บท 58: A forceful evacuation

"Why haven't you left?" Igor Belkin asked the person in front of him. Igor was Alexandre's chief knight who was ordered to ensure that all the inhabitants of the Eastern part of Pollow who were ordered to vacate had done so. From Igor's warm voice, it could be noted that he was an affable guy. He stood outside one of the houses of one of the Pollow natives with several knights behind him, even if it was still raining cats and dogs, Igor was indifferent by the nuisance of the heavy downpour, he allowed the rain drops to fall onto his helmet and the shoulder pads of his armour before it splashed and flowed down onto his chest plate. This motion repeated perpetually which made Igor to look like an aloof warrior and a loner at the same time.

"Fuck you! I won't move out! Where do you want us to go? You can kill me now if you want, but I won't be relocating to somewhere else." The old man who was being questioned by Igor was disinclined, even if his voice was trembling, he struggled to put on a brave front and answered Igor with a mocking tone. One should know that the old man was in his house and he had opened the door slightly and craned his neck through this small angle and watched the knights outside who were questioning him.

Igor didn't answer or ask the old man another question, he scanned the man's face and then shifted his gaze behind the man through the ajarred door and further into the old man's house and there, he could catch vague glimpses of the old man's few grandkids. However, Igor's expression didn't change, he was ordered by Alexandre to ensure that all the houses that were marked had been emptied for the occupancy of the workers thus, Igor stared back at the old man and asked in a low voice that the old man could hear even if it was still raining heavily.

"Do you know that it is an act of treason to go against his majesty's order?"

The old man hesitated but he was still reluctant.

"I won't leave! This is my land and I can do with it whatever I want. If you want to be reimbursed the money that you guys gave me, I can do so. I still have all that amount. I don't want these filthy coins in exchange for my land." The old man had a black linen bag in his hand and he waved it from side to side in front of Igor which made the bag to release sharp noices of the coins in it and without hesitating, the old man threw the linen bag onto Igor's face.

Pu!

"Leave from my compound now! I don't want to see your faces. I have already given you what you want." After spitting, the old man hollered before he decided to bang the door shut but before he could lock the door from the inside, the door was effortlessly pushed open and Igor's menacing figure entered into the house.

"If I were you, I would have already left a long time ago. I can't imagine how you are going to survival out there in the cold with these kids if you were forcefully evacuated. It is my duty to ensure that no one is left in this house but because you have kids, I will allow you to share this house with other workers today but tomorrow early in the morning, you should be on your way to relocate to somewhere else. I hope you will understand. I don't want to harm you or your grandkids. I also have several kids and I can feel what you are feeling but I follow orders, I can't do much to help you other than allowing you to stay in this house with other workers for the night of today. If you were one of our workers, you wouldn't have been moved to somewhere else but..." Igor's voice was calm and he sat on the sofa as his fellow knight stepped into the house with a linen bag that was full of coins.

Of course, this bag was the one that the old man threw it onto Igor's face and spilled the gold coins onto the mud but Igor's underling had collected all the spilled coins and put them back into the bag.

Standing up, Igor took the linen bag from his underling and gave it to the old man.

"I know you are not a fool. Once the orders have been released, there is no going back. Take these coins, they will help you in the future, if you keep refusing, then you might loose everything once tomorrow morning arrives. I hope you will make the right decisions." Igor didn't say much and walked out of the house. He had already done his part and it was now upon the old man to choose.