Book 3: Chapter 5 (2/2)

“Back to the village the sacrifice came from?” Alice asked, raising an eyebrow. She lifted the little meatball girl, who was still unconscious, and frowned. “Wouldn’t that ruin the village’s purpose of sacrificing someone in the first place?”

“No, no,” the woman said. “We bring her to Sacrifice Village. We live in a little valley to the south. If we try to go back home, we’d be sent back here with more sacrifices to appease the dragons that we escaped from even though the dragons don’t care…. If we try to enter a different village, the same thing happens.” She shrugged. “That’s why Sacrifice Village was established. We have several hundred women living there.”

“And all of you were sacrifices,” Alice said, her expression blank.

“Yes.”

“You’d think people would learn,” Mr. Skelly said, scratching his head. “Why do villages offer sacrifices? Is it like a protection fee? The dragons threaten you to pay or something along those lines?”

“No,” the woman said, shaking her head. “Dragons possess great amounts of mana. As long as they are happy, the mana that passively radiates out of them is filled with abundance and life. The crops grow well, and the sky is full of rain. But if the dragons are sad or angry, the crops wither as drought plagues the land. And with the constantly raising taxes, the villages need more and more crops to survive.”

Alice turned her head towards Mr. Skelly. “Is that true?”

Mr. Skelly shrugged. “I’m not an expert on dragons. But even if it’s not true, it makes sense. If villages are short on food, they can sacrifice people to have less mouths to feed. Brilliant.”

“That’s not something you should be praising,” Alice said with a snort. “I don’t like the ruler of this land already—raising taxes so much that people are being offered to dragons? I wonder if Vur will overthrow them if I asked him to.”

“Why not do it yourself?” Mr. Skelly asked. “Are you forgetting who your husband is? I’m a great commander.”

“But you don’t have your army,” Alice said.

“Then we can just make one.” Mr. Skelly wrapped his arm around Alice’s shoulder. “Rally the people around you. Become a leader for the peasants to follow. Engage in warfare and overthrow the evil king. Let’s do it. It’ll be fun. Didn’t you say you enjoyed your time at war with me?”

Alice bit her lower lip. “I did…, but—”

Mr. Skelly slapped Alice’s back. “It’s decided then! Let’s start a war.”

The woman stared at Mr. Skelly and Alice as if they were crazy.