Chapter 285: Written Laws
Chapter 285: Written Laws
Minos understood very well the Spiritual Church and the use of religions in the Spiritual World. After all, he had memories related to these factors from the experiences of Henricus Longus.
Because of this, Minos understood that religion was a control mechanism!
Instead of creating harsh laws that only scare ordinary citizens not to have certain attitudes, the ruling class made the advent of religion in the Spiritual World.
It was more efficient to use the idea that Natural Law would punish someone if they did something contrary to the ruling class’s beliefs than just creating some laws that punished these people.
There would always be those who would try to circumvent these laws created by men, either by necessity or by their desire to do so. But when the idea of punishment by Natural Law was put to the test, many would think much more than twice before committing a ‘sin.’
After all, everyone knew that Natural Law was real!
The lightning punishment existed!
Anyway, Minos knew the power that religion had, and he knew that the Spiritual Church used it to its advantage.
Many of the dogmas created by this organization were just bullshit, things to control the standard part of society. After all, no power would allow its status quo to be taken away by mediocre individuals…
And that was why Minos didn’t want any religious acts in his city, nor any buildings of the Spiritual Church. There was no room for two leaders, and he would not be manipulated or ordered by anyone.
He had his ideas of what could and could not be done on the Black Plain, and that was how it should be!
He wasn’t investing in this place because he was a selfless person, but because he was creating his organization. So, he could care and act in a way that would improve the quality of life in his territory. But make a mistake, this wasn’t a democracy!
To face the external threats that Henricus Longus had warned him about, he couldn’t just do it alone. He needed a force that could support him in eventual war.
And for that, he knew that exploiting his population would not be a good thing for him. Instead, the best path was one in which everyone in the Black Plain would prosper, making this place attractive to the extraordinary talents of the Spiritual World.
If he just wanted riches by exploiting his population, he would never have tried to build his force around here. After all, with the inheritance he received, he could already be considered a wealthy person, even in high-level empires!
But he didn’t want such a thing. On the contrary, he wanted to develop the army and this population of the Black Plain to maximize his chances in the future. However, if influential powers like the Spiritual Church entered the territory in the middle of development, it could sabotage Minos’ plans.
Anyway, after hearing Travis’ comment about the Dry City’s written laws, the two men made expressions of surprise. “And there still isn’t?” They wondered.
After all, written laws were quite common in many cities and states in the Spiritual World. It was what regulated activities within cities and states, establishing what could or could not be done, besides, of course, the punishments for each infraction.
Such thing was crucial in living together in society, especially in cities with large populations.
So, these two newcomers to Travis’ city were shocked to learn that there were still no written laws here.
Finally, Carl looked at Travis closely and asked perplexedly. “Are you saying this town had no written laws before?”
“Oh?” Travis was surprised for a moment, seeing that the two didn’t care that the Spiritual Church was banned from this city but that the city didn’t have written laws.
But that was just what was expected. After all, despite having suffered the influence of the church’s actions in their culture, way of being, the two men were not religious. They were, at best, very used to the presence of that organization and some traditions.
That’s why they had bothered to express their opinions on this matter.
Anyway, Travis then shook his head from side to side and replied sincerely. “There were no written laws here before. At least not in the last 20,000 years. Before that, we don’t have much information about the Black Plain.”
The Black Plain had been a miserable place in spiritual energy long before that, but for Travis and the inhabitants of those areas, the oldest information was about 20,000 years ago.
People in this region have always had lower life expectancies due to regional spiritual poverty, so the historical record was much sparser here.
Travis then continued his speech. “The noble families of the Brown Kingdom had not cared about this region since that time. Consequently, for most of these 20,000 years that have passed, the Dry City was governed only by low-ranking representatives, who were only here to do a simple administration of the territory.”
“There was no interest in investing in this place, nor trying to punish certain people who broke royal laws or laws imposed by sovereign families. After all, even to punish someone, you have to spend crystals.”
“But the income in this region was meager, so the royal family itself had withdrawn its laws on this territory. The same happened with the sovereigns who had to administer this region.”
That was common knowledge of people who had grown up in the Dry City. They knew that this place had not been separated from the rest of the kingdom because no one had tried.
There was no point in doing such a thing. As long as the Black Plain was from the Brown Kingdom, locals could travel around the kingdom without paying the entrance tax, which visitors had to pay…
Also, no customs fee was charged on products originating from the rest of the Brown Kingdom, which reached the Black Plain through small merchants.
On the other hand, the Royal family of the Brown Kingdom could not just abandon that territory. Thousands of natives of the realm lived on the Black Plain, and if they left them ultimately, the rest of the region would despise them.
Because of pride, the side of the royal family had not forced independence!
There was no point in sullying their reputation over something so small. After all, the Black Plain, though useless, didn’t cause them any problems.
To govern this region, all they had to do was send someone of low ranking and subordinates without any relevance to administer this place.
However, if the Black Plain inhabitants wanted independence, they would be more than happy to get rid of this dead weight!
Travis then ended his speech as he continued his service on the street they were on. “Because of this, the written laws were forgotten in our city, and no one else tried to bring them back until Mr. Minos decided to do so.”
“I see!” The two agreed simultaneously.
Nail then tried to find out more about the current Dry City. “And do you know what other laws will be established? Besides, of course, the one about religions.”
“So-so. My grandfather didn’t tell me many things about it. Besides this question about religions, he only told me about common things, like restrictions on visitors, criminals, murders, and some punishments. Nothing too detailed.” He said it simply, without sloshing the subject too much.
“But when it is made official, it will be spread all over the city. So, you will know about its at that time.”
Neil then removed another shovel of dirt from the street, throwing it directly into that carriage from before. “That’s good. It would be problematic if I broke some law because I don’t know it, hehehe.”
“Haha, that’s true…”
After that, the groups of janitors continued their work through the streets of the Dry City.
As for why Minos and his team had not yet published the written laws, this was because there was not yet a system to regulate them.
For example, how could a sovereign enforce a law that punishes offenders with temporary imprisonment when there is no prison? Not only that, when there wasn’t even one organization to investigate and one to prosecute these offenders?
Therefore, until the Black Plain developed this regulatory system, the written laws would not be officially released to the population.