Chapter 483: Struggles
Chapter 483: Struggles
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Only four days had passed since the death of his father and Gustavo was trying to prosper and work hard as much as he could in the fields with his mother, his two younger brothers had already learned how to hunt, and the little girls were proficient at cooking simple meals now. In the house of such ancient times, you had to learn what to do quickly to help the family survive and prosper.
Although Gustavo still felt concerned when his siblings went to hunt alone by themselves, he couldn’t do much himself as he had to do his work to maintain the farm stable. Nonetheless, many years passed since the death of his father and Gustavo had yet to shed a single tear, despite his mother crying desperately and sorrowfully that day, the young boy had kept a calm yet concerned expression on his face. He knew that his father would be looking at him from heaven, and he had to do the best he could to meet his expectations and let the family survive.
His emotions continued to bubble within his heart all these years, keeping them hidden so he could show a reliant figure for the family, he had matured way too quickly at the age of 14, and his mind and thoughts were already those of a grown adult in terms of maturity.
His was still a teenager but he could not do teenager things due to the times he was living.
Nonetheless, Gustavo could say to be living a fine life, as long as no more misfortune could befall them, he knew that things would stabilize and that everyone could live peacefully and happily as a family, together until the end.
Gustavo always dreamed with being a Knight, however, he loved these tales of knights clad in shiny armor wielding blades, spears, and axes and fighting against the invaders of the duchy or against the deadly beasts of the forests, slaying dragons and even the Tale of King Arthur which spread from Britain all the way to the rest of the Europe had inspired him.
Nonetheless, these were but mere little dreams that could never truly become real, he knew deep down that his life as a farmer would stay as a farmer, he strived forward to improve such a life and help survive those he loved dearly.
But the life of a person in such ancient times never went that far, the death rates in such medieval times for simple farmer folk were not over 30 years of age, many children never met their grandparents and more so often they wouldn’t get to see their parents when they reached the age of 20, desperately trying to find someone to love and make a family with to keep the lineage going even when they died so quickly, perhaps the people of these times had so many offspring despite the scarcity of food due to this.
At the age of 14 he was already being given ideas y his mother to find a cute girl around the village and eventually become a father as well, the young woman had all her children between the ages of 16 to 20 and was currently 30 years of age. People had children very early in their lives in such times, and the youngsters were often seen as adults at 15 years of age, now that Gustavo was reaching his age of maturity, he had considered this but due the difficulties of their life, it became hard to even considerate to have children.
Nonetheless, the boy was strong and brave in his own accord, he first wanted to see his entire family grow up before he ever gets to think about having children of his own, he hunted with his little brothers, cooked with his little sisters, and attended the farm with his beloved mother for the years to come, until he hit 17 years of age and a sudden calamity hit the nearby duchy, a strange disease began to kill people from one day to another.
People would suddenly begin to feel terrible headaches, nausea, and would have difficulties breathing. At this point in time diseases were strong all across Europe and they were also a cause of the high rates of mortality within entire population, and the thing is, not even the rich could escape diseases as medicine was not as advanced as it is in modern days. They could escape he harshness of the wilderness, bandits, hunger, but not diseases.
Many aristocrats began to fall ill as the economy started to collapse in the nearby duchy, many people began to escape from the big city, many of them belonging to rich families, from one day to another he found his small village being surrounded by large groups of people moving materials for the construction of small fortresses and manors for these rich aristocrats to live now.
The farmers were now asked to share 50% of all their biannual harvests to the aristocrats as they owned these lands since their ancestors came here. The farmers tried to revolt but those that dared to go against the aristocrats had their throats sliced and their stomachs punctured by the blades of the knight guards they held.
Feeling utterly desperate, Gustavo had nothing to do than give in to their ridiculous demands, giving away half of their total harvest would leave their entire family in almost hunger, with barely two meals a day consisting of mostly rabbit soup with some green pea, carrots, and onions, and hard bread, they were barely able to fill their stomachs, and that was only when they managed to hunt rabbits, sometimes the chickens would die sooner than they could mature and their little bodies wouldn’t be enough to satiate a family of five. Nonetheless, barely scratching with something to fill their bellies, the family still survived fairly well compared to other larger families with lesser resources.
However, the balance between the families of farmers was broken and their stability forced many of them to thievery, stealing each other’s chickens or even plundering their crops before time, one of such days came soon to Gustavo’s family…
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