Book 9: Chapter 115: Cycle (2)

At the First Degree of Severity, the noble was convicted of being a detriment to society. Their conduct was unbefitting of a noble role, and their title was stripped from them.Losing their family name, these nobles became commoners. However, knowing Dyon, this punishment wasn’t all it seemed on the surface. He wasn’t the kind of man to separate nobles and commoners in such a fashion, nor did the Mortal Alliance had such classist biases.The most poignant point here was that their family name was stripped from them. Essentially, they lost the right to be among the Official Clans of the Mortal Alliance, and thus couldn’t benefit from such status.One had to remember that the Order Ranked Clans of the Mortal Alliance had many special privileges, namely the appointment of Officials to the Mortal Meeting. Without being able to appoint Officials, a Clan would lose much of their power.The more people a Clan lost, the more difficult it became to accumulate merit. And the more difficult it became to accumulate merit, the harder it would be for a Clan to become and official 1^st Tier Clan, let alone climbing and reaching above that.People could only watch as more and more nobles were ejected from the Ragnor Clan and stripped of their names.Those who understood the purpose of this spectacle couldn’t help but feel a cold shiver take hold of their spines. Remembering Dyon’s performance during the War God Commander trial, they confirmed that this ruler was much more than his brawn.In addition to the Ragnors, there were other noble Clans of Odin City which were weeded out and crippled. Though not as prosperous as the Ragnors, they too had their own power, but could only watch it slowly whittle away.However… This was just the beginning.Though the punishment for the First Grade was severe, it could still be recovered from. With enough merits, those stripped of their names could reclaim them or even form Clans of their own by various means.Dyon refused to allow these Clans to use wealth to take their titles back, so many merits such as donations were barred from counting toward their redemption. Instead, they had to provide benefits militarily, socially and culturally.But… Redemption from the higher Grades was next to impossible if not completely impossible.The Second Grade of Severity followed the very same punishments at the first with a few key additions. These were nobles found to be a detriment to society, both as nobles and as people. They were scourges of society who sought their own benefits, even at the price of the life of others. These people were near irredeemable.Not only were they stripped of their titles, but they were degraded to the role of Army Mules.The Mules of the Mortal Alliance Army were introduced during the first Mortal Meeting.[Author’s Note: Don’t worry, I haven’t mentioned this until now].The existence of such a thing functions as one of the most severe punishments available to Dyon. These individuals acted as the vanguard of the army and they weren’t allowed to leave this role until they accumulated enough military merits to do so.Unfortunately, the vast majority would die before they gained the right to cleanse themselves of this status.Maybe if it was just this, the punishment would be alright and still manageable, but to Dyon, those he graded so severely were individuals he looked down upon from the depths of his soul. The only reason he didn’t directly kill them was because there were still wars against the Uidah and Pakal to fight, he couldn’t put his people at risk while these scum got easy deaths.If by some miracle they survived until they gathered enough Mule Merit – with the status of mule every action counts for a quarter of what it usually would, thus the moniker Mule Merit – they would become commoners, unable to ever join Official Clans or Sects.In addition, these individuals would be unable to join the Business Empire system either. Currently, the Mortal Alliance had many individuals who couldn’t form Clans of their own instead attempt to create Business Empires. In fact, Eve’s little sister was one such woman.In the future, Business Empires wouldn’t be any weaker than Official Clans, especially in matters of wealth, so how could Dyon leave them a path to prosperity? They didn’t deserve it.However, Dyon didn’t completely cut off their hope, or else would they fight properly as mules? He allowed them the possibility to become First Lieutenants – leaders of 1000 men. With this, they’d have enough wealth to be satisfied, but wouldn’t gain enough power to harm others again.Of course, this was another clever ploy by Dyon. By making their only path hidden within the military, they’d be forced to serve until they could retire if they wanted decent lives for themselves.It was only natural that hearing such punishments, the nobles could only grow more and more nervous. If any had rejections toward the first grade punishments, they could only swallow their anger at the second. What if their attitude made Dyon grade them more harshly?And… If the second grade was so bad… What of the third?As expected, Dyon’s punishment for Third Grade Severity made their skin crawl…