Preparation for harvesting (3)

There was an independent park that had the size of a football field which Virtya ordered for the slaves that remained here to build and currently, the park was completed and this was the place where the people had assembled as they awaited to be given the next direction.

Several knights were moving around and they had ordered the people to sit down and relax. Anyone that dared to stand up was beaten mercilessly before they were forced to sit back.

Tolya had just departed from the carriage and before he could wander around, he saw a knight staring at him coldly thus, he didn't dare to do anything funny. However, the old man was still following him.

"Brat... Why are you looking around like an idiot? Don't tell me that you have never seen a barley plantation. Come with me, we are supposed to head there to be given something to eat and then we will join the others where the knight will lead us to." The old man said while pointing at the queue but Tolya was a little bit absentmindedly.

Tolya wanted to refuse his gesture but everyone that departed from the carriage were going to that direction thus, Tolya was once again forced to accompany the annoying old man.

The people walked in steady gait and it was only a few people among them who were still wearing robes of the olden age but as for most of them, they were wearing clothes of the modern age albeit most of these clothes were made in Litkesh and the local cheap stuff.

There were scrawny men and women behind large pots and they were giving out food to the people who were arriving.

These scrawny men and women were wearing the clothes of the same color and design which was a blue shirt and blue trousers.

Of course, the people in blue attires were the slaves that Virtya brought to work for him but after the harvesting season, he would give them their freedom and if they wanted to be the citizens of the Azuhai kingdom, then they could become one. These slaves had been here since the planting season as Virtya ordered them to build more houses here, a park and maintaining the farm by weeding and splashing putrid waste onto the soil to maintain its quality.

Tolya was given a piece of banana leaf and then gruel was splashed on top of the leaf. The gruel was so hot in that it made Tolya to drop the banana leaf but when he wanted to walk forward without picking up the leaf that he had dropped down, several whips hit his back. He fell down on top of the gruel that he dropped which dirtied his attires. 

Tolya was incensed but held it in after realizing where the lashes had come from.

"Shitty punk! Pick up that shit and get back to the queue!" A robust knight who was holding a whip ordered Tolya expressionlessly.

Even if the gruel had been dirtied by the soil, Tolya still picked up the banana leaf which still had some gruel remnants as some of it had stuck on his clothes, he got back to the queue and stared at the old man behind him who was laughing at him. After all, the queue would not move on until, the person who had dropped his stuff picked it up and get back to the queue so that the giving out of food could go on, that was why the old man was still behind Tolya. 

Still incensed, Tolya stared at other people on the queue and he could see that they were also staring at him with different expressions, some had scornful looks, some were laughing like the old man, some were sorry for him while others had empty looks.

The banana leaf was torn at some places because of the abrupt fall but Tolya didn't dare to drop it or allow its contents to pour down, lest he was asked to eat what he had dropped.

Some vegetable and hot soup was added to Tolya's gruel which made him to lament, he grimaced as he persevered the pain that his palm was going through after the hot soup found its way to his palm through the torn parts of the banana leaf. However Tolya didn't dare to throw the banana leaf aside, he gripped it with his face scrunched up and headed to the park where the other people were being guided to.