To appease the uneasy hearts of the nobles, Roland specially arranged a lavish banquet.

A long table covered with a white cloth was placed in the center of the hall, and the nobles sat facing each other, with various dishes, fine wines, and flowers in the middle.

After a couple of glasses of red wine, the atmosphere eased a lot. With all the great nobles having fallen and Honeysuckle and Elk standing on Roland's side, the remaining lesser nobles would not jump out to object at this time. Their words even revealed an intention to proactively defect. In this situation, Roland knew it was time to bring his newly formulated order to the table.

After everyone was well-fed and satiated, he distributed small booklets he had prepared in advance to each of the nobles.

It was a carefully prepared "propaganda brochure."

"Your Highness... what is this?" Sure enough, a noble quickly asked in surprise, "Why are the paintings on it so lifelike?"

"Indeed, they look just like the real thing."

"It doesn't seem like they were painted... no pigment can express such delicate colors."

As expected of the nobles from the big cities, they could see that these people had some appreciation for painting. Roland clapped his hands and smiled, "They were indeed painted by a painter, but if there is any difference, it is that this painter is a witch, and the pigment she uses for painting is the omnipresent magic."

These words made everyone stiffen, unsure whether to put down the booklets in their hands or not.

"The local church's power has vanished, what are you worried about?" The prince raised his eyebrows, "Witches are no different from us, I have verified this many times."

"Ahem... ahem," Pero almost choked, "His Highness is right."

"Worthy of being the Fourth Prince, haha... ha," the other nobles also laughed awkwardly.

Uh, it seemed like he had said something ambiguous. Roland pretended to be nonchalant and changed the topic—After serving as a prince for more than a year, he found that his level of composure... or rather, the thickness of his skin, had improved by leaps and bounds. "The illustrations are just to make the content more vivid. The stories recorded on them are the main point."

Everyone continued to flip through a few pages. Aurelian of the Elk family quickly raised her head, "Is this a noble's family history?"

"Aurelian!" Renn reminded in a low voice, "Call him Your Highness!"

"That's right, he was once a noble of the Western Region," Roland waved his hand to show it was okay, "Some of you should still remember him."

"Your Highness... I know him," a knight said, "Tigu Pine, he is my neighbor, our territories used to be adjacent."

"I have also seen him," another person recalled, "He seems to be a Baron. His father was a vassal of Joey Cole. Since Lord Joey left the Western Region, his territory has declined."

"Viscount Tigu is currently in Border Town," Roland smiled, "And this booklet records the process of me getting to know him... and what happened later. As you can see, he is a noble living under the new system. He is currently busy practicing with firearms. It is estimated that after the Evil Moon ends, he will take his daughter and servants to the Misty Forest to enjoy hunting. As far as I know, since he sold the territory east of the fortress and settled in Border Town, not only has his title been promoted by one level, but his family property has also increased several times."

Fear stems from the unknown, and resistance to systemic change is the same, because they do not know what impact the change will bring to them. Roland had Soraya depict Tigu Pine's small-town life in the form of a comic strip as an example for his propaganda, precisely to reduce the nobles' resistance and fear. Compared to those boring written biographies, the expressiveness of comics is obviously more vivid and lifelike.

"You should all know that I will soon be building a city in the Western Region. In fact, I have been planning this for a long time. At that time, Border Town, Longsong Stronghold, and the narrow land between the two places will be integrated into a whole." Roland continued, "Some people will ask, the two towns are far apart, how can they be connected as one? First of all, the meaning of the whole refers to the administrative aspect, that is to say, the new city will implement the same laws and the same policies, which is

also the reason why I want to take back the nobles' right to grant fiefdoms and legislate."

"Your Highness, what about our territories..." someone asked.

"They still belong to you," he interrupted, "I said that taking back these powers does not mean you will lose anything—the essence of enfeoffment is to hand over your territory to others to form your own lower-level nobles, to strengthen your power in this way, to jointly resist enemies, or to work together to seize benefits. Under the new system, the task of resisting foreign enemies will be completed by a professional army, and as long as you act according to the rules, the benefits you earn will far exceed those of the past. After all, instead of dividing up that little bit of cake, it's better to make the cake bigger."

Seeing everyone was silent, Roland took a sip of tea, "You have never been to Border Town, so it is normal that you don't know how big the cake can be. In fact, the town's fiscal revenue in the second half of the year reached 30,000 Gold Royals. If the Months of the Demons hadn't arrived early, this number could have increased by about 10,000 more."

The nobles collectively gasped, "Thir... thirty thousand?"

Roland had already learned from Pero about the fortress's fiscal situation over the years. The city hall's annual income was only this amount, let alone these small nobles. One hundred Gold Royals was a huge sum for them.

"And as future managers of various industries here, you will naturally be able to obtain generous returns from it." He continued, "Returning to the matter of building the city, in addition to the administrative unity, the two towns will gradually get closer geographically. For example, it only took me one day to arrive at Longsong Stronghold from Border Town. When the Kingdom Avenue is completed, the land walking time will also be shortened to one day. If you ride a horse or a bicycle, it will only take half a day, not to mention faster means of transportation."

"What is a bicycle?" Aurelian asked curiously.

"A kind of human-powered riding tool that runs very fast on flat ground," the prince smiled, "I dare say that within five years... no, within three years, we will be able to eat breakfast at the stronghold and then go to Border Town to work." Because the Kingdom Avenue uses a completely straight line, the distance between the two places is shortened to sixty kilometers, which is only half an hour by railcar or car.

However, most of the nobles' minds were not on this. The knight who claimed to be a neighbor of Tigu Pine asked cautiously, "Your Highness, what you just said, do you mean you want to hand over the fortress to us for management?"

"Yes and no," Roland shrugged, "As I said before, the two places are administratively a whole after the city is built. The fortress will be transformed into an area of the city, under the jurisdiction of the central city hall. But for now, the distance of one day is still too far, so I will set up a lower-level city hall in the Longsong District. It will be divided into many lower-level departments according to the current model in Border Town, and you will work in these departments, responsible for handling the specific affairs here."

"Lower-level... departments?" The nobles showed puzzled expressions on their faces.

"Managing an area is a very complicated task. Although it can bring you generous returns, it is not so easy to do your job well," Roland said bluntly, "So when order is restored here, you will all have to follow me to Border Town to experience firsthand how a fully functional city hall should operate. You still need to study the course of management properly."