Chapter 33 - Arc 2, Crescent Moon (1/2)

When Ernst entered Meissen, the first village he visited was Arruca. This was the village where he had parted with the hunters.

Two months had passed since then.

Once they were beside the village, Ernst separated from Ganche and walked into Arruca on his own two feet.

The village head that Ernst had previously met tottered over toward him.

He was 147 years old… Ernst remembered from two months ago.

The head butler of the estate, Sington, had said that he was 151 years old.

Up until Ernst had been made lord, Sington had taken on the role of connecting the lord-less Meissen with the neighboring Rintz fief. His main task was to collect the taxes and pass them over to the government officials who came from Rintz fief.

Ernst looked at the village head in front of him.

He was about the same height as Ernst, whose body had stopped growing after boyhood. But this village head had grown old. He didn’t have Kleber’s disease. In spite of that, he still had the same height as Ernst.

His harsh and severe life had robbed the village head of his youth.

“Do you remember me?”

Ernst tried to speak in a quiet voice so as not to sound intimidating.

The village head slowly nodded his head and invited Ernst to his house.

Arruca Village seemed to be in far more dire straits than Caralime Village.

Arruca Village had a population of 36 people. There were 5 children, and of the 31 adults, 27 of them had Kleber’s disease.

“Does Arruca Village still engage in shepherding?”

Though there was a fireplace, there was no fire. The house seemed to have begun falling apart, but they couldn’t fix it.

As such, a cold wind blew inside.

“Haa… in the old days, we used to do a lot of shepherding…”

In the village head’s house, seven elderly villagers including the village head spoke with Ernst, who was accompanied by Targes.

“Humm. Then do you no longer tend to sheep anymore?”

The seven villagers exchanged looks with each other. Who was going to be the one to speak? They looked as if they were trying to pressure or compromise others into speaking.

“Nowadays… we only tend to five of them…”

The village head answered.

“In that case, do you do farming?”

The villagers looked at each other.

It was much easier to get the people of Caralime Village to talk, Ernst thought.

Arruca Village didn’t seem to have a clear leader. The village head might have just been called that simply because he was the eldest.

“We farm… but that said, we only grow wheat…”

The village head reluctantly answered.

“Humm. You’re not able to stay fed this way, are you?”

Once again, silence pervaded as the villagers kept themselves quiet.

“The young people left the village to find work… so….”

The village head answered, grumbling.

“I see. Then when I had first entered Meissen, was that before they had gone to find work?”