"My Lord, I have truly corrected my ways."
Dismas thought Lance was warning him not to cause trouble. He quickly defended himself.
Lance glanced at him and retorted, "I’m not joking with you. We are not of the Church; there’s no need to prohibit those things."
As he spoke, Lance took out a pouch and handed it to Dismas. "The last mission was tough. This is your reward. Go have so fun; it’ll help stimulate the town’s economy a bit too."
Lance also felt quite helpless about the existence of brothels. His policies were aid at those willing to exchange labor for money. However, not everyone was willing; so preferred idleness to work. This apathy wasn’t confined to any specific gender; both n and won exhibited it. The main difference was that, in this era, won could earn money simply by lying down. He had already fought for better positions for these won, but not all of them desired dignity, especially so among them who had previously done this kind of work.
Moreover, the people of this world were highly dependent on brothels. Bachelors with even a little money would seek out won. He wanted to crack down hard on such illegal and criminal activities, but he found the cost too high. This led to various problems, as he simply didn’t have enough people or ti to manage these matters.
In the end, he found that channeling was better than suppressing. If those won volunteered for such work, he had little choice but to regulate them. This ant confining their activities, imposing heavy taxes to discourage them, not providing them too relaxed an environnt, and limiting their inco to a relatively low level. As for unlicensed prostitutes, if caught, they faced fines plus confinent; it was a strict crackdown.
Lance never imagined he’d one day have to effectively act as a pimp. He had sacrificed far too much for the sake of his family.
Walking through the streets at night, seeing the sparsely lit lamps, he still felt a strong sense of accomplishnt. This place could not withstand another bandit invasion.
Whether for his own survival or to protect everything here, those bandits had to die!
Lance didn’t return ho but instead detoured to a commoner’s residence and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
The door was opened by a middle-aged woman. She clearly hadn’t expected the visitor to be Lance and was visibly taken aback when she saw him.
"Good evening," Lance greeted her with a smile.
"My... My Lord..." the woman stamred, flustered and unsure how to react.
"Won’t you invite in to sit for a while?"
Lance smiled, showing no negative reaction to the woman’s surprise.
"Ah! Please co in, My Lord," the woman finally reacted, quickly stepping aside. "I am so sorry, My Lord."
The woman kept murmuring apologies, terrified the Lord might bla her, and even more afraid that her discourtesy might involve her son.
"It’s alright," Lance said softly, reassuring her. He glanced around the modest house, noticing she was alone. "Is Vick not ho?"
"He took his younger brother to attend the class. Do you need to call him back?"
Vick was the most outstanding student in the training camp, which was how he had caught Lance’s attention.
The barracks aren’t built yet, so most new recruits go ho at night. His continuing to study even without supervision ans I haven’t misjudged him.
As for the studying, Lance had arranged literacy classes in the square. After work in the evenings, a bonfire would be lit, and soone would teach simple vocabulary to everyone who attended. After Lance emphasized the importance of intellectuals, quite a few people started attending the evening classes. To attract the children, he even prepared so small snacks.
I don’t have the ability to set up a proper school yet, so this is the only way to bridge the gap for now.
"No need," Lance said, finding a spot to sit and deliberately changing the subject. "What are you having for dinner tonight?"
"We’re having black bread and a vegetable stew."
It was very ordinary food, without even a hint of at, but as the woman ntioned it, a smile finally appeared on her face—a simple, yet very real smile.
Lance continued to chat with her in a calm tone, and gradually, the woman relaxed and began to open up about her situation.
Before the bandits ca, her family was quite ordinary farrs. She and her husband had two sons. Their life as a family of four wasn’t particularly well-off, but it was happy enough. Then the bandits arrived. Her husband was conscripted as cannon fodder, and his body was never found. Fortunately, their ho was located further towards the back of the town, giving them more ti to flee. That’s how she managed to survive with her two sons.
However, they didn’t fall to the bandits’ blades, only to nearly perish at the hands of the town mayor. The soaring prices squeezed every last drop of their Flesh and blood. She even tried to sell herself to a farm owner, but no one wanted her because she had two children. There was a day she even thought of suicide, but for her two children, she held on. She risked attacks from wild beasts to go into the wilderness and dig for wild vegetables and tree roots. But soon, even tree roots ran out. The family starved for several days and almost died of hunger.
Fortunately, the Lord soon appeared and executed the evil town mayor. The porridge provided for those three days truly saved their family. Not to ntion the later efforts to stabilize grain prices and provide various jobs—their lives were rapidly recovering. As for all the new rules and regulations, she was happy to follow them; she unconditionally trusted the Lord. And the thing that made her proudest was that her eldest son was chosen by the Lord to join the training camp.
As she went on, the conversation beca her show, with Lance mostly just listening.
Listening to the woman describe how her life had improved, Lance felt a deep sense of gratification. His efforts were paying off.
"That boy, he trains so hard. I even told him not to bring eggs for his younger brother. But he insists the Lord treats them very well. He says they get milk at the training camp, and their als even have at every day!"
"He ca ho the other day with a copper coin for . He said it was a reward from the Lord because he had rembered the most vocabulary words."
"I gave the money back to him, telling him he’s a grown-up now."
"Later, he used the money to buy milk, saying he wanted us to taste what it was like."
"It was sweet and rich! I’d never tasted anything so good in my life."
"Then he gave the rest to his little brother. He said he’s doing well in the training camp and gets to eat at often. He also said that when he passes the assessnt, he’ll buy at to celebrate."
"My boy was smiling so happily, and his little brother was beaming too, just hearing about at."
"In a few days, when I’ve saved a little more money, I’ll buy so at for the children. Vick’s training is very tiring, and his little brother is growing fast."
The woman’s heartfelt chatter didn’t annoy Lance. On the contrary, these dostic details helped to relax his tense nerves. The urgent pressure he felt regarding the bandits gradually subsided.
The door was pushed open. "Who’s here?" a young voice asked as a sowhat lanky youth, leading his younger brother, stepped inside. Lance looked up.
The youth was indeed a bit slender, but his eyes were bright and alert, sparkling with a vibrant hope for life, as if holding limitless possibilities.
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