novelraw Chapter 112: Harsh Laws
Chapter 112: Harsh Laws
When the train was nearly at the station, Anna swallowed all the food she had brought from Gedlan in one gulp so she could focus when she finally sat down to eat.
This trip crossed half the continent and took a very long time. By the time Loren and the others arrived at the Kingdom of Anselm, it was already afternoon.
Stepping off the train, Loren felt a fresh breeze brush his face, very pleasant.
At the same time, several Wind Messengers drifted over with the wind and landed before Loren, like fixed NPCs, greeting him politely:
"Welcome to your arrival, Master Mentor."
But this time there was no other service;
they simply came to say hello, then were carried away by the wind.
"Master Mentor, that person looks so strange…"
It was while the Wind Messenger drifted away that Anna glimpsed him in profile. Saying he was as thin as a cicada wing wasn’t an exaggeration;
his whole body was thinner than his cloak.
"Those are Wind Messengers, envoys of the God of Vows and Wind. The ones we just saw are from the strongest group of Wind Messengers. The lighter they are, the stronger they tend to be."
Loren pointed to one standing by the road. She looked like a skeleton, her skin tightly clinging to her bones, the bones themselves looking very small.Besides that trait, Wind Messengers all wear sky-blue special cloaks bearing the blessing of the God of Vows and Wind, which lets them be carried more easily by the breeze.
"No one’s here to welcome us. Let’s find a place to stay ourselves."
Loren planned to find an inn by the sea, convenient for meeting up with Mara later.
"Can we eat first?"
"Let’s go… eat."
Even though Anna had already finished the food from Gedlan, she still wanted a proper meal.
Since she asked, Loren indulged her. He ruffled her hair and agreed to Anna’s request.
"The environment here is pretty nice."
Naclis edged closer to Loren and remarked.
"Indeed. Everything is so orderly. Life here seems pleasant."
Every part of Anselm was orderly, the streets spotless, people living with dignity.
Workers left on time, vendors queued in an orderly fashion at the market, and merchants used their scales skillfully, selling goods honestly by weight.
Because the God of Bountiful Harvest monopolizes bounty and Anselm doesn’t border the God of Bountiful Harvest’s domain, there isn’t a lot of grain here.
But the reason people sometimes don’t have enough to eat is genuinely due to lack of grain, not because the grain was taken by those who already had plenty.
Fortunately, Anselm is coastal and rich in seafood, so people live fairly well.
Compared to other gods, the God of Vows and Wind seems like a saint, because He actually treats people like people.
That’s not because He’s inherently kind, but because it better demonstrates His authority.
The gods’ authority is stolen, so they need their followers’ faith to bind themselves to that authority;
otherwise they could be retaliated against at any time.
"Most of the food here is seafood, but the seas of this world have long since gone mad, so many fish are contaminated and can harm people."
Hearing Loren’s explanation, Anna, who had been eyeing the grilled fish on the roadside, swallowed her saliva and gave up the idea of ordering it.
"Normal fish are fine. Contaminated fish are also fairly easy to spot.
"As long as you don’t eat ordinary fish continuously for decades, nothing bad will happen."
Loren sensed Anna’s worry and patted her hair.
"Yay!"
With jokes and chatter, Loren and the others entered a seaside restaurant. The tables and chairs were outside, which also allowed them to enjoy the view of the ocean.
The sun was just about to set, the sunset sinking into the sea and dyeing the water red.
The coastal waters near the shore were under the God of Vows and Wind’s protection, so they weren’t completely wild;
you wouldn’t suddenly have an octopus pop up on the shore to perform rap.
The world’s descent into madness had little to do with the Outer Gods. If the world were a person, the Orthodox Gods had stolen some of that person’s soul and spirit, leaving the world mentally unstable.
The menu landed in Anna’s hands. She randomly picked a few dishes, said to skip those, and ordered the rest.
While waiting for the food, Loren saw someone standing dazed by the road holding a money pouch, waiting until the person who had lost it came to retrieve it.
When the pouch’s true owner arrived, he handed a few copper coins to the person who had found it. That was the rule here: you cannot keep what you find, and when the owner recovers it they must give a tangible reward to show gratitude.
To be honest, Loren couldn’t immediately find a flaw in this system.
If someone here committed a crime, they would certainly be dealt with. Some might call this too harsh, but does that crime really need to be committed?
In other gods’ domains, the God of Vows and Wind’s reputation has never been good, and the reason is simple: the laws are too strict.
According to Anselm’s statutes, a person who commits adultery must suffer flogging together with the other party. This particular law drew the harshest criticism from the nobles of Gedlan;
they said the law was brutal and inhumane.
To Loren, whether the law prescribed executing the adulterer’s entire family made no difference. Is that adultery something that must happen?
While Loren pondered this, the restaurant’s dishes arrived. The first was the grilled fish Anna had been craving. Since Scarlett had eaten hers and stopped fighting Anna for it, Anna easily seized the grilled fish for her own plate.
She cut off the tastiest piece and placed it on Loren’s plate, then grabbed the fish’s head and swallowed the whole fish in one gulp. The fish was small and fit perfectly in one bite.
When Anna pulled out the fish head, only a clean skeleton remained.
Loren ate the piece Anna had given him. It was indeed delicious, though not quite up to Mirrorheart’s cooking.
It was dinner time, and many people had come to eat. Loren listened to other diners’ conversations, looking for useful information.
"Tomorrow the king will be beheaded, because the palace steward’s subordinates embezzled funds, and when he learned of it he did not deal with it immediately…"
Upon hearing those key details, Loren spoke up.
He had overheard many people discussing this issue on the way here;
now he knew the specific circumstances.
"The king? Beheaded?"
Naclis froze mid-bite. She recognized both words individually, but together they didn’t make sense to her.
"It’s simple. The Church of the God of Vows and Wind believes that if your subordinate commits an offense and you did not know, that is your fault, so you must die with them.
"And if you knew and still failed to deal with it promptly, then you committed an even graver crime—you, as the superior, are at fault and must die as well.
"So, because a minister’s subordinate embezzled, the emperor ended up dying so muddledly."
Loren made no comment. Some people find it reasonable, some find it excessive, but it was none of his business.