Chapter 1225: Is This Even Allowed? (5)

“All set?”

“Yes. Now we just need to let it simmer.”

“Hmm.”

Tang Soso smiled faintly and glanced back at Yu Yiseol. Yu Yiseol rarely hurried people. For someone like her to linger behind and ask several times like this was truly unusual.

‘She must be worried.’

Tang Soso did not miss Yu Yiseol furtively casting glances at the village children. The children, terrified, hid behind their mothers’ skirts and kept watching this way.

“Are you worried the children are hungry?”

When Tang Soso asked, Yu Yiseol answered in a slightly blunt voice.

“...It’s hard.”

“Pardon?”

“Being hungry.”

“......”

“Especially when you’re little.”

Tang Soso was briefly at a loss for words. Thinking about it, Yu Yiseol must also have endured days clutching at an empty stomach during her childhood.

Tang Soso likely held memories she could not truly relate to.

“It’s ready. I’ll hand it out quickly.”

“Okay.”

“So don’t just watch—bring bowls too.”

“Right.”

Tang Soso smiled softly as Yu Yiseol scampered off to fetch plates.

They didn’t have to go this far originally. They had saved lives; they could have simply gone on their way.

The problem was dealing with the grain loaded on the cart. If they were to stage it as the Evil Sect having stolen the grain and fled, they needed to get rid of that grain.

Even if they told the villagers to eat it to dispose of it, not a single person would readily touch the grain.

Even knowing intellectually that Four Sects Alliance wouldn’t have the time to investigate such things, instinctive fear kept their hands off it.

So Tang Soso rolled up her sleeves and stepped forward. Normally Jo Gul, not a precious healer like Tang Soso, would have cooked, but Jo Gul was occupied with other tasks now.

Tang Soso glanced at the sun and then at the cauldron with a sidelong look. It was something that had to be done, but they couldn’t afford to waste time.

If they didn’t finish before those who erased the cart’s traces returned from their task, it would have been pointless trouble.

“It’s ready! Everyone, come and eat!”

“......”

“Come on!”

When the villagers still hesitated to come closer, Tang Soso opened the cauldron and scooped a large ladleful of rice with a spatula, filling the bowls Yu Yiseol had brought generously.

“Here you go! Quickly!”

“......”

Yu Yiseol, staring at those who still couldn’t bring themselves to come forward, reached out and grabbed a handful of the rice Tang Soso had served, then shoved it into her own mouth.

“S-sago.”

Yu Yiseol, stuffing her cheeks full and chewing, swallowed. Glancing at the villagers, she grabbed another large handful of rice.

“W-we...”

Only then did those who’d been hurried begin to approach cautiously. Tang Soso greeted those slightly intimidated by Yu Yiseol’s impassive face with a bright smile.

“Come on, come on! Hurry up! Our sago eats more than you’d think. If you don’t take it quickly, my sago will eat it all.”

“Th-thank...you.”

Everything is hard the first time. The villagers rushed over and began taking the rice Tang Soso served. It was plain rice with no side dishes, but their hunger made their movements frantic.

Between torn hems, protruding ribs were visible. Tang Soso’s face tightened for a moment, then she smiled brightly again.

“There’s plenty of grain, so eat more! It’s not grain I brought myself, though.”

“Th-thank you!”

Tang Soso began scooping rice energetically with a spirited expression.

Baek Cheon, who was at the village chief’s house, looked out at the scene and spoke.

“...The situation doesn’t look good.”

A middle-aged man who introduced himself as Hyung Euk sighed deeply.

“It may sound absurd coming from me... but I’m almost relieved we can get grain like this.”

“......”

Considering these words came from someone who had almost lost their life to the Four Sects Alliance moments ago, one could roughly guess how dire things were.

“If we’d been hungry for another month... no, even just another half-month, we would have died of starvation rather than the sword.”

“Did the slash-and-burn fields not do well?”

Hyung Euk shook his head.

“You may not know, but living off slash-and-burn farming is not easy. Usually you farm the slash-and-burn plots while foraging various mountain goods to sell down in the valley, and with that money you buy grain.”

“Yes. That’s right.”

“But... for several years now it’s become very hard to obtain grain. Naturally the price of grain soared... and later grain stopped appearing in the market, so even if you gather herbs there was no one to buy them, and even if someone did buy them, the money couldn’t buy grain anymore.”

“Ah...”

‘Several years ago’ is obvious.

From the Southern Lands Non-Aggression Pact, since the Evil Sect began dominating Southern Lands.

“We managed somehow until now... but we were at the point of thinking there was truly no way...”

Baek Cheon, face hardened, asked again.

“Is it worse because this place is in the mountains?”

Hyung Euk shook his head at that.

“No, sir. Our situation is actually comparatively better.”

“...What?”

“We’re in a remote mountain area, so hardly anyone bothers to come here and make trouble, right? In larger places, people are barely surviving day to day.”

Baek Cheon turned his head in astonishment.

He saw the villagers devouring food like ravenous beings. Seeing their gaunt forms made his heart ache nearly to despair. And yet these people’s situation was supposedly better?

Then what on earth was happening elsewhere?

“Tha-that trouble... are you talking about the trouble from the Four Sects Alliance?”

The man couldn’t bring himself to answer. He seemed afraid even to utter those words.

“Sometimes...”

After hesitating a long while, the man continued with difficulty.

“When you go down the mountain to the market... bodies just lie along the road. Half-rotten corpses.”

“......”

“People have starved to death, and no one even dares to clean them up.”

“How could that...”

“They don’t have the energy. And even if they clean them up, someone else will just die again.”

Baek Cheon looked vacantly at Im So-Byeong. Im So-Byeong shrugged.

“What’s so surprising? Didn’t you suspect as much?”

“Jang Ilso... Jang Ilso’s goal is to swallow up Northern Lands, isn’t it? Why would someone like him... this, this offers no help...”

“Yes. That’s right. Jang Ilso is like that.”

At those words, Baek Cheon fell silent. He understood what Im So-Byeong meant.

“But the other co-leaders of Four Sects Alliance aren’t like that. They never cared much for Northern Lands. What’s more important to them is that places they’d been plundering while watching the Justice faction are now completely under their control.”

“I can’t... understand.”

Baek Cheon bit his lips until they bled.

“They’re the Evil Sect, and they may not know proper ways or what they’re supposed to protect, but even so, someone who becomes the head of a power wouldn’t be that stupid, would they? Are you saying they ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) don’t know what happens if they plunder their own territory?”

Warriors are basically parasites that cling to ordinary people. How could those who only swing swords and learn martial arts survive otherwise?

The Justice faction runs its main sect hall using donations from people in its region and profits from shops that those people patronize.

But if the people in that region die out, where will they get money to keep their headquarters running?

“They’re not stupid enough to not know that. Even the Green Forest is Evil Sect, but they don’t plunder people like this.”

If fewer people travel the mountains, the Green Forest suffers the consequences. So the Green Forest usually doesn’t harm mountain travelers.

Those who violate that rule are punished not by the authorities but by the Green Forest itself. If bandits keep killing people and running off to other mountains with great loot, the Green Forest will fall not to outside attack but to internal conflict among bandits over the mountains.

They would be ruined by the bandits’ infighting over the mountains.

“Under normal circumstances it wouldn’t have come to this. But... this case was different. Have you forgotten what happened within the Four Sects Alliance?”

“......”

“Sure, if their base disappeared then neither Evil nor Justice factions could persist. But they weren’t in a position to consider that. If you lose and get eaten by the enemy, your base gets taken anyway, doesn’t it?”

Only then did he understand.

They must have known that Black Ghost Fort, the Lower District Sect, and even the Pirates would someday fight among themselves to claim the leadership of the vast Four Sects Alliance.

So they attracted funds and stockpiled provisions without looking back.

“What about harassing and tormenting people? Doesn’t that not matter?”

“Boss. You seem to forget, the Evil Sect is like that by nature. Would people who live by rules and keep them join the Evil Sect?”

“......”

“In peacetime the leaders would have restrained them somewhat. But with war imminent, why bother forcibly controlling the lower ranks and dampening morale? If some judged another place better and defected, that would be a loss.”

“No...”

“The Ten Thousand People Clan might be controllable even in such a situation, but the other new leaders of the five won’t be.”

Baek Cheon’s expression was puzzled—he understood yet could not accept it. Or perhaps he understood but did not want to accept it.

Seeing him like that, Im So-Byeong let out a strange smile.

“You knew, didn’t you?”

“......”

“If there was that much chaos in Northern Lands, you can’t have been unaware of what must be happening in Southern Lands. Even those pushed into Northern Lands from here ruined people’s lives, so imagine how those who had to endure against even harsher men here fared.”

It left a bitter taste as if swallowing ashes.

They had simply not thought about it.

After the Southern Lands Non-Aggression Pact, seeing how those driven into Northern Lands had made public sentiment so dire, it was something that could have been easily guessed...

Even as he headed to Southern Lands, his mind was only on Southern Island. He had no concern for those living here. That fact filled Baek Cheon with shame.

Im So-Byeong shrugged and said.

“Well... you needn’t look so grim. The situation will improve. As the taoist said, Jang Ilso isn’t a fool, and the power realignments within Four Sects Alliance are already over.

They’ll probably start reasonable governance now, like scattering grain this time.“

“......”

“However.”

Im So-Byeong’s calm voice pierced Baek Cheon’s ears sharply.

“The terror that a single whim can cost you your life, the fear that having no power means bowing humbly to whatever befalls you, and the resulting helplessness and despair will never disappear. Not while Four Sects Alliance’s rule continues.”