CHAPTER 37: THE GREAT TRAGEDY

Aegon and Xavier were both confused by Old Bai’s words. They didn’t remember the kingdom going through any great tragedy, and they had also seen the capital being as it always was before.

But then again, they were still pretty young, so perhaps the adults didn’t bother telling them, and they didn’t really have any connections with the mundane citizens either.

It wasn’t a surprise they didn’t know about the internal affairs of the capital, but if it was going through something truly big, then they should have known, right?

Especially Xavier. Although his father had been busy, he didn’t seem to be too worried or anything. So then, what exactly had gone wrong in the kingdom?

"Can you please explain what happened, Old Bai?" Xavier asked, his voice filled with anxiousness.

Perhaps there was something his father had overlooked, so it would be better if he could learn about this so-called great tragedy and report it to him.

"I am not too sure about the details, as I’m just an old man dying in the corner of the capital," Old Bai sighed. "But something happened upstream of the Moon River last year, and the water we get lowered significantly."

Aegon narrowed his eyes as he compared the Moon River he had seen in his childhood and the current one, and then realized Old Bai was right. There was indeed a significant drop in the water level, something he hadn’t noticed before because the river still looked like a vast water beast from afar.

"But the canals were made for the usual waters of the river. Now that it’s far below the normal level, the canals are becoming useless," Old Bai sighed yet again, helpless about the whole situation. "The farms aren’t getting the water they need."

"But can’t we just redesign the canals to match the current water level?" Xavier asked in confusion. "Although it will take a lot of effort, I don’t believe His Majesty can’t do it for the farmers."

"No, that’s the most stupid idea," Aegon chided his friend and said. "As Old Bai mentioned, there’s something wrong in the upstream areas which resulted in this situation. So, what if the issue gets resolved? The water will come flowing back in abundance, and because of the redesigned canals, it’ll flood into the farms and even wash away the soil. That would be a disaster far worse than the current situation."

"This young man is right. That’s what we all realized too, so we didn’t protest," Old Bai nodded. "The Moon River is the symbol of Mother Moon, and its might is not something we can withstand without the powerful Mages."

Aegon looked at his disheartened expression and understood his worries.

The Moonrise Kingdom was widely known as the Grain Kingdom because of the large number of farms it had. A massive quantity of grains and other materials were transferred to the other kingdoms and even to the Empire itself from Moonrise.

It was even famously called the Land of Farmers.

A major part of the credit definitely went to the Moon River, which passed through the entire kingdom and supplied it with good quality water. It even seemed to bless the lands with good harvests every year.

Even the capital was surrounded by many hectares of farmland. It just showed how heavily the Moonrise Kingdom depended on its farming industry.

Now that even the farms were affected on such a large scale, it would surely impact Moonrise Kingdom heavily.

’Perhaps it’s their enemies who did this to weaken the Kingdom. How ruthless!’

"The worst part of this Great Tragedy is that something happened to our lands," Old Bai continued. "It demands far more water than before, and we can’t fulfill the needs. If it weren’t for His Majesty distributing aid to all farmers, many of us would have starved to death last year."

’That must have hurt the economy a lot,’ Aegon thought, as he caught the worried look on Xavier’s face. ’He has been in the Academy, so he doesn’t know much. But he still cares a lot about them.’

Old Bai looked at the river and sighed, "But I don’t know what will happen this year. It’s unknown if we can even survive this winter or not. But I didn’t want to give up, so I came here to bring water to my farms. It’s the shortest and easiest path."

Turning towards a small rock, he said, "I’ll go over there to sit. My old bones really can’t handle all this pressure."

"Sure. We’ll fill the buckets till then!" Aegon said.

They had already reached the base and stood on the bank of the Moon River. As they stepped inside the flowing water, the cool sensation made their minds relax a bit.

"What are you thinking?" Aegon asked.

"I’m wondering about what Father is thinking about this whole situation," Xavier answered. "He isn’t a careless man, Aegon. He cares a lot about his people, so I’m wondering..."

"Don’t think too much about him for now. He must have his own reasons," Aegon interrupted. "For now, let’s help Old Bai and check on the situation properly. If possible, I would like to help."

Xavier’s eyes lit up as he slapped his thigh, "Damn it! How could I forget you’re a genius? You will figure something out. Do you have a solution to make the water rise again or something?"

"Not quite, but let me check the situation first. I’ll come up with something," Aegon said solemnly.

"Cool! If you’re on it, I don’t need to worry too much," Xavier grinned. "But I’ll still visit Father to ask about the situation. We can get the most reliable information there."

"Indeed!"

They quickly filled the ten buckets while wondering how Old Bai was intending to carry them. They could see that he didn’t follow any pathway, so that would have likely pushed him beyond his limits.

"The circumstances demand it." Aegon sighed.

They came out of the river and accompanied Old Bai back to the top of the slopes where a bullock cart was waiting for them.

They finally understood how Old Bai intended to bring these buckets back home. As they placed the buckets on the backside of the cart, Old Bai repeatedly thanked them for their work.

"Old Bai, we were looking for some work, so how about you let us help in your farm for today?" Xavier offered, as they wanted to check out his farms too. "We are orphans and came to the capital after our village got destroyed in a Monster Tide."