149 Refugees (1/2)
”Of course, that didn't completely stop the old fashioned kings to declare war against a king if he took in the nonhumans”
Don heard everything that Lord Clemo was saying without missing a single word as Lord Clemo continued
”If someone asks my advice about taking in the nonhumans, I would say that you better be ready to be at war every day and face the political difficulties in daily basis”
Just as Don thought, it all came to the single thing that matters most, power. Even if the emperor did not demolish the law against the nonhuman residency, he would think about sending his force to a powerful foe who could annihilate his force completely.
”The law of the jungle never changes”
Don thought to himself
”What about the church of great ones?”
”That I don't know your majesty, they usually only deal with the religious issues that mostly related to the false gods” Lord Clemo looked at Don's face to see if he could guess what he is thinking
”Your majesty, you don't plan to open the borders for the nonhumans right?”
”Of course not, Lord Clemo you can be at ease”
Lord Clemo sighed in relief but unlike Lord Clemo, Arrora knew that Don was lying as he's planning to do just that plus according to her guess, the coming winter would be a better time to open the border for the nonhumans
Just like Arrora guessed, Don was also thinking about the winter because no one would send their troops outside to let them freeze to death before reaching the destination. And thinking about this, Don was pretty excited, now he didn't need to worry about the emperor's wrath and he could use the wintertime to expand his army so if someone decided to declare war against him, he could welcome them with a surprise.
After traveling some time, the sound of rain hitting the carriage roof started to become less and less, and eventually, the sound completely stopped.
”It seems we are not in Agoria anymore”
Arrora looked outside and saw the sky clearing up to let the golden sun rays come out
”We should rest here for a moment”
Lord Clemo knocked two times on the carriage and the carriage slowed down
When the carriage stopped, Lord Clemo stepped out first and held the door open for Arrora and Don to step out
Sunlight touched Don's face after a long time. The air had become sweeter as the birds softened the morning with their chorus. Already the greyness was gone, evaporated as fast as desert rain, and the heat of the day can already be felt.
”Why are we stopping here? Your majesty”
Joel and Arwen came to Don
”The men should rest a bit”
Everyone started to stretch their limbs and enjoyed the sunlight while the horses had a morning snack of a small stack of hay
However, after resting a few moments, Arwen and the men saw a group of people in the distance, possibly walking towards them
” Stop right where you are”
Arwen fired an arrow as a warning shot that landed just an inch away from the man who in front of the crowd
Even from the distance, Don could see that the people were really exhausted and now they looked terrified plus exhausted.
”Lower your bow Arwen,”
Don said and looked at one of his men
”Go and bring one from the crowd”
”Yes, your majesty”
The soldier went to the crowd and brought a middle-aged man to Don.
”Who are you and these people?”
”I-I am Aax, my lord, we're nobodies my lord ”
The name Aax was not common in these side of the kingdom
”Where are you from?”
”Ozoris Kingdom, my lord”
Don turned to look at Lord Clemo as he had no idea where Ozoris is
”They are refugees, your majesty, a year ago Inura kingdom started to invade Ozoris and they have been at war ever since”
”Ozoris and Inura are rank 3 kingdoms, your majesty”
Joel stepped forward and told Don
”You and those people look exhausted, don't you have any nearby kingdoms to seek refuge?”
”We have and we did, my lord but they chased us away cuz of the coming winter”
It was not a surprise that the refugees had been chased away because many kings would not like to feed extra mouths during the winter where they must save every bit of food to survive the winter. And even if they had enough food to feed the refugees, the accommodation and hygiene would often become trouble since many plagues have started in the past especially during the winter hence no one liked to shelter the refugees.