306 – One More Is Needed. (2)
Chapter 306: One More Is Needed. (2)
Ghislaine was confident, but Claude asked with a doubtful tone.
“Combat food?”
“Yeah, let’s start by creating a Combat Food Factory. I’ll let you know what’s needed.”
“Is it another one of those techniques only the Lord knows about?”
“Exactly. It’s something that doesn’t exist in the world yet.”
“Hmmm…”
It was like when they were improving wheat or developing cosmetics. Back then, he opposed it vehemently as nonsense, but in the end, they succeeded, didn’t they?
He wasn’t planning to argue anymore, but there was still one thing that puzzled him.
If they could produce combat food, the army’s supply would be smooth, and morale would be boosted. It would have a great effect on combat effectiveness, so why were they only creating it now?
“Why didn’t you make it before? It would have been nice to have it ready earlier.”
Ghislaine nodded as if it were a brilliant question and began to explain.
“First of all, everyone has been struggling with too much work.”
“Pff… that’s a lie.”
“Secondly, until now, there hasn’t been a need for us to expand throughout the kingdom.”
“Huh…”
“Thirdly, it was difficult to produce until we took Desmond.”
“Why?”
“Because it requires a lot of materials. There are limits to quantities when getting materials through trade, and depending on the situation, securing them could also be challenging.”
Only then did Claude nod as if he understood.
When war breaks out, the way the merchant groups move could mean they might not be able to procure items they used to easily find. It was like how Count Cabaldy tightly controlled the supply of iron ore in the North.
If it were a merchant group under the influence of the Duke Faction, they might not provide what Ghislaine needed.
“But what materials do you need that you can only create it after taking Desmond?”
“Quite a lot. Not just wheat and barley, but corn, beans, millet, sorghum, oats, red beans, turnips, cabbage… and various fruits, herbs, and meats too. It requires more materials than you might think.”
“…Wow.”
That was indeed a lot. And in this barren North, the only territories capable of producing such things were Desmond and Raybold.
Most other territories were made up of wasteland and mountains, making it hard to cultivate various crops. Even if there were arable lands, they would have to focus entirely on wheat cultivation.
But Desmond had quite a bit of good land, allowing for the cultivation of various crops, herbs, and livestock.
Of course, the main focus was still on wheat and livestock.
Other crops had seen a significant drop in production due to the effects of drought recently, but growing them at all was still feasible in their environment.
“What on earth are you going to make that requires so many materials?”
“If I tell you now, it’ll take a while to explain. You’ll understand in one glance when you see it.”
“Hmmm…”
Claude nodded, still suspicious. It felt dodgy, but had the Lord ever done anything that wasn’t? Just like always, they could see the results first.
“Anyway, got it? We’ll use Runestones to boost the production capacity of the crops needed for the Combat Food. Let’s keep that in mind and prepare.”
“Um… it seems like it’s going to cost a lot more than I thought. I get that it’s a factory for combat food, but it feels like there’ll be too many items to manage.”
Money is always the problem. If there’s money, you can do a variety of things. But do they really need to spend such an enormous amount just to make “just” combat food?
They knew supplies were important, but it felt like they were spending too much on food. Isn’t their preserved food already sufficient?
But Ghislaine cut in firmly with her voice.
“As I always say, how much money it takes isn’t what’s important. Money is just a means, not the goal. What’s important is combat effectiveness. Prioritizing gathering all the territory’s resources for improving combat power is what’s crucial.”
“It can’t just be a single purpose. The important thing is combat power. First, we need to gather all the resources of the territory to boost our combat capability.”
“Yes, of course…”
Claude replied with a weary voice. After all, everything Ghislaine had done until now had been like that. He developed and strengthened the territory, but all that was really to raise the combat power.
He was truly a man whose head was filled only with fighting.
Still, he was curious about what the new combat food was. Would it be something surprising again?
Unlike before, a bit of anticipation grew in Claude and the retainers’ hearts.
“Alright, let’s get to work.”
Ghislaine handed the design he had conceived to Galbarik.
As always, it was a rough concept that merely noted ‘what functions are needed’. Galbarik stared at the design for a moment and then nodded cheerfully.
“This one’s a piece of cake. I can whip it up in no time.”
Most of it was for putting something in, drying it, and grinding it down. If he couldn’t make this quickly, he had no right to call himself a dwarf.
He would just need a little help from the mages for the drying part. Drying could be done without magic, but it seemed they wanted to save time by using a bit of magic.
“Great, I’ll make it for you in a jiffy.”
Galbarik and the dwarves sprang into action. Since there were many things to do, it was better to get this done swiftly.
The People of Penris were quite accustomed to making things quickly. Not long after they began working, the production facility for the combat food prototype was quickly completed.
Galbarik proudly exclaimed, “How about that! This level is nothing for us! Check if what the lord thought was right!”
Ghislaine nodded seriously as he carefully examined the equipment in the facility.
‘I really can’t tell.’
Honestly, how would someone like him, who only knew how to fight, understand the intricate structures of the equipment? He knew only the concepts and the materials involved.
The reason he knew that was simple. He had learned the big picture of what was needed for waging war against the kingdom.
Knowing the details wasn’t necessary. Other people knew all the intricate parts.
‘It would have been nice to have Claude around.’
Not the strange fraud Claude of now, but the Claude from his past life, who had been through thick and thin and had lost limbs.
Unlike Ghislaine, who just had a rough grasp of the concepts, Claude had learned everything in detail.
Now, without that Claude, he had to utilize the information he had as much as possible to implement it.
That’s why he needed the dwarves, who possessed excellent engineering knowledge and skills.
“Well, I need to see the result to know. It seems like all the things I was thinking have been included.”
After somewhat skirting around, Ghislaine immediately summoned laborers to start the production of the prototype.
Due to the drought reducing the harvest and Harold sweeping most of the war supplies, they were still short on materials for mass production.
However, if the effects of this prototype were proven, he planned to add more production facilities and farmlands on a large scale.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Screech!
The equipment made by the mages and dwarves began to operate.
The laborers were busy doing what Ghislaine instructed, not fully understanding what they were making.
They tirelessly brought in materials, drying, pounding, and grinding repeatedly.
“What is the lord making?”
“Seems like all the materials can be eaten.”
“Is he making food for the nobles?”
They had no idea. The result was a finely ground, pale yellow powder.
One laborer, who tasted a bit, tilted his head.
“It doesn’t taste bad? It seems kind of nutty and sweet…”
“Is it a seasoning? I think it’d be good if we put it in a stew and boiled it.”
“Why create something like this? There are plenty of other delicious sauces.”
The laborers speculated while working, but no one could come up with a definitive answer.
Regardless, Ghislaine looked quite satisfied with the outcome.
“Looks good, right?”
It’s similar to what he had seen in his past life. The taste is subtly different, but the important thing isn’t the taste.
Ghislaine brought the water jug and added a spoonful or two of the powder, shaking it vigorously.
Soon, the water in the jug turned the same murky color as the powder. While anyone else might have found the appearance off-putting, Ghislaine chugged it down without hesitation.
Gulp, gulp, gulp.
“Ah!”
After downing it in one go, Ghislaine clenched his fist. He was a master capable of detecting even slight changes in his body.
When he drank the prototype, he felt a slight heat rising. Most people wouldn’t notice it.
“Done. It’s a success. It tastes similar to what I had before. Now I need to conduct experiments.”
He was sure it was made just as he had envisioned. However, this needed at least a month of human testing to be certain.
Ghislaine immediately called for Claude.
“What is it? I’m busy!”
“It’s finally complete.”
“A new combat food?”
“Yeah, now let’s recruit some volunteers for testing.”
When Ghislaine showed the prototype, Claude asked with a straight face.
“That… powder is the combat food?”
“Yep.”
“So you’re saying to fill up on powder?”
“Yep. Mix it with water and drink. Look.”
Ghislaine took a small jug of water, added the powder, and shook it.
Claude watched this and asked again, “What are you doing?”
“You have to mix it until it makes a shake! shake! sound.”
‘Wow, that sound really just comes out naturally.’
Nevertheless, Claude showed patience, knowing the explanation wasn’t over yet.
Once Ghislaine mixed it well enough, he drank the powder water again and said, “After mixing it thoroughly, just drink it.”
“Is that all?”
“Yep.”
“How much do I need to eat?”
“You won’t die if you just eat it once a day. Of course, if you want some strength, you should eat it two or three times. Just taking a few of these should let you survive for at least a month.”
“Hmm…”
Claude smiled broadly. It felt refreshing and ridiculous to hear such nonsense in a while.
“My lord?”
“What?”
“A person can survive on just water for a few days.”
“That’s true.”
“And if you add a bit of biscuit and jerky powder, you could last even longer.”
“That’s also true.”
“But eating like that only keeps you alive; you can’t fight. One hit, and you’re done.”
“No, no. This is fine. It provides enough nutrients. It means you’ll be full of vigor.”
Ghislaine was confident. He and his followers had eaten this a lot in his past life. Just a few jugs could keep their combat power up while surviving for at least a month.
Of course, there would be some hunger, but it wouldn’t be a big issue for moving around.
‘This is such a huge help for maintaining combat effectiveness.’
During the Age of Turmoil, figuring out how to supply goods to dangerous operational areas was a major problem.
If knights got isolated surrounded by dangerous folks, resupplying became almost impossible. While there were ways to send supplies using hot air balloons and magic, sometimes that wasn’t feasible either.
Therefore, research on long-term preserved food continued. The conventional preserved foods had limitations in quantity because of their weight and size.
Development wasn’t easy. It had to be easy to make, the ingredients couldn’t be premium, the preservation period had to be long, and stamina also needed to be maintained.
To pass through all those preconditions, scholars and mages from all over the continent conducted countless experiments to create this powder.
To pass the condition, this powder was created through countless experiments by the continent’s renowned scholars and mages.
As long as you can get water, you can eat it, and if there’s no water, you can just put a little in your mouth and let it dissolve.
The biggest advantage was that it provided sufficient nutritional supply and continuously revitalized the body.
Since the development of this preservation food, humanity’s operational scope has widened. It was one of the reasons that humanity survived during the Age of Turmoil in the last life.
It had been sufficiently verified in the previous life, and since Ghislaine himself had tasted it, he was confident in its effectiveness, but not Claude, who was trapped in the common sense of this era.
“Lord, it’s good to include various things, but do you really think eating a few spoonfuls will fill you up? Sure, it’s better than not eating it at all, but it’s not going to last a few days! Everyone’s just going to collapse!”
In this era, the common sense was that you had to eat heartily to have strength.
If you are hungry, it is natural that you can’t use your strength. You’d just be left lying there, barely breathing.
This was especially an area where Claude was most confident.
“I’ve lived on the streets way too much!”
Claude, who lived like a beggar due to gambling debts, had even eaten from trash and rationed dry food someone had thrown his way over several days.
Eating like that made your head dizzy, making it hard to even get up. You were hungry, weak, and felt miserable.
The amount he had eaten back then was definitely more than a spoon or two of that powder.
So, Claude just couldn’t believe what Ghislaine was saying.
The knights had mana, so they might last a little longer than him, but even so, enduring more than a month on just that would be impossible. You’d be at risk of starving to death, and if not, you’d surely be lying down.
That was common sense to Claude, who had years of experience living on the streets. No, it was common sense for everyone.
“Wait, they’re saying they’re doing an experiment? So the effectiveness hasn’t been verified yet, huh?”
As Claude was opposing but also pondering something, Ghislaine firmly said, “If you just take this twice a day, you’ll be able to move normally. Your stamina might decline a little, but not to the extent you’re thinking.”
“Oh, no way. Have you ever lived on the streets, Lord?”
“Yeah. I’ve spent more days living on the streets than most.”
“Again with the lies! Honestly, every time you open your mouth, a falsehood just rolls out.”
Knowing that he lived like a playboy from a noble family, what kind of street life could he have experienced?
Even if he said he had, it was probably just a few days of camping for fun.
“I know you’ve created a lot of weird things until now. But this is really different. I know because I’ve been hungry before. It’s absolutely impossible to eat just this and still fight. The limit would be a week at best. Are you really going to waste that much money on something like this? On farmland, runestones, and equipment… Ugh, it’s awful thinking about wasting time and money.”
“That’s why I want to do the experiment.”
Claude scoffed.
“Oh, it’s pointless. Let’s not waste time on such nonsense, honestly! If all those weird things you’ve made so far had failed even once, your credibility would be down the drain. If this fails, no one will believe you in the future.”
It was just a simple experiment, yet he kept provoking and opposing.
Ghislaine knew exactly what kind of guy Claude was. It was clear that Claude was twisting his brain with shallow thoughts.
Ghislaine smiled slyly.
“Shall we have a bet for the first time in a while?”
Claude’s eyes sparkled as he smiled. However, contrary to Ghislaine’s expectations, he didn’t immediately speak.
He was planning to gamble big this time.
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