The Pathway Of Wisdom-Chapter 52: Trample or Be Trampled. Part-2.

Paul cried, begged, and shouted, but there was no one who could help him; he even begged the same people, the same subordinates of the Ilma family, despite knowing that they were the culprits that caused his suffering.

In desperation, Paul did everything, but despite all the efforts, he was not able to save his wife and his child.

Paul did not even have the money to do a proper burial for them both, and thus he had to personally dig the grave for his family members and bury them outside in the barren land.

He couldn’t even put a tombstone there, as he knew that the soldiers would come and destroy it all if they found out that he had illegally dug the place.

With no family and no hope for the future, Paul, a hardworking man who had spent his entire life providing for and protecting his family, became an alcohol addict and wasted away his life in taverns.

He would do some hard labor work a few days a week, work on his farm sometimes, and then use all the money he earned to splurge on wine.

Alcohol became his sole way of forgetting all the pain and suffering in his life.

There were barely any happy memories in his mind, and the pain of losing his loving family was killing him every single day from the inside out.

Every single moment when Paul was sober, he asked himself, ’Why didn’t I also die that day!?’

He even tried to commit su*cide but had no courage to take the final step.

In the end, after losing everything, Paul was just drifting from one place to another.

The sole thing holding him intact was the farm he had worked on his entire life.

He had worked on it for so long that the very soil of that land became closely connected to his very soul.

It was his final solace in this life of suffering.

And just like usual, Paul was going to go to his farm, his land of solace, even today.

But to Paul’s misfortune, today was not an ordinary day.

When he finally reached his farm, he noticed that dozens of soldiers were present there and there were a lot of people mapping the area and measuring it.

Seeing that scene, anxiousness took hold of Paul’s heart, and he felt an ominous feeling that something bad was going to happen soon.

After living his entire life in suffering and disasters, Paul had now developed a keen sense of disaster.

He could already sense that something was not right and a new trouble was now knocking on his door once again.

Seeing Paul arrive at the farm, one of the soldiers standing guard frowned and shouted at him.

"What are you doing here!! Leave! There’s nothing here for you to see!!" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Paul was startled by that loud shout, and his wrinkled face became pale in fright as his fragile body shivered continuously.

But Paul couldn’t just abandon that farm just like that; he had spent his entire life on that land. He couldn’t leave. he summoned all of his courage in that moment and asked in a stuttering voice,

"Uh... Sir Soldier... t-this is my farmland... I just wanted to... k-know what you all are doing here... n-nothing else..."

Hearing Paul’s words, the soldier frowned deeply, but just when he was about to speak, an officer who seemed to be of higher rank walked over after noticing the situation and spoke in an arrogant tone.

"Our great lord, the ruler of the county of Ilma, will soon return with his son from their great mission!"

"The benevolent firstborn son of our lord will be bestowed with the blessings of the church of the goddess of war and combat!"

"We need to build a grand statue and place it in a location that will make the statue visible from afar! This land is now the property of the Count of Ilma!"

The officer took out a few coins and threw them at Paul’s face before saying arrogantly,

"Take this money and leave! If you dare to come back here, we will use you as the fertilizer for the flowers that will be planted in this place to decorate the statue’s premises!"

Paul could not even say a single word, as the aura of that officer was too strong, and his entire body was frozen stiff the moment that officer looked at him.

He knew that if he didn’t leave, he might really be killed off in that moment, and they would likely do exactly what they were saying!

Paul collected the coins from the ground with trembling hands, and before he could even collect them all, he was grabbed by the collar and thrown on the road by the soldier standing nearby!

"F*cking trash! Leave already! You are such an eyesore!"

Paul hurriedly got up from the ground, didn’t even notice the scratches he got from being thrown on the ground, and ran away in disgrace.

As Paul ran, tears flowed out of his eyes and refused to stop no matter how many times he tried to wipe them away with the sleeves of his old and torn shirt.

After running for a while, Paul reached a street in the slums, but his feet slipped due to the mud on the street, and he fell headfirst on the ground!

Thankfully the street was not made of stones and was just dirt and mud everywhere, saving him from suffering another injury.

His entire body got covered in mud, but that final fall became the final straw that broke him and made him faint on the spot.

His mind could not process all that pent-up sadness and pain anymore, and he fell unconscious on the spot!

Soon some farmers who needed to cross the street noticed him.

As the street was used for transportation with wooden carts and Paul was blocking their way, they grabbed the unconscious Paul and threw him away in a corner of the street like garbage before continuing on their way!

In fact, they even stole the coins from his pockets that Paul got in return for his precious land before leaving.

No one cared that there was a man lying unconscious at the corner of the street, and no one even spared him a single glance.

As they say, in a dog-eat-dog world where everyone is selfish and self-centered, you either trample on others or get trampled by others.