chapter_0049

49 – Food Attack (Illustration)

49 – Food Attack (Illustration)

Noah, the treasurer of the Crones Family, reviews hundreds of documents each day.

The workload is beyond what an ordinary person’s brain could handle, but whether it was due to the influence of the Blessing or not, Noah not only managed it without any issues but also enjoyed it.

As he sifted through hundreds of documents and reports, the flow of money and resources began to visualize in his mind.

However, at some point, a strange noise started to creep into Noah’s thoughts.

At first, the noise was so trivial that he tried to ignore it.

But as time passed, it became clearer and grew to a point where it could no longer be dismissed.

The source of that noise was the food stockpiling rate of Dreyhart.

At some point, the food stockpiling rate of Dreyhart began to decline gradually.

Feeling a bad premonition, Noah headed to Dreyhart while everyone else was invited to Lord Zelas’s gathering.

And there, he witnessed an astonishing sight.

“Line up!! Line up! Line up!!”

Just as he had seen in the Crones territory, a massive number of free citizens were migrating to Dreyhart.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

“Four silvers for a sack of wheat?”

The price of wheat in Dreyhart had doubled to four silvers.

No matter how many free citizens were migrating, this price was beyond common sense.

To find the cause, Noah conducted an investigation, and a certain family’s name came up.

“So, the Klaus Family is behind this situation.”

“Yes, that’s correct, milady.”

The eastern territory of Klaus, located above Dreyhart, had begun to exhibit suspicious behavior recently.

First, they started allowing the migration of free citizens to Dreyhart far too easily.

The impoverished citizens of Klaus rushed to migrate to Dreyhart, resulting in a rapid increase in Dreyhart’s population.

Moreover, they were reportedly reducing the sale of wheat gradually.

This alone was strange, but Klaus took actions that were even more incomprehensible.

They began stockpiling the wheat they had promised to sell by paying penalties, and upon hearing this, Noah started to get a sense of what they were planning.

“A food attack.”

“Yes, milord, the Klaus Family is clearly planning a food attack on Dreyhart.”

In a place without modern logistics technology, food was an incredibly important resource.

Dreyhart was not a good city in that regard.

While there were Dragonkin warriors with exceptional physiques and rare materials and spices obtainable from monsters, the most crucial resource—food—was lacking.

Although there had been significant progress in land cultivation in the Crones territory, allowing for enough production to sustain Dreyhart, there were many transportation issues, and until now, they had been purchasing food from the east, particularly from Klaus.

“I don’t understand something.”

“What is it, Hart?”

“If they are going to launch a food attack on Dreyhart, we can transport it from the Crones. Could they not have known that?”

Hart’s reasoning was not wrong.

If I had only the memories of Calix Crone, I might have been persuaded by that statement and dismissed it as just a feeling.

But I had the memories of my past life.

“Desert flood…”

“You knew about it too, milord.”

I simply nodded at Noah’s words.

I had seen it while playing Dreyhart.

Floods occur in Dreyhart every 5 to 10 years.

The floods that suddenly arise in the barren desert last for about 1 to 2 months and are accompanied by fierce storms that make it impossible to even set sail.

The problem was the location.

The areas where desert floods occur are primarily southeast of Dreyhart, right between the Crones and Dreyhart.

When a desert flood occurs, the Crones and Dreyhart become completely cut off.

It is said that a person can survive without food for a maximum of about 2 months.

However, that is merely a nutritional figure.

An ordinary person would go insane after just 2 weeks without food and would resort to any means to survive.

With the sudden influx of free citizens from Klaus, the population of Dreyhart had already increased significantly.

Suddenly increased population, natural disasters, food shortages, and the absence of any helping hand…

What followed was entirely up to Klaus.

They could invade under some nonsensical pretext and make treaties with a starving Dreyhart at their whim.

I felt a deep anger rise within me after a long time.

Food attacks had been a method of assault throughout history.

The issue was that such attacks, along with sieges, were one of the strategies that caused significant harm to the populace.

The Korean example of the “Byeongjahoran” is a representative case.

The Joseon army, caught off guard by the Qing army, nearly starved to death in Namhansanseong, and many actually did perish from hunger.

Among those who starved, some died from Refeeding Syndrome when they suddenly ingested a large amount of nutrients after the siege was lifted.

The thought that someone was planning to execute such a horrific act in my territory filled me with rage.

“Still, it’s fortunate. We knew in advance.”

“That’s right, milord. If we prepare adequately from now on, we can make sufficient preparations before the desert flood occurs.”

Hart and Noah spoke as if to soothe my anger.

But this was not something that could be resolved so easily.

If we start stockpiling food from the Crones right now, they would likely give up, licking their lips.

The problem was what came next.

Once they felt there was no damage from their probing, they would do the same thing again and again.

Retaliation between nations occurs for such reasons.

If such retaliation happens over a simple clash, would we just let a “food attack,” which could lead to hundreds or thousands of citizens starving to death, pass by?

I couldn’t stand it, even if others could.

“Preparation alone is not enough.”

“W-what do you mean, milord?”

I stood up and looked outside.

I could see numerous citizens living peacefully.

Surely, people in Dreyhart were living peacefully like this too.

To protect their lives, it was necessary to show them what would happen if they attacked us recklessly.

“Call Ricain. From now on, this is war. Prepare every means we have… and we will counterattack.”

Everyone seemed momentarily shocked by my words, but soon they all nodded in agreement.

Now was a time of chaos.

A time when weakness meant death; we must not become like Hadem, a slaughterer, but we also must not become mere punching bags.

We began preparing for a counterattack.

At that moment, countless sacks of wheat were being transported in Klaus’s warehouse.

“Come on! Let’s hurry!!”

“The fifth warehouse is almost full! Open the sixth warehouse!”

Their food storage began to stockpile wheat in amounts never seen before.

Typically, Klaus would only stockpile 2 to 3 warehouses at most.

But they began to mobilize all their capabilities to stockpile wheat.

They didn’t sell the wheat they were supposed to sell, even paying penalties, and as a result, the warehouses began to overflow with wheat.

“Berick, is everything ready?”

“Lord Royce, you have arrived.”

Berick, who was commanding the situation, bowed his head in greeting as Royce arrived.

Royce felt proud as he looked at the enormous amount of wheat.

“What an incredible amount! Have we been producing this much wheat?”

“Yes, milord. All of this wheat has been produced in the Klaus territory.”

Royce believed that they were the ones responsible for the food supply in the east, no matter what anyone said.

That’s why he agreed with Berick’s strategy.

How dare they disregard them, who could be said to be the lifeline of the east?

Let them try starving to death!

As he thought about the prospect of selling the wheat piled in the warehouses at dozens, if not hundreds, of times the price, a smile never left Royce’s face.

If the currently stockpiled wheat were sold at hundreds of times the price, it would be impossible to pay with the gold in Dreyhart.

So Royce planned to receive spice farms as payment.

While one might think that no one would part with a spice farm, a money tree, they would surely change their minds when they were on the brink of starvation.

Thus, following Royce’s orders, Berick prepared the stockpiling of wheat and purchased food to send to Dreyhart, preparing for the food attack.

They didn’t just stockpile food.

They dispatched informants disguised as free citizens to Dreyhart to assess the internal situation.

Fortunately, it seemed that the Crones Family was completely unaware of the food attack, as there were no signs of food stockpiling, and Berick thought it was an opportunity to stockpile even more food in preparation for that day.

As a month passed, that day finally arrived.

Kuguuuuung-!

Shwaaaah-!!

Suddenly, an immense downpour began to pour over the arid desert.

With the torrential rain, a massive river formed in the desert in an instant, and waves surged, blocking access for everyone.

A “desert flood” had occurred.

Noah White

Lana Ansus

Selena Lily Novarens

A word from the author (Author’s note)

Thanks to the readers, I have received an encouragement award!

Thank you!!

I will repay you with a more interesting novel!!!

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