My portable grandfather refreshes every week

Chapter 273 A Countryman's Lament
Lan Lin'er realized she was bad with words, and she desperately tried to stop the group of boys and girls from going to work in the capital.

Because if they really went to the capital, the only result would be that if the boys were talented, they would become exploited seed machines, while the girls would be given aphrodisiacs and turned into pigs.

Without magical talent, they wouldn't even have to wait until they were exploited; they would be hung in trees and become sworn brothers with millions of others.

However, these cheerful and optimistic rural children, who had high hopes for the future, were completely unaware of this reality. All they knew was that they could go to the city to work and make a lot of money, and that their families and villages would no longer have to rely on hunting monsters for a living.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying? Let me tell you, we didn't bully you." Seeing that Lan Lin'er was about to cry, the leader immediately told her friends to take a step back.

Xue Dinglu and Lan Lin'er looked like a prince or princess from the capital, and they were not to be trifled with by country folk like them. She stayed behind to chat and try to get closer to them, hoping to find out where there were high-paying jobs in the capital.

If the noble lords revealed some information, they would be thrilled to be able to secure a job like tending horses for them.

Although raising horses is tiring and dirty, it doesn't matter. For these rural folks who rely on the magical beasts in the icy plains to survive, and who seem to have regressed to a primitive tribal form, raising horses is a piece of cake. They have raised dragons and all kinds of livestock.

"No, no, don't go to the capital, it's hell. If you go there, you'll be tortured... Don't go... it's hell..." Lan Lin'er could only repeat these few words. She was really at a loss for words and didn't know how to explain. She was at a loss.

"If you want to become livestock that can only reproduce in cages, then go and work in the capital." Xue Dinglu, on the other hand, spoke the truth without any reservations.

"Huh? Eh?" The children were stunned, and even doubted that they had heard correctly.

"The only way to make money in the capital is to have children. There is no other way. If you are delusional and want to make a lot of money there, then go ahead and drown your ideals in a pig cage." Xue Dinglu directly revealed the cruelest side. He had already told them the truth. If they still wanted to go and die, there was no way to save them.

The children were stunned; they never imagined that the truth would be like this.

They wanted to argue back, but when they saw Xue Dinglu's face, they suddenly didn't know how to respond.

Xue Dinglu's face and white robe seemed to possess a magical power, exuding a strong persuasive force. It was as if anything he said had the power to convince everyone.

"Then, what about those of our clansmen who went to work in the capital before..." The leader of the children's group asked angrily, clenching her fist.

“They’ve become livestock that only know how to give birth.” Xue Dinglu ignored them, turned around, and got into the carriage.

“But… sir, if we don’t go to the capital, we won’t survive…” The leader kept her head down, looking unwillingly in the direction of the capital, her fists clenched tightly, biting her lip.

Actually, they said they were people going to work in the capital, but more importantly, they were people the tribe could no longer support...

Hunting alone can only support a limited number of people, and they often go hungry. Especially with winter approaching, the monsters will go berserk and gather to form a beast tide that can travel south to hunt.

At times like these, one can only stay in the city and dare not go out hunting, for going out means certain death.

The only option is to hold out until the beast tide passes, and then see if you can get lucky and pick up a lot of corpses that died in the beast tide. However, this is rare, as the corpses that die in the beast tide will soon be devoured by the surrounding monsters.

So every winter, all the tribes would gather together to check their remaining food supplies and count the tribe's population. If there wasn't enough food, the elders would leave the city and go to the vast ice fields to commit suicide, thus reducing the tribe's food supply.

But even if all the old people die, there still won't be enough food...

That means we can only send some people to the capital to see if they can find other ways to make a living.

And these are the people who, when they can no longer survive and there isn't enough food to get through the winter, will either starve to death or have no choice but to go to the capital to seek a living.

This is their way of surviving.

The capital city doesn't mind that people in the border regions don't adhere to the survival-oriented approach, because the land isn't in their hands, and how many people can they support solely by hunting? Those who can't support themselves will inevitably come to the capital city.

Now that we've arrived in the capital, there's only one fate: to become an endless source of fertilizer for the divine tree, causing the number of corpses hanging on it to increase.

This is the siphon effect of the capital city on all border regions. Ultimately, all arable land is in the hands of the divine nobles, and they have no choice but to follow the structure set by the divine nobles in order to survive.

As for resistance?

How many combat personnel could border tribes that rely solely on hunting for a living have?
And these divine nobles, who can cultivate all the farmland in the world through those plant-like monsters called "Deadpools," how powerful would they be if the Deadpools stopped farming and instead gathered together to start killing?

Not to mention that the divine nobles also control the entire magic academy, and even have the God-King backing them up. To the natives of this world, the Mind Flayer who holds part of the world's power is the true and undisputed God-King. How can these border tribesmen possibly resist?

The greatest resistance they could offer was to secretly steal a few of the city lord's gold coins.

This is the lament of these country folk.

The carriage slowly made its way towards Rosmar, the original home of the Wild Hunt warriors and the region that once nurtured the elite legions of the entire Papacy. But now, it was all in ruins.

The vines and the city walls were already covered with the marks of time, and there were countless gaps in the walls. The high walls that were originally meant to protect against the beast tides from the north from plundering southwards had completely lost their original purpose. As for the tribespeople living here, they would hide when the beast tides came, close the city gates, and let the beast tides go south.

Anyway, the beast tide is just heading south to wreak havoc on other cities, or to wreak havoc on the fields in Winter Valley that those gods and nobles sent their dead servants to plant.

Deep Purple-Red heard that at its most outrageous, the beast tide was almost reaching the capital.

The fierce hunters who once braved the wind and snow to defend against the beast tides are gone, their glory is gone, and only the border tribesmen who now barely survive remain.

Not knowing what the angel thought, Xue Luding looked at the Frost Signal Halberd floating behind Lan Lin'er. In fact, in an older story, the Wild Hunt tribe here was the second tribe that the angel conquered. She promised to give the Wild Hunt tribe glory and a future, and the Wild Hunt tribe would forever guard the north.

I wonder what the angels think now.

The angel remained silent. Perhaps she was filled with regret, anger, or perhaps she was thinking of the covenant and vows she had made. But with the passage of time, all of that seemed to have been buried deep within this icy plain.

"Wild Hunt warriors, at least they haven't betrayed me," came the angel's voice.

"Ah."

"It's my fault. I didn't protect them and didn't give them the future they deserve."

"Ah."

Xue's law simply responded with a single word. Behind the carriage, the group of children who were preparing to go to the capital to work were dejected, some even covering their faces and crying. At that moment, they only felt confusion and fear about the future.

I could only follow the carriage numbly, not knowing where else I could go.

“Xediles,” Lan Lin’er’s voice rang out.

"I am listening."

"You say, is what my father... no, the divine nobles, really right? Why is everything I see different from what is described in the books?" she asked, voicing her doubts.

"What do you think?" Xue Dinglu did not answer directly, but asked in return.

“They made a mistake, a terrible mistake. This world shouldn’t be like this, and humanity shouldn’t be a race that can only survive this way. My mother said that humanity had an incomparably glorious civilization and culture, so why do I only see suffering and despair now…” she said, as if she was so suppressed that she had to find someone to confide in.

Xue Dinglu smiled, because at this moment, she was truly contemplating the rationality of this world and what it should really be like.

She is now like that angel who, before ascending to heaven, looked up at the sky in the tribe.

Even when the angel was just a little girl in a tribe, wrapped in animal skins, she believed that the world shouldn't be like this. Why did tribes have to fight each other? The threat of monsters had wiped out many tribes, so why couldn't they unite?

Now, Lan Lin'er has also started to have similar thoughts, and this is not a view imposed on her by Xue Law, but rather she has truly begun to think about the irrationality of the life-centered world.

"Then what do you consider reasonable?" Xue asked.

"Gods shouldn't interfere with the human world. Gods should only be responsible for good weather and maintaining the balance between good people and monsters. Gods shouldn't interfere with anything else, such as the change of dynasties and social changes. That's normal, not like now..." She couldn't continue.

Because she discovered that the root of all suffering was her own father, the emperor.

She gripped the Frost Signal Halberd tightly in her hand, and suddenly the halberd seemed to give her endless power.

It was an illusion of being able to defy the power of one's father.

"Then go do what you think is right," Xue simply said.

"oh, I understand now."

She immediately lifted the curtain and said to the people following behind the carriage, "We need to see the situation in Rosmar. We need a guide and servants, including food and lodging. The price is about 1 gold coin. Are you all willing?"

Her words stunned the children behind her.

1 gold coins?

Xue Dinglu covered his face. This princess really didn't know the prices. One gold coin was enough for a family of three in a god-like world to live on for more than a month. In this remote border area, it was probably enough for a family to eat for more than two months.

“One gold coin per month,” Xue Dinglu said, although they wouldn’t even need a month.

(End of this chapter)