Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt - Chapter 150
Only Noblemtl
Infinite Reincarnation – Arthur Hurt Chapter 150
27-War Maniac
Arthur tilted his head at the incomprehensible sound.
“why?”
“This guy has been paying a lot of party dues. Even though I told him not to.”
At Fried’s words, Arthur’s gaze turned to Osarin, and Osarin looked embarrassed and shy at the gaze, scratching his head.
This isn’t a compliment… … .
Arthur turned his gaze from Osarin to Fried.
“Isn’t what we’re talking about today a secret?”
“If we were going to have a secret conversation, we wouldn’t have chosen such an open place to meet.”
Arthur nodded at the typical restaurant with tables placed without walls.
Fried offered Arthur a seat and began to talk about this and that. The content was routine. It was about the contradictions and problems of reality centered around the inequality between the commoners and the nobles, and the hardships of commoner politicians struggling to solve it.
Fried summarized it this way:
“Ultimately, the power of the common people must be unified.”
“How?”
“Hope. Hope that their reality can be improved through politics and participation. That will unite the common people.”
“okay.”
Arthur nodded, but he knew that reality was not so easy. Just as the nobles were not all the same, the commoners were not all the same. Could it be that there were no commoners who had gained a lot of profit in the current contradictory system? And would they really want change?
The differences in perspective between the bourgeoisie and the poor workers, the differences in positions between urban and rural people. These two categories that Arthur had thought of were enough to divide them, so it seemed difficult for the common people to gather their strength.
“What do you think, Your Majesty the Hurt?”
“Does my opinion matter to you as a semi-creator?”
“Do you really think that the Junjak is a noble like them? Even if you think so, I think their thoughts are different.”
Arthur responded to those words by putting a piece of vegetable in his mouth and chewing it.
“It doesn’t matter what they think. I just know that I’m in a position where it’s hard for me to think like the common people.”
“Is that so?”
Fried stared blankly at Arthur for a moment, then nodded and continued speaking.
“I guess that can’t be helped. Lord Hurt is quite close to the nobles. To be honest, there are very few cases like yours. No, as far as I know, you’re the only one.”
No matter how successful a commoner may be, he or she cannot become a noble. No, it is possible, but is it as difficult as a camel passing through the eye of a needle?
For example, if one’s grandfather achieved great success and received a Danseungjeok, if one’s father achieved great success and received a noble title, and if one maintained and nurtured the family’s fortune in one’s own generation, and if one raised one’s children well and married them into a prestigious and time-honored family, only then could one become a noble recognized by the nobles.
Until then, even if one had inherited a title, they were still considered to be half-commoners. That was the general view of the nobles, and that view could not help but be reflected in their attitudes.
But Arthur said this.
“I was lucky. Isn’t it because I met great people who respected me even though I was a commoner?”
It was wrapped in humility, but it was a saying that not all nobles were the same. But Fried saw that there was more to it.
I thought that the reason why Arthur Hurt was treated so well was because he had a very distinctive difference. Look at his table manners. He was more noble than most noblemen that Fried had seen, and even more noble than the fallen nobles who had not been properly educated.
As a politician, Fried also met many people from various classes. One thing he felt there was that the most intuitive criteria for distinguishing people from each other were language and behavior.
In other words, the criteria for distinguishing us from them are whether they dress similarly and speak and act similarly. The saying that manners maketh man is nothing more than a way of making the discriminatory prejudice that they are not the same as us because they do not have manners (as we know them).
If manners maketh man? Are you saying that those who do not even have the opportunity to learn such manners are not even human?
From that perspective, Arthur was a ‘person’ with good manners. It was as if he had been born into a noble family and was very accustomed to aristocratic manners.
Perhaps the nobles who met Arthur felt a cognitive dissonance between his words and actions and his origins? No, he clearly said he was from a poor farming family, so why did he seem so noble? Was he the illegitimate child of a noble family?
In fact, there was some basis to the theory that Arthur’s meteoric rise to success was due to him being an illegitimate child from a noble family.
Anyway, Arthur’s close friendship with the nobles was probably due to those manners. Fried was convinced of this, and it wasn’t much different from the truth. Arthur had the experience and ability to apply the principle of birds of a feather flocking together to his worldly skills.
But Fried didn’t bother to mention that point. He had something else to say.
“So, I would like to ask you, Mr. Junja, for some advice.”
“What is it?”
“I want to abolish the noble subsidy.”
“… … ?”
What is this guy talking about now?
When Arthur gave him that look, Fried Papaka nodded and continued speaking. The words coming out of his mouth were the necessity of abolishing or reducing the royal support for the fallen nobles, that is, the noble support fund.
It had both practical benefits and justifications: a boost to national finances, a propaganda campaign to appease the discontent of the common people, and a warning about the moral hazard of those who simply rely on bloodlines and family connections to do nothing.
And Arthur was puzzled by that story.
“Why are you asking me that?”
First of all, Arthur found something lacking in what Fried had said, so why would he ask him for advice on such an important policy?
Fried answered.
“Of all the people I know, he is the one who knows the most about the situation of the poor commoners, the bourgeoisie, the fallen aristocracy, and even the powerful aristocrats.”
There are cases where people from poor, commoner backgrounds have become successful on their own.
However, there were very few cases of Arthur’s success, and none that Fried knew of who got along well with all classes. So it was clear that he was someone worth asking for advice on the bill to abolish the support of fallen nobles.
Arthur frowned. He didn’t want to get involved, but he couldn’t easily refuse after recalling the series of events that had unfolded after he had ignored Senator Fried’s previous plea for help.
Starting with the introduction of the financial tax bill, the situation in which the king’s power was strengthened and he worked hard to preserve the right to issue currency, thereby promoting the national economy as the king’s hands and feet.
Looking at Fried Papaka himself, it doesn’t seem like he proposed a financial tax to check the privileges of the nobles in order to strengthen the royal power. Perhaps he himself did not anticipate that the current situation would turn out like this. The people’s assembly would have a reason to exist only if the power of the nobles was maintained.
Anyway, Arthur considered Congressman Fried to be a political variable that could go anywhere if left alone. So, wouldn’t it be okay to set a direction here that would be somewhat predictable? That was the idea that came to Arthur’s mind.
But before making a decision, there was one thing I had to check.
“What does this bill seek to accomplish?”
“Wouldn’t that reduce the inequality of rights between commoners and nobles?”
Royalist or republican? Fried Papaka’s political leanings were in a gray area in that regard. He was too dissatisfied with the king’s decisions to be considered royalist, but he did not go against the king’s authority to be considered republican.
I don’t know what his true nature is, but for now, he’s putting forth the superficial pretext of trying to level the playing field between the commoners and the nobles. Arthur decided to go along with it for now.
“Inequality of rights… … Aren’t you looking at it too one-dimensionally?”
“One-dimensional?”
“Rights inevitably come with certain things. Do you guess?”
“It’s a duty and a responsibility.”
“That’s right. Then wouldn’t it be right to place the responsibility on the scales as well?”
“… … It’s too complicated.”
Fried narrowed his eyes. The moment you add the weight of responsibility and duty to the scale of class, not just the weight of rights, the criteria for judgment become too complicated.
When the number of interrelated elements increases from two to three, does the complexity become unpredictable? That was the Three-Body Problem.
“That’s right. It definitely becomes harder to convince the public.”
Arthur’s casual remark made Fried’s eyes sink. His words about not providing subsidies from our taxes to the fallen nobles were very simple and easy to understand.
But that is why the context behind the support of the fallen nobles is ignored. That is, because of the support of the fallen nobles, the king can form a pro-royalist force and keep the nobles in check.
If the support of the fallen aristocracy were abolished, which class would the king have to cut off his hands and feet from? Probably the common bourgeoisie?
Although it is not certain that Fried Papaka had considered the abolition of the support of the fallen aristocracy with such a view in mind, Arthur would be hard pressed to assert that not a single member of the bourgeoisie supporting the People’s Assembly and its members had thought of such a change in the political environment.
In any case, the king, who knew the context of the support for the fallen nobles, had a hard time abolishing it easily. If the finances were insufficient, then perhaps now was the time to introduce a kind of financial innovation by introducing the scalon and see the results?
And if you abolish it, the talent pool will shrink. There are many flowers because there are many grasses. It would be a shame to give up the talent pool that is working hard with a strong will for success and the revival of the family.
Rather, the question of duty and responsibility mentioned by Arthur would be more to the king’s taste.
If he personally singled out the fallen nobles who were just taking the money while he was giving them support and cut off the money supply, people would think he was being rude, so if he brought this up first in the People’s Assembly, there was a much greater chance that they would pretend to lose and just accept it. From the king’s perspective, those bastards who were just taking the money wouldn’t look good either.
This wasn’t such a bad idea from the People’s Assembly’s perspective either. It’s hard to draw a big picture of replacing all the talents who would become the king’s right-hand men with those from the bourgeoisie, but in any case, the People’s Assembly’s agenda did bring about real change.
But the reason Fried is only licking his lips is probably because such an agenda item doesn’t have enough impact on the people to make them react with, “To him?” … … ‘So the People’s Assembly is doing its job’, maybe? After all, the fruits of the effort will go to the king who made the decision.
Fried Papaka said.
“The recognition of the People’s Assembly is important. It must remain in the public mind, if only to represent the interests of the common people.”
Arthur nodded at those words. It was not a wrong statement. The existence of the People’s Assembly, which partially implemented popular politics, was ultimately based on public support.
But the public’s nature was not so good.
“But giving them something to chew on doesn’t seem like a very good idea.”
“What are you talking about, biting?”
“These are fallen nobles who will become no better than commoners when their support money is cut off. It’s a fascinating story that the public can’t help but be interested in.”
Such fallen aristocrats were a good subject for publicity, as the Minhoe prevented the bloodshed of taxes from being poured on them.