Ch.176Territory (2)

“There he is!”

“Kugh…!”

The tenant farmer who fled from the estate grits his teeth as he sees the pursuit team chasing after him.

They’ve already caught up this far.

Crazy bastards, if only they managed the estate with this much diligence normally.

‘I can’t get caught.’

There’s no hope in that place.

Just living forever as a plow blade, digging the earth in a state where you can neither truly live nor die.

Moreover, in the past few years, even that role as a plow blade has become difficult.

[Sir Knight…? Demanding more rent? This is different from our agreement!]

[As you know, there have been many wars lately. Please understand.]

[But still…]

The knight who raised the rent using war as an excuse never lowered it even after the war ended.

When I went to see the knight to protest about it, what came back wasn’t understanding but oppression and violence. It was impossible to imagine he was the same person who had shown such a gentlemanly attitude when raising the rent.

What’s worse, the knight did something even more terrible.

[This is Hans. He’ll be working the field from now on.]

[What? Then what about me—]

[Don’t worry. You’ll work the field together. It was a bit too large for just one person, but now we can use the land perfectly.]

[That’s not what I meant… What happens to my harvest?]

[Obviously you’ll have to share with Hans, won’t you? Doesn’t Hans need to eat too?]

During the Imperial civil war, Imperials who couldn’t enter the royal territories were driven out and flowed into the surrounding estates.

Almost all landowners greatly welcomed and mocked His Majesty’s decision while absorbing these Imperials indiscriminately. Even though the estates were already too crowded to sustain themselves.

In the end, many serfs and tenant farmers like me had to share fields that could have been worked by one person alone, making life even more harsh for the estate residents.

“Get away!!”

So, I absolutely cannot get caught.

Going back to such a terrible place is unthinkable. Absolutely unthinkable.

I’ve heard that in the royal territories, there’s plenty of unused land, and even if the rent is high, one could make enough to live comfortably.

Why is it that merchants are given the freedom to move between estates, but I, though a tenant farmer, am still a free person and yet denied such freedom?

……….

“…Damn it.”

Even though they’re lightly armored, armor is still armor, and it’s a significant handicap when trying to catch a tenant farmer running with nothing but the clothes on his back.

The soldiers finally watch helplessly as the tenant farmer crosses the estate boundary and escapes into the distance.

They might get away with crossing just a little, but it’s morning now, and if even one witness appears, they’ll be in big trouble.

“Now… what do we do?”

“What do you mean what do we do? We go in after him.”

“Are you serious?”

The soldier is horrified at his comrade’s suggestion.

Go in? Isn’t this the king’s territory?

No matter what orders they received, if they really enter the king’s territory and get caught, who knows what terrible things might happen to them.

I’ve heard that people working in the salt fields become human jeotgal, pickled alive in salt… ugh.

[Understand? We don’t know what kind of trouble the king might stir up, so absolutely do not enter!]

[Um… what if he crosses the line?]

[Didn’t you hear me?! Catch him by any means necessary!]

The soldiers have received conflicting orders from the knight: to catch the tenant farmer by any means necessary, but also not to cross into the king’s territory.

This is essentially a cowardly attitude, suggesting that if the soldiers cause any problems in the king’s territory, he’ll pretend not to know about it. But the soldiers weren’t brave enough to point this out directly.

“…It’s okay. We’re not sneaking in, we’ll enter officially and ask for cooperation.”

If soldiers secretly entering the territory would be a major problem, then passing through proper inspection shouldn’t cause such a big issue, right?

Above all, the soldiers have a legitimate reason that everyone, including the king, would understand: they’re here to catch an escaped tenant farmer.

“From now on, we’re not an unauthorized armed external force, but envoys from a neighboring estate carrying weapons for self-defense, seeking cooperation. Got it?”

“…Are you smart or something? But won’t the knight be furious?”

“Better than becoming jeotgal, and besides, he didn’t tell us not to do this.”

“That’s true.”

……….

“…An investigation, you say.”

“Yes, we humbly request your cooperation.”

“I don’t have the authority to cooperate with you. You need to get a cooperation permit from at least the local governor.”

The two soldiers who properly passed inspection and entered the king’s territory went straight to the city office to request cooperation, but their request was immediately rejected.

The administrators working here had no such authority to act autonomously.

The low-level administrators, constantly educated by Claude’s manual as if brainwashed, couldn’t even conceive of the concept of overstepping their authority, let alone actually do it.

“What…? I understand the governor’s city is further in, but if more time passes, it will be harder to catch him. He couldn’t have gone far.”

Of course, the soldiers couldn’t understand the administrator’s attitude.

When had administrators ever properly followed guidelines? If they collected taxes exactly by the book, they couldn’t make small profits, so what would be the point of being an administrator?

Moreover, this place is far from the royal capital, so supervision must be very loose. There’s no reason to fear an audit from above.

Why would… ah, is that it?

“Come on, don’t be like that. Help us out here, will you?”

“What are you… ugh?!”

The soldier, guessing the administrator’s intentions, takes out several silver coins from his pocket and hands them to the administrator. Of course, he keeps them hidden in his fist, out of sight from others.

This will cost him three days’ wages in an instant, but what can he do? If he returns empty-handed, there’ll be trouble—

“Haha, with this, please—”

Ding-ding-ding-ding—!!

“—ugh?!”

But that expectation is instantly shattered.

Realizing what’s in the soldier’s hand, the administrator throws away the silver coins in great fear and without hesitation rings the bell on the desk to sound the alarm.

The soldiers are confused by the sudden turn of events. They want to demand an explanation from the administrator, but their words are drowned out by the loud bell.

Until the waiting security guards rush in and arrest the soldiers on charges of bribery in the act, the confused soldiers can only flounder, unable to do anything.

……….

“This, this…!”

The letter that should be carefully preserved is crumpled beyond recognition, but there is no servant here who can point this out.

After all, who would dare to disturb their lord after reading such an absurd letter? If anyone even slightly defended the king, their head would be physically severed that very day.

Here, only the lord’s will is justice, and only the lord’s word is law.

[It is impossible to distinguish between original estate residents and immigrant estate residents without clear proof of identity, and this could lead to wrongfully identifying innocent estate residents, so we refuse the request for their return.]

“What? There’s no way to distinguish between escaped estate residents and those who already lived here? Is this supposed to be an excuse?!”

The king’s response to the request for the return of estate residents is truly outrageous. It’s nothing but a wicked intention to steal valuable estate residents!

Of course, it’s true that clear identities are hard to determine. There would be no painters to draw such lowly people, so at most their names might be registered in the church’s membership list, but beyond that, there’s no way to identify them. Even that becomes impossible if they use false names, unless someone who knows their faces perfectly searches for them directly.

However… using such an excuse is an entirely different matter.

There have been many illegal migrations of estate residents before, but lords often just handed over innocent residents to the other party to resolve things amicably. What lords want isn’t the lowly commoner as an individual, but the labor force that can dig the land and farm.

But the king didn’t do that.

Even though he’s a king, he’s fundamentally a lord, and lords should accommodate each other to some extent. How dare he make such petty excuses?

“And what about those damned fools?! Cut off the head of the knight who was managing them right now!”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

What’s more infuriating is that they gave the king a pretext.

Those idiots entered the king’s territory armed, impersonated officials, and even openly offered bribes.

This is clearly a mistake made by the soldiers, and it’s sufficient cause for anyone to raise issues. Enough to create an excuse to refuse returning estate residents.

‘Despicable bastard… putting such things in the letter to shut me up.’

It’s absolutely unforgivable.

I had turned a blind eye to some of his overstepping because he won numerous wars and became the king of Lotharing and Caroling. With such achievements, one could overlook some tyranny.

But isn’t this too much? They say capable people often have terrible personalities, but this bastard king goes too far.

How dare… how dare he do this—

[Therefore, I would like to compensate for those escaped estate residents in another way. While we cannot clearly identify individuals, we can determine changes in head tax, can we not? I also wish to cooperate with you to build a system that prevents such incidents from recurring.]

“…?”

What’s this now?

The lord, who had been trembling with anger from head to toe and was about to start plotting against Claude, tilts his head in confusion after reading the sentence at the bottom of the letter.

It’s too mild for something said by that vicious king. It’s as if someone else ghostwrote it.

It doesn’t seem like something from a king who would steal what he doesn’t have and kill his enemies by any means necessary.

‘But… offering compensation and wanting to create a system to prevent recurrence, apart from not returning the estate residents, it has a certain sincerity to it.’

…Perhaps I’ll be fooled just one more time.