Chapter 4: The lands don't have to be barren...
Chapter 4: The lands don't have to be barren...
[Yes Host. The average strength of the people of Lyria is 60. They are very strong.]
"Then why didn't my father try to butter the people of this place into joining his army?", asked Harry with more confusion.
"Well he did, Your Majesty. He offered them food and riches, and the people of Lyria did accept and joined his army, but there were a few problems. The women of Lyria joined the army too once they proved their physical strength, but...", Hamilton looked like he was hesitating to say something.
"Go on.", said Harry, indicating for Hamilton to continue speaking.
"Your Majesty, this is a very sensitive topic around here. The women were, let's just say, harrassed by their superiors. Sexually harassed. Now, this did not happen to all of them or on a majority. Only three to four women had this kind of experience. But, the people of Lyria are very united. So, they all united and killed the superiors. This led to internal conflict between the two sides of the army. The Lyrians were eventually defeated because they were outnumbered, and the king executed them all for insubordination.
This enraged the rest of the people of Lyria. Only a small group of people of Lyria had actually gone to join in the army to test the waters. If everything was good, they would then encourage the rest of the Lyrians to join the army. So, when the king visited Lyria again, the Lyrians tried to kill him. He nearly died too.", explained Hamilton.
"I see.", said Harry, indicating that the conversation was over to Hamilton. He laid back on his throne and slightly sighed. Things were not going to be simple for him, were they?
Harry finally sighed for the umpteenth time today and said in a soft voice, "Hamilton, take me to the farms."
Hamilton bowed slightly and said, "As you wish, Your Majesty."
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"These are the 'farms'?", asked Harry with absolute disgruntlement.
"Yes, Your Majesty.", said Hamilton with a helpless smile hanging on his face.
The farms were completely barren! There were no crops!
He had expected atleast wilting crops, but that was not the case at all. It was like the farmers had not bothered to farm at all....
Just when confusion was taking him over, Hamilton said, "Um, about that, Your Majesty. The crops last time had not grown properly, and a rain storm had destroyed the rest of the crops. So, the people abandoned farming on a whole as it gave no output to them and was all effort and no result."
Harry felt like crying but no tears were coming out from his eyes. Just what the hell?! They abandoned farming on a whole?
"They abandoned farming just because of one incident that happened one time?", asked Harry.
"No, Your Majesty. The lands were already barren before that incident. The rainstorm was just a tiny straw that fell on the donkey's back causing it's back that was already carrying heavy load to break.", said a gruff voice behind him and Hamilton with slight alertness.
[The man used the quote, "The tiny straw that broke the donkey's back." It is used to refer to cases when a small incident makes a person give up on a task that was already hard. In the Quotes case, a tiny straw falls on a donkey's back which was carrying heavy load causing it's back to break.]
Harry turned around and looked at the man that spoke with slight surprise. Who was he?
Hamilton, predicting Harry's doubt, explained, "He was the leader of the farmers, Your Majesty."
Harry nodded, indicating that he understood.
Harry then smiled and said, "The lands don't have to be barren."
The man laughed as if he had just heard the funniest joke. He said while scoffing, "I'm not going to believe the words of a selfish king."
Note : This book is being rewritten and all the comments for this chapter were for the previous version of it.
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