"Your, Your Majesty, I... don't quite understand." Marquis Wyke wiped the sweat from his forehead. "What do you mean... by elimination?"
"Gallows, mine labor, confiscation of family property, and deportation," the prince said lightly. "The rules of the game are in line with the royal law. It's very fair."
"No, I served your father. You can't..."
"I'm your king now, so of course I can," he interrupted. "Don't panic. If you pass all ten questions, you'll be promoted and rewarded. It's only interesting if you win and lose, right? "
"I... can't accept it." Sir Pyle shook his head. "This is too childish! The punishments you mentioned must be decided by the court. Your Majesty, I'm not feeling well. Please excuse me. "
He turned around and was about to leave the hall, but found that the door had been closed. Two soldiers stood expressionlessly at the exit, showing no signs of backing down.
"I'm not asking for your opinion, Sir Pyle," Roland said, spreading out his hands. "If you insist on leaving, there will be one more way to be eliminated." He made a shooting gesture. "Be shot."
The nobles widened their eyes and involuntarily took two steps back. The soldiers on both sides raised their guns and vigilantly watched the movements of these people.
"Now, the game begins." Roland stood up, clapped his hands, and said, "The first question. Did you participate in the forced conscription of refugees and forced them to attack the Western Region? You can start first, Mr. Prime Minister. "
"..." Marquis Wyke was silent for a moment. "I did follow Timothy's order to recruit refugees from the Eastern Region and the Southern Region, but I didn't know the second half of what you said."
Roland felt a gentle pinch on his right shoulder.
"I'm sorry to tell you that you only have one chance." He waved his hand. "Take him away. There's a prison under this hall."
"Your Majesty, I'm telling the truth..."
"But you and I both know that even this sentence is a lie." Roland ignored the Prime Minister's complaint and watched him being dragged out of the hall. He said slowly, "If you're a little bit smart, don't choose to lie. It won't do you any good. I can tell lies."
Everyone stood there, and no one dared to speak for a while.
"If no one takes the initiative to answer, then I'll call names." He looked at the Minister of Justice. "What about you, Mr. Pyle?"
...
As Roland thought, this was a trial.
He had to quickly deal with the nobles here before he had the energy to deal with the affairs in the south of Fallen Dragon Ridge. It was impossible for him to stay here for too long. In the end, it would be up to the people trained by the City Hall to manage the affairs here. The resistance to taking over the city came from the local nobles and the Black Street Gang.
Due to the limited power he could invest, he could not completely clean up the city like he did in Longsong Stronghold, so he still needed to cooperate with the traditional forces. The purpose of this trial was to quickly eradicate the nobles who had too deep collusion with Timothy and were guilty of serious crimes, leaving only the small nobles with clean backgrounds as partners to maintain the basic operation of the city. As for the Black Street Gangs, Theo could be in charge of maintaining order.
After all, the reason why he decided to launch the spring offensive was that he was worried that Timothy would wantonly recruit people and waste them in a meaningless war of attrition. If he overthrew Timothy and left, the city would certainly fall into chaos in a short time, and then he would be no different from a false king.
After a year of development, Roland's power was not the same as it was at the beginning. Therefore, although he did not intend to develop King's City as a key city, he did not need to completely hand it over to others like he did in Stronghold.
Whether it was the nobles or the church, he had the right to overturn the table.
"One last question. Have any of you bullied or persecuted people? Including witches. "
After nine questions, there were more than 50 nobles in the hall, but now there were less than 10 left. This elimination rate was not surprising, because those who could serve in the City Hall had already been screened by Timothy. Those who thought that he was not in a proper position and questioned the cause of death of Wimbledon III had all been kicked out of the palace. The fact that there were still seven people who had not participated in his conspiracies and had nothing to do with the church had already surprised Roland.
"Your Majesty, I was wrong." A nobleman knelt down, sweating profusely. "I once ordered my men to beat up a commoner. He rubbed the mud on his feet on my pants. I couldn't help but... But I only beat him up. I didn't kill him."
"I... I secretly had sex with the daughter of a shop owner, but she seduced me first!"
"The housekeeper slept with my wife while I was out hunting. I didn't pass the judgment of the court, but directly cut off his penis... But Your Majesty, the housekeeper shouldn't be counted as a crime, right?"
The rest of the nobles' varied answers made Roland struggle to hold back his laughter. If it were any other time, it would not be considered a crime at all. It would not even be a mistake. But now, they were obviously panicking, for fear that the concealment of these questions would be taken as lies, and they would spill out all of their secrets.
After waiting for the nobles to finish, Roland cleared his throat and asked, "Nothing else?"
"Nothing else." The nobles all affirmed.
When he felt a gentle pinch on his right shoulder, he nodded and said, "Congratulations, you've passed the game."
His words made the nobles who rushed to answer obviously relieved.
"As I said at the beginning, it's only interesting if there are rewards and punishments... Don't worry, my promises are always valid, especially when there are so many empty seats in the City Hall. But before that, I have a little concern. "Roland looked at the two people standing at the end of the crowd. They did not say anything else other than" nothing else ". In other words, they did not think they had violated any laws, and Nightingale had also confirmed their judgment." What are your names, and what position do you hold in the City Hall? "
"Alva Taber, Your Majesty," one of them answered. "I'm in charge of matters related to the stars."
"Blanche Orlando," the other one was a woman. "I'm in charge of the ceremonial officer."
"So that's how it is. With this kind of position, it's probably difficult to do anything bad... The two of them were the only clean stream among the nobles in the City Hall. Roland sat back on the throne and said, "You can leave the palace first. When I'm done with the family, I'll call you back." He paused for a moment. "You'll soon see that my way of governing is different from my father's and Timothy's. Don't forget the reason why you can pass the game... Keep it up. This won't be the only game like this."
After the nobles left, Roland also left the hall and went to the basement with Nightingale.
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