In the square before the castle.
Looking out from the gatehouse tower, there was a sea of people stretching as far as the eye could see, a dense black mass that had even blocked the roads leading to the square.
Ever since the "Wartime Regulations" had been enacted, it had been a long time since the residents had gathered spontaneously on such a massive scale.
Everyone had been afraid of getting conscripted or being arrested as a spy by Count Krenway, whom His Majesty had appointed.
Only now that the war was over did people dare to wander the streets without a care.
Looking at the gallows in the center of the square, the people surrounding it excitedly whispered among themselves, sharing gossip they had heard from others.
"Did you hear? Maternil was sentenced to hanging!"
"That baron?"
"I remember the Hunt family died by his hand."
"His youngest daughter was so lovely... What rotten luck that that bastard took a liking to her."
"Poor Hunt... I heard his eldest son died outside the City of Abundance, burned so badly they couldn't even find the body. He himself lost an arm during the retreat. Too bad he didn't die on the battlefield."
"The Second Ten-Thousand-Man Corps, right... That was awful."
"...In the end, it was the enemy who avenged him."
"Pah! Maternil... that bastard! I remember him! My wife was..." A skinny man spat and cursed, but suddenly stopped halfway through.
The people around him perked up at once and continued questioning him with sympathy and curiosity.
"And then?"
"Come on, tell us."
The man's face flushed red. Fed up with their questions, he finally squeezed out a curse and drove away the people gathered around him to watch the show.
"Tell your mother!"
Near the gallows in the distance,