"Something like that actually happened!" Nalant frowned. Charging three times the price was outrageous, especially when they even taxed people for buying things. He'd never heard of such a thing. If Quinte had been taxing goods brought in for sale, that would have made sense—after all, it protected local industries, and every Earl Territory operated that way.
Of course, Nalant had a vague idea why Quinte was doing this: he was certain the villagers had no way to buy supplies anywhere else.
Storm Territory lay at the southeasternmost edge of the Tulip Earldom. Reaching another territory on foot took at least a day and a night, and the route passed through dense woods filled with wild beasts. It was extremely dangerous.
By contrast, it took only half a day to reach the Barony of Quinte, making it the only place where the serfs could buy daily necessities.
"I could send guards to buy grain from other nobles' territories, but there's no guarantee they'd be willing to sell that much. Provisions for over a thousand people for several months would amount to tens of thousands of pounds!"
"And it would cost a fortune, wiping out the ten gold coins I have to start with!" Nalant pondered as he rode on.
The group continued along the rough road through the wilderness for over an hour. At last, they were nearing the next village.
After winding around a stretch of low woodland, the view opened up before them. An endless blue coastline stretched as far as the eye could see.
"Hm? Is that the sea? My territory actually borders the coast?" The salty sea breeze left Nalant staring in astonishment. He even stopped his horse.
"Lord, what's wrong?" Vivian and the others asked, puzzled, when they saw Nalant stop.
"Vivian, does Storm Territory border the sea?"
"Yes, Lord. The sea stretches endlessly beyond Storm Territory!" Vivian nodded, looking confused.
This really was unexpected. The ocean—it was practically synonymous with treasure.
"Vivian, what's the name of that village up ahead?" After getting confirmation, Nalant tamped down his excitement for the moment and looked toward a cluster of houses near the coast. That had to be the second village in Storm Territory.
"Lord, that village is called Misfortune Village!"
"Why would they give it that name?" Nalant frowned.
"Lord, the people living there were all exiled to Storm Territory. They're all relatives of the Daughters of Misfortune, so the villagers of Wheat Leaf Village gathered them there. That's why it's called Misfortune Village!"
"So something like this happens here, too!" Nalant had thought only people outside his territory strongly discriminated against the relatives of the Daughters of Misfortune. He hadn't expected it to happen in his own lands as well.
"By the way, Vivian, how were you allowed to live in Wheat Leaf Village?" Nalant suddenly remembered that Vivian had been found there.
"Lord, my parents were tailors, and I know a little about sewing clothes. That's why the villagers of Wheat Leaf Village let me live on the edge of the village," Vivian answered softly.
"I'm sorry, Vivian!" Nalant worried he'd touched a sore spot.
"Lord, you don't need to apologize! Thanks to you, Lilia and I have the lives we do now!" Vivian gave him a sweet smile. She was deeply grateful for the life she had now.
Soon, the group reached the entrance to Misfortune Village. It was a tiny place, with only a few dozen shabby thatched huts.
"Greetings, Lord!"
"Greetings, Lord!"
To Nalant's surprise, a group of villagers had already gathered at the entrance. When they saw him, they knelt and greeted him.
Nalant surveyed the crowd and saw that most of them were girls. Men made up less than a third.
When someone was exiled, only the female relatives of a Daughter of Misfortune were forced to go to Storm Territory. Male relatives could choose for themselves. Vivian's father, for instance, had abandoned her and her sister and never come to Storm Territory.
"Rise."
"Thank you, Lord!" The serfs got to their feet cautiously.
Once they had risen, Nalant began asking about the village and its circumstances.
The village chief happened to be among them. At Nalant's summons, he cautiously came forward to the horse.
"Your humble servant, Kenbi Cowdung, greets the Lord!"
"Mm, that's a good name!" Nalant nodded, doing his best to suppress a laugh. Then he continued, "Kenbi Cowdung, what are you all gathered here to do?"
"Lord, we're planning to go to the Blazing Forest to the west and gather wild fruit..." Kenbi Cowdung replied cautiously.
"Gather wild fruit? The whole village?"
Nalant asked about several more details before finally learning the real reason they had gathered.
As it turned out, this was another consequence of Anthony's grain levy. Misfortune Village was even worse off than Wheat Leaf Village.
The village had few able-bodied workers, so it produced little grain. Most of the time, they had to gather wild fruit in the Blazing Forest to the west to make up the difference.
Anthony had taken nearly all their grain this time. Worse still, two months ago, monsters had apparently appeared in the Blazing Forest, and several serfs had already gone missing while gathering wild fruit.
They had run out of options, so they planned to go together as a village to gather fruit, hoping they could look out for one another.
"If there really are monsters, going together won't help you at all!" Nalant shook his head with a frown.
Monsters were every bit as dangerous as Dark Creatures, and even more terrifying than most of them.
Not only did monsters possess extraordinary strength, they were intelligent as well. Even a Title Knight had to be cautious when facing one.
"You're right beside the sea. Why not try fishing?" Nalant looked toward the coast. Surely fishing would fill their stomachs better than gathering wild fruit.
"Uh..." The serfs seemed stumped by Nalant's question.
Even Vivian was looking at her lord with a puzzled expression.
"Is there something wrong with that? Sea fish should be more nutritious, shouldn't they?" Nalant was even more puzzled than they were. The ocean in this world surely hadn't been depleted yet. It could practically be called a treasure trove of food.
"Lord, there are Sea Monsters along the coast. The villagers can't get close enough to fish. The only way is to send out the army to drive them away or kill them," Vivian answered softly.