Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest-Chapter 351 - 24: Bearing Its Weight

The drizzling spring rain was falling outside.

Wind mixed with rain blew in through the window, cold and damp, the thick humidity making one feel uncomfortable all over.

Iao III sat on the throne, feeling the weight of that crown on his forehead.

The crown, forged from black iron, was neither splendid nor dazzling. It was simple and solid, unbearably heavy, with seven black iron swords standing within it, inscribed inside and out with ancient magic spell patterns. It was so heavy, in fact, it could be used as a weapon, weighing a good ten or twenty pounds.

It pressed down like a mountain, imprisoning his mind; the Conqueror Ioannos once wore it, his spirit and will condensed upon it, passed down through generations.

Did that glorious and magnificent former King also feel such pressure?

He likely did.

The challenges they faced were entirely different.

But the Black Iron Royal Family’s maxim was to endure the weight with a sword hanging overhead.

Yet Iao III rarely felt such a strong sense of powerlessness.

He considered himself a competent King, but this land was riddled with entrenched interests, long plagued by chronic issues. Improving the situation, let alone maintaining the status quo, was difficult.

Everything had spiraled out of control.

The Fury, the Divine Mysterious, the Riptide, and now even that emerging force in the corner were.

They had never been content, each harboring their damnable thoughts!

Some outwardly obeyed but secretly defied, some fawned, some didn’t even bother to pretend.

All of them were damn traitors and rebels!

"Pine, do you also think his title should be stripped?" the Black Iron King glanced disgustedly at the Duke of Furious Tide, who refused to leave his court and secretly incited those Nobles to press him. freēnovelkiss.com

Pine sat at the meeting table, time making his face ever more weathered, his fine skin flakes seemed like chalk scraping off a blackboard.

He said indifferently, "Yes, Your Majesty, I urge you to pay attention to him, five years ago there was nothing there, five years later the Nobles there are all on edge, what about after another five years?"

The King said, "Even if given fifty years, it may not be larger than your Duchy."

"Then you should be even more wary; he has held onto power with an army of his own, every action he has taken thus far has never failed. One day, you may wake up to find his army at your doorstep." Pine’s voice was uniquely melodious, like the surging tide crashing against the shore.

That is still better than the Church Court’s army at my doorstep... really? He hadn’t even arrived at the Black Castle yet, and he had already offended a majority of the key officials there.

The Grand Duke of Fury saw this as a flaw, hoping to make him see the current situation clearly.

That emerging young King was not the focus; speaking of Kings, the Black Iron Land was full of Kings, the three Dukes were like three Kings themselves, but they still styled themselves as subjects, just like the River Valley King.

Iolion thought silently about whether the new, ambitious and enterprising King was more of a threat, or if it was the old King who guarded his self-interests, setting the tiger free to return and cause harm, a bigger threat?

Both would threaten his throne.

But for now, he had to align with one faction to strike against another.

Yet the coercion from the Fury and Church Court was imminent, and the emerging threat mentioned by the Furious Tide would not surface until five years later.

He made his decision, "I won’t sign," the Black Iron King said.

For the greater picture, he couldn’t let the relationship between the two sides deteriorate to that extent.

Ross from the Filin Family was shocked, "By All Gods above! Your Majesty, this person is despicable and evil. If left unchecked, he might raise a threat, and who knows how many people he will devour in the future!"

Right now, they’re not devouring my people. Iolion thought, wait until he arrives at the Black Castle.

But with more territories expanding, he doubted if that young King could control such vast lands—like pirates who, after killing a batch of Nobles, still needed to support a new batch of Nobles and distribute the land.

Kings who were often in power knew that the larger the land, the harder it was to control, and he often felt mentally exhausted because of it.

But this decision wasn’t easy to make; they all had their political inclinations, and it had vaguely developed into a fire-and-water, tit-for-tat situation.

"I urge you to rescind the order, he is an Unbeliever, and his lands are a breeding ground for evil forces..."

The Black Iron King said to the Grand Duke of Fury, "Then I also ask you to hurry and defend the Stone Castle," the evil force had already been unleashed by him.

Iolion had to swallow the second half of the sentence for political reasons.

All other ministers pretended not to be there and ignored the dispute.

In the past two or three years, no matter what topic the Royal Court discussed, it ultimately shifted to the fundamental conflict between the Black Iron King and the Duke of Furious Tide.

And in their silence, Iao III felt deeply powerless.

They were his subjects, yet they had become accomplices in pressuring him, and aside from the Royal Faction, no one was standing up to speak on his behalf.

The Minister of Agriculture had no choice but to bite the bullet and said, "Your Majesty, Lord Pine, should we discuss when this rain will end? If it continues, we’ll have nothing to eat."

It was raining everywhere, some places had stopped, some had not.

The Black Castle was the hardest-hit area.

The damp climate had led to crop failures, and the stored grain had gone moldy. Worse than that was watching the court’s rulers arguing over other matters, neglecting the terrible impact this disaster was having.

"Let Gael send a batch of grain..." Iolion said, headache throbbing, but quickly realized it wouldn’t work; Duke Gael had significant objections to him.

If Alster were alive, there would be as much grain as needed. The Split Armor Domain was Black Iron’s largest grain-producing area, but now Alster was gone, leaving him a huge mess.

"How long will the current grain last?" the Black Iron King realized this was a stupid question.

"I don’t know, Your Majesty, we have tens of thousands of mouths to feed here in the Black Castle. Merchants have been jacking up grain prices, several times over, and the starving people in the slums either die from the rain or starve to death in droves. The poor have also staged protests against us... they are too upset, saying you’ve changed the cultivation methods and used the River Valley Prince’s heavy plow, thus incurring All Gods’ wrath."

"Should the Iron Guard intervene?" the Captain of the City Defense was talking about the two thousand Iron Guards of the Black Castle.

"No, no forceful suppression..." that would only give the Church Court an excuse.

He was fair and open-minded and knew it wasn’t the plows’ fault, it was just the weather.

Iao III found that whatever he did, it led to negative outcomes, doing nothing and waiting for this long rainy season to pass was the only option.

The public dissatisfaction was immense, the protests were loud, but what could he do, did they know the predicament their King was in now?

It’s just that there was no food to eat, and any decision he made poorly could bring catastrophic consequences for Black Iron.

Iao III felt the Black Iron Crown grow ever heavier, like a mountain pressing on his head.

Enduring the weight with a sword overhead.

He struggled to remind himself that everyone had their duties to fulfill, and his responsibility was to guard this vast land and maintain the order of the former Kings... until the moment he died.

The woman in white beside the Black Iron Throne looked at her father, and her gaze was filled with calm pity.