Ch.249Plague (3)

“Give it to me quickly!”

“I was here first! Get lost!”

“Form a line! A line! Even if you claim high status, without proof, we’re selling strictly in order of arrival!”

After what could be considered both a short and long time, Dijon was in complete chaos due to the influx of people from the Empire.

This was inevitable, as everyone was rushing to obtain sugar, which had been identified as the only cure for the current epidemic.

The people who came to purchase sugar were incredibly diverse—from those sent on errands by high-ranking officials, to men who had rushed to Dijon for their families, to merchants hoping to resell the medicine at higher prices.

“Please… please! My wife at home has contracted the plague—”

“I’ll pay more! It’s impossible to reason with commoners like you. Call someone higher up!”

“I’ve come here on orders from His Grace Duke Micklen! This is urgent, so sell me the medicine at once! What nonsense is this, prioritizing commoners?!”

“Ugh…”

The official selling the sugar involuntarily retreated in the face of this wave of humanity. While they should be preventing such gatherings during the height of the epidemic in the Empire, the sheer number of people made this extremely difficult.

If these people were enemies, they would have simply threatened them with swords and bows to forcibly disperse them, but these were just civilians seeking medicine, making such methods difficult to employ.

Of course, given the pre-modern mindset and low awareness of human rights, they could resort to such methods if they wanted, but the problem was that most civilians here were foreigners—Empire citizens—whom they couldn’t carelessly harm.

Above all, in the eyes of the Rotaring people, the Empire citizens were all unclean beings spreading the plague, so the soldiers and officials’ reluctance to get close to them also influenced this outcome.

‘Your Majesty… why do you subject us to such trials?’

The officials and soldiers who had become human breakwaters against this tide of flesh silently swallowed their tears.

Claude had initiated the sale of remaining sugar to both save lives and make money now that the epidemic had ended in the Kingdom of Rotaring, but those working on the ground under Claude’s orders couldn’t care less about such intentions.

They only despaired at the addition of this terrible task.

“Look, there’s not much left!”

“Excuse me? What do you mean?”

“I’m obviously talking about the sugar! Is that all there is?”

“Ah… yes, but we’ll harvest more this year, and that amount should be sufficient—”

“Hurry, hurry up and give us the medicine!”

The seemingly small amount of sugar further fueled the aggressive attitude of the buyers.

The sugar supply was inevitably limited since they hadn’t planted sugar beets extensively and were only selling what remained after the Kingdom of Rotaring had used what they needed. However, since oral rehydration solution only required 30g of sugar and 2.5g of salt per liter of water, it wasn’t a critically dire situation.

But for buyers unfamiliar with oral rehydration solution, such details were irrelevant. Only what they could see with their eyes mattered.

BANG—!

“Eek?!”

“Enough! No more riots will be tolerated!”

Finally, the riot of Empire citizens subsided only after a hand cannon was fired into the air.

The Empire citizens, who had ignored all the officials’ shouting, froze at the thunderous sound, and the knight who had taken this action continued addressing them.

“First, merchants whose purpose is reselling rather than using the sugar cannot purchase it. I’m sorry, but you must leave.”

“What?! That’s absurd!”

“Whether you sell to them or to merchants, isn’t the same amount of sugar going to circulate in the Empire anyway?!”

*Click*

“Ugh…”

The merchants’ resistance immediately died down.

Unlike the officials and soldiers who had been controlling the crowd haphazardly earlier, these newcomers had a completely different atmosphere. They had already drawn their swords.

“Everyone here knows well enough. This amount of sugar won’t benefit even a fraction of the Empire citizens suffering from the plague.”

“Then even if it’s a small amount, what difference does it—”

“Enough. No matter what, shouldn’t we at least try our best? At the very least, when you return to God’s side, you can hold your head high knowing you did the right thing.”

All the Empire citizens present were beyond bewildered, even approaching anger, at hearing such words from a servant of the bastard king who had committed every sin imaginable.

Of course, they didn’t show it outwardly. It was easy to imagine what would happen if one insulted a foreign monarch in front of that country’s knights.

“That is… yes, I understand.”

Already unable to enter Dijon due to quarantine measures, the Empire visitors were collectively isolated in this distant outskirt. The Empire merchants, despite coming all the way to Dijon, would have to return empty-handed without sugar or even normal trade, but fearing military force, they silently accepted all these procedures.

While others were pleased that competitors had been reduced, those who remained didn’t have much to celebrate either.

“Next, the amount of sugar sold is limited to a maximum of 450g per person.”

“450g…?”

“That’s 1 pound in the Empire’s measurement system.”

“This is… outrageous!”

“How can you sell only 1 pound?!”

Assuming a typhoid patient drinks 2L of oral rehydration solution daily, this amount would last about seven and a half days. Since typhoid takes about three to four weeks to heal naturally, this amount of sugar is severely insufficient, but it’s an unavoidable choice to sell sugar to as many people as possible.

Above all, if they don’t administer it continuously but only during severe symptoms, it’s enough to sustain life if not health—this sales quantity was Ellen’s carefully considered decision.

*Screech*

“Then let me ask you this. Would it be right to sell all the available sugar to the very first person who arrived?”

“Ugh…”

Sensing the escalating tension, the knight drew his sword and pointed it forward, causing the Empire citizens to instantly hold their breath in shock.

“That would… not be right.”

“But I came on orders from His Grace Duke Micklen—”

“Enough. 450g per person, no exceptions.”

“…”

The Empire citizens who were about to cause a disturbance quietly bowed their heads as if nothing had happened.

Whether they came to purchase on behalf of nobles or as ordinary citizens trying to save their families, the concept of treating everyone equally was too difficult for the current Empire citizens to understand—it was beyond their comprehension.

The Empire citizens, sensing that the knight’s attitude wouldn’t change no matter what they said, obediently complied with the control measures.

“…Tsk, this is why Empire citizens are…”

The knight clicked his tongue in complaint at the sight of these Empire citizens.

They absolutely refuse to listen when spoken to politely—is this truly the mindset of God’s supreme creations?

Envious, jealous, greedy, and without intelligence. When approached with intellect, they look down on you; when approached with force, they become fearful and comply.

Aren’t they just like livestock that only obey when whipped?

[—Recent events clearly reveal the level of Empire citizens. Just as breeding livestock with superior genes produces excellent offspring, those conceived with inferior genes develop evil personalities and act only on base instincts with low intelligence, which greatly helps explain the current ugly behavior of the Empire filled with such people. I call this the theory of lineage. Of course, noble individuals who have transcended this world with God’s blessing cannot be explained by such theories, but since ordinary commoners are not so blessed, the theory of lineage applies, proving that the lineage of Empire citizens is fundamentally different from that of us Rotaring people—]

‘Hmm… thinking about it now, there’s some truth to it.’

The knight suddenly recalled an editorial posted on a bulletin board before and nodded, comparing it to the Empire citizens before him.

At that time, he had dismissed it as vulgar assertions not worth noting… but now, after experiencing numerous battles and encountering countless Empire citizens firsthand, things were different.

Surely when God molded people, He must have taken more care in creating the ancestors of Rotaring people than those of the Empire.

After all, God originally established order in the world through social status, and that status system naturally included the hierarchy among different peoples.

Even the humblest serf, if he is a loyal Rotaring citizen to His Majesty and a devout servant of God, is naturally of higher status than pagan barbarians.

“You there, leave the line one more time and you’ll be expelled. Stand in line properly!”

‘Really, they try to pull something the moment you take your eyes off them.’

The knight supervises the sale of sugar, thanking God for being born a Rotaring citizen.