Chapter 71: Phantom Thief Dauphin (15). If You Lay a Hand on My Little Guard
It all began, unmistakably, as a trivial clash of pride between two lords.
If just one of them had taken a single step back.
Or if the state of the nation had been even slightly more functional—if someone had existed who could mediate between them—then this petty quarrel could’ve ended easily.
But once blood began to spill, it demanded more, and as pride, vested interests, and grudges became entangled, the two lords began to rampage as if the word “brake” didn’t exist in their vocabulary.
Young men were forcibly conscripted. Taxes soared under the guise of war levies. Food supplies, which barely allowed a family to scrape by each day, worsened to the point that families had to give up one of their own just to survive.
The youths of two neighboring villages, who used to laugh and chat together, were forced to raise spears against one another simply because they were under different lords. And those who questioned why they had to fight were either beaten into silence by the lords’ private soldiers—or, worse, killed outright.
It became too painful, too unbearable to go on like this. So, clinging to even the faintest hope, the people approached him on their knees and begged.
O knight of the lowest rank.
True knight who fights for the people.
Please, save us.
Please, stop this senseless war we don’t even understand.
Wearing shabby clothes, emaciated and hollow-cheeked, they bowed their heads and shed tears. The knight couldn’t bring himself to turn away from them.