Darkness had settled over the Sefira estate. However, one place remained unusually bright—the office of Besil, the patriarch. 0

“Sigh…”1

Various documents and requests for approval were piled on his desk. The most troublesome among them were the numerous requests for archers from multiple regions. These ranged from minor requests for archers to protect crops from wild animals to military requests for a company to be dispatched to strengthen defense around the border. 0

“They want to wear our family down to the bone.”1

Half, if not most, of the support requests were unnecessary. They were clearly part of a petty scheme to disperse the family’s forces and drain its wealth. However, Besil couldn’t simply ignore these requests. Rejecting even a village chief’s request outright would negatively impact public opinion about them, while declining a high-ranking noble’s request without a solid reason could lead to political backlash.0

Besil meticulously sifted through the requests, identifying the ones truly in need of support and the fraudulent ones. He wrote careful rejections for those that were obviously false, trying his best to make them seem plausible. 0

But there were requests even Besil couldn’t easily turn down—those that were undoubtedly false but too significant to ignore. No matter how prestigious the Sefira family was, there were places they couldn’t disregard, such as other noble families of equal standing and the Four Lords.0

After painstakingly sorting through the support requests, Besil...0