Chapter 32: Speech

Not everyone in the Royal Capital sleeps through the night. Farmers take advantage of the cooler evening weather to swiftly harvest their wheat. The Christmas snow had melted days ago, and with the blessing of the deity, the newly planted crops today are already ripe. Only during the final few days of each year, when the Outer Gods' erosion is at its peak, can they finally rest.

Workers are busy loading high-quality rice, which they themselves have never eaten, onto carriages bound for other countries. To make the horses run faster, these horses have been fed premium fodder until they are full.

By the time everything is loaded, a worker can no longer feel where his arms are. When he reaches out to receive his wages, his hand trembles. As the money pouch is placed in his hand, he nearly fails to catch it, even though the pouch is very light.

"Is this all?"

The worker opens the money pouch and glances inside. There are only a few copper coins.

"That's it. If you think it's too little, you don't have to do it. If you don't, plenty of others will."

The foreman doesn't take him seriously. After urging the cart driver to depart quickly, he heads in another direction, towards a place that remains brightly lit even in the dead of night, lit with lamps the worker can't afford to burn.

In the end, the worker doesn't say anything more. He just takes out a ten-copper coin from the pouch and walks towards a tavern in the alley. He needs the numbing effect of alcohol to fall asleep. The rest must be saved for his wife and children.

The tavern is noisy. Many people choose to come here late at night, ordering a few cups of cheap wine to release their pent-up stress.

A mug of beer goes down, making him feel a bit dizzy. It's at this moment he hears someone, he doesn't know who, speak. The voice isn't loud, but it strikes with deafening force.

"Respected Ligoss... why? Why, despite all our hard work, can we still not live a good life? Aren't we the ones holding up this country? Why do those nobles, who do nothing, get to brazenly enjoy the fruits of our labor?"

Gwen, controlled by Loren, suddenly slams her mug onto the table, startling everyone and drawing all eyes to her.

Before Loren began speaking, he uttered Ligoss's true name. This caused his subsequent words to carry a certain contamination, making everyone subconsciously want to listen to him.

"I wonder how many of you present are farmers? With the God of Bountiful Harvest's blessing, everyone can see how high the crop yields are, right? Even with just one field, it would be more than enough to feed all of us. Yet, most of the grain ends up in the hands of those nobles who are never short of food. They sell the grain abroad in exchange for gold.

"You simply cannot imagine how extravagantly they live. I saw with my own eyes a noble's cat worth twenty gold. That's two thousand silver, two hundred thousand copper. How much copper do you earn from a day of backbreaking work?

"We ordinary people work ourselves nearly to death, yet even so, we can only barely support our own families."

The worker glances at his money pouch. Inside are four more copper coins, worth forty copper. A single cat would require him to work for ten years without eating or drinking to afford it.

"The God of Bountiful Harvest loves each of us equally, right? Then why is there such a vast difference between our lives and those of the nobles? Is it because we are not devout enough? Is it because we don't work hard enough? No, we are more devout than anyone. Without devotion, crops wouldn't even grow. Now I can't help but wonder, do those nobles even possess the piety needed to make crops grow?

"No, they don't. I come from the border of the Gedlan Kingdom, where a major incident occurred. That Master Mentor, leading the Church's Scarecrows, wiped out a gathering of Outer God believers. Do you know who those believers were? They were damned nobles! They took the treasures gained by sucking our blood and sacrificed them to the Outer Gods!

"When you see one cockroach in the open, it means the hidden places can no longer hold them all."

Loren's words instantly silence the previously noisy tavern. Only the sound of drinking remains. Everyone lowers their heads, not uttering a word.

These words were carefully considered by Loren. These people's faith in the God of Bountiful Harvest is deeply ingrained, so Loren is targeting that very aspect to ignite their hatred.

The seeds of hatred have already been planted in their hearts. Watered by alcohol, they are gradually sprouting and growing.

"Perhaps you think your own lives are set like this, as long as your children have it better. But what about our children? They will simply continue to be bled dry by the nobles' children, generation after generation, like livestock kept in pens."

Loren has struck right at their sore spot. Many people struggle desperately for their children's sake. But what real change will there be in their children's future lives?

"I also have a daughter. To this day, she hasn't had her fill more than a few times..."

At this point, Loren's mood instantly plummets. This part isn't a lie. Anna truly rarely eats to satiety. To prevent Anna from eating herself sick, Loren chooses to have her eat more frequent, smaller meals rather than stuffing herself in one sitting.

"This world is sick. But why is it that when a person is sick, they take medicine, yet when the world is sick, it devours people?

"Not long ago, a friend of mine committed suicide. Because he couldn't see his future, and yet he could see his future all too clearly. Will nothing ever change?

"The most extreme form of cruelty is being completely unaware of the cruelty. Have you ever thought about how pitiable your own lives are? No, we've long grown numb.

"The Gedlan Kingdom is a carriage speeding forward. It's just that we ordinary folk at the bottom are the fodder the horses eat."

The worker puts away his money pouch and, along with others, gathers around the Gwen puppet. Loren's words are like pulling a single log from a pile of firewood, instantly shattering a fragile balance.

"But what can we possibly do?"

He is the first to speak up, instantly striking a chord with everyone else. Yes, even with all this anger, they can't change anything.

Those mages and knights protect the nobles. Even the Church's Scarecrows stand on the nobles' side. Between the extraordinary and the ordinary lies an unbridgeable chasm. They have no recourse.

Yes, what can we possibly do?

The anger that had just ignited is doused by this one sentence. This is also Loren's aim. Now he can finally get to the main point.

"No, they don't. I come from the border of the Gedlan Kingdom, where a major incident occurred. That Master Mentor, leading the Church's Scarecrows, wiped out a gathering of Outer God worshippers. Do you know who those worshippers were? They were damned nobles! They took the treasures gained by sucking our blood and sacrificed them to the Outer Gods!

"I know a name. When you are filled with anger, just call out his name, and he will grant you power.

"His name is Ligoss. I hope you can let more people know his name. I hope you can borrow his power to attain happiness."

Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime. Distributing grain is useless. Only by letting them know the method to solve the problem can they have an endless supply of grain to eat.