The cold wind howled from the north and invaded Lieutenant Nokmo's neck, making him shiver, pulling his collar tightly and shrinking his body.

Looking up, the dark clouds in the sky were thicker than when they had left the camp, and they were gloomy as if a layer of cotton had not been completely seeded overhead.

"Looks like it's going to snow again. Lieutenant Nokmo exhaled lightly, and a distinct white mist formed in front of him.

It's already mid-November, and it's not surprising for this small city of Greenwitai, which is located in the middle of the former Frankish Kingdom and is also a little north of the middle of the entire Sainz continent.

Lieutenant Nokmo was originally a native of a village near the small town of Greenwitai, and lived here for more than ten years until he joined the army of the Frankish kingdom, and of course he knew the weather here very well.

"Hey, Captain, you said it's all this kind of weather, do we still need to run out on patrol?" grumbled a Frankish soldier who was hunched his neck behind Lieutenant Nokmo. "Even the rabbits are too cold to come out of the nest, so I don't believe the Lampari guys are going to attack in this weather. ”

Lieutenant Nokmo glanced back at him and snorted coldly, "Shut your beak, Makan." This is an order given from above, do you have the courage not to carry it out?"

The soldier known as Makan spat and muttered, "It's not an order from our Frankish chief, so why do you have to listen to it?" Those guys from the Maro Empire will only command us to help them do this kind of dirty work, and they will do it themselves if they have the ability. ”

Lieutenant Nockmore frowned, glancing at the rest of the patrol behind him. I found that the expressions on their faces were not much different from those on Makan. There was a hint of dissatisfaction. I couldn't help but sigh.

This is not surprising.

Not to mention that these soldiers under his command are dissatisfied, even he is also a little dissatisfied in his heart.

Although with the help of the Marlo Empire, the government-in-exile and the army of their Frankish Kingdom finally have the hope of regaining their original territory from the Lampari Kingdom and the Duchy of Draco, but because the Marlow Empire army occupies an absolutely dominant position in the coalition army, the soldiers of the Frankish Kingdom are always sent out to do all kinds of dirty work, and when calculating military merits, they are not there, which naturally causes the soldiers of the Frankish Kingdom to be extremely dissatisfied.

But Lieutenant Nokmo, as an officer, knew more than these ordinary soldiers. So he understands that there is no way to do this situation.

Without the help of the Maro Empire, the Frankish kingdom would have fallen months ago, and there was no possibility of a counterattack.

Even if it weren't for the fact that the Maro Empire sent a few Magisters to participate in the war regardless of the possibility of violating the taboo, I am afraid that even the Maro Empire would have no way to take the Lampari Kingdom and the Duchy of Draco, and then the Frankish Kingdom would have no hope of succeeding in recovering the country by relying on its own strength.

So in the final analysis, the Frankish kingdom is completely dependent on the Maro Empire, so what qualifications does it have to talk about its own status?

Lieutenant Nockmore could understand the soldiers' complaints, but relatively speaking, although he was also a little dissatisfied, he was more grateful.

If it weren't for the help of the Maro Empire. He can't figure it out, and it will be difficult for him to return to this familiar land in this life.

Since a few months ago, the combined forces of the Frankish Kingdom and the Maro Empire have been defeated one after another by the combined forces of the Lampari Kingdom and the Duchy of Draco. After relinquishing the small town of Greenwita, Lieutenant Nockmore lost contact with his family in the nearby village.

Half a month ago, after the Marfa coalition recaptured the small town of Greenwitai from the Lampari Kingdom, Lieutenant Nokmo took the time to go back and get in touch with his family again.

Because of this, Lieutenant Nokmo certainly has a hint of gratitude to the Maro Empire.

However, thinking of the situation when he met his family again, Lieutenant Nokmo felt that the gratitude in his heart to the Maro Empire was not so clear......

After seeing his family, to his surprise, not only did the family not suffer all kinds of persecution from the army of the Lampari Kingdom as he imagined, but they were all red and full of spirits, except for some worries about losing contact with him, life seemed to be better than before.

When mentioning the situation after the Lampari Kingdom occupied here, the family members did not complain at all, and even praised the Lampari Kingdom, saying that after the Lampari Kingdom occupied this place, they were directly exempted from most of the heavy taxes that ordinary farmers had to pay every year, and also sent a farmland magic mechanical harvesting team to help them harvest during the previous autumn harvest, making their autumn harvest this year extremely easy.

Because of this, Lieutenant Nokmo's parents and adult brother who stayed at home were able to save some time to work for a few months in the offices set up by several chambers of commerce in the Lampari Kingdom in the small town of Greenwitai, and earned a total of more than thirty gold coins.

This situation greatly surprised Lieutenant Nokmo, and also gave rise to a trace of doubt in his heart.

The small town of Greenwitai was originally the private domain of the Count Green of the Frankish Kingdom, and when this land was still under the rule of the Frankish Kingdom, the people of the Frankish Kingdom in the territory had to pay a large amount of taxes to the lord Count Green according to tradition, and could only leave part of the rations to fill their stomachs.

Although Count Green was one of the few lords in the Frankish Kingdom who had a conscience and was willing to take care of the lives of the common people, almost all the people in the realm, including Lieutenant Nockmore, were still living very stressful lives, and hunger was a common occurrence.

However, when the territory near the small town of Greenwitai fell under the control of the Lampari Kingdom, it directly exempted most of the commoners from paying taxes, which instantly changed the lives of these civilians.

Not to mention anything else, Lieutenant Nockmo's family alone harvested a full 1,300 catties of wheat in this autumn harvest.

If it had been left in the past, 800 catties of the 1,300 catties of wheat would have been handed over to Earl Green, and then the part left for seed would have been discarded. I only have about 400 catties left.

Lieutenant Nockmore's family except for Lieutenant Nockmore himself, who had already joined the army. There are also five people. We all have to rely on these 400 catties of wheat to last until next year's spring harvest, and the hardships of life can be imagined.

However, when this place was occupied by the Lampari Kingdom, according to the new policy announced by the Lampari Kingdom, the 1,300 catties of wheat only needed to be paid 300 catties, and the rest was left for Lieutenant Nokmo's family for his own use.

1,000 catties of wheat compared to the previous 400 catties of wheat, that is more than twice as much, which naturally makes Lieutenant Nokmo's family much better.

Moreover, after the Lampari Kingdom occupied the small city of Greenwitai, several chambers of commerce from the Lampari Kingdom, the Ruerson Kingdom, and the Principality of Draco followed. Various preliminary developments have been carried out in the small town of Greenwitai, and a large number of local personnel have been recruited, so that many people can find a job and receive several or even dozens of golden coins that these civilians could not have imagined before.

With the help of the gold coins, Lieutenant Nokmo's family lived more comfortably.

Because of the lack of food and clothing, the winter of each year used to be the most difficult day for Lieutenant Nokmo's family, but after the winter of this year, the remaining five members of Lieutenant Nockmo's family were not only able to eat enough, but also bought each of them two new cotton jackets from the Armani Chamber of Commerce in the Kingdom of Lampari with the dozens of gold coins earned by their parents and adult brother, so that they no longer had to suffer from hunger and cold as before.

I remembered the two new padded jackets that my younger brothers and sisters showed off to me before. Lieutenant Nokmo couldn't help but look down at what he was wearing.

As an officer, he was of course equipped with better clothing than ordinary soldiers. But it's just a thin layer of cotton jacket under a layer of rough and rotten leather armor that is about to wear out.

There is no need to touch it with his hands at all, just by relying on his body, he can feel how light and thin this padded jacket is, and even let him feel the cold wind penetrating directly, which shows how poor the quality of the padded jacket is.

However, even this rotten cotton jacket, when it was equipped for him, still forcibly deducted a full three gold coins from his officer's salary.

You know, his one-year salary as a lieutenant officer is only fifteen gold coins.

Thinking of this, the corners of Lieutenant Nokmo's mouth once again raised a wry smile.

In the past, his fifteen gold coins a year was a great supplement to the family, which could make the family's life slightly better than that of other families in the village, which also made him receive a lot of special preferential treatment every time he returned home.

Now, however, his younger brother had earned more than ten gold coins after a few months of working at the Lampari Kingdom's office in the small town of Greenwitai.

Coupled with his parents' income, his fifteen gold coins seemed less important.

Even when his younger brother talked to him about this matter again, he disdainfully told him not to be a soldier at all, and it was better to go to work in those chambers of commerce in the Lampari Kingdom.

Because he heard that if he did a good job in those chambers of commerce, it was not strange to even get fifteen gold coins a month.

In addition to this, there is another point that is also very different.

The new padded jackets worn by the younger siblings were heavy and warm, and they looked good, but when they were purchased from the Armani Chamber of Commerce, they only cost one gold coin and forty silver coins.

If you buy two at a time, you can even get an extra ten silver coins cheaper.

In comparison, the value of the thin padded jacket on his body is inevitably too inadequate.

But Lieutenant Nockmo could hardly complain about anything, for the price of padded jackets, which were filled with precious cotton, remained high, both in the former Frankish kingdom and in the Marlo Empire where he had spent the last few months.

With the thin padded jacket on his body, it would not be a problem to take it out and sell it for two gold coins.

God knows why this damn Armani Chamber of Commerce was able to sell it so cheaply, and wasn't it afraid to lose money and kill them?

However, on second thought, it makes sense that the Kingdom of the Franks refused to allow the Armani Chamber of Commerce to enter the Kingdom of the Franks.

If the Armani Chamber of Commerce had entered, all the merchants in the Frankish kingdom who had made their fortune selling cotton jackets every winter would have been crushed.

However...... What does this have to do with ordinary civilians?

As a commoner who can't even break a silver coin and spend it carefully, who wouldn't want to be able to buy a new padded jacket that is cheap, extra warm, and even looks better?

"Brother, if only this place was occupied by the Lampari Kingdom forever. ”

Thinking of the innocent words spoken by his eleven-year-old sister with big blinking eyes, the wry smile on Lieutenant Nokmo's face deepened a little.

This sounds naïve, but isn't it the words of my sister, or even my parents and brother, or even the hearts of all the civilians near Greenwitai Town......?