our family is gone

Chapter 20 The right to speak is in the hands of the strong

"Are you a blacksmith?"

Lance was in charge of reviewing those townspeople with special occupations or abilities. At this time, he was looking at the man with a white beard who was eating porridge in front of him, feeling a little strange.

He knows that blacksmiths are skilled workers in this world. Whether it is agricultural tools or weapons, the demand from manufacturing to maintenance is very high. How can they not be reduced to where they are today~
When talking about this blacksmith, he showed a sad face, and then told Lance about the cause and effect.

Before the bandits arrived, it was indeed as Lance said, he was the only blacksmith in the town, and sometimes the orders from farmers would be queued for a month, let alone the big ones of making weapons and repairing them.

Until the bandits arrived, the mayor gave him a big order to arm the militia with various weapons and equipment.

At first, he thought he was going to make a lot of money, so he rushed to work day and night, but after handing over a few batches of equipment, the bandits came and just bombed his blacksmith shop. Gone.

Although he escaped the bandit's butcher's knife, the shop was gone, and the mayor refused to pay him because he did not complete the order. His wish to rebuild the blacksmith shop was completely shattered, and he became a vagrant completely.

"Even if you don't count the remaining weapons, the previous ones are worth a lot of money."

"What do you mean by that?" Lance heard something in his words.

"It's the mayor's previous money..." The blacksmith held the bowl with a longing expression on his face.

The blacksmith's intention is very simple, that is, he wants Lance to repay the debt of the former mayor's order, but is he that kind of person?

It's fine if I don't bother you, but why should I pay my debts?

"Did you make this?"

Lance did not answer his words directly, but took out the dagger that was seized on the old road and handed it over.

The blacksmith picked it up and looked at it, then boasted to himself, "That's right, I made it, it's durable."

It can be heard that he is very confident in his craft, but Lance just threw out a sentence slowly, which almost made him fall to his knees in fright.

"This dagger was found from the person who assassinated me. You provided the mayor with weapons. Could it be their accomplice?"

"Clam!" The blacksmith froze for a moment, and with a bang, the dagger fell from his hand. He couldn't care less, and hurriedly waved his arms to deny it. "There are too many weapons sold from me, it has nothing to do with me, my lord."

"Of course I wouldn't embarrass you if you just sold it to someone else, but why did you hand over the equipment to him without paying him? It's hard to tell if you're not his accomplice~" Lance looked at the blacksmith with cold eyes.

Fucking blackmail to his head, really think he is a good person?
"Yes! Yes!" The blacksmith reacted and quickly overturned his previous statement, "We paid for the batch of weapons ordered by the mayor."

"Then you just blackmailed me~"

Lance's words drove him into a desperate situation again, and the blacksmith felt that his brain was not enough, so he could only say some words begging for mercy.

"My lord, I really don't know anything, please let me go~"

"What do you mean? Do you think I will wrong you?"

"No, no, no!" The blacksmith really didn't have tears in his eyes, he might as well have cut himself off.

"Okay." Seeing that he was almost done, Lance stopped pushing, "I still believe in you."

"Huh~" This sentence is like a drowning person grabbing a lifebuoy, finally letting the blacksmith breathe a sigh of relief, and the pressure that squeezed his chest is released most of the time.

"The mayor is doing a lot of evil, I hope you don't be like him, otherwise I can only do it."

"Yes yes yes!" The blacksmith nodded quickly, not daring to complain about the lord's words.

"Go and get another bowl, I will give priority to you when rebuilding the town." After saying that, he patted him on the shoulder and sent him away.

"Thank you sir..."

Lance watched the blacksmith retreat without much expression on his face.

It's not that he is reluctant to part with the little money, but whether it is meaningful to spend the money.

No one knows what the mayor did and how much debt he owed. If he admitted the blacksmith's debt today, what about the others?
So this head can't be opened, and his energy can't be wasted in endless debts.

But Lance can't just let go of this account, because there is only one blacksmith in the town, and he needs the ability of a blacksmith whether it is building or repairing.

So he needs the blacksmith to be willing to give up, and finally he has to smile and thank Lan Siduo for giving him a bowl of porridge.

Was the blacksmith at fault?
Really not?

It's just that when his interests conflict with Lance's, the result is already obvious.

…………

The situation in the town tended to be stable, Lance left the veteran to rest, and he rushed to the agreed position
"how is the situation?"

"As the lord predicted, some people wanted to report to the farm, but they were all stopped by us, and the people were inside." Disma took the words, and it could be seen that he admired Lance's prophetic operation. , Accurately know that there are farmers among the townspeople.

"Go and see."

Lance didn't talk nonsense, and Desma and the two immediately took him to the woods where he was hiding by the roadside. They saw a man hanging from a tree at a glance. He was probably an eleven or twelve-year-old boy. Make him look thin and haggard looking like a skinny monkey.

"Put him down."

The boy was brought to Lance, and he looked very scared, because he also saw the scene in the square. It was the mayor, but in the hands of this man, he was like a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Lord Lord..."

"What's your name?" Lance didn't rush to start his plan, but brought the topic to Little John.

"I don't have a name because my father's name is John, so they call me Little John."

"Where are your family members? How did you get under the hands of the farmer?"

"Both my mother and younger brother were killed by bandits..."

Lance probably understands this man's situation. Only he and his father survived in the family. Later, because there was no food, his father had to sell the field and himself to the farmer, and he was too young and no one wanted him. If it wasn't for food The shop assistants would have starved to death for a bite of food.

"Then do you hate bandits?"

"Hate!" A child of Little John's age would not hide his emotions at all, and put everything on his face.

"Then you hate the mayor and the farmer?"

At this time, he seemed a little sluggish, obviously he still didn't understand the impact of these two on his life.

"It was the farmer who made your father sell himself and sell the field. If it weren't for him, you would have your own field and you would have food every day, not like this now."

"It's all them?"

"That's right, it's because of him that you can't eat. They're just like bandits."

Lance explained the reason to him in the simplest words, and a few simple words aroused his emotions.

If the bandits were the direct cause, then the mayor and the farmer were the accomplices. It wasn't for the two of them who raised the price of grain, and the townspeople wouldn't sell themselves just for one bite.

"And I'm here to fight the bandits, I will protect you, I will let you have enough food, who are you helping now?"

(End of this chapter)