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“Now, now, calm down, Sedrin. I will definitely free your family. I also use necromancy, but I cannot accept binding those with souls as wights. It is just that Sir Sork is no easy opponent, so let us look for an opportunity. If we let our feelings get ahead of us and ruin the matter, that would also be evil karma. More importantly, returning to the main topic, about the countship….”
Azadine let out a sigh and said,
“I do not like falling for the Kingdom of Arangi’s scheme, but I must accept it. It is also true that Naisandokar belonged to the Kingdom of Arangi.”
“That is true, but… do you plan to keep accepting refugees as soldiers?”
Rijen asked.
“Yes. We have to give them work, and we actually need them. Why?”
“Grain prices have risen recently, so it is hard for soldiers to buy grain with their wages. We give the soldiers lunch and pay them up to 10 pence a day, but these days grain prices have risen, so food expenses alone cost 4 pence.”
The barracks provided lunch to the soldiers. Meat porridge boiled with beans and oats. It was hard to call it tasty, but in a situation like this, that alone was something to be grateful for.
But even so, it was only one lunch, and those who had families had to buy food separately for their families.
However, while wages remained the same, food prices kept soaring, so the soldiers’ lives were not good.
Little by little, even if they spent their entire wages, they could no longer feed their families. In Azadine’s territory, even women and children who could not become soldiers were given jobs and paid wages, but even under such circumstances, grain prices were rising so sharply that livelihoods could not be maintained.
“Let the soldiers receive part of their wages in kind, as grain.”
“But then the losses will grow even larger. Merchants will hold tightly onto the keys to their own warehouses until Chadra’s grain warehouses are opened, and this will come entirely from your warehouses, Captain.”
Azadine’s military faction had mountains of gold and silver confiscated from Chashan, so paying wages in hard currency was not a problem.
However, grain was a different story. It disappeared when eaten, and now that Fimbulbert had been foretold, the value of grain was rising without limit.
If one thought of profit, they could pay in hard currency according to the original contract. In any case, most people had no other choice, and… they should be grateful that Azadine was paying wages in hard currency at all.
However, Azadine’s will was firm.
“I will not give relief to the refugees for free. But I also do not want to inflict on people the suffering of being unable to support their families even after receiving fair wages.”
“But if you accept the countship, more refugees will come up. If you maintain such a system, you will not be able to stop the outflow of food… Do you have a way?”
Zebec asked Azadine.
“The food of the Chadra Plateau is power. And Sir Azadine. If you truly wish to practice the Threefold Teachings, should you not teach those teachings to people? You ought to use that power to spread your will.”
Zebec knew that most of the refugees were simply people who had come in search of food. If Azadine had created this force as a true Rescue Knight and someone who revered the Threefold Virtues, he should not merely provide relief to them, but teach them his ideology.
“I simply do not want people to suffer from hunger. Hunger is far too harsh a suffering. Even if I wave bread before the eyes of starving people and speak of the Threefold Virtues, that would only be an insult to both virtue and the people.”
However, Azadine rejected such teaching.
Even if one skipped just one meal, even if one starved for just one day, unbearable pain wrung the body.
The body whipped the soul and ordered it to shove something to eat into the mouth no matter what it had to do.
A person could kill someone or sell their body for a single piece of bread. Sometimes, they even committed cannibalism.
That was what food was, and that was what hunger was.
“Azadine.”
Zebec called Azadine’s name.
“Your words are correct. However, you are of the Messenger Clan. Do you know what that means?”
“I know.”
“No, you do not. Even Darhan-Jadek, the rightful royal of Vthuma, had traitors appear among his people when military provisions ran out and the tide of war became desperate. Let alone you, a member of the Messenger Clan. A considerable number of these refugees must be half-believing and half-doubting you. For now, they support you only because bread is entering their mouths.”
“…….”
“When you feed them, put a bit in their mouths as well. Pay their wages in hard currency, and give grain only to meritorious retainers so that they compete in loyalty. If you dislike loyalty competition, have them memorize the scriptures of the Rescue Knights Order, or do whatever else you like.”
From Zebec’s proposal, and from his tired face, Azadine realized that he had been deeply wounded by Darhan-Jadek’s death.
No, Zebec’s chivalry had long since become tattered. He was like a rotten old tree that could collapse at any time, simply standing because it had found no other path, even though its wounds had festered and rotted.
Even so, his words contained sincere concern for Azadine.
“You already know my answer.”
“…….”
Zebec gave a bitter smile. It was a weary and exhausted smile.
“I do.”
“If I make an excuse, unless we give them food and proper jobs, prostitution and crime will run rampant. Heretical teachings will spread. Considering that, opening the grain warehouses is cheaper.”
“And if you do not make an excuse?”
“If I do not make an excuse, I like seeing people eat food.”
“…….”
“Well, this is something.”
Azadine’s subordinates, who had been listening, let out dry laughs.
When Azadine gave food to refugees, he purely liked the moment when their crumpled expressions changed into relief and joy.
The Threefold Teachings, the guide of destiny chosen by angels, and such things. Regardless of such heavy responsibilities, he was someone who simply rejoiced in the moment itself when people were freed from suffering and gained rest.
“But Fimbulbert will become harsher than it is now. Sir Azadine. How long will you be able to uphold chivalry and humanity?”
That was also a question Zebec was asking himself.
Ever since he lost his light and withdrew from the King’s Church, he had been wandering. Of course, he wanted to help Azadine, who had a righteous will, but… it only felt bleak, like looking at a mountain path he did not even dare think of climbing.
“I have something in mind.”
Azadine said that and showed a calm attitude. Because of his mysterious eyes and the many great deeds he had shown until now, Azadine’s subordinates believed in him.
So they wanted to believe him this time as well.
“Huh?”
“Azadine, your nose is bleeding….”
“Hm?”
But at that moment, blood streamed down from Azadine’s nose. Only after Azadine wiped his nose with his hand did he realize that blood was flowing from it.
“I must have bumped into something. Haha.”
Azadine made that excuse and laughed it off.
Refugees flocked to the outskirts of Saint Mallory, the headquarters of the Rescue Knights Order and the central city of the Rescue Knights Order domain.
Because monsters were appearing along the coast, the refugees had requested rescue from the Rescue Knights Order.
However, the Rescue Knights Order had currently shut its gates firmly and refused to let the refugees in, giving one excuse after another.
Instead, it merely made a show of generosity by occasionally cooking gruel and distributing it to the people.
“They say Fimbulbert will last at least three years, and yet it is already like this before even the first year has properly begun?”
Sir Gareth, the Tercio captain who had returned to Saint Mallory, trembled as he looked at the refugees’ tents from atop the lofty walls of Saint Mallory.
“Sir Gareth. Have you heard the rumor?”
“What rumor? That the King’s Church is trying to offer the Northern Emperor that bizarre title, King of Kings or whatever it is?”
“That too, but… I heard the Kingdom of Arangi is trying to grant that Messenger Clan member, Sir Azadine, the position of margrave.”
“Hmm?”
“A margrave to a member of the Messenger Clan. The Kingdom of Arangi must be under great strain as well.”
“Wait, then what happens? That means the land linking Sandokar, Naisandokar, and even the Chadra Plateau will all fall into that Messenger Clan member’s hands, does it not? Good heavens… He will become a great lord?”
“It may be small, but one could even call it a kingdom. Something so absurd, to someone like a member of the Messenger Clan!”
The Tercio soldiers who had come beside Gareth grumbled. They felt displeased that a soulless blasphemer, a lowly and detestable being, had passed them by and become a great lord.
But Gareth, who had seen Azadine directly and knew his character, gave a bitter smile.
“Sir Azadine is a vessel more than capable of bearing that much.”
“What? What do you mean….”
“I am saying this because I saw him myself. Sir Azadine is… an excellent knight.”
“…….”
At Sir Gareth’s words, everyone was left speechless. Until now, they had never heard Sir Gareth praise someone to this extent.
“Then should we cooperate with Sir Azadine from now on?”
“No. Not that.”
Sir Gareth acknowledged that Azadine was an excellent Holy Knight, but that did not mean he thought they should cooperate with him.
Azadine would face even more trials in the future, and if they were beside him when he failed to overcome those trials, they would surely suffer disaster with him, like being struck by lightning for standing beside an ill-fated man.
“We must do our best from our own position, ah.”
At that moment, Sir Gareth saw a messenger below the wall calling for him.
“Sir Gareth! They say there will be a meeting at the main cathedral!”
“As expected.”
Sir Gareth smiled bitterly and ran down the stairs, which were far too high for a dwarf.
The Rescue Knights Order held an emergency joint-sect council to discuss recent issues.
The agenda of this meeting, attended by the high-ranking officials of each sect, was broadly divided into two matters.
How should the Order deal with Azadine, who was a Rescue Knight while also being granted the position of Arangi’s great lord, and with the Northern Emperor Cohen receiving the title of King of Kings from the King’s Church?
It was for these topics that the meeting had been convened.
‘How sad. Even at this very moment, refugees are flooding in, and monsters are appearing from the sea to invade coastal cities and villages. And yet I must play politics here.’
The Rescue Knights Order had shut its gates and was dumping all rescue and subjugation work onto Celestial Fire.
The Celestial Fire Knights, which had been the property of the Wisdom Order, came to accept advisors from both the Courage and Benevolence Orders through organizational restructuring.
From the perspectives of the Courage Order and the Benevolence Order, even if they had inserted advisors, they knew the real owner of the Celestial Fire Knights was the Wisdom Order.
Therefore, they wanted to deploy Celestial Fire to most battles, subjugations, and all sorts of dangerous missions, and consume them.
They wanted to consume Celestial Fire instead of their own knightly orders and preserve their own forces intact.
Sir Gareth detested such political scheming, but that did not mean he could reject the Courage Order’s choice and lead his own subordinates out.
He despised it verbally, but he did not truly intend to consume the Courage Order. Sir Gareth was a realistic person in both the good and bad senses.
“The reason we have invited everyone to this meeting is nothing else. Sir Azadine, who should have been an exile of the Chadra Plateau, has not only recently received the oath of loyalty from Ivchek, Count of Sandokar in Banreung, but is also said to have been granted the position of Margrave of Naisandokar by the Kingdom of Arangi. We wish to hear the opinions of the high-ranking members of the Orders on this matter.”
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