Hearing him speak left Roland slightly surprised. All of the refugees who had come from the east coast had been combed through by the City Hall; they’d already sorted out all of the craftsmen, people with special abilities, or those who were literate. Those were moved to the inner circle, so the remaining people here should supposedly be ordinary civilians. But judging by his tone of voice and his choice of words it didn’t resemble a civilian at all.
In contrast, it was the man from the city hall who had used words like ‘damned dog’ and other insults, which left a really disappointing appearance. Since he had a well-known family name… in all likelihood, he was one of Duke Ryan’s former people.
“I have said that before you are officially incorporated into Border Town the porridge and shelter will all be free of charge,” Roland repeated once again in front of the refugees. “Today, those words are still valid!”
“His Highness is merciful!”
“Long live the Lord!”
“Thank you, Your Highness!”
The refugees began to shout while kowtowing.
But at the same time, Khoya Harvie’s face turned livid.
“However, fights within the inner territory resulting in injuries are a violation of the law. In particular, attacking a member of the City Hall,” Roland said, then ordered his personal guards, “Take all the refugees and serfs who started the fight and bring them to the castle, I will personally try this fight.”
He paused, and then looked at Khoya with interest, “I would also like to ask you about this matter of charging for the porridge.”
…
Chapter 321 The Law of Border Town
Early in the morning, the cold woke Roland up. He climbed out from under his cold blanket, put on his wool coat, then immersed his feet into the warm water bucket.
This was one of the corrupting privileges which he could only enjoy as a Prince — every morning, a maid would put out a basin of hot water beside his bed, as well as a clean towel and a cup of warm milk which would warm up his body almost instantly.
Of course, compared to the powerful nobles who had other methods to constantly keep their beds warm, he felt that this was good enough. The former 4th Prince had always attempted to invite Tyre over with exactly that thought in mind, but unfortunately, he wasn’t able to enjoy it before his death. However, the new Roland didn’t enjoy this practice, so when the position become vacant he had filled it with an elderly but experienced maid instead. In fact, this choice proved to be the right one. Since nowadays there were so many witches staying inside the castle, but she still managed to keep the inside and outside of the castle in good order.
The fire in the fireplace had gone out long before, leaving only white flying ashes behind. Through the cracks in the open window, the cold wind blew into the room, it was so bone-chillingly cold that it was hard to believe that it was still autumn. Roland dried his feet, then washed the rest of his body with another tub of hot water before going over to the window and closing the small gap he had opened through the night.
Even though open fireplaces were very common in this era, he was still worried about the issue of carbon monoxide poisoning and thus he always left a small gap open before he went to bed. This way, with the fire burning the temperature could be kept all the way through the first half of the night, but, after the fire went out there was no difference between the temperature inside and outside when morning came.
After eating breakfast, Roland took Nightingale, his Chief Knight, and his personal guards on a routine inspection of the city walls.
The vast expanse of grass between the new city wall and the old city has become a vast expanse of white. As they walked over all the thick snow the soles of their shoes made crunching noises.
Lifting his head, he saw a pale gray sky and falling snowflakes that occasionally came floating into the gap between his coat and his neck, bringing with it traces of coldness. He knew that it was very likely that this kind of weather would continue until spring next year… or it might even be longer.
“How is the situation at the defense line?”