65: Chapter 65 Long Live

Lida was a child from a poor family, living in a small village called Knight Village.

It was named after a knight who came from this tiny village; that knight was deeply favored by the King and had since become the kingdom's Captain of the Knights.

To become a knight was Lida's greatest wish in life.

Because then he would have enough to eat and could shed his status as a commoner.

However, he knew that this was just a wish from his childhood.

After Lida got married, he stopped thinking about becoming a knight. Especially after having a child, the daily grind of survival filled his entire life, and the most important thing every day was how to keep his whole family fed.

Sometimes his son would wave a wooden stick and tell Lida, "Dad, I want to be a knight when I grow up."

Lida would mostly just smile when he heard this.

He knew very clearly that he was just a commoner, destined to work the fields for his entire life.

This year was a year of famine; there wasn't much wheat in the fields, not even enough to feed his own family.

Furthermore, the Demon Kings Army had invaded on a large scale, so this year the noble lords declared that while they, the commoners, didn't need to go to the front lines where the army was fighting to the death, they still had to contribute some effort.

And so, this year's taxes were increased by fifty percent.

This was a death sentence.

"Dad, hasn't the Devil King already been defeated by the Hero?" his son asked, looking at Lida innocently.

Lida ran his rough hand over his son's head. "You'll understand when you grow up."

In reality, this was a lie to the child. Even when grown up, one wouldn't understand, and Lida didn't understand it either.

The Devil King had clearly been killed by the Hero, and the Demon Kings Army had retreated, but the noble lords' taxes wouldn't retreat!

Lida knew that after paying the taxes, there wouldn't be much food left for the family.

People were going to starve to death.

But the noble lords wouldn't care about that.

They were nothing more than commoners, after all.

The noble lord sent a grain tax collector, who had an arrogant expression, called them commoners the moment he opened his mouth, and demanded to take away over ninety percent of their grain.

This was taking their lives, but a commoner's life was worthless to begin with.

An old man in the village wept and begged him, saying, "Please, at least leave us enough to survive."

The grain collector just looked at him as if he were an insect and drew his sword, chopping off the old man's head.

The child was crying, crying his heart out.

Cry, just cry; once you're tired, you'll stop.

"Is the child sick? Why does he keep crying?" Lida's old mother asked from her bed.

The child wasn't sick; the child was just hungry.

Lida didn't answer; there was no food left in the house.

The old mother looked at her son's expression and sighed. "If there's really no other way, just boil me."

This was the mother who had given birth to him and raised him, but this time, Lida looked at her and couldn't speak for a long time.

The next morning, Lida smelled the fragrance of rice and even suspected he was delirious from hunger.

Lida walked dizzily toward the scent of rice.

In front of the stove, Lida saw a young man holding a bowl.

Seeing Lida in front of you, you handed him a bowl of rice soup.

Lida looked at the rice soup and swallowed his saliva. "Noble lord, we are commoners; how can we accept..."

Lida looked at you, his voice trailing off, saliva streaming from the corner of his mouth, his eyes fixed intently on the rice soup in your hand.

If they ate this food of unknown origin, they would likely be beheaded by the local noble lord, but if they didn't eat it now, they would die immediately.

"This is talisman water. You are all sick, and drinking this bowl of talisman water will cure your illness!" you said, looking at the pairs of longing eyes fixed on you.

Hearing this, the villagers were silent for a moment, then swarmed forward.

You didn't stop them; you just stood there, serving bowl after bowl of rice soup with your attendants.

They drank the rice soup, looking at you with burning eyes.

"Long live the lord!" Lida fed the rice soup to his child and knelt at your feet, kowtowing to you.

"Long live the lord!" The rest of the villagers looked at you and also kowtowed one after another.

Do you live for ten thousand years?

You looked at them without speaking.

Inside the Great Hall of the Falun Kingdom.

The King's expression was very grim.

Recently, every few days he received news that rebellions had broken out everywhere.

And these rebellions all fought under the same banner.

"Are kings, nobles, generals, and ministers born with high status?"

How dare those commoners? Commoners are always commoners, and nobles are always nobles!

But fortunately, these rebellions were quickly suppressed.

Those commoners had no organizational skills, and no one to lead them; they were simply no match for the kingdom's great army.

The King sneered as he looked at the news that the rebellion in the eastern part of the kingdom had been suppressed.

This was the third report of a suppressed rebellion he had received this month.

This also meant that in just this one month, the kingdom had experienced three rebellions.

The King thought of the Hero again.

It had been more than a year since the day you left the palace.

The King now deeply regretted letting you leave; he should have imprisoned you within the palace. All of this was because of you.

"If it weren't for the Hero, those commoners wouldn't be rebelling!" The King tore the document reporting the suppression of the rebellion on his desk to shreds.

He glared viciously at Lorne. "It's all your fault, Lorne! Why didn't you stop the Hero back then? Damn these rebellions; even if they are suppressed, there will be another time!"

Lorne, standing behind the King, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, please calm your anger. Your subject believes these rebellions are not worth mentioning. These are nothing more than the commoners begging you, Your Majesty. They make trouble simply because they are not fed. As long as you give them some leftovers, they will be grateful and disperse."

"Your Majesty, commoners will always be commoners. Moreover, the Hero only appeared during the first large-scale rebellion, leaving behind those treasonous words, 'Are kings, nobles, generals, and ministers born with high status?' Since then, he has never appeared again."

"Presumably, the Hero has also realized that these commoners are not worth trusting."

The King didn't speak; the Hero hadn't been active for a long time.

The Hero's most recent activity was five months ago, when he gathered 120,000 commoners. That time, the King was truly panicked and mobilized all 80,000 of the kingdom's troops.

Those 120,000 commoners were slaughtered by the kingdom's warriors and fled in panic.

Whenever he thought of this, the King would smile knowingly. An army of 80,000 defeating an army of 120,000—he was truly a master of warfare.

If the Demon Kings Army had truly invaded back then, he would surely have been able to slaughter them and make them flee in panic as well.

Another month passed.

This year you were exactly forty-six years old, and you had been in this world for over a year.

Behind you was an army of 60,000.

Last time you gathered an army of 120,000, and you had thought you could be like a novel protagonist and take the royal city with those 120,000 people, but you were wrong.

You were no protagonist; the 120,000 people were slaughtered without a trace. Your army was just a gathering of starving commoners. At the beginning, they were only doing it for a bite of food; after they were fed, it was for that phrase, "Are kings, nobles, generals, and ministers born with high status?"

It worked during favorable battles, but compared to the professional soldiers of the Falun Kingdom, the gap was still too large.

In adverse situations, some people even surrendered directly, stating they didn't want any titles or positions, only to survive.

But this time, you looked at the 60,000-strong army behind you, and your lips curled up inexplicably.

This time, you would take the entire royal city in one fell swoop!

Inside the Great Hall of the Kingdom.

"It's a mere 60,000 people," Lorne said, looking at the report from the front lines. "Last time, the Hero gathered an army of 120,000 and still couldn't defeat our 80,000, not to mention this time, where there are only 60,000."

"Your Majesty, presumably the Hero has gone mad over these past few months; now he is just making a final struggle."

"Lord Lorne is correct." The King stuffed a large flatbread into his stomach.

"In any case, 80,000 against 60,000—the advantage is with me!"

The next day.

"What do you mean 80,000 people were wiped out in one day?"

"Even if you gave the Hero 80,000 pigs to slaughter, it would take several days!"

"That was 80,000 people, not 80,000 commoners; it was 80,000 of the kingdom's regular army."

"What, it was because of a single sentence again? How is it possible? How could a single sentence kill my army of 80,000?"

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

The King swept all the memorials on the desk in front of him away. Memorials, ink bottles, and candlesticks scattered all over the floor.

The King stuck out his large stomach, no longer eating the flatbread in his mouth.

The King grabbed Lorne by the collar. "Lord Lorne, tell me this is fake, right? This is fake!"

"How could a single sentence be worth my Falun Kingdom's army of 80,000?"

"Lorne, what exactly is the sentence!" The King asked, looking at Lorne with red eyes.

Lorne's face was also pale at this moment. "Reporting to Your Majesty, this subject does not know."

Just then, a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering sound came from within the royal city.

The King's face immediately turned pale; he knew the rebel army had entered the city.

Outside the palace, shouts rose one after another. The King finally knew the sentence that carried Divine Power.

Because of this one sentence, his army of 80,000 was completely annihilated.

At this moment, everyone outside was shouting this sentence.

"Long live the people!"