In the southern part of the Leite Kingdom, within the territory of the Dorne Kingdom, on the square of a small town, a man was waving his fists, shouting hoarsely, "They took our food! They don't treat us like humans! We should stand up and resist! Drive these bastards from Dorne off our land!"
He stood on a wooden crate, which bore the symbol of the Xilun Kingdom Commerce Association, containing flour that had been brought from afar, and the reason why so many people had gathered here.
Because by standing here and listening to the man's speech, everyone could receive a kilogram of flour, albeit not so fresh.
But flour was still edible, even if not that fresh. So everyone was willing to wait a while, thus the place was packed with people, almost like a sea of humanity.
The expansion of the Dorne Kingdom had been rapid, and although it had stabilized recently, it had still annexed an area almost as large as its own, doubling its territory.
Suddenly having so much more territory to manage, the domestic officials of Dorne were at their wits' end. They had no choice but to relax the management of some areas, allowing some low-level officials to engage in unrestrained extortion on the newly occupied territories.
After all, wars are fought for profit, and aside from developing new lands, the best way to profit was to exploit the labor of the occupied territories.
With management lagging behind and the resources consumed by warfare needing rapid replenishment, coupled with the entire kingdom thinking of continuing to expand the military, some dissatisfaction inevitably arose in the occupied territories.
For ordinary farmers, the confiscation of their grain and wealth was an unforgivable grievance.
In the crowd, a farmer—whether prearranged or suddenly inspired—raised his arm, angrily fanning the emotions of those around him, "Right! They are nothing but beasts! The food that we have toiled so hard to grow is being taken away by them! We should drive them out!"
On another side of the crowd, another man became incited. He too raised his arm, shouting angrily, "This is our country! Outsiders can never be relied upon!"
They were not lacking in courage, nor were they short of determination to protect their country and homes. It was only because those officials who rode roughshod over them were too cowardly and greedy that their kingdom had been annihilated by Dorne.
The greedy, cowardly military had almost no fighting power, utterly defeated by the enemy's modern weapons, and in the end, even King City had fallen.
But this did not mean they could not defeat Dorne. As long as they had weapons like those of Dorne, they could take back everything they had lost!
Now! Shireck had promised to provide them with weapons, advanced ones! They would soon be able to chase away the Dorne garrison and become the new officials, the new slavers and farm owners, ruling the country themselves!
At this thought, the man who had been covertly inciting the crowd, swinging his fists, began to shout with even more effort, "This is our country! Outsiders can never be relied upon!"
The crowd grew noisy, whispering among themselves, and the flames in the eyes of many young people could no longer be hidden.
Then, a timid and honest farmer, holding a hoe, stood in the midst of the crowd and began to express his doubts, "But... before, those farm owners, those slave owners... they also took away most of our food." Find adventures on m_v l|-novelhall.net
Yes, in his view, those former officials were hardly any better than the officials from Dorne.
"We shall march into Leite! Into Brunas!" greedier voices joined the frenzied throng.
A storm was brewing in Dorne...
...
"Your Highness, the prince... has he lost his mind..." Tang Mo asked the orc standing beside the girl—or rather, if she could truly be called a girl...
There was a bit of discrepancy between this girl and the traditional image Tang Mo had of a young maiden, or rather, the girl standing before him was what would have been referred to in his past life's memories as a "beast girl."
Right now, the girl standing before Tang Mo had fluffy ears on either side of her head, which made it hard for him to contain the heat rising in his body.
She, in turn, was sizing up Tang Mo with wide, appealing eyes that fluttered, prompting in a man the irresistible urge to commit a crime.
It must be said that Tang Mo had seen his fair share of beauties before the crossing, and even after crossing paths with Alice, she was a top-tier beauty. But the temptation standing before him now... he had never faced such a challenge before.
"She is the one we chose from among the Gales Kingdom's refugees. The prince's intention is... that she... is our way of thanking Mr. Tang... a gift," the orc who delivered the cat-eared girl said humbly.
"That's not really appropriate... How can a person be treated as a gift?" Tang Mo said, wavering and reluctant, even he himself could hear the shaking in his voice.
He was neither a paragon of fidelity nor a chaste scholar. Faced with such a novel and... delightful encounter, he still retained a spirit of exploration.
"The prince asked that you please accept her... If you don't, she will be killed upon her return," the persistent orc emissary urged.
Orcs might be this world's most ludicrous race, with their females occasionally becoming exotic beauties while the males were so ugly with green faces and sharp teeth, nowhere near a match for each other.
To make matters worse, orc men passed on their strong genes to their sons, while orc women's genes were carried on by their daughters, resulting in an odd race where the men were hideously ugly, and the women, strikingly beautiful.
In fact, aside from being momentarily moved, Tang Mo didn't really know what to do with this cat-eared girl.
Keeping her close as a personal maid or such, he worried about loyalty issues; even serving tea and delivering water might involve the risk of her poisoning or assassination attempt. Even if it was just to indulge in a night of frivolity, Tang Mo didn't want to be a debauched apparition under the peony.
This was akin to a tycoon visiting a nightclub; although the beauties were enticing, they could easily become liabilities and lose even more. Hence, they often stayed clear of unfamiliar environments and people—Brother Dong didn't heed the warning, so he paid a heavy price, a lesson learned in blood.
"Killed? That would be a crime against nature," Tang Mo remarked while stroking his chin: "Then she shall stay! Such a beauty, it's nice to chat with... don't you agree, Wes?"
"Yes, you're right," Wes glanced at Tang Mo, teasingly adding a comment: "Very right."