You were made to farm, and now you're the emperor of an empire?

Chapter 223 The Scapegoat

"You don't know yet?" said the merchant who had come from afar.

"Oh dear! The witch's attempt to storm the Holy City and assassinate the Pope has blown up quite a bit now."

“This place is remote…” Morey’s smile was somewhat forced.

"It's remote, but there's money to be made—I just learned that cotton came from the Land of White Gold. Oh, how wonderful it would be if that soft, light cotton could grow on our land. If only I had met you a few years earlier, before the war started, I might have made a fortune—sigh, when can we build a tavern? If so, I really need to have a few drinks with you."

"Soon, soon..." Morey replied absentmindedly, not even sure which sentence he was referring to.

"What happened to the witch later?"

"They escaped! The news has spread far and wide. My mother told me when I was little that those witches would cause a huge mess, so the officials of the Papacy had to drag them out and burn them at the stake. Now you see, they really did cause a huge mess. Luckily, His Holiness the Pope is protected by the gods and the witches didn't succeed, otherwise the entire world of gods would have experienced a major earthquake..."

Morey knew the witches had a bad reputation and didn't really like them.

Hearing that they've fallen to this state, I can't help but sigh, "They're all pitiful people."

"Yes, those witches stormed into the Holy City, burning, killing, and looting. I hope the gods will punish those guys and send them to hell sooner," said the middle-aged merchant.

"Those bastards who colluded with the witches deserve to die too! Do you even know how the witch family infiltrated the Holy City?! The Templars discovered that the Perea family was secretly covering for them! Oh dear! That son of a bitch, Selin, is so rich, why did he have to do something so shady? He had to secretly collude with the witches to steal the Oak family's legacy. Now look what happened, the matter has been exposed, the Grand Duke of Oak is furious, and all his businesses have been destroyed!"

"Hey, why is your face so pale?" the merchant asked, puzzled.

"I haven't been feeling well these past couple of days."

"You're so young, how come you're so frail? You must be careful. Drink more willow water. For us merchants, even a cold can be fatal... Winters are getting colder and colder these days. It's much warmer here now, no bone-chilling winds. Even the farmers are wearing wool sweaters, which were actually given to them by the local lord. How strange, I wonder how they were woven..."

Morey bids farewell to that talkative businessman.

The Pereia family is now universally reviled.

Having lost the friendship of the Archduke of Oak and being regarded as accomplices of witches by the Papacy, the Archduke of Gael was determined to kill them without mercy.

The once-great merchant family fell apart in an instant.

Fortunately, he found reliable shelter before the storm hit—while his siblings, at worst, would face imprisonment. In the past, they had competed with each other by any means necessary, but now that disaster was imminent, none of them could escape—Selin had disappeared without a trace before the incident, which made Morey feel that his resourceful father had foreseen this situation and sent his children out to distract others so that he could escape alone.

Morey couldn't feel happy at all thinking about these things.

He returned to Origin Manor.

Life here is going fairly smoothly.

If any power has a base of people before it rises to prominence, then Roman relied on those five thousand people from last year.

About two thousand of them are connected to Morey, and now those people have settled in Origin City, which makes him highly respected there.

Because the former slaves did not regard him as a slave trader, but as an envoy sent by Lord Roman to rescue them.

Morey was both amused and exasperated by this misunderstanding, but didn't offer any explanation.

This land is changing so fast, it's practically changing every day.

When he learned that 30,000 people lived on this land, he was completely stunned.

No, buddy, you're being completely unreasonable.

The large number of people was one thing, but the key point was that there was absolutely no trouble.

Because it's too detailed.

That's right. Although there aren't many managers in this area and the management system is somewhat rudimentary, the division of labor is truly meticulous.

The society was operating in an orderly manner, with everyone fulfilling their duties and having something to do. This organizational system was something Morey had never seen before.

Workers do not need to worry about food, clothing, housing, or transportation.

The master has assigned you a task; you only need to do this task.

After today's work is finished, come back tomorrow, and then come back the day after tomorrow to do this job again.

Once this task is finished, we'll assign you another one. It's a chain reaction, one step after another.

Nobody is idle.

But this is not a bad thing.

In an agrarian society, being idle was considered a sin.

The saying "you get what you work for" means that you will receive something after you have worked hard.

Farmers are afraid that after their labor they will only get half, a quarter, or even nothing at all.

If we don't exploit them and instead treat them to good food and drink every day, our rule will definitely be unstable.

Labor brings peace of mind.

Especially those farmers who are utterly useless; their only value lies in their work.

The harder I work, the more at ease I feel; otherwise, I wouldn't deserve to enjoy so much material comfort.

This does give the impression of a mental illness.

Morey's situation was somewhat awkward, because he was the only one in the entire Origin City who had nothing to do.

As a guest and friend, Roman had no reason to make Morey do the work.

However, most areas of Origin City are open to Morey.

At first, Morey was shocked and surprised.

But after two months here, he got used to the pace of development in Origin City.

He had thought he could settle down, but now he felt restless, or rather, after learning about the current situation of the Perea family, he felt that there were things he needed to do.

Morey then sought out Roman for this purpose.

"Lord Roman, I apologize for disturbing you amidst your busy schedule."

"Just tell me if you have anything to say."

"I hope to leave here in the spring..."

Roman's writing work has ceased.

He looked up at Morey. "Are you sure? When you choose to leave here, I won't be able to protect you anymore."

"I'm sure." Morey said with a bitter smile.

"Is it because of your father?"

Roman remained very busy, but every time they met at the dinner table, he would talk to Seth to stay informed about the outside world and avoid missing anything important.

"Yes, but not entirely. There are other factors, such as the relationship between the Perea family and the witches."

Upon hearing this, Roman immediately became somewhat interested.

At this juncture, Morey had no choice but to reveal everything: "Well, I don't know much about the internal affairs of the family, but the only thing I'm sure of is that the Perea family is a scapegoat."

"There are many forces behind the witch forest that provide various forms of assistance to the witches."

"Or rather, the Perea family came into being for this reason."

"Lord Roman, you may not know this, but the Vatican has been hunting witches for over a hundred years, yet it has never harmed the very foundation of witches. Those promising young witches were rescued before the Vatican even discovered them and taken to the witch groves for cultivation—"

"When the Conqueror went on his expedition, he took all his fighting force with him, but a group of witches who had not yet grown up remained deep in the palace. When the Pope forced the Black Iron King to hand over those witches, he found that the witches had already fled."

"—These are the earliest witches in the Witch Forest!"

"They come from the time of the conquerors, were raised in the court, are powerful and knowledgeable, and are proficient in all kinds of magic. The Church has spared no effort to hunt them down, but has never succeeded."

(End of this chapter)