Slap The Harsh Reality To Their Faces

Chapter 243 - Slap The Harsh Reality To Their Faces

"Hello Granny, remember us? We came by about a week before asking about the nearest settlement you mentioned before. Here we are again, and this time, there are some people that would like to meet all of you." Penelope greeted the old villager that had given her directions towards Gracehaven which she had termed as a settlement with 100 to 150 settlers before.

Wendy held a knife and helped to slice the variety loaves of bread that she had brought along in an ornamental basket. There was several flavours available — creamed cornbread, chewy cheesy bread and apricot buttermilk bread.

Wendy deftly handled the slices of bread, each one was sliced perfectly ½ inch thick and was set on three separate platters. Each variation had 2 loaves and this would complement well with the hot tea that someone had brought over to the open seating area of the Adewera Arms.

It was a rustic little single-storey building that was once a small tavern but since there were only a few inhabitants left, and the original operator had left to more flourishing towns, and the exterior was now being used as a place to congregate for meetings et cetera.

"Oh... I remember you, child. How are you settling in at your new dwellings, comfortable right now I suppose? Where are the rest of them? There's 4 of you and some men and a young lad if I could recall exactly."

Old Laura was not that old and she could remember vividly the number of people with weird drabs that had come to ask for some directions some 7 to 10 days ago. In fact, she was a bit younger than old Kayla which had turned into bosom buddies after an exchange of pleasantries earlier on.

"Oh... They are tied with some projects and they send their regards to you along with everyone else here." Penelope replied as she helped Wendy to serve the platters of bread on the quaint outdoor pine tables and benches set outside the tavern.

Even if the tavern had been 'abandoned' by the previous owner, but the premises were secured with a huge padlock on the door's clasps.

They said grace and took a slice each and they discovered that the bread was freshly baked. The smell of the freshly baked loaves of bread was like a shower of rain over a prairie coupled with fillings that the inhabitants had never seen nor tasted this kind of bread before in their lives.

The slice of bread was literally manhandled and was pinched, patted, rolled up, squeezed, place under the nose to take a deep whiff before finally being nibbled by some of the inhabitants as oohs and aahs were heard audibly as they were swept along by a euphoric and orgasmic maypole ride.

They nodded their heads approvingly of the exquisite taste of these flavoured bread as they only knew the bread was baked rather with a simpler manner.

The inhabitants dropped their bashfulness as they took another slice of a different variant and did the exact same thing as they did before with the earlier slices.

The joys of eating the bread of such qualities brought smiles and a sense of radiance among their faces. They never had relished

the joys of eating such bread before in their life.

Then the tins of biscuit were lined on the table and the lids were opened to display the full goodness inside. Even if the biscuits were baked a week ago, the crispness was still there as the tins were airtight and that sealed the freshness within.

The inhabitants were surprised at the array of biscuits that were laid before them. They were butterscotch biscuits, cornmeal biscuits, OTAP and raisin shortbread biscuits. One of the inhabitants picked up a cornmeal biscuit and was astonished at how light it felt.

When the biscuit was brought close, the inhabitant could smell the fragrance and as it was brought to his lips and was bitten down, he was astonished at how crumbly it was. It was unlike the type of hockey puck that he had known before.

"Please go on, don't be shy. The bread and biscuits come from our town and it is being distributed to other towns as well." I gestured to them while I sat there and sipped on my tea.

After everyone had their share, there was still a lot of biscuits left and old Laura closed the tins and set them aside. She couldn't deny that these bread and biscuits were really enticing and it was considered one of the best she had eaten so far in her life.

While she and the rest of the inhabitants looked at us, somehow they felt that we had arrived at their village for a specific reason but they can't put a finger on it.

"What brings all of you to this quiet little village of Adewera? You said that you were from a town yonder? What we know it was just a small settlement, innit?" old Laura spoke up as everyone had their seats and listened intently.

I cleared my throat as I looked at their intent faces. "I am the Lord over at Gracehaven Town, the one that was referred to as a settlement with only 150 settlers, and we wish to extend our assistance to all of you that had been in this desolate village since there's only so many of you remaining here."

"It came to my understanding that most of the able-bodied man had left for a better future in other towns and might not come back here once they had gained a foothold wherever they had gone to."

"Those of you who were injured were likely from the militia and would not be returning to your forces anytime soon. Gracehaven over yonder would like to invite all of you over to be under its rule and protection, expecting nothing back in return."

"These sincere words are from the bottom of my heart and hope all of you would be inclined towards it." I concluded the opening speech and used the term 'Lord' because I don't want them to start throwing themselves on the floor and bow to us.

Moreover, who would have thought that royalty would suddenly take interest in this village and start offering them residency in a town which they had regarded as a settlement before. We had been around for 9 months and there were still people unheard of us.

Low murmurs that sounded like bees buzzing, covered the inhabitants as they discussed among themselves about the Lord had mentioned to them and somehow piqued their interest until old Mann finally spoke up.

"My Lord, thank you for the great offer in providing such amenities and opportunities for us. However, we do not decline the offer nor do we agree outrightly to it."

"I was appointed by this group of people and we would need some time to actually discuss and evaluate the matter carefully."

"We had been in this village for almost all our lives and we have a permanent fixture here despite surviving the odds based on foraging and also towards our individual vegetable patches."

"My Lord, your offer would be greatly considered and we would be giving ourselves at least 3 days to think it over. We appreciate your kind self in extending your kindness to us, despite some of us that might a burden in the future to you."

"Would you be sending delegates here to receive the ultimatum from us? Besides, could you tell us more about Gracehaven."

Old Mann heaved out a sigh under his breathe after making such a long conclusion in order not to offend any of the visitors who had come visiting them.

Indeed such decisions need to be carefully calculated as they would be considered as leaving their beloved village and jumping into the unknown.

No doubt the offer was irresistible as the Lord in front of him had spoken of providing protection, a new place to stay and definitely an opportunity to extend their livelihood, but right now the inhabitants themselves felt bogged down with their disabilities.

They do not wish their disabilities to be a hindrance to anyone in the future and thus be an outcast in the society and thrown aside like a used rag, useless and forgotten.

That's the reason they need to reevaluate and gather as much information as they could from this Lord before them.

"Gracehaven was established late last winter with just 12 inhabitants. They build an encampment...." Old Jack slowly narrates and captivates the audience that was before him.

Every single morsel of information was carefully narrated by Old Jack as Old Kayla assisted in adding the hype by his side. If they were to let any youngsters narrate it, the audience before them might be thinking those youngsters might be spinning a tale and conducting a cock and bull session just to captivate them.

Old Jack explains how Gracehaven had grown from an encampment right till this day and narrated how its economic status was able to make it self-sustainable.

I stepped in midway during the narration and simply declared, "We wish to take over 2 villages right after our town for land acquisition and reclamation. Since there was no one in that particular villages, we were thinking of turning them to become part of our outer city in time to come."

"If you do not move from here, it would not make much difference to us but you might lose out in the whole deal especially benefits and opportunities. You all may stay here all you want, it would just be a matter of time before we would be taking over lands and inched closer to our target."

Everyone was shocked at my words because it was a total opposite of what Old Jack and Old Kayla were narrating. They were painting a whole beautiful world in their inhabitants' mind while I was carelessly throwing paints of colour on a canvas and slaps madly at it to show the stark contrast of my idea.

Everyone except Eagle knows what I was doing then. This was to illustrate the 'good man bad man' negotiations and also to give the inhabitants some reasons for them to think.

Moreover, land acquisition at this moment would require a lot of resources and other in-depth planning. It is not that I could just walk into a town, plant our coat of arms banner and declare that the piece land belonged to Gracehaven already.

There were a lot of murmurs and after a few short questions and answers session with the inhabitants, we all excused ourselves and headed back. There was no point to hang around much longer but let the last few sentences of mine sink deep right into their minds.

=*=

"That was truly unexpected and the closing speech you made had really made them reel back in horror."

"It was a slap of reality to them because all this while, no one ventured out of their comfort zones to find out more about other surviving civilisations around them."

"They really resigned to their fate and situation and decide not to move forward jb their life. Bravo, Your Majesty... A wake up call once in a while should do it."

Eagle eased the reins of the horse as it plodded along back to Gracehaven and he turned and smiled at me as he knew I was able to get a foothold in diplomacy from the books he had brought back.

"Heather, did you count how many of them are there and how many are injured?" I turned towards Heather and she tapped her chin for a moment and informed me, "There's 22 of them there."

"8 were bandaged up with visible disabilities while the 14 of them are senior citizens. They are not really that old but I'm sure if we give them something light to do, they would be glad to do it."

"Alright, Eagle... You may proceed back here in 3 days time and hope they would be able to reach the ultimatum to be induced into Gracehaven."

I concluded as I slouched back and rested my feet on the footrest of the wagon and inclined on my elbows.

Eagle turned his head and he simply nodded at me as we headed slowly back to our little town.