Chương 25: New Vassals 2
Tirant's POV:
Aelius then took us on a tour of the lands of Pergamon to "bless the land" as his vassals called it. At the time, none of us realized what they meant until we saw him growing the crops in a newly planted wheat field. The seeds of the crops grown by the prince's magic were collected and stored. Aelius told us that these new seeds are better quality and have a higher yield rate, so he told us that we would be using them in the future instead. He then showed us bizarre metal rods that he planted in the center of the fields or gardens, saying they will make the already rich harvests with his superior crops even richer.
The wooden devices with iron cores he built along the rivers that the Altans called "watermills" and the "windmills" that they built on elevated ground that catches the wind with the sails on their long arms were truly fascinating. He even demonstrated to us the effectiveness of these mills as they called them. It was used not only to grind flour or agricultural products, but also to cut up materials such as pulp or timber, or even metal shaping. The amount of time and labor saved by using such advanced equipment was truly astonishing.
In the spawn of a few weeks, he generously gave us knowledge and equipment worth, quite frankly, more than the Kingdom of Pergamon itself. I considered the possibility of the prince conquering more land to enrich himself even more with the technology his kingdom and he himself produced, but a single look at Aelius would disperse any such ideas as simple nonsense. The noblest and perhaps the most powerful man on the face of the earth spent the majority of his time healing and talking with the former serfs in the villages we visited on our journey. He wouldn't eat unless the major problems in the villages we stopped by were resolved. Whether it be the lack of water, sickness, homelessness, or even the lowliest of problems, waste disposal. He himself would order and lead his workers and vassals from the front without showing even a single look of disgust or repulsion as if he had been doing this for years. I once asked him why and instead of answering my question, he just told me to accompany him tomorrow on this charity work.
After I and the other nobles from Pergamon had our breakfast, a small number of us accompanied prince Aelius on his charity work. He opened a half-tent in the village center and accepted the villagers one by one. He would talk to them and ask about their well beings, bless them with his magic, and then pray for them. He would even entertain the small children by moving fruits in the air with his magic before giving them and then patting them on their heads. He would caress babies as if they were the most precious stones in the world and sometimes even name them. The vast amount of carriages and wagons that were sent from Alta contained numerous technologies and materials, which were then used to make the facilities that the people of Alta regarded as the rights of every human being completely free and just for simply existing. I only noticed the villagers' behaviors from afar and couldn't see their reactions and only heard them from others, but I now realized that the way they looked at Aelius was as if they were looking at a benevolent God, yet Aelius simply told them that everything was due to the benevolence of the Goddess of Light and told them that they should thank her instead. The volunteers and the workers that came from Alta too were enjoying their jobs, seeing it as a form of prayer.
Their joy and reverence of Aelius were simply overwhelming, so much so that I barely held myself from collapsing from the intensity and the stress and I still didn't know why he made me accompany him instead of answering my question. While I was trying to calm myself, Aelius noticed my condition.
"Lord Tirant, are you okay?"
"I am a bit dizzy and tired your highness. My apologies, however, would it be possible for me to retreat to my tent?"
"That is troubling. Hmm, is your condition as bad as to require your immediate leave? If it is a slight dizziness, how about I just heal you?"
I was having cold sweats and was on the edge of fainting. The boy in front of me looked and behaved like a God, which made me suppress my own thoughts and sins deep within me, and now I could barely control my emotions.
"I don't want to trouble Your highness. Besides, I believe I will be better by the morning after I have some rest."
Aelius then smiled.
"It would never be troubling to ease others' pains. Not to me."
He approached me and put his hand on top of my arm and injected his vast magical power onto my body. Contrary to the quantity and the sheer destructive power of the amount of magical power that should've posed, the reality was that it just felt warm. It wasn't invasive but rather soothing. I felt like crying on the spot, but before I could react in any way, Aelius spoke.
"Come, we have one last job to do. Then I promise you will rest."
I then weakly followed his lead deeper into the village and finally outside the village near the forest in front of a small, shabby house. The dark house was almost covered by trees and received no sunlight. The trees and wild grass looked as if they were choking the house. The oppressive nature of the house made it clear that no sane person would live in it, yet Aelius' steps stopped in front of the house. For the first time ever, even the vassals of the prince showed bewilderment, and Aelius' most trusted knight, Sir Thalandir, even stepped forward.
"Sir, the guides say a witch lives here. They said she was a herbalist, but then killed a Pergamonian noble's aide with her sorcery and even after being burned alive, she still lives. Let's leave this accursed house and let the priests and your knights deal with the witch."
All the people present there, as much as I hate to admit it now, even I agreed with Sir Thalandir's opinion back then. Charity against criminals would be against the principles of the prince that I had witnessed until that point.
Aelius turned to Sir Thalandir.
"I didn't take you as a prejudiced man, Sir Thalandir."
"Sir, I apologize but please let's pass this house."
"Sir Thalandir, why you are so keen on making judgments? What makes you so certain of the judgment given by unfair trials?"
Seeing Sir Thalandir not responding, Aelius continued his talk.
"We must become better than we have been: more courageous, greater in spirit, larger in outlook. We must embrace true justice, overcoming petty prejudice like this, owing our ultimate allegiance to our rational mind guided by the fair laws of Alta following the will of the Goddess. Only then we might be able to create a better future."
Then Aelius turned to one of his aides.
"Please bring the Goddess' Scale."
He resumed his walk towards the Witch's house. His pace was as calm as ever. He signaled his men to stop and approached the house alone and knocked on the half-broken door. No one opened the door even after a few minutes, so Aelius opened the door and called me, sir Thalandir, the aide that was bringing the Goddess' Scales that detected lies and we entered the Witch's house together.
We then heard the voice of the Witch inside.
"W-who?"
Her voice was coarse and hard to understand. It was as if someone was scratching a horn board with their nails. It was unpleasant and eery. The voice called again.
"Emma?"
The woman called the name of the girl from the village that was helping her from time to time. It was her request to Aelius that we were here.
"Hello, I am sorry for intruding in your home and I am not Emma, however, I am here to help you."
We entered the room she was in and I almost puked. The rotten smell and the sight were both indescribable. The woman was resting on the ground on a thin straw rag. Her body was covered in an old blanket and the house was cold. Bugs were everywhere and were even blocking the way. Aelius snorted in displeasure and with a single movement of his hand, all the bugs left the house from the cracks.
After hearing Aelius' voice, the woman started to tremble in fear and was breathing heavily. Then she started to talk with great pain and hardship.
"Wh-Who are you?"
When we further approached the woman, we could then see the burn scars covering much of her face. Her eyes lost their light and she was apparently blind. Her disorganized and dirty hair though was shining with a subtle brightness. We all then realized that this woman was one of the blessed ones as the believers of the Goddess of Light liked to call her.
Aelius approached the scared woman and held her burned right hand. She couldn't move her hand.
"I am Aelius, and I was born into this world, just like you."
The most powerful man on the planet defined himself not with royal titles, his enormous magic, or his unprecedented achievements, but simply with his nature as a human.
SUY NGHĨ CỦA NGƯỜI SÁNG TẠO 
ryuutaurus
ryuutaurus I stole Karl Franz's quote, and I feel awful about it lol. I don't know, it is such a humble line, especially coming from one of the most powerful men in the known world.
I also attempted to write dialogues and introduce a new character that is the poor witch. Witch hunts weren't really a thing in most of the Medieval period which is the setting of this novel, but I took some creative liberties with that. Besides, I found a hint of a single instance of a very very small-scale witch hunt happening in Hungary between 1000-1020, so there is that. Nonetheless, it should be noted that witch hunts as we know of it started in the 15th century.
I apologize for the lack of depth and the two-dimensional dull characters, but I couldn't quite understand how to actually write a character. I'll try to improve upon it though.
Quà tặng
-- Nhận quà Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực