“Most nations turned a blind eye to minor abuses of power done by their own nobles and ministers. It was a commonly accepted thing to use one’s position to line one’s own pocket a bit more and to further one’s goals, maybe even help out some relatives as well. As long as one didn’t step out of line, this was usually tolerated.

When someone went too far with their abuse of power however, that was when the nation made a very convenient example out of them to scare the rest.” - Kisamedes Aeostolis, philosopher from the early days of the Clangeddin Empire.

The last noteworthy event of the trio’s return trip happened in a small town called Pesor to the north-east of Elmaiya.

Unlike the area near Fort Bharat to the south – which already showed great growth and progress due to the increased flow of trade from the Lichdom – the northeast was probably the poorest area in Elmaiya. Further to the east, roughly half a week away from the small town, were military bases set on the mouth of valley passes that cut through the Akra mountain range and led to Antemeian territory.

There was practically no trade to be had from that direction as the Empire was not on friendly terms with the Flesh Artisans of Antemeia.

As a result, the town and its surrounding villages – all part of the Barony of Pesoris – were quite poor and mostly subsisted off what plants they could harvest off their fields. There was little excess to trade with.

When Aideen, Celia, and Kino entered the region, what they noticed right away was how the houses in the area tend to be poorly built, with some people even injured in one village when their home collapsed on them. That the people were poor was expected, given the relative poor state of the region they lived in, but even so, they seemed to be particularly bad off.

Even in other small, poor baronies in the Empire, the people tend to still have enough to eat to be healthy and energetic, but the people in Pesoris were rather emaciated and listless. More than that, Aideen could see fear and worry in their eyes, especially when she asked them about the conditions of the regions. It was as if they were afraid someone would hear them saying the wrong things.

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Where the old had grown to accept that their lives were unlikely to change in their lifetime and as such were afraid to air their grievances, however, the young often had no such discretion yet.

In a tavern located in a village around a day away from Pesor itself, a drunken youth complained about how the baron of the land had squeezed the people dry with his absurd taxes, which barely left enough for the people to survive to the next harvest. Many people died of starvation in years where the region had bad harvests, and the situation got so bad that some people even sold off their children to black market slavers.

Some did that in order to get enough food to allow the rest of the family to survive, while others actually believed that being a slave would be better for the child rather than dying of starvation like the rest of the family. At least a slave would be provided food by their masters, especially considering the situation in Elmaiya regarding slavery.

While the Empire had banned all forms of slavery other than as punishment, some people still bought and sold slaves in black markets, with their consumers mostly people from higher walks of life. Many rich people and nobles had some slaves in their houses, some as servants, others to be used for pleasure, while yet others used them to satisfy even more gruesome vices.

From their talk with the drunken youth, Aideen also caught wind of the prevalent rumor in the region, that those who spoke out vocally against the Baron or tried to report the circumstances of the region to higher authorities would be found dead, gruesomely murdered on their beds. The killer would always sign their handiwork with the words “Mord was here” written in blood near the victim’s body, and the people assumed that the killer was a pet killer the Baron kept around.

There was no evidence that could prove any of that, however.

Aideen had a bad feeling after talking with the drunken youth – who, being drunk, was quite loud – so she and the others stayed in the village for another couple of days. Sure enough, her bad feeling came true, and when they woke up in the morning two days later, there was a small commotion in the village.

The drunken youth from that night was found dying by his bed, with his innards pulled out of his body through his opened abdomen and arranged in a ritualistic pattern around him. His arms and legs were staked to the ground through the wrists and ankles, while the words “Mord was here” was written in his blood on the bed itself. The only reason the youth was still alive was because the killer always left his victims dying like that, as there were no healers skilled enough to save the victims in the short time they had left.

Naturally, Aideen was not someone the killer had accounted for.

She swiftly returned the youth’s innards back into his abdominal cavity and healed his wounds, though even then it was a close call. Had Aideen noticed the commotion a few minutes later, there would have been no saving that youth. At the same time, Aideen asked for the youth’s parents to pretend that he had died, and to hide him from sight for the next month or so.

As for herself, she continued towards the town of Pesor with Celia and Kino, as the incident had piqued their curiosity and desire to stand up for the ones who suffered from it. Neither of the three were particularly scared of the murderer, since after all, you cannot threaten those who already died with another death.