TRVLT 20

Chapter 20

“No!”
A sharp voice echoed through the deserted alley.
“Not Hezeite! This won’t do it, not like this!”
This idiot is wrong. There’s absolutely no hope!

Arilletti stomped her feet alternately. If she could, she would have grabbed that sucker by the collar and shaken him without hesitation.

The Nemar Marquisate was a fairly large territory in the north. Its climate was colder than the inland, but still much milder than Hezeite’s lands.
They had been using Hezeite as a frontline to block the monsters of the Colden Mountains, without touching a thing, for over a hundred years.

“Even if we paid tribute hoping for goodwill, it wouldn’t be enough, and now they’re cheating us?”
“Hmm.”
“There’s farmland and livestock here. So why are they charging gold for pork? And vegetables!”
Did they grind gold into the feed?

And yet, they were willing to give everything just because Arilletti demanded it. That was the first surge of anger.

The second surge of anger came when Glen quietly returned from the store.

‘Why did he just come out when they openly ignored us! He couldn’t even land a single blow!’

Even though he must have known they were nobles, since he was called “Lord So,” he still dared to straighten his back. Why was that allowed?

“Stop it, you guys.” Why was that voice coming out?

Arilletti wanted to leap up in frustration.

Glen, with small handprints on his face, rolled his eyes.
“I… I know I’m not good at bargaining, right? I get it. But in winter, there’s no choice, Teacher.”
“Why?”
“We’re in a position where even a single grain of wheat is precious, and they’re in a position to sell. Normally, if demand exceeds supply, prices go up. So I only thought prices went up a bit compared to last year… I didn’t expect it to be over twenty times the market rate…”

Then that means they must have given at least 100 gold even last year!

Arilletti almost fell backward, clutching her neck.

When demand is high but supply is limited, prices skyrocket.
That’s not wrong. The approach itself was just flawed.

Arilletti was furious.

‘I misjudged.’

What Hezeite urgently needed was not money or food. It was mental education!

“Why are we acting like the underdog?”
“Huh?”
“Why are we behaving like people caught at a weakness? We came here for a fair trade!”

Glen’s expression froze.

‘We… said “we”.’

While he was speechless with unexpected emotion, Arilletti snapped, her tone sharp.
“Lord So, do you act like this when using a sword too?”
“Huh?”
“Do you reveal your weakness and say, ‘Here’s my weak point, please stab me,’ just like that?”

The Arilletti who laughed like a little angel was gone. In her place, the stern little teacher had returned.

Glen shook his head, dumbfounded.
“Unless you’re stupid or want to die… you must always hide your weakness. The enemy must never even notice it exists.”
“Then why are you doing that?”
“…”
“Stupid, or determined to die. That’s exactly what your attitude just now was.”

Now she didn’t call him “uncle” or “mister,” just “you.”

But Glen couldn’t sulk even jokingly. The distorted pupils of Arilletti were full of indignation.
The child was upset.

It felt strangely familiar. Like the first time the little sage had smiled brightly at him. A warmth rising from the bottom of his heart.

“…Then, should I have punished the store owner? The food supply could really have been cut off.”
“If it were me…”

Arilletti took a deep breath and exhaled all at once.
“I would have dragged the store owner to the Nemar lord.”
“…Huh? To the lord?”
“You can’t separate the lord from the people, Lord So.”

Why would an ordinary food store owner ignore the rough, burly Hezeite knights?
Because that attitude ran through the whole territory.

Then why would the Nemar people see Hezeite as easy marks? Because the lord of this land treated Hezeite like a temporary mercenary group.

One example explains everything. Hezeite mercenaries who came to Nemar probably didn’t even get fair pay for their work.

“You, Lord So, didn’t come to beg in a poor territory.”
“…”
“First, these people aren’t poor at all. Second, what Hezeite gives Nemar isn’t just small change for meat or vegetables. And Nemar doesn’t just take money. You and your uncle guarantee the safety of the entire population here.”

At the entrance to the road from the Colden Mountains to Nemar, Hezeite’s mercenaries managed the way. Without them, Nemar would have long been trampled by monster hordes.

Arilletti stomped her foot again in indignation.
“And the reward we get is just this kind of slight? Who do you think caused it? That cucumber-faced scammer from before? No!”

The answer was already clear in her teal eyes filled with scorn.

Glen stared quietly at himself reflected in the child’s eyes.
“Ultimately, Hezeite, despite deploying valuable manpower to help another territory for free, still got swindled by such scammers. Hezeite knights are throwing their hard-earned money into the air.”

Both Glen and the observing knights held their breath.

Duncan, who had been watching from the side, quietly added:
“Don’t worry, little sage. Our duty as knights is not to put a price on saving lives. Protecting the border is our mission, and it’s Lord So’s belief as well…”

“Does that make it worth sacrificing people?”

Great talents are supposed to come from the heavens?

Even now, rare talents hold up the territory, but after ten or twenty harsh, starving winters, will Hezeite still be overflowing with skilled aura users?

‘I was always meant to be cold and hungry. I know how easily beggars die.’

Moreover, if Glen sides with the Third Prince within a few years, imperial pressure will be far stronger than it is now.

Doris Duncan—even that simple knight—was originally destined to die in front of the Gringen Gorge.

A few skilled people survive like weeds even in harsh environments. But a territory supported by just a few collapses if even a few fall.

In the last two lifetimes, Arilletti could easily topple Hezeite because she had understood that weakness.

“Protecting the people isn’t just about shielding them. If the lord is treated lightly, how do you think the citizens feel? The worse the treatment from the top, the worse it gets. Never less.”
“…”
“Receiving fair pay for fair labor is neither shameful nor immoral. Quite the opposite. But what if they publicly undervalue their own worth?”
“…”
“I said these are the coolest people I’ve ever seen!”

The more she spoke, the more furious she became.

These foolish people.

Even though their physical skills make them the strongest in the continent, they’re getting extorted in a rural backwater? Does that make sense?

Needle, who had been hiding quietly in Arilletti’s arms, asked in confusion:

• Are you crying, master?

‘Yes!’
She was so angry tears welled up.

The food she had bought with piles of gold went entirely to the citizens. And they even picked up beggars like her.

Glen’s plate, emptied when she piled all the meat on herself, floated before her eyes.

Her stomach felt even sadder.
“This can’t happen, Lord So. This will be betrayal.”
“Betrayal?”
“They’ll be used and discarded by anyone. That’s how the world is… like me.”

Tears brimmed in eyes packed with injustice and fury.

At this rate, these people will end up like me.