Nobles and Lords

"Allow me to tell you a brief fact--

Many years ago, when our lord was in his prime and still often resided at the manor in Star Plum Town.

He would always select some young, strong men from the town to serve as his temporary servants.

Some carried his quiver, some took care of his horses, there was a dedicated butcher to process the game, and a hunter who would preemptively herd the prey into a designated enclosure for him...

Almost every Harvest Festival, he would organize such a hunt.

This was because only then were the townsfolk the most idle, available for him to enjoy their fawning praise.

All of this continued until an accident occurred--

Deep within the Twilight Forest, a wounded werewolf broke into the hunting camp's tent.

It wasn't really a very dangerous crisis.

He had escorts with him, experienced hunters, and the werewolf was heavily injured. In fact, if they had calmed down and cooperated, they could have easily resolved the incident.

But the beast charged at him, shattering his courage, preventing him from staying calm, and he only cared about escaping--

To be the one running at the front, he slashed the Achilles tendons of several servants, leaving them behind, then mounted a fast horse amidst the chaos and fled towards the town.

By the time the escorts left behind at the hunting grounds, along with the experienced hunter, had chopped off the werewolf's head, our lord had already burrowed into his silken bedding in his manor.

The hunt ended unhappily.

Afterward, as soon as they returned to the village, our lord ordered the execution of the escorts under the charge of "negligent guarding." He executed the civilians who had witnessed his embarrassing behavior under the charge of "stealing prey."

Only the hunter survived--

Everyone thought he had died under the werewolf's claws, but he had actually used his experience to hide after being injured.

After Lord Mel left the town, he quietly came to my church and told me everything that had happened."

Father Lynn narrated the events as clearly as possible, pausing at appropriate moments.

"There's nothing inherently wrong with that.

In the eyes of any noble, the townsfolk are no different from his cattle, sheep, or even the game he hunts.

This is a societal ill; I cannot condemn such behavior. I am merely trying to establish a fact--

When they know that orcs will be plundering their territory, they will only consider how to extract their last ounce of value."

Tang Qi understood his meaning.

Don't expect nobles to empathize with their townsfolk.

If they weren't getting their goods for free, no one would work the fields, and they wouldn't even leave a copper coin for their subordinates.

Aside from the lack of reproductive isolation, they aren't even the same species.

But if he tried to leave Star Plum Town, he would inevitably need the construct on Melard's shoulder.

And once Melard knew that this town was destined to be flattened.

He would never bring the entire village, over three hundred townsfolk, to migrate deep into the forest--

Not letting people stop the town and escaping into the forest alone first, to avoid being implicated by such a large and conspicuous target, was already considered merciful.

"So I will do my best to stay by their side, to give them a moment of hope when they are lost and helpless--even if it changes nothing."

The priest waved his hand at Catherine, advising, "But this is my duty, not yours.

Child, beg him for mercy, and perhaps you can leave this town with him.

You inherited your mother's intelligence; you should know not to try to plead with nobles--

Never, ever make demands of nobles, let alone say things like 'take the whole town and flee'."

Seeing that the priest's mind was made up, Catherine could ultimately say nothing more:

"I understand, Father Lynn."

Of course, she knew that it was already a great kindness for nobles to allow commoners to be by their side.

The consequence of asking for more would be losing everything.

Spreading pointless goodwill would only add to her own burden.

She was kind enough, not minding doing good deeds in her daily life.

But she wasn't that kind.

If she encountered any difficult choices, all she could do was not harm others.

"Rather than goodwill, I care more about whether the people around me are safe.

I will go wake Anbi and take her with me.

If she cannot be accepted by Melard either, I will choose to stay with her.

At that time, we'll think of another way..."

"Shave off his goatee!"

"I just can't stand your human formalities."

Gravel had actually been eavesdropping on their conversation the whole time—

Ever since the star plum theft was discovered in the early hours of yesterday, Black Snake had chosen to take the blame alone, allowing the dwarf warrior to escape through the manor's window.

After the caravan hastily departed, he finally hid in Catherine's tavern.

Only in this way could he truly protect the girl.

However, after digging this grave for his friend and planting a simple tombstone for him, he wanted to stare at it in silence.

As if doing so would allow him to share another drink with his spirit.

Now, the worries and plans of everyone were tormenting his ears, making him unable to help but shout:

"They're just orcs, aren't they? I could scare them to death just by hanging the crushed orc heads I carry on my waist!"

Tang Qi added at the opportune moment:

"Judging by the number of people in their tribe, it's more than the residents of Star Plum Town.

But it's fine, with you drawing all the heat, we should be able to escape before their spit drowns you."

"That many?"

Gravel raised his eyebrows and slapped his thigh.

"Maybe applying to be that little white pig's bodyguard and escaping with them would be a good choice."

As strong and sturdy mountain dwarves, they were resilient.

They could always adapt to any situation or occasion.

So, he patted Tang Qi's butt and urged him on:

"Then we should get out of here as soon as possible. I'll apply to be the bodyguard, the poet can apply to be the messenger, and Catherine can apply to be the bride. We'll all be that little white pig's people!"

But when he pushed Tang Qi, he found the poet looking lost in thought.

He couldn't help but raise his eyebrows:

"What?"

"I will try to lead everyone away."

"Damn it, remember your identity, you're a poet! How can a poet be kinder than a priest in the Holy City?"

Gravel couldn't help but puff out his beard and glare.

No matter how strong his limbs were, he knew this was fundamentally impossible.

Weren't there many instances of adventurers being treated with disdain by nobles?

"Besides, not everyone in this town is good. If you show great kindness, not everyone might appreciate it!"

"No one can convince the nobles, so—"

Catherine hadn't expected that this outsider, who had only stayed in the town for three days at most.

Actually wanted to lead everyone in Star Plum Town to escape?

His kindness seemed a bit…

Naive.

Tang Qi, however, shook his head.

It was hard to say how much "world-saving" goodwill he had when making this decision.

Past universal values did indeed stir some pity in him.

But this was more from a utilitarian perspective—

If he achieved the feat of leading three hundred civilians to escape.

When he wrote everything down in that [Logbook]…

What kind of reward would he receive?