A Village on the Road
The Eastern Plains is nominally the Empire’s land, but it’s abandoned by the Empire. If there is free land, it is a place untouched by tenant farmers who pack up agricultural equipment and household goods and go to open up the land.
It was not their own will that the beasts settled in such a place, but because they were pushed out by humans. However, it seems that the common sense we know has become a little outdated knowledge.
“Is that a slash-and-burn village?”
We ran into a village that looked like we were running through the mountains. They don’t need to be provided with a bed or food, just to talk or ask someone who knows the way.
It would be nice if I could get a map or something. Of course, I wasn’t expecting much. Maps are also prioritized around cities where there is a lot of demand and money.
“Rangwang?”
The princess looked at Ms. Kisea and asked, but Ms. Kisea didn’t answer. It seems that you are still not angry. In the end, we decided to check it out for ourselves.
“Am I at the time of the Continental War, five hundred years ago now?”
This is the impression that the princess gave out as she looked around the village. It was a village built by poor people who doubted that they would have a sip of milk for tomorrow, let alone a map.
Even in slasher villages, vigilantes guard the entrance, but there was nothing like that in this village, which is closer to a refugee camp than a village.
“What do you want? what do you want We have nothing.”
The skinny old woman who was sitting at the entrance of the village muttered.
“It doesn’t look like a normal horse to see the luster flowing, and it’s not something anyone can ride. There is nothing in our village that would be coveted by those who roam on horseback like this.”
“Grandma. Is your body okay?”
“When you grow old, you must die. There is no work.”
As I got off the horse and got closer, a stench stung my nostrils. Even from that old woman and from this town, there was something that could be called a stench. Lack of clean water?
Rokawa Kisea, who has a nice nose, couldn’t stand it and frowned. The princess also stopped covering her nose. Then, a scruffy child, who must have been five years old, staggered from afar and grabbed the old woman’s sleeve. And he murmured as if he were suffocating.
“grandmother. bread. grandmother…”
“The bread to eat and die was also salty.”
The old woman just turned her head. A girl quietly walked and stood next to the boy crying and sipping bread. Judging by her height, it seemed that she was probably the older sister of that boy.
“Hey, eat this.”
As if sorry for her, the princess also got off her horse. Then he pulled out a loaf of bread from the ugly jar and held it out slowly.
It was brought from the royal court, so it is a soft bread with plenty of sugar and butter. The child who smelled the bread stretched out his hand. But the child’s grandmother, no one else, took the hand and lowered it again.
“Son, would you like to eat this bread? As a matter of fact, the mind is easily exhausted, and the years pass quickly. Now death was near. Today we bought their traveler’s sympathy and received a loaf of bread, but can we hope for such a good thing tomorrow?”
Still, as the child struggled to give up the bread, the sister girl quietly exhorted the child.
“rug. Let’s go back to sleep with my sister. now…”
The princess who offered the bread looked at the children blankly. It was as if he never thought that he would not receive bread.
“Your grandma is right. The mind that used to be intelligent quickly fades, and time passes without waiting. So, why don’t you live today even more?”
“I’ve seen this kind of thing in my life, isn’t it better to die? foreign dignitaries. Don’t worry, just go. we are being punished You should starve to death.”
“Why do you think so, can I ask you a question?”
huh. The old woman snorted and replied back.
“Since I abandoned my people and ran away, it is natural for me to be like this. If I had died at that time, it would not have been so difficult today.”
“Are you abandoning your people?”
Without a word, the old woman took off her hat. The islands were not this cold, but the closer we got to the eastern plains, the colder the days got. That’s why, all the residents of this place were wearing hats.
When the hat disappeared, the ears that had been hidden in its place were visible. animal ears. Among the dogs, I saw the ears of an animal that people didn’t like.
“Have you ever heard of the Westin people? In fact, it was more commonly referred to as the rattlesnake. The prisoners always say that humans discriminate against us. Then I say Who is really discriminating? That’s why I hate you humans. But, I hate wolves even more.”
Rocca and Kisea flinched. The old woman glanced at them both, then looked at me again. It was clearly felt that he did not want to even speak with the wolf.
“After agreeing to protect us, he was the first to run away. what a wolf It was a dog with a tail down. Well, who would have known? The wolf went, the tiger came. We thought the tiger was the liberator, but it wasn’t. it wasn’t So I hate tigers even more.”
“This old man is a mouth with a hole in it! Only on the subject of a mouse!”
The princess desperately stopped Kisea-san running away. Rocca folded her arms and looked at the old woman as if she wanted to listen a little more.
After thinking for a while, I made a firefly crystal fruit. Kisea-san, who had been screaming for something, took advantage of the gap in her mouth and put the crystal fruit in it.
“Eup, Eup!”
Kisea-san shut her mouth at once at the tingling sweetness of her tongue. I savored the juice in my mouth without swallowing it as much as possible. As if he had forgotten to be angry any longer, he indulged in the Firefly Crystal Fruit. The old woman looked at me with puzzled eyes and asked.
“It produces fruit in empty air. Are you a wizard?”
“It’s a priest.”
“priest? Oh, I see now.”
You suddenly become cynical. You made a big mistake.
“I understand why you insist on talking to this old man whose body is all he has. You seem to want to propagate in this town. Arthur, Arthur. Just pass it on to the person above. No matter how urgent your faith is, believers should watch and listen carefully.”
“I am not here to speak good words. I’m just here to do a good job.”
It is not His teachings that propagate and induce worship. He just commands you to do it.
And he gave me the means to do it. Divine Power, Power, and Miracles.
Not all good words, but good things to share. You can tell just by looking at the reviving spring water. If I had a spring the size of the sea by myself, what would I use it for?
Divinity must be directed to the lowest. This is exactly where I should be.
“I came to light a candle to light the darkness.”
He took a candle and lit it. The candles in the sanctuary flickered. I just set the candle in front of the old woman. The warm warmth of a single candle pushed away the cold wind and cold.
“I have come to water the parched land with springs.”
The noise of the earth vibrating is not necessary. With a quiet, clear sound, a spring rose. Clear water gushed up quietly and became a stagnant spring.
“I have come to deliver bread for the hungry.”
A power I’ve been using for a really long time.
A clay oven swelled up. It looks like a mound with a hole in it made by combing with mud.
It can be made of mud or sand. Or you can make it out of stone. The fire pit is just an appearance that contains power.
He lit the fireplace with candles. A small amount of spring water was sprinkled on the soil to make mud.
The clay was combed into bread-like shapes and then placed in an oven and baked. It doesn’t burn even if you bake it for a long time, and it doesn’t get overcooked if you bake it a little. Approximately one minute is sufficient. It is the Lord’s consideration for those who are so hungry that they can’t even wait for the time to bake bread.
The children who smelled the bread wrinkled their noses. When I opened the oven, mud and sand were all over the place, and well-baked bread appeared. Surprisingly, the children reached out for bread.
He took one bite at a time, and his expression became strange. I knew it would.
“It doesn’t taste… it doesn’t.”
Not that it tastes weird, it really isn’t. That bread has the closest taste to the word tasteless. The texture is more like a pudding than bread, so it’s not something you can eat when you’re not hungry.
Still, it’s much more nutritious than the star candy that Roca buys so much. Three meals a day If you eat this bread alone, you can maintain good health.
Because it has no taste, this bread is usually not eaten as is, but with salt. That way it tastes salty. When she took out the salt mill, the old woman’s complexion changed.
“Are you really giving all of this?”
“sure.”
“Then I can’t say no. I didn’t know I would get such a favor from a traveler. So, what do you want? Don’t tell me you don’t want anything from me. You are old enough to know that nothing is free in this world.”
I just gave the Lord’s power, not my strength, where it was supposed to be.
that’s what you want If there is such a thing, it is asking you not to forget the favor you received today.
Yes, I wish for reconciliation. I wanted you to think you were in debt. However, I did not wish to repay the favor by limiting it to me.
One day, when I met people in need of their help, I just hoped to pay off the current debt. I was just doing my own thing, not doing anything to be appreciated.
“Don’t forget your debts and pay them back to others? I really want a lot. First of all, what is it? But where are you travelers headed?”
The old woman ate the bread and woke up. When I told him we were going to the Eastern Plains, his expression changed.
“It’s good to know. On the board where the people who were there also come out, are you going to gala in a place like that?”
“I still have something I need to hear.”
“Then, just take a look and leave immediately. Now it is not a place for people to live.”
Hold my hand and beg He didn’t finish it in one go, as if he didn’t lose his mind. You have been asked several times out of necessity.
“The Eastern Plains has become strange. Everything has changed since Epirna came to power. I don’t know what the rest of them are doing now, but they’re definitely not going to get along.”
