Chapter 233 – 227 the Road to Ouling
Fortunately, the village was not far.
After going down the hill and running along the river for about 3 hours, I began to see Daegyo Bridge in the distance.
At the same time, I could see a series of people, caravans, and wagons moving along the road on the far horizon of the curved plain.
It was only after witnessing this that Hwanin realized that he had taken the wrong path from the beginning.
“It looks like the road leading to the East Gate of Farghest leads to Ouling.”
In other words, the south gate they went out was the road to Crabbury.
Hearing Hwanin’s muttering, Anne was a little dumbfounded.
=Wow, then we were going through a place where there was no road? Somehow the road was rough!=
= Think good. Thanks to you, you were able to get beasts, beast hides, bones, and meat, right? I was able to make friends with the children.=
When Yurupa smiled and scratched Kura’s neck, she cried and shook her tail feathers as if she was happy.
True to the word, Anne and Yurpa were able to build a considerable intimacy with Kuffin and Kura.
Since both of them had great riding skills, I was able to quickly become friends with these two because of Kue’s habit of liking to run with someone.
While the party was doing that, Isilite, who was staring with strained eyes at the bridge across the river in the distance, asked in a slightly confident voice.
=Hey, master, is it true that there is a house on the bridge?=
“Okay. I see a few houses on an island in the middle of the river.”
A house on a bridge?
Intrigued, the party urged the riding Que to move faster, and soon they looked at the bridge intently, unable to hide their wonder.
Strangely, Ouling was not a riverside village, but a bridge-top village.
A large stone bridge that started from the river bank connects to an island in the middle of the river, and from the island to the river bank on the other side, there is a bridge, and houses are built tightly in two rows on the bridge.
Anne muttered as she raised her hand to block the sunlight.
= It’s amazing. A house on a bridge, who would have thought of that?=
=No, don’t you think the bridge will collapse if a typhoon blows or a storm hits? … ?=
=You can’t help but build it so poorly.=
Ahaha, Isilite said to Anne who laughed with an expression that she did not understand.
= I agree with Yuri unnie too. There is a saying that you can catch people. I don’t think I can stay in a place like that because I’m anxious. =
= Right? The land on the river bank is not rough, so why do you live like that?=
Hwanin looked at the bridge and an island the size of Bamseom in the Han River while listening to the conversation of his girlfriends.
It was quite far away, but it wasn’t hard to see because my eyesight has improved since I got spirit vision.
The bridge appeared to have been built after hewn out of rocks and stones. It is made by stacking wedge-shaped stones in an arch shape, and the houses are lined up tightly on the railing of the bridge, as if the load was reliably calculated.
The island in the middle of the bridge was in the shape of a crescent moon with the left and right ends rising up. A watchtower was built on each hill, and a mansion could be glimpsed on one hill.
“It is not a small town.”
According to my understanding, there are about 100 buildings on the bridge alone. Since the island is not small, there must be a house of its own on the island.
There are floating houses on the side of the island, and there is also a gateway at the end of the bridge, and there is also a fairly large rice field outside the gateway, so it feels like a village built through a full-fledged plan, rather than a village built by people.
‘There are ships, but they don’t look like merchant ships.’
There is a boat or a wooden yacht with one sail near the floating house, and you can see fishing by floating the boat around the island, but there are no boats that go to and from the river because they are full of luggage.
“It’s strange that there are other towns and villages attached to such a huge river, but they don’t trade.”
According to maps, this river extends for hundreds of kilometers to the sea in the west. If you go down the river, you will also come across Crabberry.
Trade using waterways is a condition for great development, but why are merchant ships invisible?
At Hwanin’s question, Yurpa, who was looking at the village on the bridge, turned her head and answered.
= Self. Trade may have temporarily stopped because of the war.=
“I don’t understand more. In order to fight a war, the army will need to secure military supplies and supplies to consume, and considering the amount of military expenditure that is being sown to increase military power, shouldn’t merchants and merchants be more active? With a river this wide, it is possible to use a huge merchant ship to transport goods…….”
Hwanin, who was talking, kept his mouth shut at the sight of his girlfriends staring at him.
As it is a world where there is a special military unit called a profession, I thought that Nionebreth’s war might be different from modern warfare.
= The war of Doryeong’s…… Do you think there are a lot of massacres?=
Anne’s questions were of the kind that allowed me to figure out a few things.
“There are no jobs, so it is usually advantageous to have a large number of people. Is it normal to compete in small, short-term battles here?”
= Yes. Generally, the lord uses soldiers, professionals, and mercenaries under his command to fight the other side’s troops.=
“…… It was said that Isilite was active in the interterritory war as a mercenary.”
=Yes. Even when wars break out between cities, the citizens of the cities usually do not participate in the war. Since the lord wages war only with his direct troops, even if he gathers a lot, it is about 5,000 for both sides. =
“Why? War is a fight in which the violence of numbers is everything. According to the information I got from the Farghists, I heard that the lord of Crabbury is also in the military.”
=So that’s crazy.=
In response to Anne’s cold reply, Isilite nodded her head.
=I don’t know how it will be in the middle, but if you do that in the south or north, there will be a riot right away. The city belongs to the lord, but even the lives of the people do not belong to the lord.=
=The same goes for the central region?=
= Is that so? It seems that Lord Crabberry has really gone out of his mind.=
“Well…….”
Hwanin felt a sense of incongruity in the conversation between his girlfriends.
Are the inhabitants of Nionebreth self-conscious, or are they prejudiced by Earth’s knowledge?
“Isn’t it common to extort what you want by persecuting and oppressing the people with power and force? If the lord uses violence, from the point of view of his weakling, Youngmin, he will have no choice but to obey.”
= There is, but…… Hmm. There is a difference between Doryeong’s common sense and our common sense, but I can’t help but explain it.
= Seongju is Seongju and we are us… ? If it’s power, we can gather it…… ?=
Isilite muttered, and Anne stuttered to explain somehow, but Hwanin understood.
Not even that. Neither Isilite nor Anne are fluent in words.
At least, because Yurpa is a knowledgeable class and has a job similar to that of a craftsman, he brings out an explanation that is understandable.
= Um~. So, isn’t it the city’s citizens, not the lord, that make up the city? There can be a city without a lord, but there can’t be a city without citizens, so even if you’re a citizen, there’s nothing like a lord. Still, he has been ruling the area for a long time, and as he said, he is strong, so he obeys.
“So…….”
However, it was not completely understood, so Hwanin leisurely headed to the river city and exchanged conversations with his girlfriends like twenty questions.
And after talking for about 30 minutes, I came to understand the structure of perception between the ruling class and the ruled class in this world.
“To sum it up to the extreme, the relationship between a city owner and a city citizen is that of a landlord and a lessee.”
= Uh right.=
In the knowledge of Hwanin, the territory and the people are the property of the nobleman, the lord. However, the relationship between the barons and nobles of this world and the citizens was a contractual relationship that was lighter and less coercive.
Such landlords and tenants also exist within the boundaries of the capital’s king and pope. And above the heads of all of them is Emrigan, the beast god.
In other words, if the landlord treats the lessee badly (conscription, requisition), the lessee may leave the city saying, “You are doing such a fucking thing!”
Of course, since all of their living bases are in the city, there are times when they choose other means (riots) rather than leaving.
Looking at the distribution of power in the city, about 45% is occupied by armed groups under the lord of the castle. And 25% is the power of various unions, clans, and guilds that exist in the city, and the remaining 30% is citizens and private workers.
Of course, Seongju, which is a one-person power concentration system, is the strongest when it comes to merit or disadvantage. With that kind of power, several organizations can crush a group of ragtags with force.
In fact, there are many lords who oppress enough to not violate the law by force. There are many complex causalities involved, but the lord played as big a role as the citizens in the city’s growth, and he had an overwhelming amount of power and money.
Even so, I can’t deal with the lives of citizens at will.
The reason is the existence of the capital city.
In terms of the power of the capital, it is about two or three saints combined, but the Lukerang tribe respects and envy the capital and the king who stands at the peak of such capital.
Because the king is the representative of the beast god, and he is the only being entrusted with everything by the beast god.
Therefore, when there is a major disturbance in the city, the capital city dispatches an inspector in the name of the king.
After examining the situation, the dispatched investigator recommends mediation to the lord if it is a riot that has a problem with the lord, and recommends mediation to the citizens if it is a riot caused by citizens’ unreasonable greed.
Digging deep into this is a complex subject that will require dozens of pre-thick books, so that’s it.
“Rewinding the story, it would be correct to say that the lord of Crabbury went mad after all.”
= Yes. If you look at what the Lord of Crabberry Castle is trying to do now, it’s an act of spreading the fire of war among the citizens.
The number of citizens, the population, is important. The power of a nation comes from the people, and it is the same principle that there is no food without proper rice fields.
Although snobbish, the lords and lords of castles, knowing that their rich and splendid life is made up of the sweat and efforts of the citizens and the people, do their best to guarantee the citizens a minimum standard of living.
It is the capital that belongs to the peak of such a flow, and as long as there is no major sin because it is the king, the capital is generally on the side of the citizens.
In other words, the fact that the lord of Crabberry is being drafted for war is, in many ways, an act that ignites the wick connected to the powder keg. In the powder keg of his own house.
= By now, Crabbury will be a crucible of chaos. No matter how this situation is resolved, it is the end of Krabary. How could the citizens believe the lord of the castle who tried to drive them to death even if the war stopped with the intervention of the capital?=
The party did not know, but in Crabbury, a great escape was already taking place, saying that the lord was crazy.
In order to prevent such citizens from leaving, the lord mobilized troops to block the roads, close the gates, suppress them, and brutally murder those who did not listen to them, spreading fear.
The news entered the capital through the Farghist side, and the capital’s castle palace was aware of the seriousness of the situation and was moving quickly.
“…….”
If Hwanin hadn’t intervened, the problem would have ended at a reasonable level.
It would have been known that the daughter of Farhist had unluckily caught up in the growing pains of the labyrinth and died.
The two traces would have naturally disappeared in the labyrinth and would not have become a hot topic.
Even Jeha = Mesha, she would not have been killed by Hwanin, and the fact that she was financially sponsored by Kravery would not have been known.
It would have been a peaceful daily life.
Hwanin’s snow bowling made the situation rapidly become serious, like a snowball that began to roll from the top of the snowy mountain.
Hundreds of people have already died as a result of this incident. Tens of times that number of deaths will occur in the future.
The flames of war will spread not only to Kraveli and the Farghists, but also to the surrounding small towns and villages. It will be upsetting.
“…….”
Thanks to the information Hwanin collected, he read that although it was not perfect, it would lead to a series of events and that tens of thousands of lives would be lost.
I heard that the lord of Crabberry was narrow-minded, arrogant, and had an extreme ideology of the chosen people, not treating citizens as human beings. As a result, it has been a long time since the entire city of Crabberry has been enveloped in a dark and somber atmosphere like a slum.
Of course, bad people who like this atmosphere are forming a cartel from all over central Radsea, and the citizens are screaming in pain.
A typical petty person who forgets her grace while accepting insults more sensitively than necessary due to her temperament that makes her city look like that, a profiteer and a hard-hearted person.
Would the lord of the castle, with such a personality and ability to act, take the humiliation suffered by the delegation sent to Farghist without any hesitation?
According to Hwanin’s own judgment, he would not accept the intervention and recommendation of the leader.
She said, ‘And the moment she realizes that she is politically isolated, she will go mad and lead her forces to attack the Farghists.’
If the Farghists are keeping an eye on their intelligence and keeping an eye on it, they will be able to stop the mad army on the plains, but even that is too uncertain.
If the Farghist forces make even one mistake, Chengdu will become a battlefield.
Even if you block well on the plains, if you miss a handful of troops, the Kravery forces will become terrorists and attack the Farghists, causing hundreds to thousands of deaths.
“…… Hmm.”
Hwanin, who cut off the expansion of his imagination and prediction, turned his gaze to the fields and forests that began to spread out in front of him.
Thousands and tens of thousands of people died because of his actions, but Hwanin didn’t mind.
A person visited a village in the mountains and was chased by a bandit, one of the village members, into the depths of the mountains.
Hwanin didn’t blame others, but he didn’t blame himself either. He just moved himself to survive.
The person survived and left the place, but the remaining embers were transferred to the surrounding grass and trees, and eventually the flames rose so large that it covered the mountain and reached the village in the mountain.
Countless innocent people will die.
Who should be blamed in this case?
Whose fault is it
Hwanin did not blame anyone. He just moved himself to survive.
He read that his girlfriends glanced at him, wanting to know what he thought of this situation and what predictions he made, but he was unwilling to open his mouth.
To be honest, I was depressed about the fact that if I was lucky, a war would break out.
If it’s bad, you’ll hate or feel uncomfortable with your inhumanity.
Hwanin did not give them any room to ask questions and headed towards the bridge gate that was slowly revealing itself.
“…….”
Glancingly, he looked at the northwest sky, but there were no more people following him.
* *
A polar bear man with white fur, Fenri-Hustio, the lord of the Farghist castle, calmly stared at the report that had just come up, then put it down.
That young man, the soul sage man whom he secretly marked as his son-in-law.
The report that he had arrived in Ouling, a riverside town, aroused deep regret in the heart of the lord of Fenry Castle.
‘I didn’t expect to leave this soon.’
He even gave me a labyrinth tax exemption to stay for a long time on purpose, but he didn’t expect that he would leave immediately after entering and leaving once.
The lord of Fenri stood up from her seat and looked out of her window, recalling a report that came up a while ago.
Only three people reached the 18th floor.
Due to the existence of the sorcery trap, it is estimated that she went back and forth between the 16th and 17th floors for 5 days hunting.
The total time spent in the labyrinth was 11 days.
The lord of Fenri felt troubled after receiving a report that he was about to enter her labyrinth.
It is not yet known what will happen when the Soul Master dies in the Labyrinth. Because of that, she thought about it even if she stopped it, but she watched the story of Arel = Kedwin, the leader of the warriors, saying, ‘His quality is equal to her own’.
The reason for such a decision was that the winner and runner-up of the tournament were members of the same party, and one of them was a 6th-class Holy Fighter of the Church of the Land God.
And 11 days later, the report that he came out with about 30 gold coins worth of by-products, excluding the top stone, made the castle owner of Penri even more greedy.
The fact that the Knights stayed and hunted for about a week on the 4th floor, which became strong enough to have to form a group of 5 with 5th grade, and that he did that with one 6th grade and 1 4th grade, proves his ability more than anything else. Because it was a thing
So, after taking a break for about two days, he invited me to the castle again, and this time I was thinking of making a closer relationship….
=…….=
I missed the right flag while paying attention to a letter from the capital.
When he found out, he had already finished preparing for departure and was on his way out of the castle. Thinking that it would be too late to summon him, the lord of Fenri ordered a long-distance escort by skilled knights.
If there were any problems, he added an order to bring them back to Farkhist on the pretext of safety.
Did you expect this side to attach an escort?
The lord of Fenri looked down at the peaceful city and closed his eyes. Calculations of gains and losses of one kind or another quickly rise and fall in his head.
He is a spirit warrior young man who has been praised as one of the greatest warriors of all time, and has declared without hesitation that he has a talent for martial arts similar to his own.
He can’t give up either. He said that if it became difficult to get to know him by calling him, this would be the way to go.
The lord of Penri Castle, who opened his eyes, instructed the maid standing on one wall.
=To call the second one.=
The young man’s next destination was obtained from a little guide girl named Aruru.
Coincidentally, she has three more beautiful daughters who are not inferior to her no matter where she puts them.
Among them, if the second daughter-in-law is strong enough to be coveted by the noble families under her command as well as the lord family of the nearby city, at least she won’t have a bad relationship with that young man.
Even the warrior commander, full of thoughts of quitting and wandering, will change his mind once the young man enters the castle.
Kwaaaaang!!
Even though it was a second-class, thanks to being a strict melee worker, the luxurious desk that Torio=Aphilex=Cravely hit hard was completely smashed with a roar.
It was the moment when an artisan worth 10 gold coins, made of special wood with all his heart and soul, turned into a piece of firewood.
= These thrift-like bastards live on nothing but fucking shit!!=
Dare, dare! How dare you!!
In a frenzy, the lord of Crabberry kicked the smashed desk, threw down a chair, broke a bookcase, and smashed a beautiful ceramic vase into pieces, leaving the head office in a mess.
The lord of Kravery, who turned his office into a trash can for a while, shook his shoulders, then let out a groan close to screaming and glared at the stream of Kravery visible through the large window.
A dark and gloomy city with black smoke billowing out of bloodshot eyes, split horizontally.
Kweeeeeng-!!
Feeling the anger and resentment of the citizens living there piercing his body, Yeongju fell into a frenzy again and began to run amok.
The knight leader of the Crabberry Knights, who was standing near the door and watching the scene, sighed inwardly and asked the leader of the Grand Goat Sorcery Order standing next to him.
=What do you think?=
= It’s over. Do you have more to think about? Oh, I don’t want to die by hanging.
The master of the magic method, who added a feminine touch by tying bells to the ends of the curved horns of a goat, grumbled softly.
With that grumbling deep in his heart, the knight commander spoke 100% of his true feelings with a half-resigned face.
= How about bouncing? Wouldn’t the high-ranking people take care of their circumstances?=
= Are you serious? Try it first, then cut your throat, then tell us what you think.=
=…… I’m going crazy.=
Not only himself, but also the sorcerer leader, who puts everything down with his eyes closed, is a member of a family that has devoted allegiance to the Crabberry clan from generation to generation.
Even he knew that he would not be able to settle down anywhere if he threw away such evidence of loyalty and ran away.
If you’re lucky, you’ll become a bandit, if you’re unlucky, wandering knights will gather like dogs and try to use their head as a lesson, saying they will punish you on behalf of heaven for violating and blaspheming the knight’s integrity.
The only way left for him is to follow the insane lord and make a suicide charge with his men towards the elite of the elite, the Farghist Knights.
Luckily, if you survive the battle, if the mad lord dies and all your blood relatives die, you will be able to say goodbye to Crabberry, a hereditary disease of madness…….
‘That would be close to impossible.’
His gaze turned to a crumpled letter that had fallen to the floor.
[…… As the king of Rasu Bitan, following his faithful will and representing his will, I command. The lord of Crabberry will immediately stop the conscription. Disband the forcibly summoned territories and stabilize the territories by coordinating disagreements with the territories. If you refuse to do so, the karma of the sin will belong to your family…….]
A letter made of elegant handwriting on very luxurious and brilliant paper.
It is an instruction that came down from the palace of Rasubitan, the capital, and is the main culprit that put the lord into a state of frenzy.
The knight commander glared at Seo-sin as if he were a human, and bit his molars.
=…… Siftal, you’re being disrespectful, really.=
At the news of the death of a relative, an envoy sent to Farkhist could not even enter the city and was treated with disdain.
This side did not even receive an apology, but on the contrary, an apology and compensation were demanded because a relative killed the daughter of a Farghist, saying that he was a pleasure killer.
The lord of Crabberry, rightly considered insulted, jumped up and cried out for war and forced a conscription.
The flow of such a situation was never a good thing, so the Knight Commander, along with the Sorcerer Commander, had persuaded the lord over several weeks and had recently calmed him down to the point where he was barely able to understand.
If it had only been for a few days or even three days, the conscription could have been lifted, and if the lord secretly distributed food in moderation to soothe the villagers, they would have passed without major problems, but this fucking letter ruined everything.
Just three days. If I had only come three days late, everything would have been fine…… !
No, the culprit in the first place is because of Gilles = Bexul, that bastard psychopath.
If I’m going to fuck, I’ll do it here where I can get my work done.
= Ha….=
= Whoa….=
Realizing that there was only one future left for them, the leaders let out a deep sigh at the same time with a deep sense of exhaustion.
* *
