Chapter 11 - Unfortunate Misfortune

                                        

                                              






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Location: Wall Rose
Year: 844
Time: Day






The dirt path stretched out before me, lined with golden remnants of wheat stalks that had already been and were waiting to be harvested. 
Wall Rose's farming estates are a vital part of ensuring survival through the coming winter.
These farms would provide a significant portion of the calories consumed by the population during the cold months. 
That thought lingered as my eyes wandered over the harvested fields, the neatly stacked bales of wheat ready for transport. 
The farmers here understood the stakes. 
A harsh winter or a poor harvest meant hunger—and desperation.
Unlike in Wall Sina, the other walls had to deal with problems such as these—potential starvation and famine.
My mind shifted to a memory, a hi온라인카지노게임 lesson from around the time I was 5.
Feudal societies, the instructor had said, were predominantly agrarian, producing food primarily for self-subsistence. If a single farm failed, it could send ripples through entire communities. 
And then there was the added pressure of feeding the nobility, the aristocracy, and the merchant class—those who ruled over the many and contributed the least to production.
I absently kicked at a loose pebble on the path as the thought deepened. 
The French Royal Family came to mind, notorious for hoarding grain and resources for themselves even as their subjects starved. Their indulgence had been one of the catalysts for the revolution that led to their downfall. 
Does the monarchy within the Walls follow a similar pattern? Are there stockpiles of grain hidden away in some fortress while commoners scrape by?
Most likely, but...
I exhaled audibly and murmured, "I'm getting off track."
Today wasn't about ruminating on societal structures or drawing parallels between this world and the one I'd left behind. 
Today, I was here for a different reason entirely.
Drugs—
No.
It was one of my rare days off, and instead of spending it in town or resting, I'd decided to walk to a place that had haunted my thoughts ever since I arrived in this world: the wheat field where I'd first appeared.
I glanced up at the vast sky overhead. In the distance there was the faint outline of the Walls.
The Walled World. 
That's what I'd started calling it, at least. Calling this place 'The Walls' didn't fit too well on my tongue for some reason.
I didn't know why I'd been brought here, but I hoped that returning to the starting point might provide some clarity. 
It was a long shot, but I wasn't one to dismiss even the faintest possibility.
As my boots crunched against the dirt, my mind wandered. 
Why was I brought here in the first place?
Sotomura's smug grin surfaced in my memory. 
He'd insisted I read some ridiculous manga about being "isekai'd" into another world. A few of them, in fact. The protagonists had always been killed first—a prerequisite for their transition to a fantastical new world.