Lucian woke up to shouting outside his window.

  He groaned, pulling the thin blanket over his head. "Five more minutes…"

  The shouting grew louder.

  Before he could even attempt to go back to sleep, his door burst open. Dorian Lockewood, looking as frantic as ever, stumbled into the room, clutching a stack of scrolls. "My lord! There’s chaos in the streets!"

  Lucian cracked one eye open. "There’s always chaos in the streets. It’s called ‘having a town.’"

  Dorian ignored the remark and waved a trembling hand toward the window. "With the tax system abolished, there’s no enforcement for trade disputes, land claims, or even common theft! People don’t know what to do!"

  Lucian sighed and sat up, rubbing his eyes. "So what? Let them figure it out."

  Dorian hesitated. "You mean… let them mediate their own problems? Decentralized law enforcement? A self-governing judicial structure?"

  Lucian yawned. "Sure. If it means I don’t have to do it, then yeah, sounds great."

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  Dorian gasped as if Lucian had just revealed the secrets of the universe. "My lord… this is—this is unprecedented! A system where the people themselves negotiate and uphold justice, without the need for endless bureaucratic oversight?"

  Lucian muttered, "Mhm," already flopping back into his pillow.

  But Dorian was already gone, sprinting down the hall. "The lord has spoken! Justice shall be reformed!"

  Lucian groaned. "Why do I feel like this is going to be another problem later?"

  By noon, Duskwatch had changed.

  With no formal tax collectors or enforcers, the townsfolk had taken matters into their own hands. A group of merchants had set up an impromptu dispute resolution board in the town square, arguing over whose turn it was to hold the "Official Stick of Mediation." Farmers were debating land ownership by drawing lines in the dirt with suspiciously large rakes. And in the marketplace, an elderly woman had smacked a would-be thief over the head with a stale loaf of bread before demanding he work off his crime by sweeping the streets.

  Lucian, standing on the steps of the town hall, observed all this with mild concern.

  "Is… is that man being sentenced to shovel manure because he insulted someone’s mother?"

  Dorian, standing beside him, nodded. "Indeed, my lord! It appears the people are forming their own laws and enforcing them in a way that best suits their needs!"

  Lucian watched as a group of traders settled a dispute over weights and measures by making the accused party drink an entire tankard of water to prove whether their scales were accurate.

  "That doesn’t seem legally sound," he muttered.

  Dorian beamed. "But it’s efficient!"

  Lucian sighed. He had created a legal system based entirely on convenience and public opinion. Surely this wouldn't come back to haunt him.

  Surely.