Chapter 142: Chapter 142 Don’t come to the Raney Forest (7)
After Lard replied calmly, the messenger went back quickly. Looking at the messenger disappearing gradually, he felt light-hearted because he felt relieved by the emperor’s decision.
“Captain?” Jean Jacques Simuan asked, looking at his strange expression. Jean was also curious about which message he got from the emperor.
“Instruct the knights and soldiers to refrain from using force from now on. They are not our enemies from now on.”
“Pardon? However…! ”
“Hey, you told me that the stout man with a beard was the leader of the peasants, right?”
Lard asked Jean, pointing with his chin to one of the peasants confronting them in Boramas. Jean replied in the positive.
Lard said to Jean, “Look into the background about the knight who was responsible for the pulleys here, including all the families related to his birth!”
After he said that, Lard got on Balos and drove to the middle of the place where the knights were confronting them. The farmers were startled at his sudden movement and lifted their weapons into the air.
“Whoa, whoa!”
Lard pulled over Balros and stood at the place where he could have a view of the man with a beard straight ahead. The man’s brown beards covered half of his face, so Lard found it hard to identify his expression. The man was wary of Lard, pointing the pickaxe towards him.
“I am Lard Schroder, the commander of the 1st Imperial Knights. His Majesty sent royal doctors here to treat the wounded among you. So, have them treated. With my honor, I swear we won’t attack you as long as they are treated.”
The man stood still as though he was appraising Lard’s announcement and checking the situation. There was growing whispering amid the peasants who heard him. They obviously found it hard to reject his offer to have their wounded fellows treated and taken care of.
“Do you believe him? Don’t fall prey to his lip service! He is also a noble! We never know his motivation!” One young man shouted. Standing next to the bearded man, he was a dynamic young man with black skin and sun-tanned eyes with a double eyelid. The peasants began to buzz again.
“… Stop!” At that moment, the bearded man politely shouted and silenced them in an instant.
“What Piaph just said makes sense… But we can’t turn a blind eye to our injured fellows!
Think of the reason why we gathered here! ” He shouted at them. Everyone was listening to him.
“We gathered here to be freed from their exploitation and live like humans, right? Look at your colleagues’ wounds. Do you want our wounded fellows groaning in pain or do you want to take away their chance to get treated? Tell me what you want!”
The atmosphere changed seriously in no time. Nobody responded loudly to him, but most felt persuaded. Only the young man standing next to the man was still furious. Fortunately, the royal doctors arrived in time. Glancing at them getting off the wagons, Lard told the man, “As long as the doctors are here, can we promise we won’t use force against each other?”
The man nodded. At Lard’s gesture, the doctors who were waiting in the back stepped toward the place where the farmers gathered. They started treating the wounded.
Lard, who watched the doctors treating the peasants, got off the horse and put his sword into the horse’s baggage. Unarmed, Lard stared at the bearded man standing in front of him and walked towards him. The farmers felt agitated at his approaching, but the bearded man calmed the peasants by telling them to put down their arms.
“Tell me what you want. When you have come here at the risk of your lives, you must have a good reason.”
Lard stopped several steps in front of some of them. None of the soldiers or knights who blocked their approach had ever asked the peasants this kind of question, so the bearded man felt strange tension and relief.
The farmers shouted slogans asking for the government’s relief measures or asking the government to take measures to help them live decently like humans, but none of the knights protecting the capital listened to their request. All of them focused on blocking the farmers’ access to the capital.
“… We want the central government’s relief measures. Most of the farmers here are on the brink of bankruptcy. What is the point of farming? What they get at the end of the day is barely enough grains to sustain their lives. Even though most of the crops last year were in the hands of the nobles. Do you know why they started farming Montrapi again this year? It’s because when we grow crops other than Montarpi on our lands, they levy heavy taxes so much that we don’t get anything from our farming. Eliminate the evil laws that make us poorer the more we farm! Can we breathe when you take measures for us to make a living right away?”
In order to maintain a certain amount of Montrapi crops, the central government of the Benyahan empire requires the farmers to cultivate Montrapi on some parts of their farmlands. Such a policy has two goals. One was to maintain a stable supply of Montrapi through the imperial family and the local lords’ purchase of the Montrapi, and the other was to have the farmers secure a stable source of income with their purchase.
But it was also true that lots of abuse occurred during this process. It was common for many lords to manipulate the purchase prices to make extravagant profits, or to take advantage of the tax cuts and imperial subsidies for the farmers. In this situation, the blight and damages of Montrapi by the insects this year made farmers more frustrated and devastated.
“Please give us practical relief measures to protect us against the blight and damages by insects. It’s already late autumn in the southern areas. If you don’t take any action, it’s like letting them starve for the winter. ”
“I cannot discuss the abolition of the law right now. His Majesty has ordered me to rescue you first. Go back to your hometowns because the emperor has promised to compensate for your damages sooner or later. You will not be held responsible for any disturbances you made in the capital. I can swear on my name.”
“Do you think we are idiots? He’s going to paper over our complaints. He’s trying to make a mockery of us!” The young man with the dark skin standing next to the bearded man balked at Lard’s persuasion.
“… If I had tried to paper over your complaints, I wouldn’t have tried to talk to you in the first place. I am the captain of the Imperial Knights, not a scoundrel in the street,” Lard said coldly to the young man. He tried to avoid any provocative language.
He continued, “The emperor is sincerely concerned for you. That’s why he dispatched the royal doctors here. He also enacted a legislation that guaranteed for commoners to get prestigious jobs in the government despite the strong opposition of many nobles. He had a hard time because of that, but he didn’t relent. So, trust him. ”
“… Did you say you are Sir Lard Schroder? ”
The bearded man asked, after pondering over something.
“Yes.”
“I’ve heard a few times about your family. Your father led the fighting to reclaim the region of Baltazar. I heard your father was fair and just. Sir, I hope you are the same as your father. ”
Unlike an ordinary farmer, he spoke courageously like a knight on the battlefield. Conscious of Lard’s sharp eyes, he remained calm.
“Let me talk with my colleagues. But can you write down what you just announced in a document?”
“Are you going to be a traitor at this guy’s lip service?” The young man next to him cut in, bursting into anger. But the bearded man shouted at him, with a frown, “John Piaf! Shut up! ”
“I’m disappointed you are such a weak man! Eduval, you no longer deserve to lead us! ”
As the two were engaged in heated arguments, the farmers who surrounded them looked at each other nervously. It was the first crack in their unity, who had remained united without any division until they came to the capital.
Lard stared at the young guy closely. There was deep suspicion in his eyes.
“We should discuss among us. So, please return, Sir Schroder!”
His voice was tinged with deep anger. Lard returned without any reply.
“Sir Becktuel!”
Lard, who pulled Balos and walked to the place where the knights were lined up, summoned him and gave him a secret order.
“Keep an eye on that young guy from now on and try to find any wounded man who seems to have a close relationship with him,” said Lard, pointing to John Piaf with his chin, who was very dissatisfied.
He continued, “And call one of the doctors treating the wounded farmers and instruct him to ask some questions when he treats the patient, such as where he came from and if there was anything suspicious about him.”
Sir Becktuel nodded silently at his command.
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