Chapter 83: Island New Policies Preparations (13)

Crescent City market center.

The newly established execution ground.

Under a brand-new guillotine stood a row of prisoners with their hands bound, wearing black hoods and coarse prison garb.

Behind the execution platform, the acting chief of executions, Igeonini of the Ige tribe, the Son of the Forest, loudly proclaimed the prisoner's crimes.

"Mubahate, an ancestral wizard from the Hege tribe, aged 47, male, guilty of regicide, rebellion, and witchcraft coercion, sentenced to death by beheading!"

With those words, two tall and sturdy warriors stepped forward, one on each side grabbing Mubahate's arms, and escorted him onto the guillotine.

"Whoosh~~"

The black cloth hood was pulled off, revealing a face with white hair, a wrinkled visage, and an ashen complexion.

No one would have imagined that such an ordinary fellow would be the terrifying grandmaster of witchcraft that strikes fear into all who hear his name.

Yigenini looked at Mubahate, whose eyes were dead before the guillotine, and finally asked, "Mubahate, can you still say one last word?"

Mubahate's eyes shifted slightly, glancing at the young Yigenini.

His gaze fell upon his freshly pressed human-style attire, and he suddenly felt an indescribable sense of absurdity.

He asked, "Son of the Forest Yigenini, are you going to completely abandon your ancestors?"

Yigenini appeared confident and calm, raising his hand to press against his chest.

"The lord has never forbidden us from worshiping our ancestors; our tribe follows the lord, continues to prosper, and our ancestors will always remain in our hearts. But you have completely severed your ancestral bloodline."

Mubahate's body shuddered, and his eyes went completely dead.

He whispered in a voice no one could hear: "So this is the source of power."

He finally understood, defeated to the point of having nothing to say.

He voluntarily placed his head on the guillotine, and Yigenini raised his hand to strike the soul‑breaking bell.

"Dong~~~~"

"Whoosh-la~~~crack~~puff~~~~~"

The iron chain slid, the sharp blade fell, cleanly severing Mubahate's head.

The administrative study of Crescent Castle.

Luosen was looking at a leather scroll titled 《Sea Fishman》, authored by Mubahate.

The scroll's content consisted of observations and research on the habits of fishmen.

It was clear that this witchcraft grandmaster had once hoped to use fishmen for revenge, and after years of studying sea fishmen he had learned much unique knowledge about them.

Unfortunately, he could never overcome the fishmen's inability to stay out of water for long, forcing him to abandon the fishmen revenge plan.

But it must be said, this knowledge is extremely useful.

"Thud thud thud~"

The door was knocked.

Yigenini arrived.

After handing over a register, he began to report the situation respectfully.

"My lord, there are 34 death row inmates in total."

"Among them, 10 from the Hege tribe, 5 from the Nalin tribe, 4 from Heishi Zhen, 6 from Blue Flower Slope, 3 from Howling Valley, and 6 from Ximu Town—all have been executed."

Luosen raised his hand to check the list, seeing each name marked with a bloody big X, nodded in satisfaction, and gently said to Yigenini:

"During this time, discussion of the island's new policies has been heating up across the island, and I have also heard many voices from the populace."

"But I have also noticed that the Ige tribe pays no attention to this matter, even showing indifference."

"This attitude is not good."

Saying this, Luosen intensified his tone.

"The island's new policies concern the overall interests of the island's 66,000 inhabitants, not just the present but also the future destiny."

Of the 66,000, humans alone number 32,000, while the various tribes of forest spirits together total 34,000—roughly a half‑and‑half split.

Though it may seem few, due to the harsh survival conditions on the island, the population pyramid is extremely young, with a huge base; those under 20 make up nearly a third, close to 20,000.

Luosen gazed into Yigenini's clear amber eyes, speaking encouragingly: "Our future is either to remain trapped on the island as rabbits for others to slaughter, or to go forth and become dragons soaring high, mastering others' fates—starting today with the new policies!"

"When you return, you must earnestly persuade your tribespeople to leave the mountains and actively participate in island affairs."

Yigenini's heart pounded as he felt from the lord's words a vision both unfamiliar and immensely grand.

A vision of leading all island residents onto the world stage to contend with myriad external powers—something Yigenini previously dared not even imagine.

He had merely been a hunter living in the island's mountains, spending his days chasing hares.

He loudly replied, "Yes, my lord! I will surely bring my tribespeople out of the mountains!"

"Go strive, young one."

Yigenini walked away with head held high and chest out.

After a while, the acting administrator Klub knocked and entered, holding a thick register.

"My lord, the rebellious populations of the Hege tribe, Nalin tribe, and the four towns have been fully tallied—10,318 people—and all have been placed in the convict camp."

Luosen took the register to examine the details.

He found that of these over nine thousand, only over two thousand were originally human.

Originally each town had over three thousand inhabitants, especially Sir Sade's Ximu Town, which neared five thousand. But due to his Edict of Peaceful Return, those who could flee did so; the leftovers are either the immobile elderly, weak, sick, or disabled, or the retainers and families of the original knights and senior cavalry.

On average, each town now has just over five hundred.

After reviewing, Luosen said, "Separate out the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled unrelated to the traitors and return them to their families."

These people are useless; keeping them in the convict camp would still require feeding them—better to return them to their families, fulfilling human ethics and saving administrative trouble.

"Yes, my lord." Klub immediately noted it down.

"The remaining humans are estimated at about 1,700; let them live mixed with the forest spirit tribe and be collectively labeled as criminals."

This gave him ten thousand criminals he could reasonably exploit, and someone would take on the dirty, hard work.

As he spoke, he glanced again at the Forest Spirit tribe.

The Forest Spirit tribe numbered nearly 8000, with over 5000 women and 3000 men, most of them gentle weaklings like sheep.

Because those fierce, strong-bodied fellows had all died by the Cold Water River.

How to arrange it? Rosen Ziran had already thought it through.

He tapped the book on the table.

Establish a childcare institute for all children under eight. Here there are about 800-plus; they will all be separated from their mothers and raised by the institute, though mothers may have limited visits, such as once every half month.

Those over eight and under sixteen, also about 800-plus, will be temporarily separated and detained, then sent to the upcoming island Magic Method Academy to study magic.

As for those aged sixteen to forty, they will all be conscripted as laborers and sent to the Sturgeon Dock to repair the port.

Remember, all marital ties among these criminals are annulled, and they will be separated by gender.

After Klub began taking notes, he stopped discussing details and began to speak about the policy for handling criminal laborers.

My steward, remember this: from now on, there will be no distinction between humans and Forest Spirits on the island, nor between tribe and the lord's subjects. Henceforth there will be only one kind of person: island citizens.

Even these criminals are island citizens and must be guaranteed basic civil rights; having committed crimes, they will have their freedoms restricted and must perform extra labor to atone.

Do you understand?

Klub pondered carefully, but still couldn't grasp the exact scale of the operational details.

Lord, does gender separation mean forbidding these criminals from continuing to bear and raise children?

Luosen shook his head: 'Precisely, it is to deprive the Forest Spirits of their right to raise children.'

We must also strongly encourage intermarriage between the two peoples to accelerate their integration.

For example, we could decree that if an original human man marries an original tribe criminal woman and raises a child, her criminal status will be waived.

But the specifics of implementation will have to be adjusted in practice.

What if they slack off at work—can they be whipped?

Luosen raised his eyebrows: 'My steward, we lack no supplies; using rewards to guide is far more effective than punishment and prohibition.'

We must use punishment very cautiously, for if we break their bodies, no one will be able to work.

Klub caught on, nodding: 'I understand, Lord.'

Good, then go ahead and do it right away.

Especially the port—its construction progress is still too slow, but our shipment is coming soon, a large one. Otherwise there may be nowhere to dock when it arrives.

Klub felt uncertain again and hurriedly asked: 'Lord, just how large is this "large shipment" you mentioned?'

Luosen tapped the table: 'The largest ocean-going flat-bottomed barge ships today have a capacity of 2,000 tons each. Six are coming, all fully loaded.'

If we count the days, they should arrive in about a week.

This shipment was procured by Muradi, taking advantage of the new route's bonus period, pulling out all stops to get it here, and most of it is grain.

It is also his greatest confidence in implementing the new policies on the island later.

What new policy? Obviously, it is absolute centralization, modeled after modern departmental division.

For such a tiny island with so few subjects, he has no desire to revive that inefficient feudal enfeoffment system of knights.

Upon hearing that so many ships were coming, Klub felt his scalp tingle and immediately said: 'Oh~ Lord, you should have said this sooner; the port's current scale really isn't enough.'

Fortunately we have secured this much labor; working overtime, we can still make it in time even if we don't fuss over port quality.

Luosen reminded: 'We're not short on grain; at least we can fill the criminals' bellies.'

Understood, Lord.

Klub trotted away.

Luosen wasn't idle either.

Strictly speaking, the 'puppet' is temporarily idle, but its true body in the underground Magic Method Laboratory is busy as can be.

The new policy he is about to introduce is a completely novel thing in this world, wholly violating the traditions of the island, and even of Weilan.

Even on the southern White Continent, although many reforms have appeared, they are still feeling their way forward, occasionally having to retreat.

In any world, to completely break with tradition and create something entirely new is extremely difficult; a slip-up easily leads to disaster.

He doesn't worry that the islanders will oppose the new policy, because anyone who opposed has been eliminated by him.

He worries that inadequate administrative techniques and population quality will cause the new policy to produce many drawbacks.

And now, his new policy still lacks a crucial technology.

It is an indispensable technology for centralized governance.

(End of chapter)