When I entered the village, I pulled the reins and stopped the carriage.

"Mule, stay there until I call you."

"Miki!"

After lightly nailing the mule, he took Luke and jumped off the carriage.

'I' is a travelling merchant, and you are so naive.

"Huh? Yes! I understand, Master."

Luke shakes his head in a panic as he understands that this is a setting he doesn't want people to know who he is.

Take Luke like that and enter the village.

The village was not lively.

On the contrary, we can even see such traces after the looting.

"Master... this is..."

Did Luke feel that? He looked at me with a troubled face.

”Hmm... is anyone here?”

I took a breath and called out loud.

I called out while insisting that there was as little hostility as possible.

Until then, there was a sign of people reacting from the inside of the house where the door was being held tight, and in fact, some house doors opened a little, and there was a reaction of seeing what was going on here from the inside.

But no one will come out.

Let's call it out again--that's when it comes down to it.

An old woman came out of a house a short distance away.

The old woman, with a wooden cane, came towards us in a slightly obscure but age-appropriate footsteps.

I wonder who you are.

The old woman came to me with an alertness.

"I'm a travelling merchant. Drinking water has gotten to the bottom, so I think it would be good to fill it with a little cup, so could you please share it with me? Of course, I'll pay for it.”

……

The old woman stared at me.

It was a pupil that could tell whether that was true or not.

"Okay, please wait a moment."

That's what the old lady said, and she went to her house in exchange for a kibisu.

A young man emerged from the house as he walked and gestured.

"Fetch water from the well."

"All right."

The young man nodded but gave me a guarded glance before running into the back of the village.

After waiting for a while, the man came back with a glass of water.

With that, I came back to my place with my old lady and gave her a cup.

Is this enough?

“Enough, thank you.”

"Master, Master, this--"

Luke tried to say something, but I took the glass and drank it up to the sky.

I understand what Luke is trying to say.

Because it was hard to say that the water that a man brought was beautiful in flattery.

Although he was still young, the imperial officer was always dealing with him in the court.

Especially since I've been wrinkling lately, all the water I see is beautiful.

The emperor's luxury is where the tea leaves are put using water from a specific place.

If you give more attention, you can also say that the snow saved in winter is melted and boiled just before use.

Compared to that, this water is certainly not clean, but it is not too much to drink.

I swallowed it and returned the glass to the man.

"Thank you, that was helpful." It's not much, but this-- "

That's right, I try to take the silver out of my pocket and give it to her, but the old woman shakes her head slowly.

That's fine, you can't get paid for a full bottle of water.

“It's different when it's full at home and when it's full after you've drunk it on your trip. Please take it."

In that way, she offered more silver coins, but the old woman still slowly froze her head.

"Even if you get it now, it will not only be taken away, but even your life is in danger." Please put that away. "

"Muumu"

I reacted a little exaggerated.

I can predict to some extent what the old woman wants to say and what she is afraid of.

That was all I could understand and imagine, but Luke wasn't.

Why is there a risk to my life if I accept this?

Luke was straightforward and asked the old woman.

Perhaps Luke, the child, had a frank question, to which the old woman replied without hesitation, although she sighed smallly.

Even if you have it now, it will be taken to the lord's army.

Lord's?

"Excuse me, are you deprived of food?"

I asked instead of Luke because I was so good at it.

After all, I was a little wary of being a grown-up, not a child. Both the old woman and the man behind the diagonal clearly frowned, and the man was so wary that his body fell off.

"Excuse me, I often see you doing business everywhere. Is the lord here a form of local collection?"

"... used to be different."

What do you mean, Master?

Luke asks strangely.

I am grateful for that candor now, and I explained it as it is -- the teacher explained it to the students.

"There are roughly two ways to feed the army. One is to transport and resupply, and the other is to collect it locally."

Huh? Aren't you going to deliver them all?

"The Empire does, but the closer we get to the edge, the more we collect from the local peasants." Somehow, if it's far from the barn, it will cost money to transport it. "

"Oh, is that so..."

"Still, we didn't get it from the mainland before, but since he became the emperor--"

Gow

The old woman interrupted the young man in a sarcastic tone.

The man was accumulating anger and was spitting it all out here, but it seemed that the prudent old woman looked at me like she didn't care about strangers.

"Because! And Eisen-sama is also Eisen-sama." Because of the pantry over there-- "

Why don't you stop!

The old woman said in a tighter tone, and the man swallowed "Ugh".

What do you mean, Master?

"Hmm... I suppose General Eisen burned all the food he collected from the enemy, so he came again to collect and loot the burnt food."

That's right!

"Master Eisen is not bad." You've properly compensated me, too, right? "

It would have been taken too!

Is that Eisen-sama's fault too?

"... oh no!"

The man told by the old woman walked away in a frenzy.

... well, I suppose that's his position.

Eisen - Jerry Eisen has taken care of Eiler's army pantry.

With the food they lost, the Eilahs looted even more.

Jerry compensated for it in some way, but it was also taken away.

Jerry had to do something like this, but the old woman said that it was a mistake to make up for it. The man knew that, but his feelings were irrelevant.

I didn't know Jerry's actions were imitating a situation like this.

Jerry's behavior is by no means wrong.

Rather, it was correct both tactically and first come first serve.

It is very unusual to have burned the food of Eiler's army, which is independent of the Empire and has no solid foundation for governance.

It's just that there are people who have been caught.

"... please wait a moment"

That's what I said, and I turned myself back to the carriage.

Only my upper body got into the carriage.

Miki?

He's a good boy, so stay put.

"Miki!"

"Fuwa"

While muffling the mule, he flushed it so that it was invisible from the outside.

And he came back to the old woman with what he had commanded Fuwa to make.

And offer it.

I don't know how to thank you for that, but here.

What's this?

The old woman is vigilant and refuses to take it.

What I gave you was a palm-sized box.

When I opened the box, there was something like a bulb in it.

“This is one of my products, and if you plant it now, you can harvest a lot in about a month. Well, it should be enough to feed everyone in this village.”

"... something so precious."

“It's not as full as the cups on the trip.”

"But...."

"That's right, you might take it away again." So I'm going to plant it here. There will be no looters to dig up even the planted seeds. "

That's right, I scratched the ground in a prominent place and buried the seeds.

"... thank you, traveler."

"No, I'm here."

"Hey, everybody! Etna is here again!"

A young man ran from the back of the village.

The men shouted loudly, and the villagers, who had been waiting for the situation, burst out of the house.

Then, a little later, a step appeared that pulled multiple wagons from the direction in which the man came.

What's that?

"Etna-san, the daughter of a nearby merchant." After being plundered, they will go around similar villages and cook for you. ”

I see, instead of leaving food out, can we cook it out on the spot?

The old woman nodded tinyly.

Then, after saying a word to me, I turned around and walked towards the cookout team with my cane.

"Master."

Hmm?

What was it that Master buried?

"Oh, it's money for the body."

"What? Money?"

"That's right. I wrapped it around the outside and made it seedy." Then, in spring, it cracked on its own and came out. Even if I take the money now, it will only be taken away. "

Besides, I didn't dare to say that I was settling for spring.

"Can you do that!?"

Yeah.

"Wow... you can do it even if you're a master."

I laughed.

Flowers can do anything.

"Ah, yes, that water!" Are you all right? "

“That's all right”

I'm dizzy again. [M]

"I don't accept any poison." Apopis will solve it for you. I don't care if it's that much water. "

"... ah, a drink."

"That's what I'm talking about."

Luke was happy when he remembered the abandonment in the tent.

And immediately, she had a look of emotion again.

"Awesome, really awesome, Master"

I cuddled up, smiling.

There is a young woman talking to an old woman.

It seems that the woman is the center, so it must be the woman called "Etna" that the villagers said.

Did the old lady tell you that? The old lady turned her gaze to me.

With my gaze, the woman looked a little surprised.

And after I told him something like a subordinate, he came this way.

I stayed the way I was.

She's the daughter of a merchant who cooks over here.

That means you may get more information.

I waited for Etna to come right in front of me.

Etna stands in front of me, confesses with her own face, and opens her mouth in a whisper.

"It is a great honor to worship you."

"Hmm? | Do you know?"

"I am the honorary knight Etna Eywahn."

"... um"

I was convinced that I was going to make it.

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