Episode 289 Admiral Yi Dok (3)
Ray returns with dead beasts.
“I have been hunting nearby. We are having a party today.”
The villagers welcomed him very much.
“ha ha ha. I owe you this.”
“You’re good at catching swift birds.”
“It’s not just birds. There are even wild boars here. Seeing the scar on his leg, did he set a trap?”
“What is it like?”
He shuddered roughly.
A few men carried the dead boar.
“I thought you were only good at work, but your hunting skills were also excellent.”
“I lived because of you. I was in a situation where I had to starve because there was nothing to eat.”
The children who had to starve because they ran out of food to feed smiled brightly.
Now that I can make even thin soup, I should be able to hold out for four more days.
During that time, Ray has work to do.
After looking around the lively village for the first time in a while, he hardened his complexion and looked at the village chief’s house.
* * *
Tadak— Tak—
With the sound of firewood burning, the village started making food.
Everyone sits in one corner and makes soup, and it feels like a small festival is being held.
Hungry children gather among themselves and squeal, and women carefully pour wine from their arms to their husbands.
Having a drink before the meal, the men in a good mood laughed hahahoho and brought up the story.
“Big. How long have you been drinking this?”
“It’s all thanks to that young man.”
The taciturn man sitting to one side nodded.
“Even though he’s a stranger, he’s a great guy. He is also good at farming, so if I had a daughter, I would like to take him.”
“ha ha ha. Where are you good at work? I’ve seen it from the side so far, but my heart hasn’t gone crazy. Even his face played a part, so all the village girls were staring at him.”
It’s a joke, but it’s true.
Even now, there are three or four women who are stabbed in their hearts after hearing the story.
As time passed by exchanging conversations, the oily soup was completed with a savory aroma.
The meat is trimmed and cooked well, so it looks quite appetizing even though there is not much in it.
The children gulped their saliva.
I’m in the middle of growing up, so I’m always hungry.
In addition, the children felt hungry because they had been hungry for two days.
The women tried to serve the meat soup, wiping the sweat from their brows.
But then the village chief approached with a frown.
Even at a glance, there is no strength in walking.
The village chief looked around for a while and sighed.
“…I’m sorry, but that meat soup… can I take it?”
The women who looked at each other happily nodded.
“As expected, the village chief was also marketed, right?”
“I can’t help it because everything I’ve starved for has been the same.”
The village chief shook his head at the woman who was about to share the soup with a smile.
“…that’s all I’m saying.”
“yes?”
Not only the women who were preparing the food, but also the men who were drinking beside them looked puzzled.
The men who felt puzzled rose from their seats.
“What do you mean? Not just one bowl, but the whole thing. So what are we going to eat?”
“It is the will of the priest. He is saying that you should not eat it and discard it, as it may contain poison.”
The villagers were all nonsensical.
All ingredients come from here.
He made ingredients from the weeds he picked up in front of him, and prepared the broth by trimming the animals that the stranger had hunted.
This isn’t something an emperor would eat, but it might be poisonous, so why throw away the finished rice?
The man who was not healed even after pouring holy water on his body shouted in anger.
“Even if you do this, you are doing too much! I once boasted that holy water would make me feel better, and now throw away the good food because it might be poisonous? Then we must starve to death!”
“A priest can do something like this! Even if I die today, I must say a word and die!”
The limit of their patience has finally come.
There is also a feeling of hunger as if the upper stomach is ripping apart, so there is nothing to see.
He clenched his fists and tried to face the priest, but the village chief blocked his way.
“I don’t know why you have your heart set on me. I know that heart well. But here, bear with me, even if you see my face. Please come here.”
The village chief held hands tightly and knelt down.
The village chief has never shown a weak side before.
When he came out so low, the villagers felt a painful feeling for some reason.
Now, with both eyes open, the finished meal is about to be taken away.
It didn’t just mean that one meal was robbed, it meant that the initiative in this village had passed over to the other side.
They looked at each other for a while, then exchanged glances as if they were dejected.
I am so angry that tears flow uncontrollably.
But it is unavoidable.
There was no way for the weak rural residents to do anything to the priest of the holy kingdom.
If you really fight to live and die, you can curse at least a few words, but that’s all.
Perhaps, if the priest made up his mind and retaliated, this small village would soon become a mess.
When no one was able to speak, the taciturn man spoke as the representative.
In that voice, I could feel the anger suppressing through my chest.
“…Take it. I will help you.”
“…Thank you.”
It was the night when the fragrant aroma of food spread for a long time.
The conversation between the village chief and the people was just one word.
It is a sign that they are slowly falling apart.
* * *
The priest, who was sitting comfortably in the village chief’s house, murmured.
“People get nervous when they are hungry. Now it’s about time to rebel…”
If you see any signs of resistance, you will lead the paladins and destroy all the villages.
And to reign as the new ruler of this region.
You may think it’s simply a small town, but that also depends on who manages it.
You can develop it into a pretty decent village, and you can subjugate monsters one by one to grow the size.
What’s even better is that these mountain villages rarely attract the attention of local lords.
Thanks to that advantage, it was possible to live as a king in this village.
Right now, I’m only living in the village chief’s house, but in the future, I’ll build a mansion that looks good and live there.
The priest drank tea, thinking that the future he envisioned was only a matter of time.
The paladin standing next to him spoke in an incoherent voice.
“Priest Hedra, the period to report to the Holy Kingdom has passed. At this point, he contacted me once…”
Seongguk is a huge country.
Now, thanks to the saint who existed before, he has grown to the point where he can stand shoulder to shoulder with the Lessian Empire.
Although priests and paladins belong to the Holy Kingdom, they are not even the middle ranks within the Holy Kingdom.
In the first place, he was dispatched to the Kingdom of Celia, one step away from the Holy Land.
Failure to report during the reporting period would result in suspicion, but Priest Hedra did not want to put a second on the finished plan.
Now was the time to focus on taking over the town.
“It is not yet time. It’s not that the report is short-lived, it takes half a day. I’m in trouble if the villagers move in it.”
In the end, it’s a way to keep things from being discovered by the Holy Kingdom.
Of course, the paladin knows that too.
It’s just that he doesn’t want to attract suspicion from the Holy Kingdom.
The paladin, who could not even find a match after taking out the words, smacked his lips.
“All right. Let’s postpone it for as long as we can.”
“It’s good that you speak well. What is the village atmosphere like?”
When the head priest twisted his fat neck and looked at it, the paladin frowned and answered.
“It looks like you’re going crazy for making me not eat. It wouldn’t be strange at all if I woke up right now.”
Hedra priest smiled happily at the satisfied words.
“Ha ha ha! Fools, if they had relied on me, I would have given them the leftovers. It’s refreshing to cling to a stranger you’ve never heard of.”
“The three soldiers I hired are always watching their movements. If you show movement, you can hit straight away.”
“done. There’s not a penny in the pockets of the townsfolk now. Anyway, if you’re a holy beast, you can’t use it. Even ordinary water becomes holy water when the priest says one word.”
“The money I have earned so far is not small. How about using this money to hire more soldiers?”
Despite his suggestion, the Hedra priest shook his head.
“Why spend more money dealing with small pups? Our current strength is enough to deal with a village like this. The collected funds will be of great help in creating my village later.”
Already he felt as if the town was in his grasp.
Even realistically, the village is on the verge of collapse and they just have to wait for it.
What could be easier than this?
Priest Hedra, sitting on a wooden chair and waiting patiently, wiped his hand.
In the next week, everything will be over.
* * *
After taking a breather elsewhere and returning to the village only in the morning, Ray felt strange about the people’s condition worse than yesterday.
There is no strength in the body, and the pupils are loose.
Even at first glance, I knew it wasn’t normal.
“It is strange. If I ate as much as I could last night, there would be no way this would happen.”
He thought he would have eaten and gained energy, but there was no reason to walk around as an undead.
Ray grabbed someone who had helped him a few times and asked.
“Mister, what the hell happened to you?”
The bearded man lets out a deep sigh.
“I’m sorry. I haven’t even tasted the food you gave me, let alone ate my fill.”
He was taken aback when he heard an unexpected answer.
“Why not?”
the man spoke sarcastically.
“The famous priest said that there might be poison in it, so throw it all away. Thanks to you, I only wasted food that was fine.”
“I caught a hunted animal and cooked it right away. How is it poisonous?”
“I can’t even guess why. I’m going to die of poisoning or starvation anyway, but I’d rather die from eating my stomach full.”
A sweet smell escapes from the man’s mouth.
I didn’t eat anything, but I must have done farming.
Poison spreads faster because of poor nutrition.
As the immunity declines, other abnormalities seem to gradually appear.
He looked at the children around him.
Skin and bone overlapping and hair gradually losing color are typical signs of malnutrition.
If you leave it like this, it will be really bad.
‘Originally, I tried to watch the condition a little longer and move, but I can’t do it anymore.’
He tried to be cautious as it was something that could involve the Holy Kingdom.
However, the current situation was simply unbearable.
Children cannot overcome their hunger and are eager to eat even dirt, and adults collapse while working.
Ray said to the man.
“Mister, please assemble everyone in the center of the village by morning.”
“It’s not difficult to gather something… what are you trying to do?”
A cold smile crept across Ray’s face at his question.
“Have you been hungry all this time? I’ll feed you dinner until I get very sick of it.”
