Standing atop a rock, Gawain surveyed the blank, apprehensive faces below and took a deep breath.
The people were not foolish, but that didn't mean they weren't ignorant.
Foolishness is a judgment clouded by prejudice and scorn, but ignorance is merely a statement of fact. The peasant and serf classes of this era lived in ignorance—society allowed them almost no means to acquire knowledge or broaden their horizons, and the sheer demands of survival left them no energy to care about anything beyond mere existence. Living like this for so long made them appear unthinking, giving rise to the illusion of "foolishness."
In truth, they could think; they simply couldn't grasp ideas that seemed distant from their daily struggles.
Thus, it was pointless to speak to them about grand ideals or ambitions, visions for the future, or the logical connections between productivity and development. To them, such high-sounding concepts belonged to the "lords" and had nothing to do with themselves. The best approach, then, was to talk to them about things that were directly tied to their own lives.
"People of Cecil…" Gawain began in a loud voice, "you all know who I am, which means you also know that I am the one with the highest authority over this land. My words represent the law of Cecil—a law that will protect you, but one you must also obey."
"We are building a new land, and new laws are needed for this new land. So I am announcing three decrees here and now. First: since the old territory has been destroyed and all past wealth lost, I declare, in the name of the Cecil family's ancestor, that all debts owed to the lord of this land are now null and void. Whether the debtor was a freeman or a serf, as of today, none shall owe any debt to the lord."
There was a slight stir among the crowd, but it didn't become chaotic. Most peasants and serfs carried some debt to their lord, but with the territory being rebuilt from scratch, they had expected that debt might be forgiven under Lady Rebecca's past leniency.
Gawain continued, "Second: every serf in Cecil has a chance to become a freeman. The lord will issue a series of tasks—building homes, constructing roads, mining, or joining the military. Each task will have a scoring system. By following the requirements and completing the work, a serf can accumulate contributions. Upon reaching a set standard, a serf may become a freeman. Those who are already freemen will receive fair pay for completed work. I will soon announce the exact rates. I assure you, any diligent and reliable serf can earn their freedom through hard work within two to three years. A freeman, through steady work, could own a home in five to six years!"
This time, the stir in the crowd turned into an uncontrollable murmur.
For a serf to gain freedom was a notion that directly challenged the norms of this era. Though Ansu's kingdom laws didn't explicitly prohibit serfs from becoming freemen, and local lords also had no laws against it, few nobles would voluntarily grant their serfs freedom. For them, serfs meant cheap labor that could be exploited without guilt. Most nobles, driven by greed for more taxes and labor, would never consider freeing their serfs.
Rebecca's earlier law allowing serfs to earn freedom through military service had already caused a stir. But Gawain had taken it a step further.
As for wages for work—even housing—this was something even the freemen among them struggled to believe.
"Getting paid to work for the lord? Who'd believe that?"
Without giving them further time to debate, Gawain quickly moved on to the third decree: "The tents, fences, and drainage ditches we are building today are your first assigned tasks under this new law. I have instructed that each of you be assigned specific duties. Only those who complete the work to my standards will be considered as having fulfilled the task. Furthermore, to encourage diligence, the first ten to finish properly will have meat for dinner."
With that, Gawain hopped off the rock and returned to Hedy and Rebecca, paying no attention to the crowd's reaction.
The assembled peasants and serfs, after a moment's pause, began rushing back toward the nearly completed camp, intent on tightening ropes, hammering nails, and driving stakes deeper into the ground.
For them, Gawain's mention of "contribution points" or "scoring standards" might have been too complex, and they doubted whether the soldiers and knights overseeing them would truly calculate their work fairly. But there was one thing they understood perfectly: they'd get meat for dinner!
Just as Gawain had anticipated, only matters of immediate personal interest could truly ignite motivation.
Watching the frenzied surge back to the camp, Hedy was momentarily dazed. It wasn't until Gawain stood in front of her that she snapped back to herself, looking at him in astonishment. "Ancestor… were you serious about what you said?"
Gawain replied with a sly smile, "Which part?"
"About the part where serfs can become freemen through work…" Hedy hesitated, frowning. "Of course, I'm not opposed. Rebecca had already issued a decree allowing serfs to earn freedom through military service. But you said that building houses or roads counts toward freedom, and it would only take two or three years. Was that serious?"
"It's absolutely true," Gawain replied firmly. "Why? Do you see a problem with it?"
"If it's that easy to become a freeman, soon enough all the serfs in the territory would be freemen," Hedy said, clearly bewildered. "Freemen's children are also freemen. Are you suggesting that Cecil will someday be a land with no serfs?"
Gawain's gaze remained steady, his smile unchanged. "And would that be a problem?"
Coming from her ingrained class beliefs and worldview, Hedy instinctively felt something was amiss. But with her far-sighted wisdom, which surpassed that of most nobles of her time, she also felt there was nothing inherently wrong if there were no serfs. She was caught in a contradiction.
Rebecca, meanwhile, furrowed her brow in thought and then spoke up. "Actually… I don't think serfdom is all that necessary anymore. It wouldn't be so bad if it were gone."
Gawain looked at her with some surprise, giving her a nod of encouragement. "Go on…"
"Serfs are laborers, and the purpose of laborers is to provide labor. But if making them freemen results in better labor, then why hold on to the 'serf' label?" Rebecca scratched her head. "Father used to tell me that serfs wouldn't work without the threat of a whip. But maybe the whip isn't the best way…"
Gawain nodded approvingly, and Rebecca, emboldened by his encouragement, continued, "And I noticed something else: if you send a serf to work, they'll find ways to slack off. But if you send two to do the same job and tell them whoever finishes first gets an extra piece of bread, they suddenly do the work of three or four. The extra bread is worth much less than the extra work."
"That's a solid insight." Gawain chuckled, pleased with her observations. It was simple logic, yet almost no one of this era would consider such things. Nobles rarely observed how their subjects worked or thought about work efficiency. Whipping and soldier supervision were their ultimate solutions. Rebecca's insights came from her rural, impoverished upbringing, which left her plenty of time to observe.
She could only scratch the surface of these ideas, while Gawain knew that the rise and fall of serfdom involved much more than just whips and bread. The deeper issue was whether production levels were sufficient and whether society was ready for change.
After his recent observations, Gawain believed that, at least in the lands he controlled, the serf system was no longer compatible with this world's level of productivity. Massive numbers of people were being used for repetitive, low-efficiency labor, producing minimal resources to support the upper class, with no path for advancement.
The nobles enjoyed a life of luxury in castles with magical light and music, while the peasants lived no better than prehistoric humans. Society itself was grotesquely imbalanced.
Had this been Earth, there would have already been sweeping social changes. But here, supernatural power had delayed that process. A hundred commoners armed with pitchforks were no match for even one low-tier mage or knight. Even if they were willing to die in droves, they couldn't prevail.
In time, this world might break through such a deadlock, but Gawain wasn't willing to wait. He needed to advance his plans for growth and development, as he had a nagging feeling that the Mana Surge was indeed approaching.
Even at the height of its power, the Gondor Empire couldn't withstand the Mana Surge. And now, with society having regressed to medieval ignorance, what would they use to withstand it?
And even if the Mana Surge wasn't a concern, there was something else on his mind: those mysterious "eyes" in the sky.
A backward, medieval world would never escape the bonds of gravity. As long as it remained shackled, it would lack even the right to gaze at the heavens, let alone to explore the secrets among the stars.