Plotting The Takeover Of A Takeover!? (3)

Anyway, we finished our preparations left the horses with the Slaves, alongside their orders, and finally entered Eru Village.

From the entrance of the village, we could see people working in the fields.

Their eyes turned towards us, the strangers who had suddenly appeared.

Due to the disappearance of the surrounding villages in the crownloands and the various rumours going around, people did not look kindly towards outsiders right now.

Immediately, the men from the village came towards us.

They asked me with their guarded eyes open.

"What's the purpose of this village?"

"We're refugee's our village was attacked, so we're looking for a new village that will take us in... we came this way cause the area around the capital is an area of ​​war and banditry and many other villages have been completely burnt out just like ours."

Chosing to speak not in my lordly persona but in a gruff voice dropping all formalities

"Lost your whole village to those rebels?"

"That's it"

"Hmm. I'm sorry, but we can't do any more after we've already taken in so many refugees. I think we should go to the countryside."

It's been weeks since the coup occurred so many other villages were burned down and even those that weren't had droves of people flooding to the surrounding territories under the protection of their own lords.

Serena's eyebrows moved.

She must have heard remembered it was essential for her to infiltrate the villages near the royal capital in order to move them using the power of her Charm and the good name of her Father their lord, so she must have become worried.

The village man waved his hand in an effort to chase them away.

It means get out.

This was reasonable with the village possibly doubling in size suddenly, it was natural for the surviving villages to have such a reaction as life was difficult, and agricultural land was limited, not to mention food which would need to be shared to those newcomers.

The situation should be similar no matter which village you go to near the royal capital.

I approached the man again with a serious look on my face.

"I'll pay you to take care of us until we get settled. How about this much? It'll be all my assets, but..."

Then, the man's eyes widened.

However, at that very moment, a fierce rebuke came from behind them.

"You guys!!"

Hearing that voice, not only the man who was speaking in the front, but also those who were standing still in the back, were shocked and their shoulders sagged.

"V-village chief!"

As the men opened the way, a white-haired old man walked up from the depths of the village with a smile on his face and looked me up and down.

Although he had gray hair, he was not that old, he was around 50 to 60 years old and had a charismatic face.

As soon as the village chief appeared, he hit the village men on the head with his cane.

He doesn't seem to have any trouble walking, and in fact, it looks like he's carrying that cane around as a club.

This is probably the famous village chief that Serena was talking about.

"We're all the same people. We all have the same problems in life. What do you mean by kicking them out?"

The village chief scolded the men and looked at us again.

"You've come here late. Up until this week, many refugees were immigrating, but recently it's been a long time since they've been seen here. Where did you come from?"

"Recently, the soldiers from the royal capital have wiped out a village near here. We're from that village... While the soldiers moved on and went to other cities to do business, the village was destroyed... they burned everything to the ground."

"You mean the village is gone entirely?"

"That...it seems to have something to do with the rebel army... we've heard many travellers fleeing the capital stating thusly"

When I tried to bring up the topic of the rebel army, the village chief hurriedly covered my mouth.

"If you don't want to die, it's better not to talk about it."

"Ah, sorry!"

They must have been massacring the people of the village to cover it up, but even if they kept it a secret, the rumours were still spreading.

The village chief shouted out loud while trying to keep me quiet.

"Well, in any case, this village is fortunately located across a mountain, so they can do slash-and-burn farming...I guess they can make a living somehow. The people of this village aren't that heartless. They're just wary of people they see for the first time. In fact, the more hands you have for slash-and-burn cultivation, the better. Don't worry."

After saying that, the village chief looked at the village men.

The village chief's words were absolute, and they scratched their heads, unable to refute anything.

"Put that money away. You can use it later when you need it."

The village chief held a cane and issued instructions to the men of the village.

"I'll ask them to guide you. If you'll help to clear the land, and when it's finished, We'll give you the a portion of the field to help you make a living, after that any land you reclaim on your own is 100% yours, just don't try to claim more than you can handle as if you leave the land fallow for to many seasons others can claim it as their own."

"Y-yes..."

When they answered, the village chief smiled and disappeared into the depths of the village from whence he came.

After I watched it until the end, the man who had been talking to me for the first time approached me.

And secretly whisper.

"But, could you spare me a few gold coins as a souvenir?"

"Gold coins?"

"No, don't worry about it now. Haha. I'm Merol. Come with me."

"Yeah"

Serena and I followed him.

Zeff glared at the village man with the force of killing him with his eyes, but Miri stopped him.

After all, he was right in inviting Miri to join him, if only to control Zeff better.

As I continued into the village, Merol stopped in front of a wooden building that looked like a warehouse.

"This is a building where people like you who have come from elsewhere for the first time will be taken care of for a while. As soon as we have time, we will build a house for you. For now, men can spend their time there, and women can spend their time in that building."

When I went where it pointed, I found a vacant lot with some wood.

Thanks to the village chief, he really seemed to take care of me in many ways.

Well, the villagers don't seem to be bad people either.

Although the country as a whole may become more or less compassionate depending on the king's policies, in the end, a small village like this is greatly influenced by the village chief's policies.

I'm sure there are many villages that completely turn away the refugee's.

From that perspective, I felt that the choice of the village was not wrong.

"There's no one around right now. They've all gone to work. Come with me. I'll say hello first. Also, you two, go to the field."

Merol separated us.

Miri nodded at the instruction from the man to go and work the fields.

Then she takes Serena's hand before the pair of women take their leave.

"Sere, we're needed over there."

She was worried because she was a noble, but when I told her to act well, Miri was trying to become a reliable person for Serena.

Acting most like an older sister to the clueless noblewoman who was about to get a crashcourse in hard labour.

We men meanwhile followed Merol.

The place we arrived at was a rocky mountain face near the back of the village.

It was a site where about 10 other men were working on clearing the land by digging out large, small, and medium-sized stones, while another 10 were clearcutting the surrounding tree with axes.