Super Righteous Player-Chapter 1239 - 276: The Merciful Tyrant

Facing the sudden hostility from Earl Melvin, Dmitry was momentarily stunned.

He first felt vigilant—

Because this provocation was completely meaningless.

If Earl Melvin had not divulged this information, one could assume they were merely gathering a population.

The Melvin family indeed required a large population.

Because their own family actually had hardly any living members left...

According to information provided by Annan, the Melvin family had always been secretly creating "living corpses" using divine youth.

In their family, those who managed to survive eventually almost all became "Elders"—just like Sumarokov Melvin.

People of such status would definitely not work menial jobs. However, being the third largest family in Winter, Melvin family’s territories and industries required a considerable number of people to manage.

Assigning these important positions to outsiders was certainly not reassuring, yet if assigned to their own people... there were not enough of them. Generally, by the age of thirty, they would be made into living corpses, and the young people’s experience was not enough to take care of these industries properly.

Thus, the Melvin family had always been very keen on the education industry.

There are at least eight universities in Winter, all invested in by the Melvin family. And in terms of primary education, over two-thirds of the Orthodox Church schools were invested in by the Melvin family.

The Duchy of Winter had no middle schools—they only divided education into two types, one was the schools run by the Orthodox Church responsible for teaching literacy, arithmetic, reading, writing, basic law, and "Tradition"; the other was the university which taught real knowledge.

The Orthodox Church schools were ungraded by age, and one could attend at any time. As long as you had a name, from single-digit ages to fifty years old, anyone could enroll at any time.

According to the rules, Orthodox Church schools usually did not charge fees. Generally, the local Orthodox Church was responsible for providing the bulk of the funding.

And the Church also enjoyed benefits—when these students who had completed basic education were about to graduate, the local bishop could come over and inquire in advance if anyone was willing to work for the Church.

If they were interested, they would have to pass the varied tests set by different local Churches.

For instance, in Noah, one needs to be good at arithmetic, smiling, and engaging in conversation; in the United Kingdom, one needs an artistic talent... while in Winter, one needs to have a talent for law and mediation skills.

The best graduates were prioritized by the Church for selection, followed by the shareholders who invested in the Church schools. These school directors could also send their companies to recruit a batch of people.

Generally, both these companies and the Church were in high demand, so they could raise the assessment standards and take in the best batch of students.

The specific rules differed by country, but in Winter, the rule was that the sum of graduates taken by other shareholders had to match the number taken by the Church. This can also be seen as the Church always holding a 51% share in all Church schools, with the remainder distributed based on their shareholding ratios.

And the Melvin family had always been a major investor in the Church schools.

In two-thirds of the Church schools in the Duchy of Winter, the Melvin family held over 5% of the shares. Among these schools with the Melvin name, close to half of them had a shareholding percentage exceeding 50% of all shareholders—not counting the Church’s 50%.

It is commonly believed that this is because the Melvin family looked worldwide for marital alliances, and sold off all their children.

But that’s not actually the case.

Those who were "sold out"... were actually almost the luckiest batch.

Dmitry realized that this statement by Sumarokov Melvin was actually a test.

He was testing him... through this nearly provocative manner, to see if he was aware of the real reason why the Melvin family was short of people.

So Dmitry raised his head and stared deeply at Sumarokov Melvin.

"Earl Melvin, please allow me to confirm..."

The man with black hair that reached his waist and brows that seemed perpetually furrowed spoke in a deep, rumbling voice: "Do you truly understand what you’re saying?"

Dmitry’s voice was not particularly loud, even his tone could be considered calm.

But the sound rolling deep in his throat buzzed one’s heart tremblingly, like a lion awoken, emitting a heart-shaking roar.

He was neither a Transcendent nor a true Grand Duke—yet he was, after all, a Cardinal.

Dmitry possessed a unique demeanor.

It was a dignified aura of complete mastery over areas he touched and excelled in—yet Dmitry’s expertise was in governance and politics.

Even as a silver-tier Transcendent, Sumarokov Melvin’s pupils trembled under Dmitry’s lightly heavy glance.

Sumarokov couldn’t help but tense up.

He remained silent for a short while, then managed a smile on his face as if taking a step back, "What are you talking about...

"Aren’t orphans the most troubling group here? I’m volunteering to take on this trouble for you."

What Earl Melvin said wasn’t false indeed.

In Winter, infants are not considered "human beings" but rather cubs, a kind of "beast". They refer to these children as "infants." This belief is somewhat akin to not considering eggs as chickens.

A child must be self-sufficient—specifically, able to stand upright, speak, eat on their own, dress themselves, and cook their own meals without starving to death alone at home—to be considered "a person".

The usual time to be named is around five to six years old. Sometimes, if a child is particularly precocious, they can be named earlier.

Some uneducated villagers even reverse this tradition, believing that "children only possess human intellect after they receive a name"; if a child meeting the standards is not given a name in the ritual, they will always remain a beast.

Because some children are slow to develop or just have troublesome temperaments, they might not receive their names until they are seven or eight, or even eight or nine years old. Sometimes, the parents, out of kindness, might name their children before they are self-sufficient.

But usually, these children tend to be less sensible—specifically, they act like spoiled brats. Some elders believe this is because the sacred ritual was disrupted, akin to pulling a butterfly directly out of its chrysalis.

They think that orphans who do not understand etiquette, do not know the rules, and are as cruel as beasts are so because they weren’t named by their elders.

But in reality, it is certainly because no one educated them.

Nonetheless, this kind of upbringing can’t exactly be considered wrong... Because, in effect, it means that each family patiently nurtures their child before naming, at least to a sensible level where they can pass inspections and be granted a name by the Elder.

Generally, the time for naming is the birthday. Local Elders, unless genuinely unwell, will definitely attend the "infant’s" birthday.

If they perform well on their birthday, appearing smart and sensible, they will be named by the Elder. From that day forward, they can be considered a person.

Of course... these rules, in fact, the higher up and more educated one is, the more enlightened they tend to be.

For example, the name Maria was given by the grandmother; while Dmitry was named by Ivan—of course, it was also unified by the grandmother.

Annan was even more impressive... his name was actually chosen by himself.

It is just publicly claimed that it was given by Grand Duke Ivan, leaving Ivan to take the blame—after all, in the Duchy of Winter, "Annan" is actually a girl’s name. It is read as "Anna", meaning "kindness".

Nowadays, this Duke known as "Kindness," due to his previous actions in the North Lands, has been regarded by the national nobility as the biggest Tyrant in nearly a century.