Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 140 - 12: The All Gods Will Forgive You

Chapter 140: Chapter 12: The All Gods Will Forgive You

"The teacher says he needs your presence,"

Roman was extremely impatient.

He rose from his seat in front of the loom and called over a woman nearby, asking her to sit there and saying, "Don’t be afraid. Just mimic my movements, you can go slower if needed, you’ll get the hang of it eventually."

The young woman sat cautiously in the seat Roman had vacated, clumsily pressing the pedals and continuing the unfinished weaving process.

Roman followed Jimmy to the residential area, his weaving factory was built close to the residential area for the convenience of the workers.

From a distance, he could see a large crowd had gathered.

Someone shouted, "Our great Lord has arrived!"

All people quickly cleared a path.

Roman saw that they were surrounding two people, one a disheveled farmer and the other a woman with her clothing in disarray.

Disheveled hair was the norm, as everyone looked like that, which signified poverty and lowliness.

But clothes in disarray were not normal.

In early winter, no one would mess up their clothes for no reason, and Roman also spotted tears in the fabric.

Seth stood upright beside them and, seeing Roman coming, he first bowed. Under Roman’s impatient gaze, he quickly and simply explained the situation.

Strictly speaking, it was an assault of the female slave by the male slave, the latter belonging to a new batch of slaves and not quite understanding the rules.

"Lord, she must have been possessed by a demon, seducing me into descending into hell," the male slave spoke fearfully.

The female slave was even more terrified, shaking her head frantically, constantly denying the farmer’s statement.

"Lord..." Seth pulled out a piece of Purple Crystal and handed it to Roman.

Roman noticed there was nothing unusual with the Purple Crystal, indicating that both were ordinary people.

He sighed softly, gesturing for the farmer to come over.

"Lord, this woman is very evil, she must have controlled my body, making me lose my sanity," the farmer came in front of Roman, his face filled with submission and pity.

Roman nodded and said, "Kneel down, the All Gods will forgive you."

"Thank you for your mercy, Lord," the farmer knelt down, prostrating on the ground, then darkness fell before his eyes.

Bang!

First there was a crack, followed by the sound of a heavy object hitting the ground.

In that abrupt commotion, all that the spectators could see was blood splattering and teeth flying everywhere!

The onlookers were horrified to see their kind and magnanimous Lord suddenly erupt with a kick, sending the repentant farmer flying like a broken scarecrow. Dust rose as he hit the ground, his body twitching until it became still, no longer moving.

Whoosh...

The cold wind blew, and everyone went silent as the grave.

A few keen-eyed individuals saw that the Lord’s kick had landed precisely on the farmer’s jaw, with his hard and thick steel-toed leather boots shattering the jawbone and leaving most of his mouth a mangled mess.

His rotten teeth were completely knocked out, smeared with blood and scattered everywhere, some even splashing near their feet.

All Gods above!

He was kicked so far. His neck also broke, and although he struggled for a moment upon landing, his limbs twitching, he quickly became immobile.

He couldn’t survive!

That was the confident conclusion they reached from the sight of his death.

The ragged body of the slave who claimed to be tempted by the Devil just happened to fall in front of the woman possessed by the evil spirit, causing her face to turn pale with fear and let out a sharp scream, which became the only sound in the quiet residential area aside from the cold wind.

Roman shouted angrily, "Shut up!"

The uncontrollable scream stopped abruptly.

Roman had thought he could keep his blood pressure under control, but now he realized these fools were pushing his limits.

"Fucking serious bullshit!"

"I clothe you, feed you, and house you! Is this how you dumb fucks do things? Got too comfortable, did you? Do you fuckers want to die?!"

Roman roared like a furious lion, his angry bellows echoing on the spot.

The onlookers were all terrified.

His crimson eyes blazed like flames, like lightning, possessing an intimidating cohesion.

Everyone felt a chill down their spine and bowed their heads as their hearts thumped wildly.

They knew the Lord was enraged.

And this was rare,

The only other time he displayed such fury was when due to a mishandled operation, the blast furnace failed, resulting in the deaths and injuries of over a dozen people. It was said that he cursed at those workers for hours, even hung a former steward for not producing according to the regulations!

"Why did this happen?" Roman asked Seth.

People think about debauchery when they’re warm and full.

Seth said, with no hint of emotion, "My Lord, these lowlifes are beyond education."

The main issue was the absence of a manager; in Sige Town, the baseline management could only organize all labor to fulfill the commands issued by Roman.

Governance was pretty much self-regulated—Roman was only responsible for their food and work, leaving the rest to them.

It must be said, they were really obedient, doing whatever they were told.

Up until now, Roman surprisingly hadn’t found a single opportunity to execute someone to make an example.

Every task was completed promptly and adequately, preventing him from finding a reason to harshly criticize them.

Before, they were so engrossed in their grueling labor that they had no energy left to cause trouble.

But with the onset of winter, some people had free time; the production tasks weren’t as pressing, and Roman was no longer hounding them like the Grim Reaper.

And they were eating too well.

Before being well-fed, humans have only one concern.

After they’re well-fed, they have countless concerns.

"You need laws to tell them what should and shouldn’t be done," Seth said.

He was reminding Roman that it was time to establish a manorial court, to have someone responsible for resolving disputes and judging cases.

Hans was originally capable of this role, but Roman sent him off to become a teacher instead.

Seth felt it was ridiculous that Roman had put off such a fundamental issue for so long.

Even more absurd was that, with Sige Town operating at unprecedented efficiency, it really didn’t seem to need a manorial court.

But not anymore, the population was too large, and once they had leisure time, they were bound to cause all kinds of trouble.

This had been giving Seth quite the headache recently.

He was only responsible for the Ministry of Finance, but the minister of the residential department, Jimmy, was his student and lacked the experience to handle these matters.

After assisting in resolving disputes four or five times and making fair judgments, the complications grew, the disputes increased, and Seth had no choice but to drag Roman into it.

That was the situation, and Roman could do whatever he wanted; it just couldn’t go on like this.

"Yes! Laws! We need laws!"

Roman nodded to himself; he felt that Seth was speaking the damn truth.

He always thought he had made his stance very clear.

As long as they didn’t give him trouble and completed his orders, these fools could live well.

But there were always those who were blind to their own mortality, challenging the bottom line of those above, even using Devils as an excuse to mask their own desires, which was despicable!

Roman said coldly, "Hang him up for the entire winter, let everyone see, and then come next spring, toss him into the river to feed the fish!"