Chapter 228 – Chapter 228 ― Reaching Out to the Hungry (4)
Episode 228 ― Unleash the Devil’s Hand on the Hungry (4)
“I am from the Knights Templar. My friend here is from Xie. Everyone you saw earlier came from all over Merde, but they all have one purpose. It is to ensure that adequate food is available to the people of this country.”
Food?
Reports that the food situation in Merde is not good have been received through small meetings.
Evirzio and Merde have been mobilizing people to wage war against each other for years.
Fortunately, Evirzio stole Arteala’s wheat. Since the land was desolate anyway, there is also the sad fact that there is no difference in yield even if a farmer goes to war.
But for Merde, the reduction in the number of people to be mobilized for farming has become a deadly self-inflicted plague.
Lennart, who was examining Roan’s calm expression, smiled bitterly. It was because Roan didn’t seem to be able to sympathize deeply.
“You don’t seem to know.”
“Because I am a person far from hunger. Even if I dared to know, you wouldn’t believe it.”
Anger flashed in people’s eyes. But Roan said calmly.
“But you don’t have to go through it to be able to empathize with the pain of others. Knowing that not having is painful is enough reason for those who have more to take care of those who have less. It’s not someone’s wealth and honor, it’s a must to live life… A country where even such survival is not guaranteed is not a proper place.”
“…”
After staring at Roan for a moment, the brown-haired swordsman lowered his head.
“Thank you for saying that.”
“Proper rationing. It doesn’t seem like he’s taking a political approach, seeing what he’s doing now. Are you going to break wheat carts too?”
Then Lennart shut his mouth.
It seems to fit right away.
“To say that something worthy of being called a thief is treason. Both the Central Knights and the Royal Family are free. It seems that the food situation is not that bad.”
Rennart, who had an ambiguous expression on his face, admired Roan’s words.
If Lee Joo says a word, he notices more information than that.
A person who guaranteed that Anmut could be trusted.
A sign of strength emanating from the body.
Besides, you can use healing magic.
I knew he was a noble person in terms of his tone and clothes, but I thought he might have been a really high-ranking person.
Is it an aristocrat who knows the backstory?
However, it is difficult for Anmut, a mercenary, to have contact with nobles.
Rather, it would be more reliable if it were a successful mercenary or a knight from an aristocratic family. Or not…
“If.”
Lennart opened his mouth.
“Are you a priest?”
Roan hesitated for a moment before answering.
“He was never a priest, but he believes in Goddess.”
“So…”
Lennart admired as if he understood something.
To avoid the church’s eyes and train this amount of holy power. Heal is a healing magic that only skilled priests can use.
Moreover, his power seems strong enough to defeat the paladins sent by the church.
Most of these people are mercenaries.
Occasionally, such people are selected from aristocratic families and made into family knights. This is because being able to personally operate a person with holy power is a huge advantage.
“I thought it was strange because it was a strange power.”
The one who opened his mouth was the person sitting behind Lennart. A man with a sullen look who woke up in surprise when he saw Roan using his holy power earlier.
A soft voice and a small amount, but a little bit of holy power.
Is a priest
“My name is Fritz. I was also a priest who served the Goddess.”
“Have you left the Order?”
“I was kicked out.”
He said with a shy smile.
“This friend was caught by the bishop while using healing magic in the slums without the church’s permission.”
Lennart gave an additional explanation.
A former priest named Fritz spoke to Roan in a quiet voice.
“You have mystical powers. It is different from the holy power I have.”
“Is it?”
“Yes. The amount of holy power is also positive, but something…”
Fritz, struggling to choose the right words for Rennart’s question, gave an opinion about Roan’s holy power.
“It is pure.”
A small smile crossed Ron’s face.
“I hope you think I have a story too. Rather, I would like to know more about the story that led you to do this. I’m living in a foreign country most of the time, so I’m obsessed with Merde’s situation. Can you tell me more?”
It takes determination to reveal the story of people who have to hide somewhere.
The smile disappeared from Fritz’s face, who had shown a friendly smile to Roan, and Lennart’s sharp face grew even sharper.
“I am also Anmut’s employer now. So it’s hard to say that this situation is completely irrelevant to me either. And…”
Roan gently stroked his chin.
“Maybe I can be of some help to you guys.”
Perhaps if they had met me on the street, they wouldn’t have believed me.
However, Anmut became the guarantor, and I saved one of their members.
It’s hard to keep secrets from me now. With a half-resigned look on his face, Lennart began his gloomy story.
“When we are in the capital, we are scattered in groups, but our number is over 200. Most of them are farmers on the outskirts of the capital or in provincial cities, and they are aiming for transport carts between the capital and other territories, mainly from former knights or soldiers like me.”
At this point, just get rid of the magic.
Perhaps, it would be more common for people in the provinces to rally and raid the carts, which they did not understand.
“From the first year of the war, the yield decreased. Still, I had to endure. There was stockpiling, and not too many people were drafted. But as the war lengthened, it became increasingly difficult.”
Rennart’s low voice sounded even heavier.
“In the year before the armistice, most of my metric men were taken to the battlefield. Even nobles often have their eldest son taken away if they are not in line with the royal family. The lord family of the Meter Spirit supported the princess, but eventually the succession was cut off. My family’s enlisted men and knights like me were kicked out all of a sudden.”
Grünent’s story jumped out.
Roan’s eyes narrowed.
Severing the line of the lord who governs the territory is more like a declaration that the central government will not pay attention to what happens to the territory.
Tangled in the war, the family will slowly wither and die, and the remaining land will become spoils for those who like the king or the central authority.
“There are a lot of play grounds. The harvest has decreased because of fewer workers, but the taxes to be paid have increased.”
Roan bit his lip.
Although he was belatedly corrected,
This is also the responsibility of the (former) demon king who fell for human plans.
There are so many people who are already suffering. Not only the world of demons, but also the world of humans.
[It’s not your responsibility.]
With a calm echo in her head, Fiora’s hand gripped Roan’s shoulder.
Her hands were warm. She felt her heart calm down a little.
“If the harvest had been reduced and there was no choice but to reap more… The rules will be stricter, and life will inevitably be a mess.”
“That’s right.”
Fritz’s face was already white.
He must have seen everything he could not see in the years of war.
His fists, which Lennart had rested on his lap, were clenched.
“Even if the local officials or lord agents wipe out the farmhouse, there is no point. Even if they weren’t, they were the ones who couldn’t resist, but it became even more difficult because all the able-bodied ones went to the front. In the end, everything will be taken away. Homes, money, people…”
A hot energy lingered inside Roan’s body and then disappeared. Roan knows what it is.
This is because in the world he originally lived in, Yongcheol was a man who plundered for the rich.
A life in which one gave up one’s duty and pride as a person for money. It was a time when he forgot that he was human and lived according to his inertia.
On the continent of Moira now, especially the farther away from the city, food is one of the things that replace the role of money.
Perhaps the nobility or officials who took up a position where the king’s eyes did not directly reach are doing their best to somehow increase their boat in this age of confusion.
Those who are powerless must be squeezed.
South Korea still has basic security, even if it falls short of what people expect. There is the police, there is the government and the military. There is the press and there are people’s eyes.
No matter how powerful a conglomerate is on its back, it cannot kill or beat its opponent in public. However, it would be difficult to expect such a thing from the current Merde.
“Plain areas with farmland are still better. It has been a long time since food did not circulate in mountainous areas or areas that depended on other things instead of farming.”
What followed was Fritz, who was a priest.
His eyes were red when he said that.
“We sell children and women to get even a handful of potatoes. The mountains were completely bare as they hunted like crazy and scraped together money. There are piles of corpses outside the town walls.”
Seeing Roan’s expression darken
Rennart looked at him colorfully.
That noble-looking person
For someone who said he didn’t know hunger, he looked like he understood a lot at once after hearing Fritz’s words.
He is truly an unknown person.
Looking at this expression, I guessed that at least this person wouldn’t be so inhumane as to sell out powerless people like us.
With her mouth shut for a while, Roan looked down at the table. It took a while for each of them to organize the thoughts that came into their heads.
Roan was the first to speak.
“Are there many local lords who are said to have supported Princess Grünent, experiencing such difficulties?”
“Ah, yes. That’s right.”
Lennart and Fritz, who looked face to face for a moment, nodded at the same time.
“It must be because war is a good opportunity for someone.”
“Sorry, but yes.”
Grunent said that they formed a faction backed by Chancellor Bondi and his faction, as well as the aristocrats to whom Grunent personally reached out and the Order. It wasn’t powerful, but it was quite a net exhaust, so it was said that it was slowly gathering power and looking for an opportunity.
For example,
It did not become a force strong enough to eventually stop the war, but it was a faction with enough power to come up with and execute an initiative in that direction, which would cut off food going to Evirgio and feed its own people.
Grünent fought her own battle in her palace. In the end, she was defeated.
In the end, there was no one left to stop the foolish king from running rampant endlessly in the palace. All that encouraged him, only those who sought a place to rise in the gap remained.
“Didn’t you think of uniting with the forces of the Fallen Lords? Lennart. If it’s your words as a former knight, at least the knights of the weakened power will listen.”
“It is not an exhibition. If hatred settles on the surviving aristocratic families, they will be driven to the front instead of escorting them in the capital.”
“… It seems that you have chosen to keep your mouth shut for the sake of your own well-being. Even the knights.”
“Except for a few… That’s right.”
Lennart lowered his head miserably.
“But now you are a group of ordinary thieves. He is even using the false name of a traitor. … From what I’ve seen, at this rate, it seems that everyone will soon be scattered and subdued. In the end, a fight can be won only when you have an advantage over your opponent.”
“The majority are people who don’t know how to fight. It would be unreasonable to lead such people and subdue the Knights of the Capital and the Knights of the Territory in the provinces. I have no choice but to fight secretly, hiding as much as possible.”
Roan stared at Lennart.
It seems to have been their leader,
This, too, was exhausted and began to bend to reality.
“Rennart. Fritz. I guess you didn’t notice that there was a side of you that already had the upper hand.”
“Yes?”
Everyone in the room paid attention to Roan with a puzzled expression. Roan replied in a calm, low voice as usual.
“A person who is starving. Someone who has been deprived of something people driven to war. No lord or king can beat you by numbers.”
