The king's army had not resisted the pirates' invasion. After all, the nobles and knights mostly maintained order within the country or protected its core regions.
What they cared about was control. Nobles extorted the populace in the name of taxation, while pirates burned, killed, and plundered without bothering with a pretext.
Neither side listened to reason...
Even when kings or nobles drove off bandits, they were no different from herders protecting their sheep, occasionally chasing away wolves that wandered into their territory.
It was as though protecting the people was not their duty.
As long as the pirates did not threaten the royal capital, the nobles and knights probably would not be too enthusiastic. After all, fighting pirates could get them killed.
The only people anyone could count on were the Marines, who usually arrived too late.
Even if the Marines eventually wiped out the pirates afterward, the ordinary people who had suffered could only chalk it up to bad luck.
With their homes destroyed, they could only flee to other towns... then become refugees and beggars, abandoning their dignity to survive. Some even became slaves.
Young, able-bodied men might still survive through hard labor, but the fate awaiting the women hardly needed explaining.
Exhaustion. The tragic expressions on people's faces. Hunger and thirst. Sobs that sounded like infants screaming. Adults desperate to escape with their lives.
Their homes had been destroyed in a pirate attack...
With food and water scarce, the people who had lost almost everything were powerless. They could only sit expressionlessly amid the ruins.
Even if they wanted to do something, they had neither the mental nor the physical strength left.
Someone, please help.
There was no strength behind that prayer.
Someone, please help.
No god would come to save them.
Someone... someone, please help.