As the carriage glided through the dense forest, the flickering shadows played on Nicholas' face as he stared at John, who was lost in thought, gazing out of the window. Finally, breaking the silence, Nicholas asked inquisitively, "I can see that you have yet to form a core. Mind telling me why?"
John was startled by the sudden question, and he turned to Nicholas with a guarded expression. "Huh? I have my own reasons," he replied, his tone evasive.
Nicholas let out a sigh, his breath forming a visible mist in the chilly air. "Fine, don't answer me," he said, his voice tinged with frustration. "But since I have no clue how much you know before we start our training tonight, I will give you a brief display of how each stage makes one strong. Got it?"
John took a moment to consider Nicholas' request before responding with a slight nod. "Sure," he said. "I would like to have Hans trained anyway, and why not help him, since he is coming with us."
Nicholas paused, considering John's offer. "Hmmmm, fine," he said finally, giving his consent.
Meanwhile, at the front of the carriage where Nicholas and John sat, Hans, could be seen shivering, his breath visible in the cold air. "Eeek, why am I suddenly getting goosebumps?" he exclaimed nervously.
The knight who was driving the side carriage spoke up, his eyes focused on the path ahead as he urged the horses to move faster. "Shut it, we are about to reach our first stop," he said, increasing the speed of the carriage that carried all their luggage and food.
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As the group finally reached the village, a sight so atrocious and heart-wrenching awaited them that it struck them to their core. The emaciated bodies of children lay scattered, their sunken eyes staring blankly into the distance, evidence of starvation. Some of the surviving children were seen gnawing on the corpses of their own parents in a desperate attempt to quell their hunger. Men and women, reduced to mere skin and bones, begged pitifully for food and water. Wooden houses crumbling, and disease seemed to have taken hold of every nook and cranny.
John was overcome with shock and horror, his eyes widening and his nails digging into his flesh as he surveyed the scene before him. He couldn't comprehend the extent of the tragedy that had befallen this village. His heart ached as he spotted a young girl who appeared to be on the brink of death due to starvation. Without a second thought, he gently picked her up and cradled her in his arms.
Just then, a feeble voice reached his ears from a woman lying on the ground near the well. She pointed weakly at the young girl in John's arms and whispered, "Food, my lord, please. Just... just enough to feed my daughter."
John carefully placed the girl next to her mother and nodded to Hans, who was standing by his side, "Hans, distribute the griffin meat among the villagers. Also, bring me the village chief while you're at it."
"Understood, sir," Hans replied, rushing to the carriage where piles of griffin meat were stored.
John tried to offer some comfort to the desperate mother, saying softly, "Everything will be alright now... I promise." He then turned to Nicholas, who had a furious expression on his face, and whispered, "Sir Nicholas, the well has been blocked. Break the blockage."
Nicholas nodded solemnly, rage filling up in his eyes. He summoned his spear, which appeared from a tattoo on his arm, and launched it straight into the well.
As John saw the well slowly filling up, he turned his attention to the weeping mother, who was now clutching her child tightly. With a compassionate expression, he gently patted her head and spoke in a soothing tone, "Please calm down, and while he gets some food for all of you, tell me why the village is in such a state."
The woman flinched slightly at John's words and muttered, "That... sir, ummm."
But before she could say anything more, the knight who had accompanied them brought an old man who had fallen to his knees. "I greet the third sun of the empire, what has brought you here, your majesty?" the old man said in a hoarse tone, indicating that he had not had any water in days, much like most of the villagers.
After noticing john's confused expression, the knight whispered to John, "It's the village chief."
Nodding in understanding, John addressed the village chief directly, "My purpose here does not concern you. Tell me, why is the village in such dire straits?"
As his expression hardened, the village chief stuttered as he spoke, "It's because of the baron, sir."
"What has he done?" John's voice grew angrier, and a frown creased his forehead.
Tears slowly dripped from the village chief's eyes as he struggled to form sentences. "Sir, he takes everything away from us practically. We have no food to eat, and what little we do have left is taken by the priests of the Church of the Sun in the name of pious donations. There is nothing for the people to eat."
John's fingers drilled deeper into his palms as anger surged within him, but he managed to keep his expression unchanged. "Who is the baron of this territory?" he demanded.
After taking a moment to compose himself, the village chief replied, "Your Highness, the Helas area has been under the Ulvar family for generations now. While the situation was bad before, it was only after the old baron died and his brother took his place that this place became like this."
John turned to Nicholas, his trusted knight, with an enraged expression that he was barely able to control. "Sir Nicholas, we will camp here in the village tonight and head to the center of the barony tomorrow. I wish to meet this fucker who is letting my people starve like this."
Nicholas, his grip on his spear tightening, responded, "The emotion is mutual, Your Highness. But for now, we should focus on feeding the people here. This is just too horrid, even for me."
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After a while, the entire group spent most of their evening diligently feeding everyone in the village. It was a task that took considerable time, as some of the villagers were severely malnourished and could barely move, let alone walk to get food.
Once everything was done, the four of them finished setting up camp outside the village. The insides of the village were too unclean to stay, with rotting bodies scattered everywhere. Nicholas, staring at the campfire, expressed his dismay, "To think such an atrocity was happening in my own county... I thought at least the northern nobles would be better than this, ughhh."
John moved closer to the old man and patted his back, speaking in a comforting tone, "There is no point in crying over spilled milk, Sir Nicholas. We need to solve this problem from its roots because if we don't remove the roots properly, corruption will happen again."
Nicholas let out a deep sigh and replied with a nod, "Haaah, you're right. I am sorry to have lost my cool for a moment, but to see my people like this... it just hurts my heart."
"I understand how you feel, probably better than most," John said, his eyes filled with anger. "But we must keep our cool right now. If we slip up even a little, it would negatively impact the Grand Duke's plans to weaken the nobility."
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Nicholas asked, his eyebrows furrowing in a frown.
After pausing for a moment and letting out an evil smile, John spoke, "I will explain everything properly on our way to the High Dwarves' city. But for now, all I will tell you is that I intend to remove the problem from the roots itself."
Nicholas stared at John for a moment, his frown deepening. Nicholas was about to speak, but Hans and the knight walked up to them, interrupting him. The young butler, spoke, "Sir, we are done distributing the food. What now?"
"Well?" Nicholas turned to John, awaiting his decision.
After a brief moment of contemplation, John spoke and looked around to gauge everyone's reaction, "Let's train. It should take our minds off things temporarily."
"Sure, let's go with that," Nicholas nodded, getting up from the ground.
"But what about us?" Hans asked, looking confused.
With a wide smile on his face, John replied, "The two of you will be joining, of course."
"Sorry, what?" Hans and the knight exclaimed in surprise as Nicholas dragged them away from the campsite.
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After both Hans and the knight 'obediently' listened to Nicholas's words, the four of them sat at the edge of the forest, a little bit away from the village so as not to disturb its residents. Nicholas, taking the lead, started to speak.
"Now, Hans, you have no knowledge of how cores work, do you? I'm sure John and Friedrich here have some idea, considering one is in the middle of forming his, and the other is a knight in the grand duchy."
"You would not be wrong in assuming that, yes," Hans replied with a begrudging nod.
Satisfied with Hans's acknowledgment, Nicholas began his explanation. "Okay, then I will start off by telling you what a core actually is. A core is sort of like a tank for you to store mana in. The larger and purer your core, the more mana you can store. A little disclaimer, a core is something that only most warriors form, while mages form chains around their hearts. I am not quite knowledgeable about this subject, so I won't speak much on it."