Chapter 58: The End of Lindor
◆◆◆
The King’s office in the temporary Royal Castle of the Lindor Kingdom.
There, the King of Lindor was holding his head in his hands as reports kept pouring in.
“…Why? Why did it come to this…?”
The reports reaching the King of Lindor had been the same for the past few months.
The desertification of the land that began around the Summoning Ruins had spread throughout the Lindor Kingdom in the blink of an eye, even affecting parts of neighboring countries.
Due to the desertification, crops in the rural villages of Lindor withered all at once, and not only staple foods like wheat but also crops like potatoes could no longer be harvested.
Even when tax collectors went around the villages to collect, no food could be found anywhere.
There were even reports of tax collectors being killed by farmers when they tried to seize their food.
And there were quite a few of them.
The fact that tax collectors, who were government officials, were being killed was an incident that would normally lead to the destruction of the village itself, but it had happened so frequently that the country could no longer cope.
The result was rebellions from various farming villages.
The King of Lindor received nothing but reports today of this or that farming village raising the flag of rebellion, or this or that noble family being raided.
The atmosphere in the Capital City was also the worst.
Food had stopped coming into the Capital City, which was already in the midst of reconstruction.
The price of wheat had risen to an abnormal level, and battles over bread had begun.
As a result, the security of the Capital City deteriorated, and people were abandoning the Lindor Kingdom and emigrating to other countries one after another.
Even the other countries that had previously ostracized Lindor from the international community were now extending humanitarian aid due to the situation, but the situation in Lindor, where there was no prospect of domestic food production, did not improve.
On the contrary, some of the countries that had been providing aid for free as humanitarian assistance had actually provided it as loans.
These countries were some of those that had been partially affected by the desertification.
Lindor was furious that they were being taken advantage of, but they had no choice and had to accept the paid assistance.
As a result, Lindor had accumulated so much debt that it was difficult for the country to even survive.
“Why… why did it come to this… I haven’t done anything wrong… On the contrary, I’ve been desperately trying to rebuild this country…”
Just when Lindor was about to recover as a nation with the support of Admos, this Great Famine struck.
Lindor was now on its last legs.
“Damn it… Damn it all!! It’s all the fault of the previous Royal Family!! It’s their fault for neglecting Lord Maya and trying to eliminate him, only to be defeated! It’s their fault for not telling us that we shouldn’t do consecutive Otherworld Summonings! It’s all! All of it!!”
The King of Lindor swept the documents off the desk, spewing out his resentment towards the previous Royal Family.
The King of Lindor’s close aides were also in the office, but no one stopped the King from his rampage.
They felt the same way as the King.
The King of Lindor also thought that he should have at least outwardly respected Kenta, like the King of Admos.
The fact that they were thinking of doing it only outwardly showed that they had the same mindset as the previous King of Lindor.
After ranting that his current predicament was all the fault of the previous Royal Family, the King of Lindor, having finished his rampage, sat roughly on his chair, breathing heavily.
After catching his breath, the King of Lindor stared into space, let out a long “Haaah,” and then muttered.
“…It’s time to give up.”
The King of Lindor’s mutter made his aides open their eyes in surprise.
“Your Majesty, surely you don’t intend to… abandon the country?”
To the aide who muttered in a trembling voice, the King of Lindor chuckled softly and then said.
“It’s impossible anymore. This country will soon collapse from within. And people will leave this country where crops don’t grow. It will become a vast ruin where no one sets foot.”
The King of Lindor spread his arms wide and said this as if he were joking.
In fact, he might have been joking.
His face was filled with a self-deprecating smile.
The aides, who had been angry at the smile that even felt like madness, immediately lowered their heads and said nothing more.
“Well then, now that it’s decided, we must act quickly. If we dawdle, the people might storm the Royal Castle demanding that we release the food stores.”
“Yes! I will make arrangements immediately!”
“I’m counting on you. Now, by the way, which country do you think would be a good place to flee to?”
One day, a shocking declaration was made to the people of the Lindor Kingdom.
The King had abandoned the country and fled to another country.
The people who heard this trembled with anger and immediately stormed the Royal Castle.
And what the people saw there was…
The Royal Castle was completely empty, with all the food and valuables having been taken away.
The people were stunned by the situation.
For a while, the people were dumbfounded by the irresponsible actions of the Lindor Royal Family, but when one of them said, “I’m going to another country too,” and started running, they all followed him and fled out of Lindor.
The movement that had begun did not stop in the Capital City, and even nobles and farmers in various regions abandoned their birthplaces and fled abroad.
Thus, four years after Kenta was summoned to the Lindor Kingdom, the Lindor Kingdom disappeared from the map.
Due to its extreme barrenness, the surrounding countries also gave up on controlling the land that had been Lindor, and the former site of the Lindor Kingdom became a ruin where no one set foot, just as the King of Lindor had predicted.