I first gathered as many villagers as possible in the square.
About 100 people gathered, and among them was the village chief, Kyle.
“Why did we get called here…?””Why does he want to torment us further…?”
“He even brought poison. He doesn’t plan on making us eat it again, does he?”
“Are you crazy? Who would eat that?”
The large pile of potatoes behind us seemed to be disliked by the villagers.
I had to bring up something they wouldn’t like.
“Hello. My name is Victor. I have come to serve as a retainer of Count Balanchefort. I heard your story. All of you are suffering from poverty and famine. When I heard that, my heart ached. That’s why I brought a large quantity of crops to resolve your hunger.”
Amid the murmurs, an elderly man with gray hair pushed through the crowd and spoke.
It was the village chief, Kyle.
“Heh heh… How long has it been since you arrived, and you’ve already become Scarlet’s dog again? Outsider Victor… I hope you’re not talking about the poison behind you when you mention crops? We’ve already suffered from that poison. Do you think only a few people have been tortured with stomach pains from eating that? Stop mocking us and leave. There’s nothing for you here.”
Although I was incompetent, I had fought as a hero for a year.
Compared to my powerful companions, I was weak, so the skill I had to learn in order to survive was detecting danger.
Thanks to that, whenever I sensed even a hint of hostility, I would immediately notice and respond.
That’s why I could tell.
Kyle’s hostility, which I hadn’t noticed when we first met, was now palpable.
Kyle was clearly wary of me, or rather, of Scarlet.
But why?
The aura I sensed from Kyle didn’t feel like the benevolence of a village chief concerned for his people.
It was filled with malevolence, as if he were dealing with a demon.
I could feel it—this instinct had kept me alive.
Kyle was up to something.
However, since I didn’t know the full picture yet, I couldn’t confront him outright.
I had no choice but to handle it cautiously.
“This is not poison.”
“Heh heh, what nonsense is this? We’ve eaten it ourselves and experienced the poison. How would an outsider who hasn’t even tasted it know anything about it?”
“It was a mistake in the cooking method. Potatoes are supposed to be eaten by their tubers, not the leaves, but the chef made a mistake and got confused.”
“Heh heh. So now you’re saying it’s my fault, since I was the one who cooked the potatoes, huh?”
“No, I mean—”
At that moment, before I could finish speaking, the village chief suddenly shouted loudly.
“Did you all hear that?! This wicked lord never tires of using outsiders to try and feed us poison again! How long are we going to live like this?! I’m sick of it! If this continues, we will—!”
Kyle suddenly pointed at Scarlet, raising his voice in anger.
“We’ll be killed by that wicked woman if we don’t do anything!!”
“We’ll be killed by her?”
I asked back.
“That sounds like a treasonous call to rebellion, Chief.”
Hearing my words, Kyle calmed down and opened his small eyes, looking surprisingly cold.
“I didn’t mean it like that… but anyway, we won’t eat that poison.”
“I told you, it’s not poison.”
“Enough of your sophistry. Now, what’s everyone doing? You’re not going to fall for this outsider’s words and eat poison again, are you? Everyone, go back!”
At the chief’s command, the crowd began to scatter. We hadn’t even handed out the potatoes yet!
“Wait! Please gather again! Take the potatoes!”
“You take them, idiot!”
“Yeah, you eat them!”
“You bastard! Who would eat that poison?!”
“Even pigs and cows wouldn’t touch it!”
“Khaak~ spit!”
“I came out here thinking you were giving us something good. I’m the idiot!”
“You’re just like Scarlet! I don’t care what your name is, Victor, but you betrayed the hope I had in you!”
“Yeah! You traitor! The prophecy was a lie after all!”
A prophecy?
I didn’t know what they were talking about, but it was clear that the villagers were greatly disappointed in me.
In the end, the crowd dispersed quickly, and only Scarlet and I were left in the square.
“Somehow… It feels like Kyle, the village chief, has more influence here than Lady Scarlet, the lord.”
“Ugh… Ugh…”
I could hear Scarlet sobbing beside me.
“Looks like… it’s not going to work… People won’t believe us because of my bad reputation. It’s over… To them, I’m just the wicked woman…”
“It’s not over.”
“What? You’re still talking big? Even if we try to give out potatoes… You saw it too! The rejection from the people! Now, no matter what we say, no one will eat the potatoes!”
“There is a way.”
“A way…?”
“You can turn your bad reputation to your advantage.”
I was from the Department of History.
I remembered well that similar situations had occurred in Earth’s history.
It happened in Germany… and also in France.
For various reasons, people back then refused to eat potatoes.
So, administrators who wanted to promote potatoes had to be clever. Let’s borrow that wisdom now.
“Scarlet, we need to use your bad reputation.”
That evening, when the outsider Victor gathered the villagers in the square, a sign was placed in the vegetable garden of the Balanchefort estate:
<The food buried in this garden can only be eaten by the Balanchefort family. Anyone caught violating this will be executed—Scarlet Balanchefort>
That soon spread as a rumor throughout the village.
Everyone had been curious about what was going on at the Balanchefort estate.
“Did you see that sign?”
“Uh… Looks like they’re hiding something for themselves again.”
“Damn.”
“How much longer are we going to live like this, being mocked…”
“I can’t take it anymore!!”
“Was there ever a need to endure? The estate is empty, after all.”
“There are no guards, no servants, nothing.”
“Honestly, if we wanted to, Scarlet could be dealt with in one blow…!!”
“Shh! Quiet down, careful! Keep your words in check! What if someone hears you?”
“What?! What can she do? Everyone knows that the Balanchefort era is over.”
“True…”
“Scarlet doesn’t even have a decent army. What can she do to stop us if we rise up?”
“No, there is one. The outsider.”
“Victor?”
“Yes…”
“That Victor guy… I don’t know how strong he is, but if the villagers gather together, he won’t be able to do anything.”
“True, he’d be outnumbered.”
“Are you all… thinking of starting a rebellion?”
The villagers’ discontent was about to explode.
It seemed like, if someone took the lead, everyone would rise up.
Kyle and Kai, who were watching this situation, exchanged glances and smiled.
“What do you think, Father…? Isn’t it about time?”
“Not yet, my son.”
“Why not? Are you worried about that Victor? A guy like him, I could take him down myself.”
“No, it’s not that. We don’t have enough of a reason yet. We need something bigger.”
“Something bigger?”
“What about this?”
Kyle’s dark plan to take over Ludin village reached its final stage, quietly slipping from his lips.
“From now on, hungry villagers will sneak into the vegetable garden and steal the food. Of course, the wicked woman Scarlet will have to execute anyone who breaks the law. That’s when we stage a coup.
When the people’s anger reaches its peak, we act.”
“But Father… if that happens, innocent people will be sacrificed…”
“What?”
Kyle’s eyes gleamed fiercely.
“What does that matter? In order to preserve the family, you must be willing to sacrifice the lesser. Don’t speak foolishly.”
“Yes, yes… I’m sorry, Father.”
After their whispered conversation, Village Chief Kyle began stirring up the villagers, who were on the verge of exploding.
“Listen up, everyone!”
“Huh? Village Chief Kyle?”
“It’s the Chief!”
“Do you have something to say?”
Hungry villagers began to gather.
Kyle continued speaking.
“We can’t just starve to death like this, can we? If we’re going to die anyway, we might as well taste the food that only the nobles can eat.”
“What do you mean…”
“Didn’t you see the sign? The Balanchefort family is still hoarding food that only they can eat. Let’s go steal it.”
“But they said they’ll execute anyone who touches it…”
“We’re already dead if we do nothing! We’ll die of hunger if we just sit here! Let’s at least eat something good before we die!”
When Kyle shouted, the villagers began to cheer.
“Yeah!! Let’s eat something before we die!”
“Let’s eat and die! Eat and die!”
“Waaahhh!!!!”
Soon, the villagers waited for the night to fall and, when it was dark, began their raid.
Led by Kyle, they set out to plunder the Balanchefort estate’s vegetable garden.
However…
No one realized that this was already part of Victor’s plan.