Chapter 179: Finally, the Time Has Come. (2)
Amelia frowned at Conrad, the Merchant Leader of the Actium Merchant Group.
“They requested food from Penris again?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Is the situation in Penris and Perdium really that bad?”
“Not exactly. The Northern Lords have already provided some support, and the Crown Prince Faction has also lent a hand, right? If I had to guess, it seems like they’re trying to secure supplies early because of the immigrants.”
“How much support did the Crown Prince Faction provide?”
“It’s a sudden decision, so I can’t say for sure, but… since Marquis Branford is involved, it should be sufficient to get through this year.”
Conrad regularly reported to Amelia whenever something special happened during their transactions with Penris. This time was no different.
When they first sold food, there were no major thoughts behind it, but the more they observed the situation, the stranger it felt.
Despite significant support from the Crown Prince Faction, they were still buying food like crazy.
The quantity of food being purchased was causing food prices in the North to rise, making it impossible not to report it.
Amelia lowered her gaze, lost in thought.
“What are they thinking this time?”
The harvest season was approaching. No matter how barren the North was, food prices would inevitably drop right after the harvest.
However, Ghislaine, who already had sufficient food stocks, seemed unable to wait even for a moment and was buying up more food to the point where prices started to rise, which was concerning her.
“How are the other merchant groups acting?”
“They’re eager to sell food. It’s clear the prices will drop soon, so they’re looking to make a profit before that.”
The North was a must-stop for merchant groups selling food from other regions.
Even after deducting transportation costs, they could sell for much higher prices here than elsewhere.
Meanwhile, prices were even higher than in previous years, so any merchant wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity.
After a moment of silence, Amelia asked about something else.
“How’s the weather been lately? How do you think the harvest will turn out this year?”
“It has been a bit drier than last year, but it’s not a cause for major concern. We’ve had this kind of weather before.”
“Hmm…”
The North often experienced famine, but Raybold and Desmond rarely faced such issues.
Even during famines, they only lacked a surplus to sell to other regions, but the Territory Residents never went hungry.
That’s why Conrad was confidently saying, “It’s not a cause for concern.”
However, after hearing that response, Amelia thought for a while before looking up and saying firmly.
“Stop selling food. Not just in Penris, but everywhere. For now, let’s stockpile it separately. Without anyone knowing. Also, buy whatever you can from other merchant groups as far as resources allow.”
Conrad, taken aback by the sudden order, replied.
“The prices will drop soon after the harvest begins. We could make a profit if we sell now. While it’s fine to stockpile our goods, buying from other merchant groups would lead to significant losses.”
“Enough with the excuses, just do as I say.”
“…May I ask why you are deciding this?”
“Since when have you been questioning my orders?”
“…I apologize. I’ll proceed right away.”
Seeing Conrad’s tense face, Amelia clicked her tongue. Since he was a follower she valued, it wouldn’t be too bad to explain this much to him.
He clicked his tongue. Since this was a follower he cared about quite a bit, it wouldn’t hurt to explain a little.
“I have something to confirm.”
“What is it?”
“Whether that guy’s successes so far have just been due to luck, or if he actually has skill. I’m willing to accept losses, so proceed as discussed.”
“……Understood.”
Conrad gave up on trying to persuade her. He knew well that once Amelia made a decision, it was unlikely to be overturned.
Even though she cared for her followers, there had been many times when going too far against her decisions cost them their lives.
As a command, he had no choice but to follow, but the thought of incurring a significant loss made Conrad click his tongue inwardly.
After Conrad left, gripping his aching gut, Amelia remained deep in thought for a long while.
‘Ghislaine… I’ll keep an eye on what he’s up to this time.’
*
When Claude was told to prepare supplies for 3,000 men, he doubled over laughing.
“My Lord! Our troops consist of only 500, including knights! 3,000? Hahaha! Wendy, did the butler not teach you numbers properly? Aah!”
Only after getting hit by Belinda did the true Claude rub his sore eyelids and ask again.
“Is it really 3,000?”
“Yep.”
“But our forces can’t possibly reach that number.”
“I told you before. I’ll go get them myself.”
“Where? There’s no such number in Perdium, and even if there were, with the northern borders, they couldn’t spare any troops.”
“Oh, no worries. There are plenty of places to borrow from. Soon enough, they’ll be lending them to us from everywhere.”
“Ugh… Here we go again.”
No lord lends troops without a special relationship or a proper price. Even the Crown Prince Faction, which they had handed over territory residents to, didn’t support them with troops.
Yet, the Lord spoke so confidently about acquiring troops that it was utterly incomprehensible.
Claude, tired of questioning, asked for confirmation.
“But weren’t we supposed to defend? Was that just my misunderstanding?”
“I never said anything like that.”
“The hot air balloon thing!”
Claude raised his voice in accusation, only to stop midway.
Thinking back, the lord indeed had never said such a thing. He had just gotten ahead of himself and believed it.
“…Right, it was just my misunderstanding then. So when will you be borrowing the troops?”
“Soon. Almost done. Just a little longer.”
Claude sighed deeply.
It seemed like that guy’s ‘timing’ he had been talking about since they returned to the territory was about to come.
What kind of timing made him so confident? He planned to keep his eyes wide open to find out.
If it turned out to be nothing, he was fully prepared to mock him tirelessly.
‘Still, if he could really borrow 3,000 troops…’
Even if it’s a joke, the number of people who could wield the strength of a knight would roughly be around 400.
If 3,000 troops were added to that, their chances of winning would skyrocket.
‘Of course, if Count Cabaldy’s side gets scared and goes into defense because of our numbers, then I can’t guarantee anything…’
Claude shook his head as if to cut off his complicated thoughts. Nothing was certain right now.
“Understood. I’ll go ahead and finish preparations for 3,000 and make sure everything’s in order. We have plenty of food, so it shouldn’t be a big problem.”
“Great, we’re nearly there, so everyone should stay focused on their assigned tasks.”
The retainers bowed their heads with anxious expressions. Hearing the lord’s tone made it seem like they would indeed be departing soon.
Up until now, the lord had been preparing various things and talking about borrowing troops, but that was all.
Since they had never heard the details, everything just felt chaotic and hard to believe.
But what power did they really hold? If ordered, they would just follow blindly. After all, they were only able to grumble in front of the lord because of the Chief Officer’s stature.
Seeing the uneasy faces around, Ghislaine subtly smiled.
‘Just wait a little longer, and you’ll find out.’
As Ghislaine anticipated, as time went on, the residents of Penris Territory began to feel something strange.
“What’s going on? Why is it so hot in the fortress?”
“It hasn’t been this severe for the past few years!”
“Has there ever been an enemy this severe?”
“Isn’t this going to lead to a serious drought?”
Those who farm are sensitive to the weather. The weather is deeply related to the harvest of the year.
As the air grew hotter and drier by the day, the territory residents were struck with fear.
For those who have always struggled to fill their stomachs, a drought was the worst disaster, reviving nightmarish memories.
Everyone was busy looking over the fields every day, their faces full of worry.
However, that worry did not last long.
“Oh, it was just unnecessary worry. Maybe it’s just a bit hot. Have we weakened?”
“The wheat is just thriving! We’ll harvest again soon.”
The monstrous wheat created by the Lord was thriving, regardless of the heat or dryness.
Honestly, it looked good enough to harvest right away.
Thanks to the recent maintenance of the waterways, there were no issues with supplying water either.
Meanwhile, while the Penris Territory seemed to brush it off, other territories were starting to panic.
Lowell, who was in charge of gathering information, went out every day to report the situation of neighboring territories.
“The weather is not normal. It looks like a major drought is coming. Lords from various regions are also worried.”
Initially, the reports ended with just a hint of concern. Plus, with the wheat growing well, the retainers weren’t feeling the weather issue too deeply.
They had filled the reservoirs with water from the river, so there were no worries there either.
Everyone just thought Lowell was making a fuss over a little heat.
But Lowell’s reports became increasingly dire as time went on.
“The river’s water level is dropping rapidly! The condition of the crops isn’t good!”
“The merchant groups are moving to secure food! It seems there’s a shortage of supplies.”
“The food prices are skyrocketing!”
With the reports becoming far more serious, the retainers stared at Ghislaine, mouths agape.
While the Penris Territory was upgrading its warehouses due to a lack of space for food storage, other territories were in chaos over food shortages.
If it truly was a famine, it made sense. After all, all the food in the North had already been siphoned off at a premium price by the Penris Territory.
Other merchant groups wouldn’t be able to acquire supplies even if they wanted to.
However, the retainers, who remained within Penris, couldn’t bring themselves to believe Lowell’s words.
Just the day before, they were lamenting that they had stored too much food, declaring that “we won’t be able to eat it all and it’ll spoil,” and cursing the Lord, only to suddenly hear that food was in short supply nationwide?
‘We’re fine, right? Is he lying? Did the Lord tell him to lie?’
‘So even the badly conditioned crops have prices skyrocketing? Surely it can’t really be a drought, right?’
The retainers, in doubt, were soon convinced by a new report a few days later.
“The famine stones have surfaced in various places! It’s definitely a drought! This is serious!”
If the famine stones planted in the river had emerged, it meant that the river had dropped to a level clearly visible.
Such a drought was a disaster that happened only once in decades, even in the barren North.
That wasn’t the only problem. Other regions outside the North were suffering from drought as well.
“The entire kingdom… is being covered by abnormal weather. It seems difficult to harvest crops normally… Not only Ruthania but adjacent foreign territories are also the same. It’s the worst… drought.”
At this point, it couldn’t simply be brushed off as a bad harvest.
It was really rare for a drought to cause a famine across the entire kingdom.
The retainers were unable to grasp the situation.
In Penris, there was plenty of food stacked high, and so much water that it felt unreal, yet other territories were in chaos due to drought.
It seemed like the Lord’s relentless push on the people was somehow foreseeing this disaster.
Claude, shaken with confusion and unease, trembled as he asked,
“L-Lord, what is happening? What’s going on? Did you really anticipate that a drought would come?”
Everyone nodded in agreement as they turned to Ghislaine.
Looking at Ghislaine, I nodded in agreement with Claude’s words.
Until now, everything the Lord had done could be explained away by hearsay or sheer luck.
But predicting the weather was an entirely different matter.
Foreseeing the future was something only a prophet from legends could do.
While everyone was astonished, Ghislaine simply rested her chin on her hand and smiled with her eyes closed.
What should I say? That I actually know the future?
Of course, I couldn’t say that, but it was amusing just to imagine it.
As Ghislaine continued to smile, Claude urged her to respond.
“Hey, don’t just sit there laughing! How did you know there would be a drought?”
After a lengthy pause, Ghislaine casually tossed back her answer.
“It’s hot.”
“Excuse me?”
“When the weather’s too hot, a drought comes, right? It’s been hot for a while now. Am I wrong?”
“Wait, you’re telling me you went through all that trouble of preparation just because the weather’s hot? Does that even make sense?!”
“Oh, what’s it to you? I don’t like the heat.”
“…….”
Everyone fell silent at Ghislaine’s stubbornness.
“So, you’re saying that her excessive fuss about the weather happened to be spot-on by coincidence?”
That sounded like something only someone overly worried could come up with.
It’s hard to believe, yet it seemed a bit more credible than actually predicting the future.
If her guess had been wrong, the Penris Territory would have been stuck with a load of rotten food and taken a great hit—but thankfully, it wasn’t.
After enjoying the silence for a moment, Ghislaine asked Lowell a question.
“How’s the situation in Perdium?”
“Um… it’s a bit different from other places.”
“Give me the details.”
Lowell flicked through a report and replied with a grim expression.
“The Chief Officer, Baron Homern, received a report on the territory situation and…”
“Received it?”
“Cough. ‘Oh no, I messed up the harvest again this year. But then again, we’ve messed up every year, right? We have plenty of supplies for now, so we’re fine. If we run low, we’ll just ask the Grand Duke for more.’ …that’s what he said.”
“……Okay. What about the reservoir situation over there?”
“Stock levels have dropped significantly, but thanks to the streams flowing from the Forest of Monsters and the reservoirs we built, it seems they can cope for now. Their condition is better than other territories.”
“Good, it doesn’t seem like there will be a major issue.”
Perdium was already a place where survival was a daily challenge, so they could brush this drought off as ‘just how it is.’
Sure, if the drought continues, water will become scarce, but they would manage somehow.
Honestly, I would have liked to build more reservoirs and waterways, but since Perdium was my father’s territory, I had my limits in interfering.
Reassured that Perdium could hold up, Ghislaine asked another question.
“What about the situation in other territories?”
“Catastrophic. Raybold and Desmond won’t even yield half of their usual harvest. Thankfully, they probably have some stockpiles to get by, but… other places are expected to see widespread famine.”
“Hmm, that’s unfortunate news.”
“Everyone’s scrambling to secure food. If you sell now, you could get ten times the usual price.”
At Lowell’s words, the retainers’ eyes sparkled with excitement.
The North has always had poor food production. There was no way they could withstand this drought.
Meanwhile, Penris had an unimaginable amount of food piled up. Plus, soon an enormous harvest from the fields of monster wheat would come pouring in.
If they played their cards right, they might just become the richest territory in the kingdom.
Even with everyone’s hopeful gazes on her, Ghislaine shook her head.
“I’m not planning to sell right now.”
Claude suddenly recalled Ghislaine’s frequent mention of “timing.”
“Lord, could it be that… this is a good time for war?”
With crops withering, Cabaldy Territory wouldn’t be able to properly feed its soldiers either.
Starving soldiers would likely fight with low morale.
Ghislaine grinned and replied.
“Yes, finally, the time has come.”
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