The western sun began to fade, and night slowly fell.
The knights on patrol were only just returning. Their duties, beyond maintaining order in the villages, included regularly checking on the population and their living conditions. They provided some aid to villagers in dire straits, and the Church would usually subsidize a portion of it.
In normal times, free from plague and war, such aid was quite effective. In Mann at present, however, there were simply too many people who needed relief.
It was a thankless task. The Knights were reluctant to enter villages hit hard by the plague; leaving a few sacks of wheat at the entrance was considered the mark of a dedicated and kind-hearted man.
Of course, the biggest headache wasn't distributing relief, but collecting taxes.
For the past two years, at best, only a third of the villages under the jurisdiction of Fougeres Castle had been able to pay their taxes.
