"You got it. The loss of arable land was absolutely crushing. That said - if our nobility had been willing to tighten their belts even just a bit, we probably would not have had to sacrifice so many people, if any of them. Any population culls like that are made with an eye to eliminating idealists, political dissidents, radicals of all stripes... people who'd be willing to go against the rule of the king. Or who are used to living outside the law already. You see?"

Hange shakes her head and finishes off her drink. It's something that burns her still, though the circumstances are drastically different now.