Eventually, in the new family register, Jadiel had become the head, Lanae had reluctantly become the lady of the house, the other founding members became his siblings, Ciel and Erin were put down as his children, Verdalite and Azar were registered as their grandparents, and the rest had stayed his subordinates.
Ciel peeked over Dominic's shoulder at the somewhat organized family tree.
"I know Verdalite would probably be happy with this, but what will Azar think?"
Jadiel waved his hand dismissively.
"I contacted them last night, Elder Azar was fine with it. He doesn't show it, but he quite likes us, especially you two."
Dominic looked at the register, his slender eyebrows twitching.
"Parental unit #2?"
Jadiel sighed.
"Fatalite all had their own families before being taken in by Verdalite. We were freelance eves after that, so we never actually got our family hierarchy sorted out. Ciel and Erin are the only ones that have the honor of having this family relationship sorted out and documented."
Dominic, having never seen this kind of thing in the family tree before, was profoundly confused.
"So does Ciel and Erin call them grandparent unit #1 and 2???"
Should he be grateful that at least they had a properly documented mother and father?
"We'll get to that when the time comes."
Looking at his completed family registry, Ciel felt quite happy, rolling around energetically on the bed he was confined in. Just as he was about to roll off of it, Erin quickly rolled him the other way, before looking up at Jadiel.
"Dad, what're we going to do now?"
Beside their bed, Jadiel finished peeling the apple and neatly cut it into slices, popping one into each of his sons' mouths.
"First, we've been granted the formerly empty territory in the west, neighboring Medusa forest, to continue our business. Maybe you'll be able to see your grandfathers soon. Next, I have several stacks of evidence of both human and eve trafficking done by various households. How fast does your highness need me to present them in the royal court?"
This question was directed at the redheaded prince sitting on the windowsill, still flipping through the new Evanair family register.
Dominic stopped, and thought for a moment.
"With the Athne archduchy abolished and reformed into a knights order. There aren't any nobles that can pose a significant threat right now. Next week, present everything you have. I'll do a thorough cleaning of this system."
Hearing his words, only Ciel and Erin, the ones with knowledge from the novel, were not surprised.
Jadiel's smile widened.
"Will it not paralyze the current system? If you do that, at least two thirds of the nobles will have to be replaced."
Dominic raised his eyebrow, a crazy glint in his eyes.
"It's as you said, at least two thirds of the nobles of Anatol are corrupt. To win over followers, my elder brothers bribed from left to right, letting too many nobles commit crimes against the royal law my ancestors established. Nobles run rampant, commoners suffer, and eves are discriminated against. So, what system are you speaking of?"
Even though the novel had previously said that this had happened, Ciel couldn't help feeling a burst of excitement run down his spine when he heard Dominic's next words.
"This kind of outdated system, we might as well tear it all down."
And that was exactly what he did.
In the year 1872 of the Solar calendar, the long-standing oligarchy of Anatol was abolished, replaced by a aristocracy. The ranking system was kept, but commoners could now rise up through merit, and nobles could no longer go untouched by the law.
With the Athne dukedom bound by the oath, and the Norama dukedom giving the crown prince their full support, the crown prince's knights hunted down every noble who had previously escaped their crimes using their noble status, with the Evanair head in the lead. In a single week, more than half of the nobles had their titles abolished, the slaves in their basements rescued, and wealth confiscated.
Mansions burned, noble heads rolled on the execution grounds, the previously suppressed commoners rose, and the noble rankings were completely reshuffled.
Instead of the old aristocrats, those who filled the power vacuum in the Capital were people loyal to the Crown prince, the upright nobles, and the commoners who had long been at odds with the corrupt nobility. And among them, the one who took the largest position was Jadiel, a commoner.
No, since he was promoted, he was a Duke now.
…
A few months had passed since Dominic's abolishment of the system.
Ciel munched on the cookies he had just snatched from the palace. Unlike the ups and downs he had experienced when first arriving on this continent, his life had been drawing a relatively peaceful straight line.
Of course, his life was peaceful only because he was still a child.
Looking at the adults' chaos reported in the capital newspapers, it was an absolute mess beyond description. It was a pity he had been grounded, it would have been more fun if he could've seen the chaos firsthand.
"I saw the newspaper articles. The Capital is brutal."
"How do you think I feel, being directly in that Capital? I'd rather go on escort missions at this rate."
Jadiel, sitting diagonally across from Ciel, had his head buried in papers while grumbling.
"But, we've finally gotten past one worry."
Although the nobles were corrupt, the two elder princes before Dominic had been quite influential, with various powers allied underneath them. Though their foundation had collapsed like a sandcastle with their deaths, that meant the nobles had little time trying to plan a rebellion, leading the Athne duchy making a rash decision—trying to establish a regent.
After that failed, Dominic gained the upper hand, taking out all the manpower he had to purge the capital.
It was naturally highly successful, since even if Anatol could be considered a long established kingdom, its system was surprisingly dependent on royal power. Thanks to previous laws restricting non-royalty from forming their own private corps, Dominic had an easy time bulldozing through the nobles even with his measly number of knights.
'In the novel, it was this event that made Fatalite able to retrieve all the kidnapped eves and form a chain of economy throughout the continent.'
"But, with how weak this kingdom is, I'm surprised it hasn't collapsed yet."
Ciel bit into another cookie. Next to him, Lanae patted his fluffy head.
"Anatol never really had to deal with external conflicts. The stronger human countries are separated by the vast sea, and the rest of the continent is filled with eves."
That reminded him, Ciel tilted his head.
"Isn't Anatol the only large human kingdom on this continent? Why didn't the eves band together when the kingdom started kidnapping them?"
That aside, what was with the strong prejudice against eves in Anatol when the humans in Anatol only made up 30 percent of the continent's sentient population? He decided to ignore it when he was reading the novel, but in reality, it was a miracle Anatol had survived this long when it was hostile to all of its neighbors.
Distracted by the conversation happening next to him, Jadiel tapped the document he had been glaring at and got up, plopping himself next to Lanae.
"I've checked the species of the rescued eves we've got so far, and they all seem to be from a variety of places. Eves cherish their young, but in the wild, it's inevitable to lose one or two children or for some adults to disappear. Eves settlements are quite numerous on this continent, and without communicating with each other, they won't connect the disappearances to the human kingdom. But it can't be helped, this continent is home to many eve settlements, they may have seemed peaceful during our visits, but the clashing cultures between different species isn't something easily solved. Haven't you seen the eves we rescued? When they first got here, they were all withered and malnourished, but in a few weeks, they started fighting again. The children are better because they're young, but some of the adults we rescued fought several times already."
Lanae sighed.
"Just wait a while longer, Kierra and the other two are almost done rounding up the eves and we'll be able to organize their escorts home soon."
Ciel perked up.
"Can I–"
Two voices cut him off.
"'No.'"
Ciel swallowed the cookie he had been chewing with dissatisfaction.
"Tsk, you guys are no fun."
Mini theater:
Ciel poked Verdalite: "So, grandpa, why didn't you just storm the capital to rescue the eves?"
Azar smacked Verdalite: "As if the nobles would let an unknown eve come in and ruin everything."
Verdalite laughed awkwardly: "If those guys got angry and started a war, it would only be the eve villages and the commoners who suffer. I, as a good samaritan, refuse to do anything detrimental to the peace of the continent."
Ciel looked at Azar suspiciously: why did the first sentence feel like something Azar would say?
Verdalite hissed in pain: "Ow, ow, Ciel, dear, how about you ask something else, my scalp hurts."
Ciel glanced at Azar's hand, who was still grabbing the tips of the dragon's hair.
Hmm, it was definitely this one who didn't let Verdalite take action.
Seeing the child's eyes go to his hand, Azar quietly stopped torturing Verdalite's hair roots. Instead, he subtly dropped a ball of ice down the back of Verdalite's neck.
Verdalite violently shivered.
No, what did he do this time??!