Second World

"Only two? That's very few," Peniel remarked.

"Both King Themos and Royal Advisor Mason didn't deal with these affairs much. So, many governors no longer bothered to appeal their unsolved affairs to the royal court anymore," Thaergood explained.

Jack didn't truly understand their discussion. He was clicking one of the two panels. The one with the title of 'The Dispute of two landlords over a plot of land in Theboldiere'.

"Theboldiere was a small town near the main city of Themetus," Isabelle informed.

After opening the panel, a series of texts appeared. It was a story about a dispute.

It said, on the Southern side of town Theboldiere, two landlords were in a dispute over a plot of land. The two landlords went by the name of Olmond and Ethos. Both were nobles with the rank of viscount. Olmond was the head of an old family who had lived for generations in the town. He claimed that the plot of land was by right his, granted to his ancestors by the kingdom in the past.

However, there was no deed to prove his claim. Olmond said that the deed was lost. But since his family oversaw and owned most of the lands in that town, most agreed that the land was his.

The other noble, Ethos, was an outsider who came from Themetus. He claimed that he had bought the plot from the Office of Land Management. A kingdom's division that dealt with the legal exchanges over land. However, it turned out that the officer who processed Ethos' transaction was corrupt and the deed the minister gave to Ethos did not completely go through the legal process.

The officer had been caught and punished. However, Ethos had built a trading post in that plot of land and conducted businesses through that post for the past six months. A simple refund of the coins he used to purchase the land was not enough to cover his loss if he was to vacate the land.

Ethos refused to leave. Since Olmond didn't have an official deed, this gave Ethos a stronger reason to resist.

Olmond, however, insisted that Ethos vacated the premise within the week.

The two were stubborn and weren't willing to compromise. Hence this matter had been appealed to the royal court, asking for the king's decision.

Under the affair was a deadline. Seven days.

"That means you have seven days to make a decision," Peniel explained. "After that, this affair will no longer be available and it is considered failed."

"They will most likely resort to violence to sort out their differences after seven days," Thaergood said. "It's better that we decided for them before that happened."

"Dealing with this affair fairly will also increase public confidence in the royal court," Isabelle added. "It will help improve your reputation as their king."

"What I'm confused about, is why this Olmond fellow takes six months to start the dispute. He should have made his claim before Ethos build his trading post and run his businesses for that long," Jack commented.

"If that happens, I don't think there will be an affair for you to deal with," John said. "Maybe the system intentionally creates such a stupid situation so you have an affair to deal with."

Jack gave John an irritated glance.

"You can always find something to mock about, can't you?" Jeanny said to John.

There was a response button under the story. Jack clicked on it. Four options appeared.

*

1. Support Olmond. Gives Olmond the right to the land and everything on it.

2. Support Ethos. Officiates Ethos' deed and no one is to dispute the land anymore.

3. Destroy the building and then divide the land in half. Gives both Olmond and Ethos an equal share of the land.

4. Deny both of their claims. Confiscate the land and the building to become the kingdom's property.

*

"What is this? A multiple choice test?" Jack remarked. "How do I know the correct answer with such limited information?"

"I say just kick them both. Claim the land as the kingdom's property," John said.

"Though that will earn us an extra building that gives us coin income, that will also most likely earn us the ire from the public," Isabelle said.

"Yeah. You won't know which is the correct answer until you pick them. Merit points will be awarded based on your decision. The most perfect answer might even earn you bonus ruling points," Peniel said and then added, "John's suggestion will most likely reward you the least number of merit points."

John simply shrugged at the two's opinions.

"Hey, there is a fifth option," Jack said.

Under the four options was an empty line where he could type something.

"That is if you want to decide something outside the four given options," Peniel explained. "The perfect answer I mentioned is usually outside the four given answers. The system will judge your decision and reward you accordingly."

"Bloody hell. Like I said, how can I decide with such limited information?" Jack said.

"You can always go to the site and check the case for yourself," John suggested.

"You think I have that much free time?"

"There are only two affairs here, which are considered a few," Peniel said. "There are usually more. It is not practical if you try to involve yourself directly. When ten affairs required your decisions in the span of a few days, you won't be able to go to every site to check them out."

"Do I have to just make a lucky guess for these affairs?" Jack muttered. "I do have a high luck point. Maybe that will help?"

Peniel didn't bother to answer that question.

Suddenly, Jack thought of something. "Hey! Maybe this can be a solution!"

"How?" Jeanny asked.

Jack called John and Jeanny to approach and whispered something to them.

After hearing Jack, John said, "I'm impressed that someone like you can think of this method."

"What the hell do you mean by someone like me?" Jack asked back.

"I will go back and organize everything once we are done here," Jeanny said.

Jack nodded.