Chapter 34 - Arc 2, Crescent Moon (1/2)

Though Ernst and his entourage had wanted to camp outside here as well, the villagers stopped them.

Most of the village had left to find work. The villagers told them that they could stay in the vacant houses.

Though they hesitated over selfishly intruding in someone else’s house while they were away, the villagers just gave a laugh. Don’t worry about it. It wouldn’t matter if anyone went inside, they said.

When Ernst timidly entered one of the houses, he found that there was certainly almost nothing inside. There was only a shabby bed, as well as tableware carved clumsily out of wood.

Ernst gratefully accepted the villagers’ offer.

Ernst’s party consisted of 25 people, so they decided to use 5 houses. They didn’t have enough firewood or bedding, so they would have to directly lay on the floor to sleep, but just having walls to shield them from the open air was a great help.

In this village, there really was nothing at all.

Yet even so, the village head wanted to somehow offer Ernst something to eat.

Unfortunately, until their migrant workers returned safely in the spring, the villagers themselves didn’t know if they would be able to eat.

But in spite of this, they took their food that had enough to feed seven elders and five children for one meal and added snow to it over the fire, turning it into a thin, thin soup.

Ernst approached Targes, who had been chatting with Brez, and spoke in a low voice.

“I would like you to take two pieces of the dried meat we had brought from the mansion, and after finely chopping it up, to add it to that soup.”

“Two pieces… you say? That would only be enough of a serving for a single soldier of the militia.”

Their current march would end at Arruca Village. They would stay in the village tomorrow, and they would return to the estate the day after tomorrow. The food they had brought should be enough to last them for four more days.

“Humm. But that amount is exactly right. If this kind of soup is what they always eat, then if they suddenly ingest too much meat, it will poison their bodies.”

After being convinced by Ernst’s words, Targes nodded.

“That… does sound about right. In their state, having a stomach breakdown would be a matter of life or death for them.

After all, he was someone who had been a mercenary for many long years. The captain had most likely experienced how it felt to be on the verge of extreme hunger, as well.

“When you add the meat, don’t let the villagers find out if at all possible.”

As Ernst took his leave, he added these parting words.

It seemed that Targes had executed this well.

The pieces of meat that had been mixed into the soup were chopped so finely that even when he knew they were there, Ernst couldn’t them unless he carefully studied the soup. Judging by the villagers’ appearances, they weren’t aware of what happened at all.

Ernst, the villagers, and the militiamen encircled the fire lit in the town square. The villagers seemed quite pleased by this giant fire that the militiamen had prepared.

Everyone drank the thin soup together, happiness on their faces.

The happiness that others gave to you was like rain falling in a drought.

Even if it was a life-saving and blessed rain, if it was fickle and given at a whim, then it wasn’t truly something that was saved people. If people relied on something like that, then none of their problems would actually be solved.

The people of Arruca village had gotten used to giving up. They might even have lost their sense of worth as human beings.

It wouldn’t be difficult for Ernst to hand out food to Arruca Village. It would be easy to give them the twenty-five people’s four days worth of food which he currently possessed.

But in the long run, he would be failing these villagers.

As they were now, they would accept what Ernst gave them as a matter of course, then request for another.

Like that, the other people of the fief would covet what only the Arruca village received, envying them.

They couldn’t be allowed to become used to being given things by other people.

If they did, then what they were given would become a poison which killed them.

As the villagers murmured and chatted in low voices with each other, Ernst watched them quietly.

The next day, Ernst took a look around Arruca Village.

Five sheep were digging their noses into the snow and eating grass. These sheep looked somehow different from the ones in Caralime Village.

“Is this the same type of sheep as the ones in Caralime Village?”