Netheril’s Glory

"But, does this group of untouchable really have a lot of oil and water?"

The big-bellied nobleman named Zweig was sitting on a luxurious leather chair. While shooking his wine glass gently with his right hand and groping a young maid in his lap with his left hand, he asked the person in a standard butler's clothes standing behind him.

"My Lord really has eyes like torches. You can easily see through the tricks of those untouchables at a glance, and nothing can be hidden from my Lord. Those refugees really have a lot of oil and water with them, and now they are finally taking them out for the bread."

Hearing the butler's compliment, the fat nobleman laughed happily as the chair under his hips made a creaking sound.

"Old Cora, listen carefully. These refugees may seem poor on the surface, but actually, they are just like wet sponges, and as long as one squeezes them hard enough, there always will be something left, hahaha!"

"Lord is wise. Only my Lord can say such profound philosophical words."

Seeing that his Lord was in a good mood, the butler rushed to flatter him.

"But Lord, we still have so much stored grain in our warehouse, and those poor refugees don't have that much money to buy it. What should we do with it then?"

Thinking of the grain piled up in the warehouse, even the cunning butler had some headache. This excess grain was the product of last year's good harvest. However, in order to drive up the price, some of the nobles collectively agreed to hide its existence. But now, the sudden outbreak of such a plague caused the city of Dolez to be separated from the other territories. Now, this almost half a million khakis of grain (Khaki- a unit of weight, equal to 0.5 Catty or 0.3 kg or 0.66 lbs) was about to rot in the warehouse, and there was nowhere to sell them except for the Minohorn Chamber of Commerce. Also, the associated nobles began to put pressure on Zweig to give them an explanation.

Nobleman Zweig halted his smile and put down the wine glass in his hand. Nearly half of the nobles of Dolez City were affiliated with this matter. At the time in order to obtain the most benefits, Zweig recommended his family as the broker to sell the goods, but because of the current unexpected situation, it was impossible to sell it in time, and because of it, this fat nobleman was under a lot of pressure. After all, if those nobles decide to take back the grains, his family would lose not only a huge amount of profit but also their reputation as trustable business partners.

"Well, although those poor untouchables don't have the money to buy food, but don't they have wives, sons and daughters, wouldn't it be good for them to exchange these "properties" for food?"

After thinking herd for some time, nobleman Zweig suddenly thought of such a vicious method. The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this method was feasible. With this method, he could skip the cumbersome process of obtaining good slaves while also gaining some favours from the other nobles, so according to nobleman Zweig, with this plan, he could kill two birds with one stone.

"But, Lord, there is no need for so many slaves in the city now, and other territories are also not accepting anything from Dolez City anymore."

The Old butler stretched out his hands, helplessly and somewhat unwillingly pointed out the problem to the nobleman Zweig's plan.

"This is indeed troublesome..."

While pouring all the red wine in the glass at once, Nobleman Zweig began to thought about a solution in his mind.

Suddenly, he thought of a shady business partner with whom he had once worked before. And now, blinded by the pressure and greed, he decided to contact him.

"Don't worry; I know a benevolent nobleman. Who will give those "lucky" untouchables a good home."

Nobleman Zweig finally seemed to have made up his mind. He took a heavy breath, and then a cruel smile returned on his face, and his big jagged teeth became visible.

Zweig, whose thoughts had already flown to the dark path of trickery and conspiracy, didn't hear the maid's cry on his lap when she was squeezed very hard, nor did he see the undetectable joy that flashed through old Cora's eyes.

Different from the complacent and happy nobles who had harvested the last bit of wealth from the poor refugees, knight Casser at this moment figured out how dark, dirty, cold and merciless this world actually was.

After organizing the refugee camp, knight Casser immediately rushed to the castle to meet Gorat. In his mind, knight Casser imagined that his Lord would mercifully consider the suffering of the people and withdraw the order that had forbidden the refugees from entering the city. But that was the case until the moment he entered the castle. Soon after reaching the inner court, he learned that his Lord was having fun with his concubines and refused his request for a meeting.

The disappointed knight commander had to go to the church, to the gods he had always believed in, for help. He hoped that the church of the god of knights, Heironeous, could lend a hand to the starving people outside the city wall and at least convince the nobles to provide some free food and medicine.

However, the pastor of the Church of Heironeous simply told knight Casser that Heironeous is a kind and lawful god, so as believers, they can only send clergymen and apprentices to rescue the refugees, but they could not influence the wishes of the nobles who were the rightful leaders of this city.

After helplessly expressing his gratitude to the pastor, knight Casser took another approach. He summoned the civilians of Dolez City and requested them to donate relief supplies and also called on every influential merchant and nobleman to express a petition to the Lord jointly.

However, the passionate knight commander was disappointed once again. Most people of Dolez City who were bewitched by the nobles completely forgot the merits of the Knight Commander and the fact that those refugees outside were their close compatriots a week ago. So instead of showing mercy and kindness, they were angry and spiteful at knight Casser for bringing the disaster to the door of the city of Dolez.

And the very few kind-hearted people could do nothing but pray to their respective gods.

At present, almost all the people of Dolez protected by the city walls were thinking the same thing, that was when all the "trashes" outside was dead; not only would they be unscathed, but they could even take over the property of those deceased. And very few thought about the pain and despair of those refugees.

Seeing such a scene, knight Casser was thoroughly disappointed and lost all hope. Now he also understood why those who had always been against him and the nobles did not impose any obstacles this time.

Because they already knew that all his efforts would not yield any result, and from the very beginning, his behaviour was doomed to futility.

"I guess in the eyes of those guys, I am just a stupid clown!"

Full of sadness, Knight Casser found a hotel that was still open, and this knight commander, who usually didn't drink, bought a large box of high-concentration ale for the first time.

He gulped down a large mug of ale and then prevented his battle qi from neutralizing the alcohol. He wanted to let the alcohol numb his brain and his heart that was full of guilt for the refugees outside the city.

"Why, why is it like this? Not only those nobles, but even the ordinary people are acting like the demons who crawled out of the deepest part of the Abyss?"

The drunk Knight Casser was lying on the table and weeping bitterly like a child. Big drops of tears fell on the golden armour. Some scenes of the sorrowful cry of the refugees when they were separated from their family, those hungry children's admiring gaze and those young girl's hopeful looks appeared in his mind.

"Sure enough, I am just a useless knight, and I am destined to accomplish nothing in this world where evildoers are rampant!"

Knight Casser muttered to himself in a depressed manner while looking at his twisted reflection on the ale bottle. His face was blurred and distorted in the reflection, and it was swaying with the dancing candlelight.

"No, no, young man, you are too pessimistic."

Just when Knight Casser almost entirely gave up, a white palm patted him on the shoulder, and a gentle battle qi instantly dispelled the drunkenness from his mind. The kindness and warmth flowing through his body seemed so pure that as if it would materialize into existence. This kind of sincere kindness was what Knight Casser was seeking from the people for a long time.

"Let me introduce myself. I am a handsome Ranger called Kang Kai Nino, and I vowed to bring salvation."