Chapter 58
Chapter 58
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 58
Chapter Title: The Ruins of Princeton
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Though it had been decades ago, the last time he saw Princeton, it was a bright and lively pioneer village.
The population had surely grown even more, and Sion inwardly thought that it must have become at least sixty or seventy households, or even over a hundred if it was really thriving—a proper large village.
But the Princeton before his eyes now was a dying place filled with dilapidated houses that could easily pass for ruins, shrouded in a bleak atmosphere.
“Yonas, explain yourself.”
“I-I’m sorry. I don’t know much either.”
Yonas, who had only been involved in family matters back in Paloma and knew little about administrative affairs, bowed his head in panic.
“However, I’ve heard that the dukedom’s administrative power weakened considerably after Brother Bryan passed away. It’s probably due to that influence...”
“I see.”
Indeed, after Bryan’s death, the position of duke had been vacant for quite a long time—long enough to create a significant gap in administration.
Even so, Sion found it hard to comprehend.
‘Princeton had a good location. It was a strategic point right between Shionia and Paloma. There was plenty of water, and they should have steadily expanded their farmland.’
In short, it was a village with no reason to fail, boasting an ideal location and conditions.
“Let’s go in for now.”
“Yes.”
Shortly after, Sion led the group into Princeton.
Perhaps due to the hour, the log gate that should have been firmly shut and guarded hung half-torn and dangling open.
Clack, clack.
The sound of dozens of horses and twice as many people entering echoed through the dreary village.
At that, wooden windows in buildings that looked no different from ruins creaked open stealthily here and there.
Sion could see gazes peering at the group fearfully from the dark interiors of the windows, without a single light.
They probably thought they couldn’t be seen, but Sion could clearly make out the villagers’ expressions and faces.
Every one of them was exhausted and devoid of hope.
Creak—
Just then, one rickety door opened, and someone poked out.
There was no reason for concern, but Yonas and the others following behind Sion reflexively reached for their weapons.
Yet no one drew their blade.
The one who emerged from the door was a child who looked about seven or eight years old.
Skinny and filthy, as if he hadn’t bathed in ages—with grime covering his hands and face—the boy stared up at Sion on his black horse, then clenched his fists as if resolving himself and hurried toward him.
“You brat, step back...”
“It’s fine.”
As Yonas started to shout, Sion stopped him and silently gazed down at the boy who, despite his obvious fear, crept right up to him without stopping.
“Yes, what is it?”
“Um... Are you a knight from the castle?”
“Hmm. Well, let’s say so for now.”
At Sion’s reply, the boy’s face relaxed in relief, and he promptly dropped to his knees.
“Hm?”
As Sion furrowed one brow, the boy suddenly prostrated himself flat.
“Knight sir! I’m so hungry. Please give me something to eat. My siblings are starving too. Please help us. I’ll do anything.”
* * *
Princeton Village buzzed with rare liveliness.
The seventy or eighty residents gathered in the village square, all smacking their lips as they eyed the two large pots where stew bubbled vigorously.
At Sion’s order, they had unpacked a large quantity of provisions from Gau and thrown everything into the pots without regard for ingredients, resulting in a stew that was unappetizing in both color and smell.
But the villagers, who hadn’t eaten their fill in quite some time, stared at it greedily with ravenous eyes.
“Um, excuse me...”
Sion turned at the voice of the boy who had first boldly blocked his path and pleaded his hunger.
“Thank you, knight sir. We’re truly grateful that you’ve shared such precious food with us. Now, you kids, say thank you too.”
True to his country bumpkin roots, Billy—the boy with the rustic name—urged the younger children huddled behind him, and they all bowed in unison.
“Thank you, knight sir.”
“Thank youuu.”
Sion watched the toddlers, who looked about five or six, bow and straighten up, and a scene from long ago in his original world suddenly came to mind.
‘They look just like meerkats.’
Whether from being hit or just unwashed, their dark-ringed eyes and the way they clutched their navels on their scrawny bellies made them the spitting image of meerkats.
“Alright, the stew will be ready soon, so eat your fill.”
“Yesss.”
At first, they had been utterly terrified, but realizing that the sword-wearing, burly men weren’t harming them and were even giving them food eased their tension, and the kids even broke into grins.
Sion’s expression hardened slightly at the sight.
The children flinched in fear, and Billy, quick to notice Sion’s displeasure, hurriedly said to them,
“The knight sir must be tired. Go on and get ready to eat.”
“Ok!”
“Got it, big bro Billy.”
As the toddlers scampered off in a group, Billy bowed his head deeply, unable to hide his anxious expression.
“I’m sorry, knight sir. They’re country kids, so they’re young and don’t know proper manners.”
“No. I’m not angry at the children, so it’s fine.”
Sion smiled at Billy, who was only ten this year—much smaller than his age suggested, so he’d initially pegged him at seven or eight.
Then, after glancing at the villagers who kept stealing looks at him even as they eyed the bubbling pots, he spoke.
“But didn’t the adults look after you? The Princeton I knew was a generous place.”
“Huh? Have you been here before?”
Billy, born and raised in Princeton, looked at Sion with puzzlement.
There was no such distinctive knight in Billy’s memory—someone he’d never forget after one glance.
“It was quite a while ago.”
“Oh, I see.”
Unaware that this “quite a while ago” was before not just himself but even his parents, who had passed two years prior, were born, Billy tilted his head inwardly but continued.
“The village adults are struggling too. They used to give us food and such. But last year’s harvest failed, we had no reserves, and no aid came... The other kids are in the same boat as us.”
Indeed, the ten or so village children mostly looked like Billy or only slightly better off.
Though the village was failing, at least some basic kindness remained.
“If it’s this tough, why not go somewhere else?”
“Uh... I heard other villages are similar. And even if neighboring villages nearby are okay, farther ones are hard to reach because of bandits and monsters.”
Quick-witted as he was, he answered cautiously, but Billy couldn’t hide his incredulous look, as if wondering how an adult didn’t know that.
“Hm. I see. Looks like the stew’s done. Go eat.”
“Ah, yes!”
Mature for his age but still a child at heart, Billy bowed quickly and dashed off with a brightened face.
“Line up, there’s plenty!”
“We’ll give more if it’s not enough!”
Sion briefly watched the soldiers calming the crowding villagers and ladling out stew, then turned his head.
Yonas, who had been fidgeting and watching for a cue, snapped to attention.
“What are you so tense about? You’ve only been doing what Gedé told you all this time, right?”
“I apologize. Even so, as a member of the Sion family, I have nothing to say to Grandfather.”
“That’s true.”
“......”
Yonas fell silent.
Sion was angry.
If a village like Princeton, with its decent location and conditions, was in this state, what about the others?
Excluding major cities like Shionia and Paloma—where populations exceeded ten thousand—and their surroundings, everything else was probably a mess.
Most of the dukedom’s over two hundred thousand residents were likely in a situation similar to Princeton’s.
“Didn’t they open the Mile Mountain granary?”
“To my knowledge, not yet... Opening the granary requires the duke’s seal, so... I have no excuse.”
The Mile Mountain granary was something Sion had painstakingly built after stabilizing the dukedom in the past.
Using dwarf technology, it maintained a constant temperature like a cold storage facility, stockpiling grain so the dukedom’s people could endure famines or disasters to some degree.
“These fucking idiots. Whether there’s a duke or not, in this situation, they should’ve opened it first and asked questions later. I went through all that trouble to build it for times like this. Ha, fuck.”
Hearing Sion’s rare double curse, Yonas grew even more tense.
The ancestor rarely swore, even if his speech could be rough at times—but now he was cursing outright.
He was truly furious.
‘He’s more enraged by the sight of the dukedom’s people starving than by the failings and squabbles of his unworthy descendants.’
“These bastards must really want to die. I was just going to tidy up the family mess and set things straight, but this won’t do.”
Crack.
As he cracked his knuckles, a faint killing intent seemed to emanate.
Of course, if Sion had actually released it, Yonas wouldn’t have been able to breathe right there.
As Sion openly vented his rage, a small figure came dashing over from afar—dot dot dot.
The hurriedly arriving child was one of Billy’s younger siblings.
The five- or six-year-old girl, her face smeared with grime, beamed ear to ear as she somehow ran without tripping and held out a wooden bowl cradled preciously in her dirty hands.
“Knight sir! Eat this. It’s hot, so I’ll blow on it—fuu fuu.”
Even as she spoke to Sion, the girl’s eyes were glued to the steaming stew filling the bowl.
A wooden spoon was plunged into the stew, as filthy as her hands, face, and clothes.
Despite her own hunger, she had gotten a portion for Sion first and brought it over.
“......I ate plenty before coming here. You eat it first.”
“R-Really? Can I eat it?”
“Yes. It’s hot, so blow on it—fuu fuu—and eat slowly. Eat a lot.”
“Yay! Bro! Bro! The sir says I can eat!”
Vigorously nodding, the little one clutched the bowl dearly and dashed back—dot dot dot—to where Billy and the siblings were.
From afar, Billy bowed toward Sion in thanks.
Sion waved his hand a couple times as if to say eat up, then quietly watched Billy and the siblings, now mixed in with the village adults, burying their faces in their bowls and shoveling away with spoons.
Gazing at the kids who stuffed their cheeks full like chipmunks and grinned, Sion said,
“Leave only two days’ rations and give the rest to the villagers here.”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
It was a three-day ride from here to Shionia, so he meant to leave within two days.
“If Pieto handled things well, we can settle everything in two days. Even if not... it doesn’t matter.”
Yonas could only swallow dryly at the ancestor’s declaration—not just to arrive in two days, but to personally resolve everything by then.
(To be continued)