Breaking the Monopoly

Inside Edge City's administrative hall, Mel set down the documents he had just finished processing.

He also wanted to recruit knowledgeable people to handle this work, but those people clearly had little interest in joining rebels like them. Most of those who joined were people struggling at the very bottom.

For them, joining the army at least meant having enough to eat.

After finishing the day's work, Mel went to the city gate. What struck him as odd was that farmers pulling ox carts outside the city were being firmly stopped by the guards.

The carts were loaded with farm produce. At this time of year, if it was not sold quickly, it would spoil soon enough.

They could only have come from nearby villages. If they had come from farther away, the produce would have spoiled on the road.

"Please, have mercy and let us in! Otherwise, these vegetables will spoil," a farmer pleaded with the guard.

"No. Rules are rules. You cannot enter the city to sell goods. If you want to sell them, wait for someone to come collect them from the village," the guard said, shaking his head.

Mel walked over just then and asked in confusion, "Why aren't you letting them bring their goods inside?"

"My lord." Even the soldiers who had surrendered still held Mel in great respect, so the guard carefully explained, "These were the rules set long ago."

"Who set them? The lord?"

"Yes. In the past, only the lord and his family's merchant caravans could purchase goods in the villages. The villagers were not allowed to enter the city and sell them privately."

Mel listened silently and did not take his anger out on the soldier before him, because he himself had been maintaining the previous rules without making many changes