
That was something only a Duke of Bourgogne dreaming of independence would do. It was not clearly wrong, but it was something that could lead to the kingdom’s fragmentation.
Of course, unlike the kings, the great nobles’ thoughts were a bit different.
-Hohoho. Laws, huh. Not bad. Right, if it is for governance, there has to be a unified law.
-Right. Is the domain a little wide? Besides, each domain has different circumstances, so how can you govern with only the kingdom’s law. Rather, that is meddling beyond one’s station.
Moreover, some nobles, especially the lords of the southern region who were heavily influenced by me, were thinking something else.
-Maybe…. Could we get it too? It is the same region, so it will be similar anyway, and it would be easy and convenient if we just took it and used it.
-It is a bit much to do it ourselves, but should we ask to use it as a reference? Given the Margrave of Bellua’s personality, it does not seem like he would refuse, does it?
They openly wanted to use the law I had made.
Making a legal code alone took far too much time and effort, and in the first place, the situation was gradually being tied into a single economic sphere, so there was no need to make it complicated.
Rather, they were thinking that it would be better to integrate and use it, like the Agriculture Office of the customs union. Of course, this was something the king of the Elang Kingdom would leap up and absolutely oppose if he heard it.
Anyway, amid these complicated interests, what I had done kept rolling in a strange direction, unpredictably.
And then.
-Ding-a-ling!
[Scholars and nobles are focusing their attention on the work you led. People are feeling the wind of change. They want to see the wind of change with their own eyes. People begin to flow into your domain.]
[Notification : The probability that high-grade figures will appear increases.]
[Notification : The domain’s chaos increases. Be cautious.]
With the attention of the entire continent on me like this, my domain truly began to boil.
‘Mm…. This is not good. It really is not good!’
Of course, I was watching the situation with a very serious expression.
No, why would chaos go up when those scholar bastards were flowing in?
It was not as if scholars were seditious books. Was there some kind of cult agitator roaming around or what?
Thanks to that, my head throbbed.
“Ghn, still, it does seem like the domain is stabilizing quickly and developing…?”
As outstanding talent and scholars gathered, the domain’s speed of development also was exceptional.
As if the scholars who had flocked in could not just suck their fingers, they were joining each project and assisting with the work.
As expected of quite educated people, their handling of tasks also was fairly decent.
Of course, I was not someone who would be satisfied here.
“Hamil Chamberlain. Do you have the list of scholars and nobles who are entering the domain this time?”
“Yes? I did receive a report about it, but why do you need it?”
“Is it not time for us to grow the university a bit? Professor Vesalius is running only surgical medicine alone, so it feels a bit empty.”
This time, I planned to support those scholars and nobles and make the university big. In other words, I was thinking of creating a kind of comprehensive university.
“Oh-! That is a good idea. There is no reason to let such high-level talent rot away. Besides, lately we have been short on administrative personnel anyway, so it seems like it will be convenient to cultivate talent related to that as well.”
“Yeah, yeah. Then push it forward quickly.”
An overflow of highly educated manpower. How could I just leave that alone!
I planned to put them into the comprehensive university as professors and instructors and squeeze them thoroughly.
“Hehehe.”
Laughter naturally burst out. And while I was forming such insidious thoughts.
“Lord?”
“?”
Hamil Chamberlain, as if he was somewhat displeased, reddened his expression and approached me.
“What is it?”
“Those jurists and judges said they want to have an in-depth discussion about the previous matter once again. What will you do?”
“……?”
A discussion…?
No, did I really have to do it, annoying as it was?
It was not like I had learned some grand rhetoric to deal with them. If I got dragged in for no reason, I would only reveal my lack of substance. Hm….
“Just give the order. Honestly, I think those bastards are far too arrogant. How dare they say they want to discuss something that is already finished with you again? This is no different from an insult to you, Lord!”
Oh boy. It seemed our strict Hamil Chamberlain did not like the spirit of these scholars, so free and without hierarchy.
“If you give the order, I will punish the instigator immediately!”
But that was as far as it went.
“Hey now. What are you saying? Calm down.”
This man was saying something that could cause a huge disaster. If you oppressed scholars recklessly just because you did not like them, the civilization that had been developing would regress.
“Hamil Chamberlain, you. Punishment? That is going too far.”
“But still!”
“Hey now.”
This was not a physical element, but a mental one. In other words, it had to be solved with words, like scholars did.
“Tell them to wait. Tell them I will write a book and show it to them.”
“A book…. Is that what you mean?”
At my words, Hamil Chamberlain’s expression turned strange, as if he had never been angry.
A book.
Since when did our lord know how to write a book? And for scholars, at that?
Then, realizing he had made a mistake, he hurriedly managed his expression with a dry cough.
“Ahem. Ahem. Understood. A book! I will tell the jurists.”
“…Yes, please do.”
---
It did not take very long to make a book.
I was not creating something new anyway, and it was only at the level of patching together and rewriting the contents about the social contract theory from the real world.
Of course, since I could not remember the details and specifics, I did ‘refer’ to some advanced ideological texts from the world of [Pangea Universalise].
‘Mm, yes, it was a reference.’
My heart pricked a little, but what could I do? I had not created it anew in the first place. I had only pulled knowledge from the distant future!
Anyway, had I spent about two weeks like that?
-Ding-a-ling!
[You have completed a political ideological book. If you distribute it, it may have a great influence on the continent’s thoughts.]
[Notification : Your fame increases due to an outstanding work.]
[Notification : If you distribute it, you can gain additional fame and prestige.]
At last, I completed the book.
A book about the social contract theory.
I had taken some from the scholastic philosophy’s theory of governance, and some from the great thinker Thomas Hobbes’s social contract theory.
It felt like the times did not match, but since I was trying to compose it with a faith-based foundation familiar to [Pangea Universalise], it could not be helped.
Still, by the standards of the era of [Pangea Universalise], it was extremely radical. If I went just a bit further from here, it was entirely possible as a driving force for a democratic revolution.
So, the moment I completed it, I ended up harboring a slightly different thought.
“Hm…. It feels like a waste to keep this only in my region.”
Would it not be right to circulate it more actively?
Across the entire continent.
This might become the seed of revolution by this opportunity. Well, I did not know exactly whether it would become a revolution or become a vicious chaos.
‘If this spreads widely in time with The Great Famine, it will be incredible, right?’
The core of the content was that the right to govern was created by a contract.
If it could not protect people from the war of all against all and could not fulfill its role, would the right to govern not disappear?
Someone would probably think that. And if that happened, in the coming period of turmoil after [The Great Famine]….
‘They will be shitting blood.’
Hehehe…. With the seeds I had sown, I would make this world of [Pangea Universalise] into a complete mess.
Well, at least I had not scattered a red-flavored bible for the folks who loved red, right?
Was that not so?
Thinking that, I immediately summoned Treasurer Palmer.
It was to order a large-scale publication of this book. First, you needed books if you were going to distribute them across the entire continent or not, right?
But then….
“What? Lord. No, how do you make ten thousand books? Even ten in a month is hard. What? Pri…nt…ing? What kind of word is that? I have never heard it.”
“…….”
A world without even a woodblock printing press. It seemed I would have to start by fixing this barbaric world where books were made by hand-copying.
Damn it-!