In one of the Middle Cities, people were just going about ther=ir normal lives as per usual. A man walked around, carrying a bag of bread. The price of bread had increased, and people were upset about it. Not just because of the bread becoming more expensive, but there seemed to be a shortage as well.
The way things worked in Ether is that farmers in mostly the Middle and Outer Cities farm for wheat. That wheat is purchased by noble families to which the farmers are contracted. The wheat that was bought would then be sent to factories that manufactured the wheat into bread. That bread is then sold to the common people all around Ether.
Ever since the price of bread increased, the amount of bread also decreased, which angered quite a few people. The cause of this was the farmers who hoarded the wheat to themselves. Farmers had the right to choose whether they wanted to sell their wheat to the nobility, and with the increase in the price of bread, the farmers chose not to sell. Farmers may have wheat, but they were incapable of turning that wheat into bread as they did not have enough knowledge.
So why did the farmers start hoarding their wheat when it would just cause a shortage of food? It was simple. They found out that by hoarding their wheat, they could push the noble families into a corner and eventually force them into increasing the amount they wish to buy the wheat for. In other words, for profits.
Of course, another reason was the potential of incoming monster attacks. In the situation of a monster attack, these farmers thought that they would be able to somehow make food and hide until everything blew over.
The lack of knowledge was severe, and these farmers would die long before they figured out how to make food.
It was like a cycle. To brace for the monster attack, noble families led by Earl Sichal sent military might and funding in order to defend Ether. By sending food over for free, in order to maintain some economy in Ether, they had to sell bread at a higher price than usual. As a result, farmers started exploiting the situation, cancelling their trade with noble families in order to earn a higher profit. This caused an overall reduction in bread, and the price of bread was still high. This made the common people upset, and they started to revolt against the noble families.
However, in the middle of that revolt, another rumour started spreading. There was news of a town being burnt to the ground, and all the citizens within the town were burnt alive too. It was devastating news, and after finding out that the people who had died were all peasants, the common people wanted someone to blame for everything.
The accident proved to have many similarities to the event that had occurred thirty years prior, the Calling Hunt. A whole city was wiped out without much reason, and to the peasants, it was as if the nobles were mistreating them again.
A rumour started spreading. In such a situation, a time of unrest and instability between the common people and the noble, it was much too easy to spread rumours.
The man, carrying a bag of bread, returned home to where his family was. He had a wife and a daughter, he had a happy family. The recent spike in the price of bread did not affect them much as they were rather well off. The man was the business manager of a successful business company, and his company managed to prosper due to the help of Duke Trojan.
Along the streets, people held signs as they crowded around. The man hung his head low, not wanting to get involved with such actions. The guards from noble families in that city were overwhelmed and tied to high stakes. The common people were throwing rocks at them.
On the ground, there were about five bodies of peasants, all dead in their attempt to overpower the guards. The ten or so guards were tied up high, all of them on the verge of death as they were starved and stoned constantly.
Such cruel acts were inexcusable, but to them, it was completely justified for them to do what they did. They were going against those that abused their power, those that thought that their lives were below their own. To them, they were protecting themselves for they would never know when the nobles decided to do something like what had happened again, except, to them.
"They have forsaken us!"
"If God won't bring them to justice, then we will!"
"The nobles can't be in power!"
"We have families!"
"We deserve to be free!"
It was an obvious fact that the nobles had the power to do much, but in the end, no matter what the nobles did, the common people would never be satisfied. The man hurried to his home, which was slightly bigger than a few other houses in the city.
"I'm home!" He called when he entered the house.
There was an odd smell in the house when he entered. He did not recognise the smell, but it was suffocating. Worried, he hastily walked around the house the find out where his family was. In the living room, his wife was seated there, hugging their daughter in her arms. Their daughter was around three years of age, and his wife had been pregnant for a few months. He walked into the living room, where his wife brought a finger to her lips to indicate that he should be quiet.
He sat down beside her, asking, "Are you alright?"
"Of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" She asked.
He glanced out the window worriedly. "Well, with the situation outside..."
"Please, they're only angry at nobles. We aren't nobles, remember?" She told him, patting their daughter as she slept soundly.
"It's just that I'm worried about our safety!" He said in a hushed tone. "You've seen how crazy some of them out there can be!"
"It'll be alright, don't worry so much."
That night, while the family went to sleep, the entire house was set on fire.
The smell was the faint smell of oil and petrol, the common people had smeared it across their house. He was a business associate of the noble everyone hated, the one who was blamed for the cause of the fire that killed innocent lives. By killing him and his family the same way the noble had done to the city, they were making a statement.
"Down with the Duke! Off with his head!" "We can't let them control us!" "There is no God!"
A rebellion was started against Duke Trojan.
Sometimes, the line between the just and unjust is faint.