Chapter 68: New Refugees

Raymond studied Oren for several seconds before asking, "Then what are you asking?"

Oren glanced over his shoulder toward the families behind him, and that simple look seemed to communicate something already decided during the journey.

A woman carrying a little girl against her side lowered herself onto one knee, followed by an older farmer standing beside her.

A hunter carefully placed his bow on the ground before kneeling as well, and the movement spread naturally through the group as more people understood what was happening.

Men and women lowered themselves into the snow, some still holding children, others leaning against relatives because they were too exhausted to kneel properly, until the entrance to Althoff was filled with hundreds of people waiting for Raymond’s answer.

Oren looked back toward him and finally said, "A home."

Raymond didn’t answer immediately, and Oren apparently mistook his silence for uncertainty because he continued. "Reth is gone, my Lord. Even if the beasts disappear tomorrow, there isn’t a village waiting for us anymore. Houses were destroyed, livestock scattered, fields buried, and people we knew our entire lives are dead."

Raymond remained silent as Oren continued.

"The smaller settlements that joined us have even less to return to. We spent years hearing that every lord in Zulor had barely enough grain for his own people, so none of us expected anyone to take strangers during winter. Then we started hearing about you. People said you opened your gates to Marden when you had no reason to."

Oren looked at the refugees behind him, toon a deep breath and looked at Raymond with a bitter smile. "They said Greymill survivors were eating from the same stores as your original citizens, and that you gave weapons to men who arrived as refugees because you trusted them to defend the town beside your soldiers. We heard a hundred stupid stories on the road, and I don’t know which ones are true, but every person we met agreed on one thing: people came to Althoff and lived."

Oren paused and looked toward the gate, where one of the women from Marden was helping Marianne distribute warm water to the new arrivals. "We came here hoping you’d let us survive the winter. But when we reached the road this morning, some of your patrolmen recognized people from Reth and told us what happened during the Beast Tide. They weren’t talking about us like strangers. They called the refugees citizens of Althoff."

Raymond followed his gaze and saw Darric standing near the registration area speaking with two men he apparently knew from Reth. Darric had arrived as a refugee himself only days ago.

Now he wore equipment issued from Althoff’s stores and carried himself like someone who belonged behind those gates. Nearby, a hunter from Greymill helped unload a wounded woman from a cart while one of the original townspeople cleared space near a brazier.

There was no grand ceremony taking place, no miraculous System effect or divine light announcing anything important, yet Raymond suddenly understood what Oren had seen when he entered.

The refugees who had come before him hadn’t been kept in some temporary camp outside the walls waiting to be sent away. They had already begun becoming part of the territory.

Oren lowered his head again. "We’re not asking you to feed us for four months and send us away when the snow melts. If you’ll accept us, then Reth Village ends here. The families who came with us agreed before we reached your gates. We’ll work your fields, rebuild your walls, pay House Althoff’s taxes when we’re able, and fight for this territory if we have to. We’re asking to become your people."

For months, Raymond had thought about population as one of the simplest numbers attached to the Infinite Clan Treasury System. His territory had begun with twelve hundred people, and the System wanted five thousand.

Every refugee group pushed the number upward, every new citizen increased House Althoff’s development, and somewhere beyond that requirement waited another Family Grade and whatever rewards came with it.

It had been easy to think that way when population existed as blue text floating in front of his eyes.

Three hundred and seventeen people looked very different when they were kneeling in the snow. Raymond could see a boy clutching his father’s sleeve, an exhausted woman holding an infant beneath her coat, an elderly couple supporting each other, and men whose hands were rough from years of work in fields that no longer belonged to them.

None of them knew anything about Family Grades, System rewards, or the population requirement Raymond had been quietly chasing.

They were offering him their loyalty because they believed placing their lives under House Althoff gave their families a better chance of surviving than going anywhere else.

That trust was far heavier than Raymond expected.

He stepped forward and held one hand toward Oren. "Stand up."

The older man hesitated, apparently expecting something more ceremonial, but Raymond shook his head and added, "All of you, actually. Get out of the snow. I’ve spent too much money on winter clothes and medicine to have three hundred people catch something because they decided kneeling dramatically in front of my gate was necessary."

Confused laughter spread through the crowd, quiet at first before several people began rising, and Oren finally accepted Raymond’s hand. Once the older man was standing again,

Raymond looked over the gathered families and allowed his voice to carry far enough for those nearest the gate to hear him. "If you’re asking to become citizens of Althoff, then understand what I’m accepting and what I’m not. I’m not accepting three hundred guests who sit in warm rooms while everyone else keeps this territory alive. We rebuild together."

The three hundred and seventeen people all looked at Raymond with intense gaze.

Raymond give a long glance and then continued."Farmers will work with Harlan, Gideon, and my agricultural officers. Carpenters and masons are going to become extremely popular because half my northern district currently looks like a giant stepped on it. Hunters will join the patrol rotations.

The surrounding was quite as Raymond’s voice echoes across the area.