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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Bobto
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The house that we went to had almost absolutely nothing.
Although it seemed they had given us the best room, there were only two beds and a straw mat on the floor.
The blanket was a thin piece of cloth hastily sewn together from a sack that had been used for at least 10 years, and the pillow was… just a bundle of hay taken from a haystack and tied with string.
And in one corner of the room, there was a fireplace, a central hearth for cooking food, and a ladle for serving the food.
The room was so shabby that for a moment, I even thought about taking back my words and wanting to sleep outside instead.
However, if I can’t gather proper information here, I may lose the opportunity I barely got.
And considering the sincerity of the peasant Zachary, who had cleaned up as much as possible in just 30 minutes after hearing I was coming and gave me the best room, it would be better to just stay.
As a master’s graduate who has studied history, let’s think of it as filming a scene of experiencing medieval life and gain information from this.
While I was strengthening my resolve like that, Zachary brought the food and alcohol I had ordered, as instructed.
Looking at what he brought, Zachary and the coachman had carried 13 chickens, bread mixed with rye and wheat, soup, boiled beans, and cold beer.
Seeing that it looked much better than what I had eaten at the inn, it seemed they had brought out the best food available in this village.
Because of that, even Varso was nodding his head with a somewhat satisfied expression.
After putting down the food, Zachary and the coachman handed me the money and said,
“We brought it. And here are 4 copper coins in change.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Thank you.”
Next, I looked at Varso and asked,
“So, Varso. Is this enough?
If it’s not enough, tell me.
I’ll have them buy more.”
“It’s enough! Young master.
By the way, are you really going to share the food with the coachman and Zachary’s family over there?”
At any other time, there would be no need for me to share the food I bought with my money while staying here with them.
However, Varso and I now have to form the closest possible relationship with Zachary and then dig up information about Bailiff Mars…
It would be more advantageous for achieving the goal to say that Zachary and the coachman should eat together.
Right now, achieving the goal is the most important thing, rather than worrying about dignity or whatnot.
“Of course, that’s natural.
I came all the way here to hear their stories, so I can’t discriminate with food.
And when eating in a place like this, it’s more delicious to share and eat together, you know.”
Varso seemed to realize that he couldn’t change my mind, so he said with a resigned expression,
“We can’t eat all that much food with just you and me, young master. I understand.”
Hearing those words, the coachman and Zachary began to show delight at the unexpected prospect of being able to eat delicious food.
“Hooray!”
“It’s been so long since I’ve eaten meat! Thank you, young master!”
“Oh my, thank you, young master…
To think you would give meat even to peasants like us…”
Like that, in an atmosphere that had become friendly as we shared the same food with each other, we dug up information from Zachary.
As the alcohol entered his system, Varso seemed to have accepted everything beyond resignation and showed a relatively intimate attitude toward Zachary.
“You’ve had it tough, man.
Yes, because of that bailiff bastard…
You barely managed to eat a bowl of porridge a day…
I also lived like that when I was a peasant…”
“Is that so? I heard you were a knight who won a tournament, so I thought you were a noble with a different status from the likes of me from the beginning.”
“After my whole family starved to death, I became a mercenary, and then by chance, I participated in a tournament and won.
And I came to serve the young master. So I know well the hearts of hungry people like you…
Yes, what is the bailiff doing? I’ll listen to your complaints.”
In that way, Varso succeeded in naturally extracting all sorts of information from Zachary.
**
And through Zachary’s story, I learned in detail about the miserable lives of peasants in this era.
First, in the case of a village where peasants gather, unless there is a bumper crop, roughly one out of every 100 people dies from lack of food when winter comes.
The ones who mostly die are children or the elderly, and occasionally, if the head of the household starves to death due to a bad harvest, the entire family ends up on the streets.
Then, the men become beggars or criminals in the slums, and the women sell their bodies and become prostitutes.
Originally, for peasants to make a living, each household needs at least 500 kilograms of wheat or rye per year, but with the current agricultural productivity, a peasants household (roughly 5-6 people) produces 800 kilograms.
At first glance, it seems there is no problem, but in reality, the amount paid as taxes reaches 60% of the harvest, so in fact, there is a shortage of 180 kilograms of food every year.
In other words, even if they collect taxes normally, they have no choice but to starve.
If corruption is added to this, the peasants are inevitably faced with the fate of starving to death.The Bailiff Mars exploited the peasants more than I had thought.
First, the keeper of the watermill here collaborated with the bailiff and took 10% of the grain processed each time the peasants used the watermill, saying it was customary law.
And although the rental of farming tools was supposed to be free in principle, the bailiff here even charged a tax of 3%.
In addition, based on provisions that have become almost obsolete in our territory, he charged various miscellaneous taxes.
A death tax where they take a cow when a peasant dies, a tax paid when getting married symbolized by the right of the first night, and so on.
As a result, the amount of grain that each peasant could actually eat was only about 200 kilograms per household.
Because of this, people like the low-class workers I met at the inn, who escaped from the farmland, would appear.
Because if they stay put, they will die.
Having grasped this reality, I kicked a stone in front of me that was not even guilty, just to relieve my anger a little, and said,
“Damn it, this is ridiculous.
Because the people of the territory are faced with a survival crisis due to this situation, they abandon their hometown and their lord!”
Well, anyway, I think I now know a little bit about why the Kreutel Marquis family fell.
Externally, there was the fact that they had no choice but to fall together with the incompetent duke they served, but internally, they failed to see through the corruption of lower-level officials and simply handled administration as it flowed.
Such administration produces results that are worse than not doing it at all.
However, since I found the corrupt officials that the Marquis and other officials could not find…
With this, I can say that I have acquired some of the necessary capabilities as a ruler.
Their negligence has become a blessing for me, so now…
“Young master, why are you kicking stones so dismally?”
In the direction the voice came from, Varso was standing.
“Varso, I was given an opportunity to prove my abilities, but… No, just thinking about how that bastard of a bailiff could do such a thing makes me angry.”
Hearing those words, Varso smirked and then replied,
“But young master, you succeeded in finding the bad guys.”
“Who doesn’t know that? The problem is why they left this alone like this.
If those crazy bastards eat it up like that, no matter how much father or I bestow benevolent rule and give to the peasants, it has no effect.”
Just as he said, it’s like if I send 100,000 won to my mother from a bank in Korea, but if I enter the wrong account number or the transfer doesn’t go through for some reason, no matter what the circumstances are, my mother can’t receive the money.
Even if the lord reduces taxes and treats them humanely, if the officials in between eat it all up, it’s meaningless.
It’s the same as doing nothing.
“That’s not it. No, think about it the other way around.”
“The other way around?”
Varso spoke with a serious expression.
“Now that you’ve discovered it, even if it’s late, you can tell the bailiffs that you won’t leave them alone if they do this.
You can punish them and forbid it. Then there will be no more starving peasants.”
For a moment, I couldn’t understand what he was saying.
No, after hearing the stories of people being exploited and dying from such absurd corruption, I was so angry…
“Well, even if you go to other territories, they take a similar amount, although the degree may vary.
In the village where I used to live, when we farmed, they took 80% of the harvest for various reasons.”
The face of Varso as he said those words had a dark expression, the complete opposite of the lively appearance he usually showed.
Yes, as if a person who had miserably lost his family was recalling the tragedy of the past.
“Since they took so much, even if we worked day and night, when a famine came, my family also starved to death.
At that time, both my mother and father starved to death, except for me, who was young.
Damn it, I thought I was lucky that day when I picked a lot of wild strawberries and fruits on the way back to give to them.”
“…”
“Well, so don’t be too discouraged, you can now help them young master. And that guy Zachary is looking for you, he says he made his family’s secret soup for breakfast.
It seems you made him feel comfortable. I never imagined he would serve the breakfast that peasants eat as it is. In my days, it was unimaginable.”
“It must be delicious, let’s go eat.”
**
The next day, after eating the breakfast Zachary made for us, I tried to leave right away.
At that time, Zachary handed me three wooden boxes before I left.
“Young master, this is a gift from me.
I don’t know where you’re going, but please eat it on your way.
My wife woke up early in the morning and made a packed lunch.”
“Thank you, Zachary.”
After receiving the packed lunch handed to me by Zachary, I set out to prove my abilities by exposing the corruption of the bailiff.
At the same time, I held in my heart the anger toward the bailiff who exploited and starved the people of Windheim to death.
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