"This could be a good thing, or it could be a bad thing. It depends on whether we can deal with the harm caused by the Rat Plague."
Standing before the dark passage of Cave Tunic, Charles made a rather circular statement.
The Rat Plague had severely damaged Cave Tunic's food production. The moss and mushrooms had been gnawed away in huge quantities by swarms of rats, and restoring normal yields from the moss fields and mushroom fields in a short time was unlikely.
Yet the vast number of rats also undoubtedly provided the villagers with a great deal of meat.
In a dark, damp place like Cave Tunic, tasty meat was not easy to come by. Even rangers could not guarantee that they would catch snakes, rats, or all manner of insects in the cramped caves every day.
"Rather than a paradise for the lowborn, the caves are a paradise for snakes, rats, insects, and ants. Many of the passages are so narrow that only little creatures like them can squeeze through," Charles muttered quietly beside Russell.
He continued, "A few days ago, when I came to inspect Cave Tunic, they took me to a dark passage. When we shone a torch inside, we could see some bones wedged in there... They said someone had tried to catch a snake, got stuck, and suffocated to death. They could not even drag the body out."
They passed several Cold Spring Points and sinkholes along the way.
Russell saw the terrible aftermath of the rats' feeding frenzy. There had once been neat moss fields and mushroom fields here, but now nothing remained except bare earth.
The serfs assigned to tend the moss fields and mushroom fields squatted on the ground, sobbing.
When they saw Russell and his group arrive, they immediately