NOVGO.NET Chapter 407: Punishment
Chapter 407: Punishment
As Theryn watched Old Maela leave silently, thinking he could get away again,
“You.
What are you doing?”
A sharp voice was heard, a voice that made the assistant provisioner freeze. In panic, he turned towards the direction the voice came from, and his eyes fell on him.
“I asked you a question.”
Kael repeated as he walked towards him with a cold look on his face. Together with him was the Dragonborn Princess.
Seeing how there was next to no snow on the fur of their coats, it was clear that they weren’t just wandering around and had come straight to this place from their home.
“L-Lord Kael, are you talking t-to me?”
Theryn questioned with a stutter, a part of him still clinging to a false hope that he wasn’t caught. And he wasn’t wrong in wishing that. He had done this time and time again, so much that even Serie, the woman standing right next to him, didn’t notice anything. So obviously, the man who was still about twenty feet away from him wouldn’t know anything.
“You think I should be talking to anyone else?”
Kael questioned back as he finally stood right in front of Theryn with a strict look on his face. The way both he and Lavinia were staring at the assistant provisioner made it clear that he was talking to him, something that made the rest of the Velmourns gathered here frown.
What happened?
Why were Lord Kael and Lady Lavinia here?
And why did Lord Kael, who was usually calm, look… angry?
The people didn’t understand. However, they made sure none of them interrupted him. Kael, in the few days he had been here, had garnered enough respect that when he spoke, people listened carefully.
Instead, they all stared at Theryn, wanting to know what the man had done to anger Lord Kael like this.
“I-I wouldn’t know.”
Theryn answered with a stutter.
Kael was taller than most men, the coat he wore made him look even bigger. His stance alone seemed intimidating to most people, that combined with the stories of everything he did yesterday at war…
Clearly, Theryn was having a hard time keeping a straight face.
“You wouldn’t know huh…”
Kael repeated those words, making the provisioner flinch.
“Am I right to assume you have no intention of admitting the truth till the end?”
The Warden of Vigilance questioned, and Theryn…
“Lord Kael, I apologize, but I do not understand what you are talking about. There seems to be a misunderstanding here and as much as I would like to correct any misunderstanding there is, this isn’t the time.
The snow won’t be stopping, there are old people standing and waiting in the queue. Letting them wait for longer than they should would be a waste.
The Winter just began, it wouldn’t be good if they caught co—”
“Those are some grand words, Theryn Velmourn. You look quite concerned about the old.”
“I do wha—”
Theryn tried to ease the situation, but then—
“It almost made me believe that you didn’t steal their ration for a moment.”
Kael spoke directly, and in an instant, Theryn froze. And not just him, Serie and the people around them who heard those words all froze as well, unable to believe what they just heard.
“…what?”
Theryn still tried to keep an act, trying to pass it all as a misunderstanding, but seeing the look on Kael’s face, he knew Kael had no intention of believing him. He seemed completely certain that he had done it. There was not even the slightest trace of doubt in his eyes that could be used to push him back.
It… it was now his words against Kael’s.
“Lord Kael, what are you—”
“So you are going to see it through to the end, huh?”
Kael interrupted with a sigh as he looked into Theryn’s eyes.
“This would have ended a lot quicker if you had admitted your mistake and made it right.”
Of course, Theryn had already come too far to step back now. Kael, on the other hand, walked towards Old Maela and knelt as he grabbed her wrinkled hands—
“I apologize for the inconvenience, but could you please wait for a few more minutes, Grandma?”
“Me? Is there trouble…?”
Old Maela questioned innocently. She still hadn’t understood the situation. The only reason she even stopped was because of Kael.
Maela had heard of Kael before. They say he is the savior of their lands, the God of Dragons. Though she still hadn’t seen him till now since he was mostly present in areas too crowded for her to be in, she wanted to meet him once.
She wanted to look for herself and see how the God of Dragons looked.
And when her eyes fell on this handsome boy and the beautiful woman he was with, for a moment, Maela was stunned.
For some reason, she felt blessed in their presence, almost as if the God of Dragons’ divine presence was healing her old body’s fatigue.
“No, you are not in trouble.”
Kael answered with a light smile,
“I just need you to stay here for a while.”
“Okay…”
Old Maela nodded.
Kael nodded back as he stood up. He then glanced at Lavinia and—
“Take care of things here, I’ll bring someone.”
“What about the people?”
The Princess questioned.
Kael then turned towards Theryn and—
“Since you seemed so worried about people waiting in cold, continue distributing till I return.”
Saying those words, Kael flew away, and Theryn…
He didn’t believe what was happening.
Was he… being accused of cheating and told to work regardless…?
“Next.”
Suddenly, Serie called out.
Theryn glanced at her, and the woman shrugged,
“We were told to continue, stop wasting time.”
Theryn nodded. In the end, he had no choice but to follow Kael’s orders, and of course, this time, as he distributed the rations, with Lavinia and everyone else watching him closely, he made no mistakes.
In about 5 minutes, he managed to free about 10 Velmourns, but none of them left. Their eyes were on Theryn and Lavinia, they all wanted to see what was going to happen.
Kael returned, this time with Tarevian following him on his Flying Bond with an unsure look on his face. As the two landed, attracting everyone’s attention, Kael walked towards the surprised Maela and—
“Grandma, please hand me your bag.”
Kael requested. Old Maela gave her bag to the flying man with a blink. She was still too stunned by what she saw to say anything else.
Kael took out Maela’s light purple tag and passed it to Tarevian.
“How much ration should be given to her according to this tag?”
He questioned.
Tarevian, with a light frown, observed the light purple tag,
“Light purple means the elderly that have given all their lives for the betterment of the Velmourns but are now too old to work. Since there is only one stripe on the tag, it means she is alone.
Such people are given fixed monthly rations: eight scoops of grain, six scoops of flour, four dried vegetable curls, and two curls of meat.”
The Voice of the Commonfolk spoke.
These arrangements were updated monthly by him and Aelindra, considering their situation, so he obviously had a clear idea of how things ran here.
But…
“Look inside.”
Kael then passed Old Maela’s bag to Tarevian. Tarevian looked inside, and very quickly, his expression changed as he then stared at Theryn.
“Do you know where the rest of the rations went?”
Kael spoke, glaring at Theryn, who had stolen rations from a woman who was more than seventy years old and had no way to feed herself but to rely on others.
“I only see five scoops of grain and one curl of meat. What happened to the rest?”
Tarevian questioned in a strict voice, a voice that made Theryn flinch.
“I-I must have made a mistake… the rush, the snow, I…”
“Mistake, huh?
Are you saying that you just ‘forgot’ to put the remaining ration in?
Are we correct to assume that you do not have the rest?”
Kael spoke with a frosty look on his face, and this time, Theryn didn’t dare to lie any further. His silence was more than enough admission of his guilt.
The crowd grew quiet as well.
Snow continued to fall softly, but no one moved or said anything.
All eyes were on Theryn.
Tarevian stood tall beside Kael and raised his voice so everyone could hear.
“Theryn Velmourn, you were trusted to feed your people, but instead of protecting them, you stole from them.”
The people shook their heads at those words, some even cursed under their breaths, glaring at Theryn, thinking about the numerous times he must have stolen from them.
After all, this clearly was not the first time the bastard had done this.
“Stealing from the strong is bad enough, but you stole from the weak.
From the old.
From those who cannot fight or feed themselves.
That is worse than any crime on the battlefield.”
Theryn lowered his head, clenching his trembling hands.
Tarevian then walked towards Theryn and pulled the ration apron and the badge of the Provisioner from his chest.
“From this moment, you are stripped of your duty as the Assistant Provisioner.”
He declared.
“You will never again handle rations for your people.
And, you will be reassigned.
You will serve the farm where the storms bite hardest. You will work double shifts, without pause, until you prove your worth again. You will earn your food through sweat and frost.
And last, your own shares will be cut to half.
The food you stole from others, you will now lose yourself.
Perhaps then you will understand what hunger feels like.”
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