The Lord Demon King is Unfathomable!

Chapter 1543 - 441: The Rules of the Pasture (4)

Leon was utterly shaken.

He was a Scholar raised in the High Tower; under the Great Sage's careful tutelage, even as an Apprentice he had already come into contact with Magic that many Mages would never have the chance to touch in their entire lives.

And precisely because of this, he could not imagine such a thing could happen.

They had clearly already established communication with the Void Realm beyond the world, could even use Magic to make bread fly of its own accord onto everyone's table—how could there still be people going hungry?

The Academic State was part of the Imperial, and the Ryan Kingdom was of course also part of the Imperial—how could the Emperor not come and deal with this?

Even if the Emperor could not see it, what about the King?

He turned to the old Steward beside him, unable to control the trembling in his voice.

"Lord Skylar, open your eyes and look! Is this still not enough evidence that Chaos' corruption is eating away at this land?"

From a Scholar's standpoint, he believed that famine in the Imperial was unacceptable; the only logical conclusion left was—

That this was the work of Chaos!

Yet after hearing Leon's accusation, the old Steward Skylar's expression did not change in the slightest.

He merely gazed calmly at the struggling masses outside the city, let out what seemed like a pained sigh, and spoke slowly.

"Leon… sir. Famine or rebellion—either may befall any Kingdom. There are many possible reasons: perhaps an incompetent Governor, perhaps bad weather, perhaps lazy peasants… none of this proves it has anything to do with Chaos."

Leon's eyes widened; he could not believe his ears. Was this still the Imperial common tongue he knew?

What was he talking about?!

"Unbelievable… Is Life so cheap in your eyes? How are your indifference and Chaos' Apostle any different!" He pointed at a child by the roadside who was nothing but skin and bone, then let his gaze fall on the grove not far away where every scrap of bark had been scraped clean; his voice rumbled with anger.

It was a very harsh accusation.

Skylar could have simply ignored him, or even snapped back, but when he looked at this young man, he could not bring himself to speak too harshly.

Perhaps, just as the boy said, the world ought not be like this—but the real world did not operate according to the neat logic imagined by students in the Ivory Tower.

He paused, then advised him in a gentle tone.

"Sir Leon, forgive my bluntness. Your Majesty in fact has no wish to punish you; even if you may not understand it, he is actually a rather merciful Monarch—especially toward you."

Before this furious youth could speak, he continued.

"As long as you admit your words went too far and stop clinging to that illusory rhetoric, Your Majesty will not only forgive your offense, he will even have you courteously escorted out of the country… I imagine that is precisely why you came."

If the Great Sage truly believed Chaos' corruption was here, why did the old man not come himself, and instead send a mere Magic Apprentice to deliver his message?

It was not as if he were trapped in the High Tower and unable to leave; he had, in fact, just recently gone to Brass Pass, only to remember the neighboring Ryan Kingdom halfway there.

Did that make sense?

There was only one explanation: the Great Sage simply wanted to temper his Apprentice a bit—yet this youngster, who had stayed too long in the Ivory Tower, really did not understand tact.

If he had phrased things differently, he would already have gone back to report, far from dragging Skylar along and getting him involved.

Skylar could not help wondering how the Great Sage had picked this one.

Was there truly no other talent in the Academic State?

There was in fact nothing wrong with the old Steward's reasoning; it was exactly what the King himself thought—only, a certain Magic Apprentice did not see it that way.

Enraged, he almost forced the words out through gritted teeth.

"Sir Skylar, you have misunderstood—I did not come here just to carry out a mission and report back. I came here to save our world!"

Seeing the stunned Skylar, he pronounced each word clearly.

"Compared to my own safety, is what truly deserves our concern not… the Kingdom's subjects suffering before our eyes?!"

That voice, like a thunderclap, rendered the Guards around them speechless.

Skylar was the same.

But the seasoned old Steward took only two seconds of silence before he answered Leon's anger.

"Then, honored savior, have you brought grain, or have you brought an army—or… have you brought only a mouth?"

Leon froze.

But he was not someone with nothing but hot blood and no brain; on the contrary, his mind was quite agile, and in an instant he found the flaw in that remark.

"You're just quibbling… We are clearly talking about your indifference! I will report what's happening here to the Great Sage, and to the garrison at Brass Pass! But this is your King's directly governed territory—Your Majesty should be the first to act!"

"Then I must trouble you to notify the Great Sage, in that case. I suppose he certainly did not foresee what is happening here, heh." Skylar merely chuckled, unconcerned, and said softly, "But what I meant was something else… Sir Leon, is there not a possibility that everything we see before our eyes is in fact 'preventing' Chaos?"

Leon was stunned; he had no idea what that meant.

Skylar no longer looked at him, nor did he explain. He merely cast his gaze into the distance, toward those people struggling to survive, as if looking at cattle and sheep in a pasture.

Your Majesty was not ignorant.

On the contrary, he knew everything.

In the distant First Epoch, people on this land often died over faith and disputes about territory, but after the First Epoch that problem no longer existed… It had been replaced by plague and famine.

Was it because the Lords were not virtuous enough?

No.

Was it because the people were lazy?

Also no.

Was it because of the war at Brass Pass?

That was even less likely.

The people were dying not for any other reason, but simply because the arable land here could no longer support so many mouths.

"People" here referred not only to the peasants in the fields, but also to those Vassals who were constantly nibbling away at Your Majesty's directly governed lands, as well as the Priests who, in the name of Saint Xi, relentlessly expanded the Church's territories.

It was time for a grand, tumultuous uprising.

They needed peasants who could no longer survive to kill their Lords, and then have those Nobles and Priests whose martial spirit had not entirely rotted away go and kill the rebellious peasants.

As long as nine out of ten people died, the land of Twilight Province would be enough for everyone to share, and the Royal Family would naturally be able to take back its own portion.

With the Imperial watching, could a bunch of Heretics really turn the world upside down?

This was also why the King tacitly allowed the Nobles to abandon their castles, even permitting those useless ones to hide in his Royal Palace.

His Lordship had long finished drafting the list for these good-for-nothings; once this farce ended, every Noble—Vassal of Your Majesty or not—would be flayed of at least one layer of skin!

This was not the first time such a thing had happened in the history of the Ryan Kingdom; it was, in fact, born of the lesson the Royal Family had learned from the secession of the Campbell Duchy.

A weakened Twilight Province was more advantageous to the Kingdom—and only a weakened Twilight Province truly belonged to the Royal Family itself.

And that was also why, despite Twilight Province sitting on vast resources, it had never become the "Dusk Duchy."

The sole exception was the Campbell Duchy sending troops; that had never happened before, since in the past the Demon King of Thunder County used to take care of them.

Still, Skylar did not see this as much of a problem; Your Majesty had surely already devised a countermeasure.

"…A clever rancher will set fire to his own pasture at the proper time. The grass that grows back will not only be more tender, but will also better sustain the pasture's continued prosperity."

Leon clenched his fists tight.

"I cannot understand…"

If even this was not enough to serve as evidence of Chaos' incursion, he truly could not think of any other way to prove it to a King who pretended to sleep.

Perhaps he needed to find Chaos' Apostle…

Or else, he would have to forge "evidence" himself.

Seeing that Leon seemed to have calmed down, Skylar gave a slight nod, bringing this meaningless discussion to a close.

The lad was not a bad person; otherwise Skylar would not have had the patience to help him.

"That is why you are a Scholar, not a King."