Eating Grass Helps You Grow Better Than Eating Dessert / The Super-Scheming Protagonist Is Here

Of course, if this Demon King was skilled at falsifying accounts, it wasn't impossible to pull off...

"Your information really is quite reliable." The beautiful Banshee let out a soft sigh.

Now that things had come to this, with the Demon King begging her to this extent, Lamian couldn't possibly turn a blind eye.

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Eating Grass Is Better for Growth Than Eating Desserts

"We'll have to tighten our belts again this winter." Lamian thought to herself.

The children were Kazdel's future. They couldn't let them go hungry. Besides, she and her people were already used to going hungry.

Still, the necessary procedures had to be followed. There were several hundred people in Banshee River Valley, so Theresia and Lamian had to visit every household and ask the Banshees for their opinions.

The Banshees were all very kind. Besides, who could resist when Her Highness was practically begging them in that tone?

For some reason, though, when Lamian led Theresia from house to house, she deliberately avoided Huang Cao.

Even when they happened to pass by, she pretended to see only a withered tree and didn't spare him so much as a glance.

Lamian already had her own selfish motives. She absolutely couldn't let Theresia discover how special this plant was.

Otherwise, if Her Highness took him away, her people might not be able to continue living inside the valley.

Nearly all the Banshees held a certain reverence for this enormous grass.

On this land, plants imbued with spiritual energy were not uncommon, not to mention that Kazdel had once been home to the Tree Spirit clan.

Fortunately, Theresia had come in a hurry today and didn't notice anything unusual about the grass that looked like a tree growing beside them.

After chatting for a while longer, she quickly left the valley. Watching Her Highness disappear into the wind and snow, the Banshees couldn't help but sigh in relief.

They then began preparing to organize the supplies. It wouldn't be long before Theresia brought people to collect them.

"Please keep Lord Grass Spirit's existence a secret." Lamian inclined herself slightly toward her people.

"At least until we've built up enough reserves to survive the next war..."

"Looks like the situation outside is even worse than I imagined."

At this thought, Huang Cao felt that he needed to speed up his growth. The Originium in the valley had already been almost completely drained by him.

His true body was so enormous. What if the population of this country recovered later, while he still hadn't figured out how to shrink himself?

It was better to fear someone coveting you than an actual thief arriving. His ability to purify Originium was simply too desirable on this land.

He had no intention of being treated like a mascot.

Of course, getting captured was impossible. Reaching the sky might be a little difficult, but he could go underground.

I'll burrow a thousand meters beneath the ground. Let's see whether you can dig faster or I can run faster.

After developing for such a long time, this valley had completely become part of Huang Cao.

It was somewhat similar to Yelagond's ability. Wherever his roots reached was his domain.

"Lamian... Are we going to go hungry again this year...?"

A young Banshee gazed reluctantly at the food piled throughout the entire granary. Though she said that, she wasn't slow at all as she packed it into bags.

How could I not want you all to eat your fill?

Lamian was speechless. All she could do was continue hoping that Lord Grass Spirit would display his divine might again when spring came, allowing this land to enjoy another bountiful harvest.

A few more days passed, and the wind and snow eased for a while.

Theresia led her people in emptying the granary. In accordance with Lamian's standards, they left behind only enough food for the Banshees to barely make it through the winter.

Winter had not ended, and spring had not yet arrived.

There was a saying that went: When winter comes, can spring be far behind?

But not everyone could endure winter.

Huang Cao floated in the air and watched the Banshees, feeling deeply troubled. They had spent a year together, and although he had only seen their outer forms, the care these girls had shown him over the past year had been genuine.

They had even built him a small fence.

They were so polite. Who could dislike such a beautiful race?

Appearance was merely a bonus, but to him, morality was the true standard for passing the line.

I'm helping this time!

Perfect. I can test my new ability...

Two days later, another heavy snowfall arrived, and the Banshees could no longer endure the extreme cold. One after another, they returned to their wooden cabins.

Because food had once again become scarce, the Banshees' gatherings became pitifully infrequent.

Naturally, the sight of the girls huddling around a bonfire was nowhere to be seen.

This is no fun at all!

Grass Grass is really angry now!

With a thought, Huang Cao directly condensed a body on the snowy ground. It was the form of a handsome young man wearing a thin shirt and long trousers.

However, his current state was practically no different from a mass of air. Even so, the power he possessed was enough to rival some elite operators.

Of course, that was only his own estimate. After all, there were differences even among the elite operators of Rhodes Island.

With his roots spread throughout the valley, Huang Cao easily found the grain convoy that was still on the move.

Theresia waited at the front. It took a full two days to transport this batch of grain to an area near the city.

What a coincidence. The orphanage Theresia had established happened to be the place where Huang Cao had stayed before, very close to his place of birth.

That made sense, too. Whenever he reached a place, he would absorb all the Originium in the surrounding area, leaving behind land that was particularly suitable for towns to develop.

Although no other plants could survive without his permission, the mere fact that there was no Originium was enough for people to settle down and prosper there.

"Why does this feel just like the Middle Ages? Where's my Mobile City?"

As it turned out, the difference between Terra three hundred years ago and Terra three hundred years later was far from insignificant.

Especially in a place as rustic as Kazdel, it was even more backward than Siergrag had been three hundred years later.

The vehicles took two full days to transport the grain out. Only when they left the valley and saw the town did Huang Cao realize just how generous the term "town" was toward this country.

Aside from broken walls and ruins, the place was filled with starving Sarkaz whose eyes had turned green with hunger.

Many Sarkaz wore simple mercenary outfits, their eyes fixed on the convoy carrying the grain.

Huang Cao saw longing in them, but he also saw restraint.

As the most approachable Demon King, Theresia was currently the only light in the hearts of all Kazdel's people.

This was also precisely the area where his roots were most densely distributed.

Thanks to the Originium network spread throughout Terra, even after these roots left his main body, he could still control his original body parts without limit.

There was even no delay. The only problem was that the mental strain was somewhat heavy. When the roots were too far away and he switched coordinate axes, his brain was prone to phantom pain.

Theresia wasn't in the convoy. The Demon King's flag hung above it.

Just as Huang Cao thought this batch of grain would finally make it into storage, he saw a furtive Sarkaz holding a token and directly diverting one-third of the convoy away from the main group.

Seeing this strange scene, Huang Cao immediately activated his massive database search technique. He soon found relevant information in the memories of a Sarkaz who had starved to death just yesterday.

There was no second orphanage in this region. Was this Theresia's doing, or...

But why are your bodies so well nourished?

Looking at the line of Sarkaz women with their sturdy physiques, Huang Cao felt that his scientific understanding was being challenged.

The Sarkaz people's lives were practically luxurious, yet even now, the only great angel to have appeared was that nun from the roguelike mode.

Under conditions where food was so scarce, whether they were starving commoners or soldiers clad in armor...

Especially the women. Their figures completely outclassed the dessert angels next door.

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Super Merchant Protagonist Makes His Debut

I don't get it...

Huang Cao sincerely sighed. Presis's beautification pack really was an area of expertise.

But the Sarkaz seemed to be the indigenous people here. Or perhaps they weren't?

Although he had played Arknights, whenever he encountered a plot he didn't like, he chose to skip that part of his life.

Huang Cao followed the departing convoy, his body spreading like a thin mist over the crowd.

After several hours, the convoy, jolting along the road, finally reached its destination.

They arrived at a heavily guarded military camp, where Huang Cao also saw Teresis.

"Her Highness Theresia didn't agree to this..." A horned woman addressed Teresis respectfully.

The latter waved his hand and had the grain stored away, his expression unchanged. "No need to say more. I'll explain it to her. She should understand me."

After hearing their exchange, Huang Cao sorted out the entire situation.

Theresia and Teresis had indeed set their sights on the food in Banshee River Valley. The former truly had the orphans in the orphanage in mind, but Teresis's actions had also been tacitly approved by her.

It was impossible for her not to have participated directly in transporting the grain. Otherwise, why would she have left halfway?

The reason she avoided seeing it was simply to give herself a reason that would let her feel at ease. It was no different from acting like an ostrich.

Huang Cao had no intention of arguing with Theresia. He didn't know how to manage a country, and perhaps she had her own reasons.

Everyone saw things differently. There was no point dwelling on it.

But this food had been the result of his hard work, at least!

You dared to play this little trick right under my nose? You've really made the most of your lives.

Furthermore, according to the Originium Database, Huang Cao had learned from the memories of a dead high-ranking Victoria commander that Victoria and the other neighboring countries had no plans to invade Kazdel again in the next fifty years.

They had been crippled in one sweep a few years ago, and Kal'tsit had also disappeared without a trace.

Moreover, a major technological boom would arrive in a few years. Every country wanted to seize that opportunity and develop rapidly, so none of them had any intention of launching another war.

Small-scale conflicts might never cease, but a large-scale war was probably out of the question.

"Theresia, you were right. The children can't go hungry. The adults can hold on for a while."

Teresis didn't care about this little bit of food at all. In the literal sense, he had merely taken some while he was at it.

This amount of food could support several squads in combat for roughly a month.

Huang Cao's body transformed into a seed, then plunged heavily into the ground beneath the military camp. His roots rapidly spread underground.

The roots and stems spread beneath the entire camp in only a few minutes.

This era had no surveillance, and experts capable of surveillance had no time to bother with a small granary.

Huang Cao's movements were extremely subtle. He quickly opened a large hole and dragged all the boxes of food into the earth.

He also constructed plant leaves to serve as temporary pipes, smoothly transporting the grain out of the military camp.

At first, he had planned to send it to the orphanage, but after thinking it over, he realized that Theresia didn't have much time to manage the orphanage.

Although she had taken on something of a mascot's role after the war ended, she was still the leader of a country. Spending every day playing house in an orphanage wasn't the behavior of a leader.

The grain might be embezzled again after it was delivered there. He might as well use it to exchange for something useful to himself.

Huang Cao could actually accelerate plant growth. The information stored in Originium was enough for him to grow any kind of plant, which was why the valley could enjoy four harvests a year.

However, if he wanted to obtain more things, he needed the wisdom of others.

For example, he couldn't build an electronic computer with his bare hands.

...One day later.

Huang Cao had gained a new identity: bounty hunter.

He also cleared out all the wanted mercenaries in the nearby towns and successfully obtained his first sum of starting capital.