Chapter 202

Chapter 202

Investing Through the Status Window.

Episode 202: Chapter 4 (2)

The continent hadn’t seen proper rain for three months now. Apart from the drizzle a month ago that was as sparse as a mouse’s urine.

Wells had long dried up, and only the river cutting through Vermandois barely maintained its flow.

It was a drought. A severe drought.

All kinds of fortune tellers performed rain rituals, placing animal heads on altars and dancing with swords, or drowned live animals in the river. Of course, such desperate efforts weren’t only occurring in Vermandois but across the entire continent.

Despite these extensive efforts, the sky was indifferent. Not even a drop of rain fell, let alone a refreshing downpour.

Relying solely on prayers was no longer an option. People began to face reality.

With drinking water scarce, there was no way to water the crops. The crops withered before harvest, signaling an impending food shortage.

Grain prices began to double and triple, eventually surpassing fivefold.

Even so, no one was willing to sell their stock. No one knew how long this drought would last.

…One year, just one year. It wouldn’t last long. But it would be a period of severe hardship.

This drought was because all the rain for the year fell as snow in the unknown Northern lands. The snow that once fell in Vermandois was just a faint consequence of this.

Knowing all this, Allen stockpiled not only enough grain for the mercenary group but several times more. This was one of the many reasons Charlotte was sent to Group Leader Kallihill of the South to obtain large quantities of grain.

The price of grain had already jumped fivefold, yet Allen hadn’t released his stock yet… Soon, there would come a time when grain would be as precious as gold.

While you wouldn’t die from a lack of gold, you would die from a lack of food.

To Allen, this was an opportunity to make a fortune. Just like a hundred years ago when his distant ancestor sold stored grain during a great famine to buy a barony.

Money was something that provided the easiest path. Naturally, the more you had, the better. Especially from Allen’s perspective, who was eyeing to be one of the Top 10.

As rumors started to spread about food shortages, grain prices skyrocketed. While Group Leader Viola managed to hold out by using her stored emergency supplies, other mercenary groups were not so fortunate.

Mercenary groups began going bankrupt, unable to pay their members, let alone afford food. Even Group Leader Gione of the Top 10 had to tighten his belt.

Thus, an enormous number of mercenaries began flooding the mercenary market. Many were willing to work just for food, without needing any pay.

Of course, Allen didn’t let this opportunity pass by. In some ways, it was the best discount event one could experience.

The Gione-Mercenary Group, and even the Viola-Mercenary Group, released mercenaries to organize their roster. The prices were incredibly cheap, too.

Allen joyfully picked and chose from the various mercenaries, letting out happy screams. He boldly eliminated anyone with unappealing traits and rarely negotiated if the price didn’t match. At this moment, he was overwhelmingly in control.

He managed to recruit three mercenaries for almost next to nothing. Their fees were cut by more than half compared to before.

Front row shield-bearer. Formerly of the Viola-Mercenary Group, Ponytail Enoch.

Second row axe wielder. Formerly of the Gione-Mercenary Group, Nipple-Slicing Karanos.

Second row archer. Formerly of the Gione-Mercenary Group, the Expert Archer Anne.

In particular, Ponytail Enoch and Expert Archer Anne were quite well-utilized figures even in [Guild Master].

Honestly, if it wasn’t for the two groups’ roster reorganization, recruiting them at such a low price would have been impossible.

And around that time, Allen put some of the grain up for auction. Of course, it was an open bid.

The final price was a whopping 10 times the usual rate. In terms of actual purchase price, it reached 20 times.

Thus, for the first time, Allen held more than ten thousand actual gold coins in his hands. It definitely felt extraordinary.

Of course, due to the drought, businesses like magic-related ones didn’t see much success, but even those he steadily stockpiled reserves. Anyway, unlike grain, it wouldn’t spoil over time.

Allen reinvested the money he earned back into another business. This time, into buildings.

He checked out buildings whenever they came up for urgent sale. He especially never missed those around the boulevard with a clear view of the river.

Thus, Allen purchased a building by the riverside, not far from the current hideout, at a very low price. Of course, its purpose was also a high-end inn. As customer foot traffic completely stopped, and repeated losses caused severe financial damage, the building owner eventually decided to liquidate the inn business.

The most decisive reason was the dropping building prices. Simply put, it was to sell it off before the price fell even further.

Naturally, everyone was puzzled by Allen’s choice. Buying an inn building now would definitely lead to losses.

Of course, he didn’t intend to run it properly right away. The inn building he currently owned was barely seeing any visitors.

However, he prepared for the future. At the soonest, one year later, at the latest two years…

During that month, he purchased two buildings. Despite that, he still had money left from selling grain.

Meanwhile, Allen gradually expanded his influence in Vermandois. Group Leader Viola had no intention of stopping him, and Group Leader Gione was too preoccupied with his own problems to intervene.

Still, the entire continent wasn’t in a very severe situation yet. However, the upcoming winter and still high taxes were a problem.

Up until now, people could somehow survive by digging up plant roots, but if they ate the seeds meant for next year’s planting, the situation would change. How could they prepare for the future when they were on the verge of starving now?

Even if they somehow managed to endure the winter and sow seeds next spring, they couldn’t harvest them in just a month or two…

The Empire encouraged relief laws for the poor, but which noble would willingly open their granary?

…It was a disaster caused by unavoidable calamity and a lax attitude overlapping at their worst. And it was ongoing.

Only after the poor were massacred would the nobles finally cook some gruel to barely sustain those wretched lives, binding them with invisible shackles to toil in the fields like slaves for life.

…That guy is about to appear.

Allen anticipated the appearance of the heretic marking Chapter 4. And shortly after, a rumor hit Vermandois.

-There’s an apostle of God who turns stones into meat!

A false apostle appeared.

The Holy Knight Monua, whose distrust in the Holy Kingdom had been piling up, could no longer believe in it.

Of course, this didn’t mean she didn’t believe in God. She remained a devout believer. However, God was not present in the Holy Kingdom.

When signs of a prolonged drought began to appear, she wasn’t yet so distrustful of the Holy Kingdom.

However, after witnessing bishops filling their own bellies while considering the starving believers as merely God’s will, she realized that God had already left the Holy Kingdom.

Even during the Immortal incident, the Holy Kingdom was nothing more than a bystander. Rather than solving problems, the Holy Kingdom was focused on evasion.

The upper echelon was already rotten. They weren’t believers in God but merely power-hungry rulers obsessed with money and authority.

Realizing this, Monua felt both disgust and pity for herself, who had worked for the Holy Kingdom all this time.

What have I been an accomplice to the Holy Kingdom for…?!

As she agonized deeply over this, a rumor reached her ears.

-An apostle of God performing miracles.

Of course, the Holy Kingdom denied the existence of such an apostle of God, labeling him a fraud and calling for divine punishment. But knowing there was no God in the Holy Kingdom, she was curious if he was truly an apostle of God.

…Perhaps the divine, pitying the continent, truly sent his apostle to this land…!

Thus, she abandoned her title as a Holy Knight and set off on a journey of penance.

To meet God. To find God’s will.

And at the end of a two-month journey, Monua saw the man who was said to be the apostle of God.

That masked man, already leading a large crowd.

After her long journey of penance, she ran toward him with great expectations, but suddenly stopped in her tracks.

And then she turned back and began retracing her steps.

Monua smelled a dreadful stench from him.

He was not an apostle of God.

On this land, there was no apostle of God.

She, who had embarked on a long pilgrimage to meet God’s apostle, had lost her goal once more.

Now, she needed help.

Someone to save herself, the continent, abandoned by God…

Who will save us…?

Please, save me…!

Soon, a man’s image emerged in her mind.

The scent of that man still lingered, unwavering, in her nose.

Monua suddenly had this thought.

Perhaps… the true apostle of God is not that masked man reeking of a dreadful stench… but maybe… it is that man…

Monua left the group of the false apostle without hesitation and embarked on her pilgrimage once again.

Towards Vermandois.