Back in the castle hall, Roland sat back on his throne, looking down at the people below.

In his memory, the Fourth Prince had only exercised the right of judgment once when he first came to Border Town. Later, after falling out with the nobles and having a hard time, he left everything in his hands to Barov and never asked about it again.

Seeing that everyone was present, Roland announced the start of the trial.

First, each party stated their reasons, and then he asked questions himself—with Nightingale's secret assistance, he didn't need to judge who was deliberately lying, who was being insincere, or need a heart as meticulous as a grade-school grim reaper, so determining responsibility became easy and simple.

The truth of the matter quickly came to light.

Koya. Harves, because he was stripped of his knighthood, was resentful. At the same time, he was tired of the tedious paperwork in the City Hall, and vented all his grievances on the refugees. He took the opportunity of distributing porridge to charge the refugees, and provoked relations between the two sides, claiming that it was because the serfs did not hand in all the grain that the wheat reserves were insufficient and could not be distributed for free.

In fact, Koya had been collecting porridge fees for several days in a row. Because he was wearing a conspicuous City Hall uniform, the refugees were afraid of being retaliated against by officials, and most of them remained silent, which made him even more unscrupulous. It wasn't until today that a refugee named Vede stood up to protest against the other party's behavior and caused a riot that exposed everything.

Roland breathed a sigh of relief after understanding the situation.

An organization in its rising period should be full of vitality and vigor. Although bureaucracy and rigidity will inevitably appear after it stabilizes, that should only happen after the unification of Graycastle. If such problems arise in the early stage, then the organization is destined not to go far.

Now it seems that it was just Koya. Harves's personal behavior and did not involve more officials in the City Hall. Moreover, the matter was limited to extortion and not the grain resale and private sale with the serfs that he was most worried about.

Of course, he himself was also responsible for this. The City Hall was in desperate need of manpower at the beginning, and he stuffed all the surrendered knights to Barov after giving a warning without any screening or training. As a result, the facts show that not everyone can accept this job without complaint and endure the huge psychological gap from knight to commoner.

Roland called Barov to his side and asked in a low voice, "How would a lord usually deal with this situation?"

"Your Highness, it depends on two situations," the latter replied respectfully. "If the perpetrator is a noble, he can be exempted from any punishment after paying a few gold royals, while the crimes of civilians who attack nobles can be big or small, ranging from cutting off hands to whipping."

"But Koya is no longer a noble," the prince shrugged. "I stripped him of his title."

"Yes, Your Highness. In this case, the disposal is entirely up to the lord's mood."

"No fixed rule?"

Barov shook his head.

He frowned. Entirely up to his mood, the inherent meaning is that it doesn't matter how civilians are manipulated. In the eyes of nobles, they are not considered "people" who need to be treated with respect.

"Besides cutting off hands, breaking legs, whipping, and pulling out fingernails, are there any more common punishments? Such as imprisonment."

"Imprisonment?" Barov was stunned. "You mean simply locking them up? What kind of punishment is that? Prisons are just temporary places to detain criminals, and they will be taken out for trial sooner or later. If they are kept locked up, you will have to provide them with food, which I am afraid some people will see as a reward."

Well, it seems that the fixed-term imprisonment commonly used in later generations is not applicable here. After thinking for a moment, Roland decided to follow Graycastle's rules. He stood up and looked around the hall. "I am now making a judgment."

"Koya. Harves, for dereliction of duty and extortion of refugees, is hereby removed from all positions in the City Hall, assigned to work in the mines for ten years, and fined three times the amount of extortion."

"Vede, for taking the lead in attacking City Hall personnel, is sentenced to ten lashes."

"Other refugees and serfs who participated in the fight are fined two silver wolves or five lashes."

"Porridge will continue to be distributed for free, and all the money previously extorted will be returned." He looked at the chief of the City Hall,

"You are to implement the above ruling and announce the results to the people in the temporary residential area."

"Yes, Your Highness." Barov bowed.

Back in his office, Roland leaned back in his chair and stretched, then felt a pair of hands on his shoulders, gently massaging.

He closed his eyes and enjoyed this moment of leisure.

This incident made Roland realize that as the number of people under his rule continues to increase and the City Hall's power expands rapidly, the issue of internal supervision may have reached a point where it must be addressed.

But he didn't want to set up an institution similar to a procuratorate, let alone engage in the separation of powers in this era. The former requires a large number of literate people, and is also prone to becoming a political system of mutual attacks and buck-passing, hindering the implementation and development of policies. The latter is a disguised weakening of the lord's power. It is better to keep the powers of law-making, interpretation, and judgment in his own hands.

He needed a simple and effective system that didn't require too many people to supervise the organization.

Roland grasped the hand on his shoulder.

Nightingale lifted the mist, took the prince's hand, sat back at the table, and tilted her head to ask, "What's wrong?"

Her slender legs swung back and forth by the table, and the high-top deerskin boots and close-fitting leather pants formed a perfect curve.

Roland coughed twice, "I plan to set up a new department to supervise the City Hall and arrest other individuals or groups that may endanger the stability of the Western Territory. This department will only be responsible to me and will be completely independent of the City Hall and the First Army," he said word by word, "I will temporarily name it the 'Western Territory Security Bureau' and want you to be the person in charge."

"Me?" She blinked.

"That's right, only you can easily distinguish between truth and falsehood, and any deception is meaningless in front of you," Roland nodded. "How about it? If you are willing, I can provide you with afternoon tea with ice cream in the winter, and..."

Nightingale gently pinched his hand, "Even if you don't say these things, I will agree to you—as long as it's something you want to do."

"..." Roland suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

She smiled and didn't let the silence continue, "But what should I do?"

"Well, the supervision part is very simple," the prince adjusted his mood. "I will set up a complaint box at the entrance of the castle area, and you only need to check the complaint letters inside."

The easiest way to solve this problem with the least amount of effort is undoubtedly to mobilize the masses to supervise and let the City Hall supervise itself, just like when the spies who infiltrated Border Town were arrested during the Evil Moon last year.

The reason why this method is not easy to use in later generations is that both the object of the report and the reporter themselves need to spend a lot of energy to verify, and there are also false and erroneous reports, not to mention deliberate framing. And these shortcomings do not exist in front of Nightingale's ability, and verifying information becomes easy. Just ask face-to-face—give rewards for accurate reports, and punish false and erroneous reports. With these two points, the reporting system will inevitably be extremely efficient.

"As for maintaining the stability of the Western Territory and eliminating threats and hidden dangers, it is more like an internal intelligence system. I will gradually expand the staff for you until your vision can extend to the entire Western Territory."