Famine

"Ah! This hammock was really uncomfortable to sleep in!" Roland twisted his aching waist as he woke at dawn.

"Damn, no way... I'm still so young. I shouldn't be impotent..." Seeing no one around, Roland examined the source of his future happiness.

"My lord, breakfast is served!" Caslo suddenly pushed open the door, and the battered wooden door creaked under the strain.

"Just put it on the table." Roland spoke casually as he looked at the table, which still bore fresh break marks.

"Yes, my lord. Please enjoy." Caslo respectfully set the breakfast on the table before withdrawing.

"Mm, not bad. Pretty refined!" Roland looked at the breakfast before him: a bowl of oatmeal, three slices of white bread, and two palm-sized grilled fish. He could not help but feel surprised. Those burly men actually had such good cooking skills? The food they made could only be described as not killing anyone—or at least keeping them from starving to death...

With that thought, Roland pushed open the door and walked out. With a crash, the wooden door finally collapsed under the strain. Roland's mouth twitched, and he helplessly instructed the two Knights on guard to clean it up.

"Caslo, who made breakfast today?" Roland curiously asked Knight Caslo, who was wolfing down his food.

"Mm... the mistress of that refugee family that arrived yesterday. None of us are much good at cooking, and Ivy is someone who only knows how to eat! She's nothing like a woman at all." Caslo muttered.

As they spoke, Roland noticed the black bread and water skin in Caslo's hands, and he could not help frowning. "You're eating that?"

Roland was deeply taken aback. He had never expected a noble Wyvern Knight to be reduced to chewing black bread. The thought made him unusually furious. How could these people feed black bread to the soldiers protecting them? Roland quickened his pace toward the refugee family that had arrived yesterday.

At that moment, The Bao Bi Family was busy preparing breakfast for the soldiers. They carefully baked black bread from ground flour mixed with bran, distributing it to the already ravenous soldiers. A large pot beside them simmered with mushroom and wild vegetable soup. The mistress of the household thoughtfully ladled a bowl for every soldier on guard. Several half-grown children beside her gazed longingly at the food before them. Their bright eyes stared fixedly at the bread being handed out and the steaming vegetable soup, yet they merely huddled behind their parents and desperately breathed in the aroma...

"Breakfast is ready!" The mother smiled as she brought breakfast to the children: a bowl of thin porridge made from bran, vegetable roots, and a small amount of wheat grains.

The children immediately gathered around, received their own portions, and swallowed them eagerly. The hard-to-swallow bran and vegetable roots tasted as sweet as rare delicacies in their mouths.

Just as Roland, brimming with anger, poked his head over, he saw that heartbreaking scene. The rage filling his chest instantly vanished. He looked at the bowl behind the couple. It contained the food they had saved for themselves—a clear soup with only a few floating vegetable leaves.

Roland looked helplessly at it all. He did not understand why things had become like this. Caslo, who had come to his senses behind him, quickly pulled Roland aside.

"My lord, we don't have much food left. We can only ration it..." Caslo explained quietly.

"I only want to know why the people under my rule are living on bran and vegetables! Why my soldiers are chewing black bread!" Roland's voice was low, but filled with anger.

"It's already winter! We have no supplies..." Caslo lowered his head sorrowfully. This was the tragedy of a power with no foundation... A single harsh winter could crush it. Aside from the food initially rewarded by the system, Roland had never replenished their supplies. Of course, he had nowhere to do so. Thus, Flowing City now faced its greatest problem—famine!

Roland helplessly rubbed his nose. All his grand ambitions had turned into bubbles. If he could not even survive this winter, what right did he have to restore Lagrange's glory?

"Organize the archers and send them hunting!" Roland could only rely on hunting to deal with the urgent crisis.

"Knight Captain Reno already took men out! This place is wilderness... There are destined to be very few large prey animals..." Though Caslo did not want to say it, he could only pour cold water on the idea.

"Didn't anyone organize fishing? The Swift River is less than two kilometers from us! There are plenty of fish in it for us to eat!" Roland asked again.

"We have no fishing boats or nets... Fishing with rods depends entirely on luck, and the catch is just a drop in the bucket..." Caslo explained.

The air suddenly fell silent. Roland and Caslo stared at each other, both at a loss.

"Wait! What did you say we lacked?" Roland's eyes suddenly lit up.

"Fishing boats and fishing nets!" Caslo repeated in confusion.

"Hahaha! Problem solved!" Roland suddenly burst into laughter.

Caslo jumped in fright, thinking his king had been driven mad.

"We have boats! Did you forget the Galen boats we used to board Lake-town?" Roland felt incomparably wise for deciding to store those boats away.

"What about the nets?" Caslo hurriedly asked. The boats were solved, but without nets, were they supposed to catch fish with their bare hands?

"Why not search the ruins of Lake-town? Quite a few fishing boats were used by the archers to escape back then! They definitely had complete fishing equipment aboard. Ride your dragon and carefully search along the lake!" Roland quickly explained his plan.

"That's right! My lord, you're truly wise!" Caslo excitedly ran to an open patch of ground, summoned his dragon, and soared into the sky.

"Someone!" Roland called out.

"My lord!" Several patrolling Knights hurried over at his summons. After all, only Knights remained in Flowing City now; all the skilled archers had gone out hunting.

"Call the idle Knights. We're going to the river to catch fish!" Roland ordered.

After having the Knights gather the group, Roland headed straight for Ladyl's house.

"Sir Ladyl, we're going to solve the food shortage in the city. Please watch over this place for us." Roland entrusted the task to him.

"Hahaha, go without worry, Your Highness. As long as these old bones of mine haven't died, Flowing City will be safe." Ladyl smiled and reassured Roland.

Boom! The heavy dragon body slammed onto the grass by the riverbank with a dull thud.

Roland immediately smiled when he saw the bundles piled on the dragon's back. It seemed Caslo had gained quite a lot from this trip. Dried fish could vaguely be seen poking out from one cloth sack.

"How did it go, Caslo?" Roland asked about his haul.

"A great harvest! I thought they had taken everything before we drove them away, but I didn't expect they'd left so much behind!" Caslo proudly showed off his gains.

"How many fishing nets are there?" Roland asked about what concerned him most.

"Oh! The fishing nets? There are seventeen here! There are also eight damaged nets that can be used to repair the good ones later." Caslo untied the nets from the dragon's back. The young wind dragon let out an impatient cry, apparently dissatisfied at being used as a beast of burden.

"Hahaha! Brothers! Let's catch fish!" Roland happily took the Galen boats out of his system space.

By evening, Roland watched everyone gathered around the campfires, grilling plump whitefish, and smiled happily. He had fulfilled his duty as a lord and ensured his people had food to eat. Yet as he watched the smiling people, Roland suddenly felt sad. Their arms, holding grilled fish, were covered by only a thin layer of linen clothing, and they shivered in the evening's cold wind...

"My lord, eleven more people arrived today. They're from three families..." Ivy, who had remained in the city, introduced the newly arrived people to Roland.

"Looks like I'll have to make a trip to Erebor..." Roland helplessly sighed as he looked at the new arrivals, who were also dressed in only thin clothes.

"Caslo, come with me to Erebor tomorrow. Reno, take your men and continue fishing!" After giving his orders, Roland turned and left. He did not want to see that heartbreaking sight.

"System! You're such a damn scam! You can send refugees over, but you can't bear to give them a few more clothes!" Roland silently cursed the system in his heart.

Second update, readers! Get those recommendation votes moving!()