Preparation for harvesting (2)

The old man continued in a low voice, 

"You see all these people in this carriage, there are some of them who have malicious intentions, so, what about you pay me some protection fee so that I can cover you from their evil plans? I can assure you that I will protect you from now until the time when we finish the harvesting of barley. I will also give some tips to one of the knights who will be overseeing us so that he could allow us to have a long rest and not to be subjected to hard labor like the others... What do you think about it brat?" 

The old man smiled while awaiting Tolya's answer.

"I have my own ways of getting through that week of labour so, thank you." After saying that, Tolya buried his head into his thighs and pretended to be asleep. He didn't want to be perturbed.

Nevertheless, he underestimated the old man as the old man frowned and slapped the back of Tolya's head which prompted him to wake up

"The heck! What is wrong with you?" Tolya hollered angrily which made the people around them to glance at them but no one did a thing or said anything as they simply shook their heads and continued with their discussion and chatter, it was only a few passengers who continued to watch them.

"I am your father so, you have to respect me brat! I only need a few copper coins from you... How much do you have?" The old man continued and that was how Tolya's hellish journey went by.

Make no mistake, even if Azuhai kingdom had a large landmass as large as that of the present day United States of America, its entire population was merely less than 600, 000 denizens because almost half of Azuhai was covered by ice caps which made the place uninhabitable thus the small population could only struggle to survive in the areas that were favourable. Furthermore, the ice caps regions were very dangerous to live in because of the many man eaters that resided there and the unfavourable climate. In these olden days, fights, diseases, hunger and the winter months were the major problems that denied Azuhai denizens from multiplying. In addition, unlike the kingdom of Litkesh, Ugley and Magyo that had resources, minerals, successful merchants, and stable supportive governments, the kingdom of Azuhai didn't have any mines where the minerals could be mine for local use or exportation thus, Azuhai imported all its minerals from other kingdoms like Litkesh, Azuhai didn't have a stable governance as it could be seen that the people were opposed to the king and there was no good relationship between the nobles and the royalties. When it came to business, Azuhai was far behind as compared to a business kingdom like Litkesh and Magyo. It could be seen that Litkesh kingdom started doing exports of their merchandise to the abroad kingdoms but the kingdom of Azuhai started exporting its merchandise to Ugley just resently.

After all, Azuhai used to depend excessively on small scale agriculture and small businesses for their survival which brought about hunger and hate towards their government. It could be seen that the denizens didn't have the tools or money to employ manpower to work on their farms, moreover their farms were infertile and there was no reliable rainfall for their crops which forced Virtya to plant sisal and barley instead of cereals like corn, wheat, or rice.

Anyway, on the main route that was going to Chanya, many carriages that were made in Azuhai could be seen passing by. Even if it was nightfall that was illuminated by the moon, the hybrid horses continued to plod unimpeded.

Of course, in each carriage, there was a knight who ensured that things went on smoothly and so far, there had been no major problem that had shown up except for brawls and scuffles here and there between the passengers.

Meanwhile, at the remote area of Brovon district, a massive barley plantation could be seen, even if one had a carriage, it would still take them a day to move around this plantation, but here where the slave shelters were built, one carriage at a time could be seen coming in and after the passengers departed from them, the carriages would turn around and return to Whiddiff city to fetch other people.