Capítulo 133: 133. Harvest
Author: Disturbing topic ahead. Please avoid reading.
"Nooooo…" The woman cried while protecting her child. Yet those men riding the horse did not intend to let anyone leave. The glaive moved, severing a quarter of the woman's body and the child's head.
The horseman didn't even look back and continued riding while trying to hunt down the next victim.
He wasn't alone. There were twenty-four more just like him, cutting everything that breathed like a weed in the backyard.
The village is home to up to two hundred people. This place was quite distant from the nearest walled city.
It was supposed to house about five hundred people. However, after a year of flooding three years ago and a back-to-back drought, many died, and many left the village to find a job to feed themselves.
Only those who could do nothing but farm remained in the village. Lucky for them, as the winter receded this year, the situation was already showing signs of improving. The little rains were already a good sign.
The lord of the land came and ordered them that one-fifth of the corps must be sent to the lord so that it would be sent to the army fighting for the empire.
Even then, they weren't worried. They hope they will still get a harvest after a long time. Yet their cold bodies were lying on the ground, turning the earth red.
"I curse you." The slightly older woman shouted at another horseman with a full-face-covered helmet with bull horns coming out of it.
"I curse you." She shouted again, aiming her small crop cutter scythe at the horseman, adding, "You will die. You will die just like me. You will watch your family die in front of your eyes. I curse you; you will die worse than a pig."
The woman didn't expect any words from the horseman, nor did she wait.
She raised her scythe and cut her own throat. Her body didn't resist or show any sign of struggle. All of her last bit of energy was used to glare at the horseman.
She continued to glare at the horseman until she could before her body lost enough blood not to let her stay upright and fell to the ground.
She fell beside her husband and a young, dead body that looked like her grandson or something.
It was the same everywhere in the village. Whether it was a man or a woman, young or old, each and every one of them were slaughtered. A few quick-witted ones tried to escape, but they were soon taken care of.
The horseman in a bullhorn helmet didn't move and continued looking at the woman, who continued staring at the horseman even after her death. She wasn't sure how long she was looking at the dead woman before another horseman in a similar bullhorn helmet called her.
"Leader, we have already destroyed the field."
"Spread wine and put them on fire. Destroying won't be enough. Make sure they can't be harvested again for a few years."
[Author: So that you know, regular wine with low alcohol content won't burn very well or might not even catch fire. Alcohol with a higher alcohol content will burn, but not very well. This specially prepared wine in the story has a high wine content (70-80%) and a higher chance of burning.]
"Yes, leader." This horseman was also wearing a full-head helmet.
However, if Emma had been here, she would have recognized her sister's voice, Mia. She was about to leave Thyra alone but reported, "We have already slaughtered three bulls."
"Yes, put three heads on the stick and put it on display after gathering all the bodies in one place. Remember to put my flag on a pole, too."
Her initial shock had long since faded into acceptance of the new normal. That did not help with digestion or sleep, though.
Mia tried to talk sense into Thyra, but after Thyra killed almost the whole first village by herself, she pushed down whatever she wanted to say. She showed no mercy, not even for infants or the elderly.
Although she knew about Thyra's plan, as Thyra didn't hide it and only chose those willing to come after hearing what she wanted to do, the reality was still too brutal for Mia.
Just like the twenty-four that had come with her, Mia wanted to ask a lot of questions. She was too afraid.
She couldn't help but wonder if it was the same Thyra who had evacuated the entire city of Luxor so that the enemy wouldn't slaughter the innocent civilians.
Yet she killed a baby who was still smiling at her when she brought her sword down to end its life.
"Demon." On that day, Mia became aware that Thyra was a real demon.
There was no way she could be a human. But she couldn't say it out loud. She kept her own analysis hidden in her own heart, just like all the others who had followed Thyra.
But nothing changed when they reached the second village. Thyra never once ordered them to kill the villagers. She only ordered to gather all of the villagers as Thyra slaughtered them all.
It was in the third village that the first change occurred. A few soldiers stepped forward and killed some of them. On the fourth, more joined in. On the fifth, they were doing it as if it were their job.
Now, at the sixth village, there wasn't even a hint of hesitation in their swing. Yet that one question remained in Mia's heart.
Although she couldn't see Thyra's face behind the bullhorn helmet, from the direction of the eye slit, she was sure Thyra was staring at the dead woman.
"Was that necessary?"
"Yes." Thyra didn't even look at her as she answered, nor did she have a hint of hesitation in her voice.
"Do you think the enemy would be afraid of you if they learned that you had done it?" Mia shook her head, adding, "If anything, they would be angry or even try to hunt you down like mad."
"I am not doing it to make them afraid of me." Thyra paused momentarily and added, "No, that is part of the reason."
"What about the other part?"
Mia felt Thyra's emotionless eyes gaze into her soul as she asked, "Why do you think the empire attacked the kingdom in the first place."
"Food?"
"Yes and no." Thyra sighed. After receiving all the news from the mercenaries and the scout unit she had sent, she also got the gist of the problem. "It wasn't just that they attacked us because they lacked food. It's a little complicated. Although that is my own reasoning, though."
'Own reasoning' wasn't the word. It would be better to say it was the bits and parts of the original novel that she remembered.
"The new emperor came into power about five years ago. After pacifying his opposition, he built his army and started intercontinental expansion. I learned it was initially successful, but the flood and drought came at the wrong time."
"Now that his opposition is again raising their voice about his legitimacy, he needed a place to show his power. And the kingdom, in his opinion, is the ideal, weak example. It will not only solve the food crisis but also expand the empire's area, which had stopped expanding half a century ago."
"We are weaker than them. So we need to hit them where it hurts. Food. After hitting all these farming villages, we will hit the supply depot and return to the kingdom. It will give the kingdom a breather and give me a reputation. Or may I say infamy?"
Mia always thought she was mature for her age. Yet the thought process of Thyra, who was a little younger than her, was beyond normal.
Still, she couldn't help asking, "What if the fourth prince punished you because of this?"
"As if he won't do it even if I listen to him." Thyra laughed and turned her horse around, and Mia followed. Thyra said, "It is as you have said. Half of the empire's soldiers might want to hunt me down, but half of the soldiers would be afraid of me. But do you know who would be most afraid of me?"
Mia thought for a moment before asking, "The fourth prince?"
"Maybe. We just have to wait to see." Thyra didn't answer, and she walked her horse away.
"But, what if…"
"Not now." Thyra stopped her from asking any more questions. "We had already been inside the empire for more than two weeks. It's been eight days since we attacked the first village. Even if nobody noticed it till now, it wouldn't always be the case."
"We still have to attack two more villages before infiltrating their supply depot. After we return to the kingdom land again, you can ask what you want to know."
Although Mia wasn't satisfied, all she could do was follow Thyra into the dead village.
Estado de energía semanal
-- Ranking de
Poder 
-- Piedra de
Poder