Chapter 67

Chapter 67

Seeing that the king did not refute Kane's words, those present, though sensing something amiss, dared not speak out recklessly. Hadn’t they just seen blades drawn at a moment’s notice in this hall? If they dared to voice opposition now, would they be the next ones carried out on a stretcher?

Watching this unnamed younger brother welled up with tears, Kane paid him no further mind and instead turned his gaze toward the king on the throne.

Meeting Kane’s eyes, the king’s neck prickled with tension, swallowed hard, and hesitated no longer.

"Enough. I have made my decision—the throne will pass to Kane. No more arguments."

The ministers thought: *We were just putting on a show; we never really intended to persuade you anyway.*

Under Kane’s pressure, the succession ceremony was hastily arranged and concluded just as quickly.

By the time the nobles outside received the news, their king had already been replaced.

After formally assuming the throne, Kane implemented a series of new policies.

Whether his underlings liked his new ideas wasn’t his problem.

As for the current ministers, how many of them had clean hands? If they didn’t comply with his orders, he’d just have their homes ransacked.

In turbulent times, harsh measures were necessary. A few heads had to roll to keep the others in check.

He had no time for scheming, backstabbing, or games. As long as his fist was hard enough, even those with grievances would have to obey.

Moreover, Lis Church backed him solidly—many valuable resources had been sent to aid the development of the Holy Capital.

In the past, whenever the church introduced something new, the nobles of the Holy Capital would arrange to purchase it, improving their own lives, while the common people were left to fend for themselves.

Ning Chan had played the long game, avoiding sweeping changes outside his jurisdiction.

But now, with the entire kingdom under Kane’s rule, basic projects like waste pits, ditch cleaning, and personal hygiene management were rolled out nationwide.

Some balked or didn’t get it, so Kane held the city lords accountable. If they couldn’t do their jobs, they would be replaced.

Faced with Kane’s frequent confiscations and dismissals, the nobles seethed in private.

They had considered rebellion, but Lis Church had presented the new king with sacred gifts, and the Holy Tablet bore divine blessings for his reign. If they openly opposed him, would the gods strike them down for defiance?

Fine—it was just labor. They didn’t have to do it themselves anyway. They could simply order their subordinates to make the commoners comply.

Upon receiving Kane’s message and learning of his recent actions, Ning Chan worried that his approach might be too abrupt and aggressive, stirring discontent.

But the results exceeded Ning Chan’s expectations.

Without offering any incentives, Kane had forced compliance—from city lords to commoners—and they had actually obeyed. They really could endure anything.

Later, Ning Chan reflected that in this era where royal and divine authority reigned supreme, those at the bottom might not even see themselves as human. Just scraping by, they obeyed blindly—otherwise, abominations like the *droit du seigneur* would never have existed.

Under these circumstances, unless a "rebel" emerged among them to awaken their consciousness and make them realize they deserved better lives, they would remain numb, generation after generation.

In the church’s three subsidiary cities, the people had moved beyond survival to seeking meaning. Even the poorest households would scrimp together for a newspaper and help each other learn to read.

Now, this change was catching on elsewhere.

"You’ve been hauling manure again? You stink to high heaven! The children won’t come near you." Mary, who could smell her husband from afar, frowned as she turned to ladle hot water from the pot. She told him to strip in the yard, wash off, and change before coming inside.

"Ah, after being around it so long, I’ve gone nose-blind to it. I’ll wash now, but in a couple of days, I’ll be back to stinking. I don’t know what Lord Faler was thinking, suddenly making us gather all the filth from the city and beyond. What’s the point? Soon enough, people will go back to eating and… taking a dump like always. Same shit, different day."

Chat wasn’t shy at all, stripping completely bare in the yard and scrubbing himself down twice before slipping on just his underwear to wash the clothes he'd just taken off.

Mary would be fixing dinner later, and he didn’t want her handling his dirty clothes before preparing the meal.

Of course, Chat didn’t wash them particularly thoroughly—just a couple of scrubs to make them less smelly and dirty before bringing them inside. Mary would still need to do a proper wash after dinner.

Mary was used to his habits, and hearing him mutter, she recalled something she’d heard earlier.

"Don’t say that. I heard these things are useful—they can make crops grow better, boost harvests—that was the word. Lis Church came up with this thing called fertilizer, and families who used it got more food."

"Fertilizer? If that’s true, then putting in extra work now will pay off. Hopefully, we’ll get some of that fertilizer too."

"Yeah, keep your eyes open. Maybe you can even learn how to make it."

"What are you talking about? Like we could ever figure that out? If the Church made it, they must’ve worked some kind of miracle—maybe even divine intervention." Chat sighed as he emptied the washbasin, shaking his head as he headed inside, brushing off his wife’s words.

Three months later, when the overseer announced that all the workers would receive fertilizer and be taught how to use it, Chat returned home in a daze, hauling a heavy load on his back.

"Hey, what did you bring back? It smells so nice—did you get sweets from town?"

During the fermentation process, Chat hadn’t been assigned to that task, so neither of them knew what the fertilizer would end up like. Hearing his wife’s question, he fought back a grimace.

"No, it’s that fertilizer we’ve been hearing about." Chat set the basket down, letting Mary see its contents.

At the mention of fertilizer, Mary instinctively held her breath, then relaxed when she remembered the pleasant scent.

She leaned over to inspect the basket, listened to Chat’s explanation, and then discussed with him whether they should clear more land and how much to spread.

Finally, Mary added with a sigh that they had to hide it well before using it—lest their two little food thieves got wind of it.

Chat wholeheartedly agreed.

By the time the nation’s food supply had stabilized, allowing most people to have full bellies, Kane had already been king for three hard years.

Then, news came from the Church—the Holy Son, Ning Chan, had come of age and was old enough to take over as Pope.

In this era, adulthood wasn’t strictly defined. It seemed that once someone turned twelve and was capable of bearing children, they were considered adults.

However, given the many tragic cases of mothers and children dying young, the typical marriage age had been pushed to around fifteen.

Though Westerners matured early, Ning Chan, looking at how scrawny many youths were, decisively had Kane set the legal adulthood age at eighteen.

"Given their condition, if they don’t take a couple of years to recover, they might as well dig their own graves."

As for those who kept kids of eleven or twelve to satisfy their perversions—they were to be executed.

When this punishment was announced, some who understood the Church’s unspoken rules wondered if their current king had endured something similar in his past—after all, he was easy on the eyes.

Kane glanced at the rumors his subordinates had gathered, then tossed them aside indifferently. As long as people followed the rules and didn’t scheme, he didn’t care what they muttered. Spending effort to silence gossip was a waste—better to get more work done.

He’d just keep it in mind and deal with them when they slipped up.

When he heard Ning Chan was to become Pope, Kane began preparing gifts to send.

Three years—it had been three years since he’d last seen Ning Chan. He wondered how much the other had changed.

Since taking the throne, Kane had been swamped with never-ending work. Before he could fully address his people’s needs, neighboring kingdoms started making noise.

He couldn’t carve out the time to visit Ning Chan at the Church, so he hoped the other might find time to make the trip to the Holy Capital instead.

Ning Chan had originally planned to visit Kane once he had put the Holy Capital in order, but unexpectedly, a neighboring nation launched an attack. Ning Chan changed course and followed the troops to the front lines.

There, he witnessed the darkest aspects of human nature. Unable to tolerate it, he led his forces into the neighboring country to deliver some hands-on persuasion.

Kane waited around, only to receive news that Ning Chan had captured three cities from the neighboring nation.

With the cities already seized and left in chaos, they couldn’t simply abandon them.

Helpless, Ning Chan had no choice but to stay and assist in cleaning up the mess.

Before they knew it, three years had slipped by, and neither had a chance to meet.

Truthfully, they were still busy, but many matters had stabilized and no longer required their constant presence.

Now, Ning Chan had handed over the affairs of the neighboring country to others, finally allowing him to return and assume the role of Pope.

However, if it were up to him, Ning Chan truly had no desire to become Pope. But there was no choice—too many people across the continent remained under the control of religious authority. Without him keeping up appearances, how could they accomplish anything?

After all, other nations also had Popes. If he weren’t one, wouldn’t he be at a disadvantage when throwing his weight around? That simply wouldn’t do.

Since the papal succession ceremony had an auspicious time already set, and arrangements were finalized, Ning Chan couldn’t alter it. Thus, even though Kane hadn’t arrived, the show went on without him.

Kane, delayed by torrential rains and mudslides along the way, hauled ass—only to catch sight of Ning Chan standing atop the grand platform, receiving the reverence of thousands and the blessing from the gods.