An incompetent knight can survive for a long period on bluster alone. Think of modern bosses who have no acumen at technical or logistical concerns but are succ

An incompetent knight can survive for a long period on bluster alone. Think of modern bosses who have no acumen at technical or logistical concerns but are successful in bullying underlings. The business does not fail instantly in most such circumstances, rather it just falls into a gradual decline. The villagers, on the other hand, are used to invaders coming through. Their condition is likely to remain poor either way: The knight is more likely to come through after something happened, rather than preventing it from happening. Most of the daily decision making is up to the community. The knight's recruitment efforts can always come with the promise of gaining wealth and status, which will always encourage some young folks, even if the knight is a bad boss who plans no real rewards. Records that uncover his lies are hard to acquire and most of what you learn will come from rumor instead.