The Tin Knight

While the eastern part of the continent was nominally ruled by the Ionia Kingdom, the reality was different.

The royal family was certainly the largest force in the east, but their base was too far to the east, and because of that, even slightly to the west, there were many lands where the royal family’s influence didn’t reach.

The cities in such places had become semi-warlord forces, wielding authority no different from kings in their ruling territories.

The Friedel domain was in a similar situation.

They pledged loyalty to the royal family and paid taxes regularly, but this was just a matter of the lord’s personal inclination.

The domain’s operation itself was completely independent from the royal family, and Friedel protected its domain not through protection as a member of the kingdom, but solely through its own military power and reputation as a branch of the Lion Duke’s bloodline.

But did the royal family have a conscience, or was it because they calculated that if they showed such a despicable appearance of eating everything and then wiping their mouths when it mattered, other nobles wouldn’t stand still?

After Friedel’s main force was annihilated and Friedel began to be plundered as a favorite target of bandits, the royal family also sent support in their own way.

This continued even after Giselle took office as acting lord, but instead of readily accepting and using the kingdom’s support, Giselle stacked it up in warehouses, treating it as the lord’s family’s private property.

This was because the support coming from the main family was sufficient without receiving such support, and she didn’t want to see the royal family exercising various influences using this as an excuse.

She wanted to return it saying it wasn’t needed at all, but no matter what, she couldn’t refuse support sent with the king’s own seal in such a way.

There was also a calculation that treating the property as the lord’s family’s share would help stabilize public sentiment.