“Well… perhaps selling them could work. Slaves are needed in any country.”
The King naturally thought of illegal means and patting himself on the back to praise himself.
“While there are kings who waste taxes on feeding the sinners, I, on the other hand, am strengthening the royal treasury. Truly a genius, aren’t I?”
His treacherous officials applauded at the sight of the King praising himself.
King Liz had recently ordered the newly hired mercenaries from the empire to bring in reputable slave traders.
The swift mercenaries brought a slave trader before the King within a week.
“Upon hearing that you deal in quality goods, I came right away.”
The trader said with a soft smile. He kindly explained the average prices based on age groups and gender.
Listening to the story, King Liz pounded his knee in regret.
“I should have sold them all instead of executing them! Who knew human lives could be worth so much money?”
The prices of the lives he had taken so far came to mind, leaving him feeling remorseful.
Anyway, there was no way to bring back the dead, so he had to acquire new commodities. King Liz assembled his remaining soldiers.
“Bring in those who haven’t fulfilled their obligations! If necessary, kill the elderly as examples. Killing them shouldn’t be too costly.”
Thus, the first ‘slash-and-burn subjugation and slave expedition’ was launched after the establishment of the Kingdom of Liz.
* * *
Near the slash-and-burn village in the Hoover region.
Taylor, the knight sent by King Liz to gather slaves, checked the time as he led his soldiers.
After the mundane task of transporting the Princess’ wedding dress, all they had done was relax and eat comfortably.
“Now we have to count the numbers of those slaves in the mountains.”
He clicked his tongue and let out a sigh.
“He’s already claiming one mistress. Damn it, entrusting such tasks even in these remote areas.”
He glanced back at the soldiers, visibly weary from several days of forced marching. However, he didn’t pay much attention to their conditions. After all, it was merely a matter of tying up the helpless slash-and-burn villagers. He didn’t need to take care of the soldiers’ conditions.
“We’re going to punish those who have forgotten their grace and neglected their obligations! The elderly ones can be cut down, but the rest should all be captured alive!”
The soldiers remained silent, looking at each other in an eerie atmosphere. Ignoring the strange tension, Taylor continued with his orders.
“Scour the belongings and gather everything that can be used as food. We don’t want to starve on the way back.”
“Excuse me.”
An old soldier at the front spoke cautiously.
“Wouldn’t it be better to take a short break? Everyone has walked all the way here without rest…”
“Do you think you’re the only ones who have suffered to come here?”
“That’s…”
Unlike Taylor, who had come comfortably in a cozy carriage, saying he couldn’t ride horses for long, the regular soldiers had hardly sat down and had been walking for days to reach this point.
“Just a few hours would be fine…”
The old soldier mustered the courage to plead, but his desperate plea was cut short before he could finish.
“Ack—”
A sharp spear pierced his throat.
“Ah, ack—!”
His eyes widened at the sudden pain. The surrounding soldiers, who had gathered nearby, stepped back with pale faces.
An attendant who noticed their expressions swiftly pulled out the spear that had been lodged in the old soldier’s neck. Blood gushed backward, and his body collapsed to the ground, twitching.
A moment of brief movement passed, and he lay completely still, his reddened eyes gazing up at the sky.
The surrounding fell silent. A short yet definitive rule seemed to have been engraved into the minds of the soldiers.
Disobeying means death.
He smiled, satisfied. Losing one soldier was regrettable, but after all, he was just an old man. The king was unlikely to pay much attention to his death.
They armed themselves and began to climb the mountain.
It was more challenging and arduous than they had anticipated, but the loud voices of children in the distance guided them to their destination.
When the armed soldiers arrived at the outskirts of the village, the elderly and children sitting before them froze, staring at them with wide eyes.
“We’ve arrived,” Taylor declared.
An old man from the slash-and-burn village stood up abruptly and shielded the children behind him.
“Looking at your shaking legs, you seem to know that you did something wrong, right?”
Taylor chuckled at his wary stance.
“There, there are only people who have no means of making a living here.” The old man trembled as he responded.
“Nonsense. The kids seem to have been eating well and playing well. Their faces are all rosy.”
The man got off his horse and reached behind the old man and firmly grabbed the arm of a hiding child.
True to his words, the child’s face was radiant and healthy.
With the abundance of food in the mountains during autumn and the meat provided by the mercenaries for the past few days, they had been able to eat to their heart’s content.
“Despite all this, you refuse to pay taxes and run away?!”
Taylor stared at the children, the old man stepped forward urgently.
“The children are innocent! They haven’t done anything…!”
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