"According to the Act of Succession, Morssen Ferd's eldest son, Albert Ferd, and second son, Claude Ferd, have come of age and signed a declaration to renounce their right to inheritance. Therefore, according to Morssen Ferd's will, the rightful heir is his third son, Bloweyk Ferd.
If there are no objections, please sign your names on this will execution certificate for notarization. "
Mr. Kauf, the judicial director of the town hall, solemnly placed the execution certificates of the three wills on the table. Several of Mr. Morssen's good friends, such as Mr. Thomas, the former head of the police force, stepped forward and signed their names on the certificates one by one.
Kauf was an oddity in the town hall. He didn't have many friends in Whitestag and had always been a loner.
However, this was also one of the characteristics of the kingdom's judicial officials. After Stellin IX ascended to the throne, the most praised reform of the kingdom was the independence of the judicial system. It was no longer under the jurisdiction of the local officials in order to ensure that the law was fair and just.
After everyone signed, Kauf took out the town hall's judicial seal and stamped it on the three will execution certificates. Then, he picked up a pen and signed his name and date on the seal.
He then handed one of the wills to Claude and kept the other two in his pouch.
From that moment on, the eight-year-old Bloweyk Ferd became the head of House Ferd.
But that wasn't all. Kauf took out another document. "Morssen Ferd's estate consists of a four-storey red brick house in the style of Hoggo and a personal debt worth 500 crowns.
Since Bloweyk is still a minor, his estate will be managed by his mother, Lady Bertisia Ferd, until he reaches the age of 18.
If there are no objections, please sign your names on it as a witness. "
So everyone signed their names again.
Claude found the world to be rather despicable. Patriarchal dominance was a common occurrence.
It was just like how he found out after his father's suicide that his mother and sister didn't have the right to inherit.
In this world, females were only vassals to males.
For example, the Aueran Inheritance Act stated that males had priority in inheritance. Only if the male heir gave up his right of inheritance would it be passed to the female heir of the family, or if there was no male heir in the family, the female heir would have the right of inheritance.
If Bloweyk, Claude's younger brother, was of age, he would relinquish his right to the inheritance. In that case, Claude's mother and sister, Angelina, would inherit Morssen's fortune.
To Claude, the extreme inequality between men and women was nothing out of the ordinary in his mother's eyes. It was just like when a woman married a commoner, she could only be a commoner. If she married a citizen, she would be the duchess of the nation and enjoy the same privileges.
After his father committed suicide, his mother also lost her right to be the Madam of the Nation and became a commoner.
Kauf picked up the note and announced, "Since the debtor, Morssen Ferd, has committed suicide, his debt of 500 crowns will be inherited by his legal heir, Bloweyk Ferd.
According to the Debt Act of the kingdom, since the heir, Bloweyk Ferd, was still underage, the debt would be frozen and would only be cleared when the heir came of age.
Due to the large amount of the debt, the heir would have to pay it back within ten years of coming of age. "
That was the real reason Sir Fux was so furious when he heard about Morssen's suicide. He had been toyed with by Morssen with his own life.
According to the laws of the kingdom, the debt of 500 crowns could only be repaid after Bloweyk came of age.
Bloweyk was only eight years old. He would have to wait another ten years before he came of age.
Due to the frozen debt, the red brick house would still belong to House Ferd and all the rental income would go to Bloweyk.
Also, due to the large amount of the debt, after the relationship between the creditor and the new debtor was determined, the repayment period was set to be within ten years of the debtor's coming of age.
In other words, Sir Fux, as the creditor, would have to wait at least another twenty years before he could get his hands on the debt.
Sir Fux was already sixty-one years old and he didn't know if he could live another twenty years.
The only good thing was that the debt had been re-notarized and recognized by the laws of the kingdom, proving that the debt, worth up to five hundred crowns, really existed and was not an unsecured promissory note that he had tricked Mr. Morssen into writing.
When Stellin IX ascended to the throne, he had spent a lot of time with the people and understood their suffering.
Therefore, when he was carrying out the financial reform of the kingdom, he forcefully introduced the Creditor's Rights Act, which tied up the wild horse of excessive private lending activities. He put an end to the tragedy of countless families being ruined and killed because of the large-scale private lending operations without collateral. He greatly restricted the increasingly rampant private usury operations, cleaned up the kingdom's financial market, and laid the foundation for the establishment of the national bank and the issuance of the standard universal currency.
The five hundred crowns promissory note was an unsecured loan. With the Debt Act, it became the most unsecured loan. No creditor among the people would be willing to sign such a note.
However, Sir Fux didn't dare to let Morssen put down the mortgage for fear that it would alert him.
Besides, he only wanted insurance for his investment and didn't expect the merchant fleet to be in trouble.
In all honesty, Sir Fux had hoped for the fleet to return safely so that he could make a fortune.
Unfortunately, his dreams of making a fortune were dashed. That was why he wanted to use the promissory note to recoup his losses. That was why he asked Bidlir Blanche, the boss of Blacksnake, to collect the debt.
His plan was to rely on the notoriety of Bill the Butcher to intimidate Mr. Morssen into giving up all his property.
Sir Fux had long been interested in the Ferd family's four-storey red-brick mansion.
As the only councilor in Whitestag, Sir Fux felt that it was beneath his status to live in a manor outside of town.
It was easy enough to buy a piece of land in town and build a luxurious residence, but a new one would have no foundation. Whitestag's oldest and most famous red-brick mansion was the most suitable for him to use as his residence.
Sir Fux had always felt that Morssen's conversion of the red-brick mansion into apartments was a disgrace to the reputation of the Ferd family.
Only, he had sent on behalf of Mr. Morssen to ask him whether he would let the great red brick house, and had been flatly refused by Mr. Morssen.
Now that the opportunity presented itself, Sir Fux had made up his mind to take the house for himself and turn it into his own residence.
However, he didn't expect Morssen to be so decisive and take advantage of the lack of collateral on the promissory note to ruin Sir Fux's plans with his own suicide.
Sir Fux could only imagine how Morssen's spirit must be mocking him right now. You want my house? Sure, but you'll have to wait another twenty years …
What pained Sir Fux the most was that, as a creditor, he had to ensure the safety of the new debtor, Bloweyk, before he came of age.
The kingdom's Creditor's Act stated that if the new debtor died an unnatural death while the debt was frozen, the debt would be nullified and wouldn't be assumed by the new heir.
That law caused a huge debate in the council back then. The opposition was split evenly between those who supported and those who opposed it.
However, as unsecured lending was rampant among the people, there were many cases of unscrupulous creditors killing debtors in an attempt to pass the debt on to heirs who could pay it back.
There were also cases of creditors colluding with the underworld to murder debtors and selling their wives to brothels.
In the end, with Stellin IX's unyielding support, the council passed the law on the third vote.
From then on, almost all unsecured debtors became masters. Their catchphrase was, "I'll die for you to see …"
The enactment and passing of the Creditor's Act was a nightmare for all Aueran lenders, especially those who borrowed without collateral. All of them suffered heavy losses.
But for the kingdom, this stopped the trend of unsecured loans and allowed the financial lending business to return to the right path.
Now, even loan sharks needed collateral before they were willing to lend money.
Kauf took out four copies of the loan agreement from his bag and placed them on the table. As his mother was bedridden from her grief over his father's suicide, Claude signed the agreement as the new debt agent and guarantor. He pulled Bloweyk over and rubbed red ink on his right thumb before pressing it on the agreement.
Bloweyk didn't know what Morssen's suicide meant to him. All he knew was that many people had come to the house with solemn expressions on their faces.
His mother and sister were crying as well. Claude took care of everything inside and out. His big brother, who usually loved him the most, was now abnormally silent, which scared him a lot.
Even though he didn't quite understand it, he was eight years old and knew that something terrible had happened. So, he hugged the snowhound quietly in a corner and did whatever Claude told him to do.
"Ask the creditors to sign," Kauf said.
The boss of Blacksnake, Bidlir Blanche, finally got his chance to take the field. He had never seen or experienced such a scene before.
He had seen his fair share of dead people in the past, but he had never seen anyone die in such a grand manner in the slums. Yes, it was grand. Most people bought a thin coffin and sent it to the church's graveyard, dug a hole, and had a priest recite a few prayers. The people who sent them off were only a dozen or so relatives and friends.
However, he didn't expect the scene to be so grand after the former administrative head Morssen's suicide. Even he was shocked. The head of justice, Mr. Kauf, personally came out to witness the execution of the will, confirming the heir, and revising the debt agreement. This left Bidlir Blanche in awe and unease. He even had a thought that his life wouldn't have been in vain if he died in such a scene.
But he didn't think he would be stopped by Kauf. "Jarl Blanche, you aren't a creditor. You have no right to sign."
"B-but I have a contract personally written by Sir Fux!"
Bidlir Blanche hurriedly took out the letter of authorization that Fawkes's fasting butler had given him.
Kauf shook his head. "I'm sorry, but you aren't a direct relative of Sir Fux. You don't have the right to accept the contract.
Please inform Sir Fux that according to the kingdom's laws, if the creditor doesn't sign the contract after the debt is renegotiated, it means that he's voluntarily renouncing the debt. "
Bidlir Blanche rushed out of the room and grabbed one of his men. He had him rush to Fawkes Manor and ask Sir Fux to sign the new contract.
He didn't dare to make the decision on his own.
An hour later, Sir Fux finally appeared at the door.
He didn't want to come, but not coming would mean that the debt was gone. Even if he had to wait 20 years to collect the debt, it was better than nothing. It was a huge sum of 500 crowns, so he came in the end.