Chapter 2026 - 545: Land of Burial_2

Then the sentries brought him some dry food and found him a clean set of clothes.

After some comforting and with the purchase of a few pieces of bread, the Ryan named Helager finally shivered and revealed his identity.

He was a survivor of the Winter Moon fire.

Though the sentries present had never heard of the Winter Moon fire, they only knew that last winter their Earl fought a battle with the Duke of Campbell Castle.

"...That damn fire burned down our houses, burned away all our savings, we were barely hanging on amidst the ruins until that kind-hearted lord appeared."

Mentioning that disaster, deep fear and despair showed in Helager's murky eyes.

According to his fragmented recollection, amid the chaos and famine following the fire, a well-dressed steward found him, his family, and hundreds of similarly homeless refugees around them.

The steward claimed to represent a benevolent noble, saying that as long as they were willing to sign a contract of sellbodying, they could be taken to a new settlement down south to develop the land.

"Do you remember the name of that steward? And the lord he served, the noble's title, and the location of the territory?" Clark opened his notebook, dipped the feather pen in ink, and asked as kindly as possible, trying not to sound like he was interrogating.

The young man shook his head.

"I don't know..."

Clark paused the feather pen in his hand, his expression turned odd.

"Don't know?"

Don't know and you're daring to go?

He suspected that this guy was either joking or hadn't finished making it up.

However, Helager was very serious, not at all seeming like he was joking, but said with a shiver.

"Sir... If you were in my position, you would have been just like me, at the time there was simply too much to worry about."

"The steward told us that their estate was down south, there was land so fertile it oiled, newly built houses and enough bread to get us through the cold winter. As long as we were willing to go there, we would surely survive, his master wouldn't watch us suffer in the cold wind."

He paused, then added in a small voice.

"Honestly, I thought he was a noble of Campbell."

"Haha, then I guess he must be a devout gentleman." A young sentry sitting next to him made a joke to lighten the mood, but unexpectedly, this joking remark instead triggered the tense fellow.

"Devout?! By Saint Sis above, I've never seen more blasphemous guys! There wasn't even any settlement there!"

Helager widened his eyes, clutched the cup in his hand tightly, spitting far away.

He continued speaking rapidly.

"We got on their cart and headed south, at first we could still see the Rushing River, then couldn't see it anymore. Some people felt something was wrong but since we were already there, they figured those nobles wouldn't deceive us... in the end the carriage reached the mountains."

"There was no settlement at all!"

At this point, Helager seemed to recall something bad.

His body shook violently, the cup in his hand clattered onto the table, water spilling everywhere, yet his hands ignored it and held his head.

"They... drove us off the cart! No one expected that instead of houses and fields, we'd be greeted by a group of upright walking rats!"

Dead silence fell in the sentry post.

Everyone looked at each other, after hearing this guy's story, even forgetting to breathe.

Clark frowned, the feather pen on paper writing and striking, unable to discern which part of this guy's story was true, which part false.

A young and spirited Campbell guy beside him couldn't help but interrupt.

"You're lying! Who would sell themselves? It's not that I don't believe you... The key is where's the money you sold yourself for? Could you be storing it in a bank?"

"Sir, I have a family."

Helager said with a bitter face.

"Besides, if we didn't sell ourselves, we wouldn't have survived that winter. Our Majesty is kind but can't turn out grains... ten thousand copper coins, this money is enough for my wife and daughter to make it to next year. If I can settle down in that noble's estate, maybe I can even bring them over..."

"That doesn't seem fake." An old soldier released his crossed arms reluctantly nodded, "Most peasants sell themselves not for money, but to survive. The only thing I'm skeptical about is ten thousand copper coins, Spinor Earl's Domain also has peasants, at least last year there were peasants, but never heard of any peasant selling themselves at that price."

This is not something high in demand, wait a while maybe you can even pick up a free one.

It's not that he's prejudiced against Ryan's nobles, it's that he holds the same prejudice against all nobles. Especially after seeing what happened in Twilight Province, he has even less regard for nobles who abandon their sacred duties.

How fresh, someone who's never done a good deed suddenly starting to do charity, this sounds like a lion giving up meat."

"I still can't believe it." Another young guy shook his head, looking suspiciously at the Ryan person, "Even if you really were sold by that heartless noble to the ratmen, you should be north of Ten Thousand Ridges Mountain Range. This is the south of the Ten Thousand Ridges Mountain Range, with it so far in between... don't tell me, you flew over here riding a Lion Crossbow."

"At first I was indeed in the northern caves, but later... it seems Dwarves arrived there."

Helager explained, a hint of fear flashed in his eyes.