Handling the Refugees

"Ah, so you stole my food! Give it back!"

"You stole my money! Give it back!"

The people Lynn had hit earlier were now discovered to be thieves. Everyone immediately understood why Lynn had hit them.

The thieves were instantly shunned by the crowd, and could only slink away into the other groups.

Lynn's expression, combined with his imposing physique, made him a profoundly intimidating presence.

While everyone else went to work, Lynn put on his armor and took up his sword. The other knights also donned their armor, making their identities clear.

Thanks to the show of force Lynn had put on, order at the scene was more or less maintained. Now and then, a soldier spotted a relative, but they only exchanged glances without speaking.

Lynn's men and the knights were all tall and burly, standing right there. The remaining soldiers held weapons and wore armor. No one dared try anything.

Everyone was searched, and not a single piece of iron was allowed through. Their food was taken as well.

The refugees were herded to an open space in the city, where a refugee camp took shape. It was terribly crowded, with people packed shoulder to shoulder.

Everyone was at a loss. The soldiers surrounded them in the open space as if they were enemies, spears in hand, leaving them to look at one another helplessly.

"Mom, I'm scared."

"Grandpa, Grandma, those big men took all our food. What are we going to eat?"

Lynn was a noble, after all, but he was still human.

On one side were orcs who ate people; on the other was a human lord. They had nowhere else to turn, so they could only come to Lynn.

Compared to being eaten, perhaps they still had a chance to survive here.

There were several thousand refugees this time, and the women working on the registration ledgers were all exhausted.

Their food supplies were also varied. Some people had only a little black bread, some had beans, and some even had meat.

After taking stock of these supplies, Lynn found they would just barely be enough to get everyone through the winter.

With so many elderly people, women, and children, the abnormal population ratio in which 90 percent of the territory's population had been male had somehow been brought back to normal. In fact, the male population was now smaller than the female population.

An idea formed in Lynn's mind: could he put this useless population to work?

That was what the war criminal Lynn was thinking.

He had already learned that there was no such thing as unconditional love in this world, so why should he show mercy?

If they died, he would have fewer mouths to feed.

But then Lynn reconsidered. If Great Britain could put five-year-old children to work, why couldn't he?

Lynn promptly decided to launch his Slime factory plan.

Making clothes out of Slime was entirely feasible, so he could develop the textile industry.

He already had the technique for processing Slime into thread; he had worked it out.

The technique for extracting oil from Slime could be researched.

Slime could be turned into silicone or plastic to make household goods.

As he thought this through, Lynn already had his next steps planned.

That evening, the people gradually felt reassured when they received their porridge.

Lynn stuck a chopstick into the porridge to assure everyone of how thick it was.

The weather had turned cold, and the soil had frozen solid, making it impossible to dig. Lynn could no longer fire the bricks he needed to build houses. Fortunately, he had never stopped logging, and his soldiers already had experience building houses. With several thousand people to work, the houses went up quickly.

They were just dormitories, after all, with a hundred people or so living in each house.

Meanwhile, as this work was underway, Lynn caught several people who were still acting like rats. He dealt with them entirely in accordance with the constitution.

Some people refused to mend their ways, so Lynn went straight ahead with public trials and executed them under the banner of democracy.

This was the first time the refugees had experienced democratic trials and legal proceedings.

Compared with rule by one person alone, where everyone privately cursed the lord for being inhuman, they had nothing to say against these trials. They were well-reasoned and supported by evidence. And since they were democratic trials decided by vote, with Gerd's advocacy and society's general disdain for wicked people, everyone was convinced.

This also proved to everyone beyond a doubt that Lynn's territory kept its word: what it said was what it meant.

With the forest's resources and Lynn's continuous production of charcoal, there was no need to worry about staying warm. In the worst case, they could simply stay indoors and do nothing all winter.

A few days passed, and everything had settled down.

At least on the inside.

"Mom!" Anna hugged her mother. "I never thought I'd see you again."

Anna's mother hugged her daughter and noticed Dania behind her. "Children, have you been doing all right?"

Dania and Anna looked noticeably better off than their family. Ever since this lord had bought them, they seemed to have been living well.

But why weren't they wearing slave collars?

"Anna, you're going to squeeze the breath right out of me," Anna's older sister reminded her.