Miller was a laborer in Audis. As a native of the royal capital, he had worked hard for many years and married a good-looking wife. A few years ago, he even had a pair of lovely children.
In this regard, Miller was one of the Shalorians who lived a relatively happy life.
However, he didn't think so at this time.
Taking a deep breath of cold air, Miller and a group of Shalorians, who were also from the working class, gathered at the entrance of the market in Audis.
They were all here to collect relief food. Audis had been besieged for almost a month. Without the input of external resources, many people in the city had starved to death. Had it not been for the benevolence of the nobles, who gave some relief to the Shalorians who couldn't survive every day, Audis would have long been in chaos.
After waiting for a long time, a huge stone door in the market slowly opened. A group of Shalorians saw it and rushed over like a tide.
"Disperse! Disperse! "A whole team of burly Shalorian soldiers waved their spears to disperse the agitated civilians.
There was only a platoon of Shalorian soldiers, and there were at least thousands of civilians here. How could they suppress them?
The starving Shalorian civilians didn't care whether the weapons in the hands of these soldiers were sharp or not.
The stone door was only opened halfway, and it could not be opened by the crowd of agitated Shalorian civilians.
"Stop!" Finally, a loud shout came, accompanied by the use of impetus. Many Shalorian civilians nearby covered their ears in pain, and a stream of pale red blood flowed from their ears.
Using impetus in the form of sound waves to materialize, this was at least a high-rank Knecht. Judging from his perfect control of impetus, it was obvious that he was one of the best among high-rank Knechts.
The agitated civilians in front were blocked, but countless people from the back continued to squeeze over. The scene was still chaotic.
It was not until the leading high-rank Knecht used his longsword to cut down a few Shalorian civilians who were the most agitated that the chaotic situation calmed down.
The group of civilians who had been starving for a whole day finally calmed down.
The Shalorian high-rank Knecht stared coldly at the group of civilians in front of him. All the Shalorian civilians who met his gaze lowered their heads. They had no doubt that there was a murderous demon hidden under the armour.
The stone door was completely opened, and a team of horses, more than ten meters long, was revealed. Behind each horse was a flat wooden cart, and on the wooden cart was a pile of potatoes and rice that was half the height of a person.
Every Shalorian commoner who saw the food couldn't help but lick their lips and swallow their dry saliva.
The distribution of food was carried out in an orderly manner. None of the civilians dared to act presumptuously again.
If one were to look down from the top, there were six such scenes in the entire Audis City!
Miller was lucky. He was smart enough to be in the middle of the queue.
There was less and less food on the wagon in front of him, and Miller was getting more and more anxious.
Finally, it was his turn. There were less than two planks of food left in the ten-meter-long caravan.
At this time, a person in front of him was praying to the soldier who was distributing food. "Please, give me another piece. I still have a six-year-old child to feed."
This person didn't look young, and his voice had a muffled tone unique to northerners.
The soldier who distributed food to him was a young man. Faced with the prayer of someone much older than him, the young man looked embarrassed.
He should be a new recruit. Miller guessed that the veterans wouldn't be polite to commoners like him. They would have kicked him long ago.
"Take it or leave it. What's with all this nonsense!" Sure enough, when the young soldier was collecting food, a sergeant next to him, who looked like his squad leader, grabbed a piece of potato from the commoner's hand and threw it out.
Following the trajectory of the potato, the greedy eyes of a group of Shalorian commoners followed.
The man in front of Miller couldn't care less about asking for food. He scrambled to chase after the piece of potato. This was the life-saving food for him and his son today. They would starve if they lost it.
When it was Miller's turn, he wasn't as naive as the man before him. He just politely said to the soldier who distributed food to him, "A piece of potato, thank you!"
Whether it was his pure Shalorian accent or his friendly attitude, the soldier who distributed food to him had a good first impression of him. So, he got a piece of potato that was slightly bigger than the others.
After getting the potato in his hand, Miller didn't stay and hurried away.
There was not much food on the wooden planks, but there were still half of the people queuing here. There would definitely be chaos later.
Not long after, when Miller was less than two hundred meters away, he heard a commotion and the sound of soldiers cursing. It was accompanied by the miserable cries of injured people and wooden carts being knocked over.
Miller quickened his pace and left this place of trouble.
The advantage of being a citizen of the royal capital was reflected at this time. After going around the city twice, Miller got rid of those hungry people who might be following him.
He walked to the place where he lived, in the southwest corner of the royal capital. There were a large number of low-rise houses here, most of which were born and raised in Audis.
Compared to other places, this place was closer to the Shalorian palace. Ordinary people really didn't have the connections to get a house here.
Miller stared warily at the group of corpses lying in twos and threes in front of the row of low-rise houses. Not all of them were his neighbours, as Shalor's war had declined.
Many of the areas that had fallen had a large number of nobles and commoners pouring into Audis before the Faustians besieged the city. Audis, which originally had a population of 120,000 residents, now had a population of 150,000.
This was even when a large number of civilians starved to death in the city every day.
Miller's neighbour, a good man in his forties, had never married a wife in his life. Some time ago, he adopted a child who had fled from the disaster. In the end, he was robbed by the refugees who had fled with the child.
Not only was his food robbed, but he was also beaten and thrown out. As for the child he adopted, he had long been driven away by the scum. Now, the father and son were still picking up food in the city.
If it weren't for Miller and his old neighbours who had lived with him for many years, they would have been targeted long ago.
But the good times didn't last long. More and more foreign refugees came to this place. This group of people starved every day and couldn't do anything. They just lay there like corpses, staring at the passersby with their protruding eyes. It was chilling.
Miller had seen enough of them to not be afraid of them, nor did he want to provoke them. He hid the food he had just received and walked past the refugees lying on the ground with his back straight.
He even accidentally stepped on a certain unlucky fellow, leaving behind a miserable cry on the road.
He walked to a yellow wooden door and knocked on the wooden board blocking the window. After a while, a lively little face appeared, and Miller's tense face finally relaxed.
"Bob, open the door!" Miller smiled and said to the child inside the door.
The small house was forty square meters, with only a small kitchen and a bedroom. The four members of Miller's family were squeezed into this small house.
Miller put the potatoes he had received in a wooden bowl in the kitchen. His children, with big eyes, leaned on both sides of Miller. They knew that this was their food today. The two little guys were drooling.
After a while, Miller's wife came back. She was a woman about the same size as Miller. She was Betty, Miller's wife.
Betty didn't have the finicky temperament of a southern woman. When the two first met, Miller took a fancy to Betty, who had a cheerful personality and did things as well as men. She came to the capital to work.
In the end, Miller, with his identity as a city resident of Audis and the advantage of having a house in the city, stood out among many of Betty's suitors and won her heart.
Betty gave him a son six years ago and a daughter four years ago. The family should have lived happily for the rest of their lives, but the reality was …
Betty, who had just returned home, took off the coat she was wearing and took out a palm-sized potato. There was only one coat at home. Miller didn't wear it and left it to his wife. He had been frozen to death just now.
"I was lucky today. I managed to get a piece of potato," said Betty in a relaxed tone. Many years of hard life and the hardships of the past few years had left Betty, who had been a beauty when she was young, with deep wrinkles and dry hands.
Betty was very thin, which was caused by constant malnutrition. She did not look like a mother of two at all.
Just like Miller received relief food at the market, Betty received it at another place. In order to prevent chaos, the nobles distributed food separately to men and women.
Don't think that Betty's side was better than Miller's just because it was all women. On the contrary, because it was women, it was even crazier.
The Shalorian soldiers could attack civilian or refugee men like Miller, but they rarely attacked women. The soldiers also had a conscience. They couldn't beat the Faustians at the front line, so they didn't have the face to attack their own women. No matter how cold-blooded they were.
It was precisely because of this that the women received relief food was even more chaotic. A group of women grabbed the food with their fangs and claws. It was good enough that the soldiers could maintain order.
Betty managed to grab a piece of potato this time by relying on her height and strength. The price she had to pay was a few scratches and bruises on her arm. When the women fought, they were not much worse than the men.
"Looks like we can eat a little more today." Miller squeezed out a smile. He was busy looking for medicinal wine for Betty. It was very chaotic outside recently, so they always had medicinal wine at home.
Betty began to prepare their dinner. It was a simple stew of mashed potatoes, sprinkled with a little salt and chopped wild vegetables. This was the supreme delicacy of the commoners.
Betty felt peace in her heart when she felt her husband carefully apply the medicinal wine to the wound on her arm.
Although she didn't enjoy much with this man, this was the way of the world. Betty didn't have the slightest complaint. She was a cheerful person, but she was overwhelmed by reality.