Chương 124: Routing the Orphans
Demis had been a vagabond all his life. He was sold into slavery at three years old by his only kin, uncle. Luckily bandits attacked the carriage when he was about to be transported to a town, He was groomed by bandits when until he was seven, but his home was beset when the local Lord decided to do something about the bandit leader and he was taken out.
He found himself in a slave cart again but luck was yet again on his side. The cart where he was held captive broke down and he had escaped along with a few fugitives. He ended up hitching a ride in a hay cart where he ended up in Bren.
He became part of a gang in Bren. Their job was to get information and tell it to their proprietor. It was hard getting by. The quality of food you got was proportionate to how valuable the proprietor deemed the information. Normally he stole food instead of depending on gaining information, which the older youths monopolized.
He had dreamt of being a noble and gaining power, he didn't have the kinship nor the magical capacity, he only had his wit, nevertheless, he wished and longed for that power, the power to put a life in one's hands, to be the judge of someone's worth. He wanted so desperately to be able to have that much power. For him it was freedom. Freedom from thirst, from hunger, freedom from fear and uncertainty.
He didn't try to gather any information today, It was already dark and he just wanted to keep warm. Even though he fantasized of becoming a noble, he never trusted any of them. From what he understood, Lord Blackfyre was a benevolent lord but he never believed it. He just lurked in the shadows, biding his time, being invisible and trying to stay alive day by day. His fantasies were just for himself.
Today he watched a long lanky lad walk up toward the chief.
"Chief, we have information, their rounding up all the guys,"
"What do you mean?" the fat man asked and sipped on his ale. He was half drunk. Cerulle was one of the wealthier commoners in Bren, wealthy enough to rent his own building in the merchant district and have his own tavern. The tavern, of course, was just of part of where he got most of his money.
Cerulle got most of his income from the things that he could tell the nobles or their representatives. He had an impressive stipend overtime and he had many patrons who would pay him. But with the Castle becoming stricter and implementing bizarre policies. It had been getting harder to both gather and spread information. Normally what he would pass letters to merchants in the merchant district so that he could propagate the information. A few years ago, it was so strict that he couldn't even get to the proper channels.
He heard that along the way, the carriers mysteriously had accidents or disappeared. It was because of the consistent overseeing of the Lady back then. She was like a hawk. But she knew that it would have to die down, with carriers being killed left and right, fewer domains would like to conduct trade with Bren. Most nobles didn't want to make deals with people they couldn't see. As long as Bren wanted to buy or sell, there would always be room for people like him in the empire.
He slumped and slouched his body on the couch eating some grapes. He also had a plate of strawberries that was newly produced by the farms. While a naked woman entangled her arms around him half naked.
"Chief, they're rounding up everyone under 17,"
"Rounding up?"
"Yes, I just heard from a Blackfyre guard, chief they are trying to get all of us. Their rounding up everyone! I don't know but it seems that they are forcing everyone under 17 to forced labour, chief,"
"Bollocks, Lord Blackfyre doesn't have the heart to do that, Bren doesn't even buy slaves for some reason." Cerulle took another gulp while he fondled the bosom of his companion.
"They are Chief, I saw some of the knights assemble and they are off to go to Hanks' Basket," the lad said sincerely.
BANG!
The door burst open.
Cerulle, stood up at once, "This is an outrage! On what grounds do you barge into my Tavern, I am closed for the day!"
The Captain replied, "It's orders from the Lord, the decree is to round up everyone who has no parents or guardians under 17, the state will be taking care of them now,"
"Bu-but, "Cerulle, was devastated, without the boys, getting information would be a lot harder.
Cerulle could not resist. There was no one under Bren who could. The Lord's words were law.
"I thought that the Lord was fair and Just, aren't we running an honourable establishment?"
"We shall take everyone who's not considered an adult, there are also guards in the brothels to round them up, Slave or serf."
"If I-I could just get compensation, these boys have become close to me, sire" Cerulle gulped", they look up to me as a father, I request for payment, f -for emotional damages of course," Cerulle bowed, his belly out.
"Cheif! Don't let them get us," the lanky lad quivered as the knights rounded them up.
"Shut up boy, I am trying to negotiate terms!"
"Sire, they help me running my tavern, I need compensation for their labour."
"That will be for the scribes to determine," the guard snorted, his eyes full of disgust, he knew exactly how Cerulle ran this shop.
"But sire,"
The knights rounded up the gang. There was not even attempt of even running away. They knew the full capacity and power of each and every knight. There was no way of even retaliating and they ended up begrudgingly submissive as they were forced to gather in lines.
However, when Demis saw the first knight in plate armour, he already climbed the stairs, they were swift and surrounded the whole room in a few seconds but he was quiet and nimble. He climbed out of a window on the second floor and leapt down. He sneaked away. It was time to find a new crew.
"Halt there," a guard sprinted toward his location.
He stopped but he climbed the next building. Two more followed and dashed toward his location. He wanted desperately to flee. He knew what nobles were like. But he was caught. 'This is the end I'm going to be a slave once again,'
He was made to line up with the other guys. He saw their eyes full of fear. This was the unknown chaos from the order they had already clung to.
. . .
Ulric saw the commotion and monitored the event closely. He wasn't in his stealthy clothes but in his noble suit casually taking a stroll.
"Heinrich, look," Ulric whispered.
"Yes, I wonder," Heinrich rubbed his chin gazing at the long lines of youths going towards the training guards.
As the line passed, he called on a guard, "Pardon me sire, but where are you taking these children,"
The guard furrowed his brows, but he recognized the figure immediately, he was a merchant who had been invited to the castle many times.
"Lord Heinrich! Pardon me, I didn't see you there, well since the lord has decreed all orphans are subject to the state, we had to manually round them up, they are going to be educated, as Lord Ezra said, in the university,"
"Oh, I see, it is kind of the lord to actually push trough with this, it must cost the state quite a sum,"
"Yes it must, but Lord Blackfyre is kind," bowed the guard and smiled, "I'll be off then milord,"
"Thank you," Heinrich bowed graciously.
The guard nodded and there was a sprite in his step, it was rare that a noble actually acknowledged a knight.
Heinrich chuckled internally, it was truly easy to understand the minds of the commoners.
When the guard was quite a distance Heinrich voiced out what was on his mind.
Heinrich smiled, "I think I know a way to get inside that university, Ulric"
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| Author's note: |
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Hi readers,
I know that this might disappoint some of you but I would like you to know that I MIGHT go back to one chapter a week release rate by Monday next week, I have a few things on my plate and writing this novel does consume a lot of my time. I am by no means a professional author as you can see from the quality of my work. This is likely the FIRST AND ONLY NOVEL I would ever write in my lifetime. I would just like to say that money was never the motivation for the conceptualization of this novel and as most of my older readers know, webnovel hadn't even offered contracts back then, they just offered a platform to be heard. I just figured, that If a sufficient amount of time goes into making this then why shouldn't I get paid, however, I have long deviated from wishing to work with webnovel. Writing novels WILL NOT AND WILL NEVER be the source of my main income. I just wrote this because there was a story that I wanted to tell and I wanted to share with other people, (Yes, the main plot is already set in stone. As for the subplots and details they are the ones that are subject to change, that is why if you can observe the plot is actually set in a good foundation with plenty of foreshadowing, introducing main characters, moulding their personality, introducing antagonists and plot progression, as Stephen Covey says: "Begin with the end in mind", each chapter is built on top of one another with a certain progression pace), that is not to say that I may not monetize in the future. (Actually, I was thinking of getting a proper editor and publishing through Amazon, when I have the budget to hire one). While I may slow down my release rates or go on periods of hiatus, I can promise that: I WILL NEVER DROP THIS NOVEL.
Thank you for reading,
Earl
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