Corn Little Elf (First Update)

On the grasslands, if an antelope was hunted down, the lion that killed it would enjoy the choicest parts first. Then the hyenas would wait nearby to feast on scraps and shredded meat, followed by vultures circling, ready to pick at whatever bits remained between the bones. Finally, flies would buzz around the bones and leftover carrion, leaving behind maggots for the last wild revelry.

Without a doubt, after Fragrant Carriage Leaf Castle was taken and Falconview City was looted, the Coral Island Knights were the predators, enjoying the most delicious portion. Then mercenary bands and secondhand dealers would swarm in to divide up the remaining supplies. Rats, thieves, and the like would all come to snatch up whatever had slipped through the cracks.

Seeing such a scene, Liszt felt that after fighting desperately to seize the fruits of victory, his own side had actually eaten less than a third of it.

The rest had all been snatched away by mercenaries, traders, rats, and the like.

This was the ecology of the Eagle Kingdom's coastal hinterlands. How many of those mercenary bands were raised by the local lords of Sardine Bay was impossible to say. It could be said that those lords themselves were gnawing on one another's corpses, forming an important link in the entire food chain.

Without the channels they provided, supplies would be difficult to dispose of quickly.

Only by satisfying the demands of most of the "creatures" on the food chain could that chain continue to endure without easily collapsing. Without mercenary bands to shift the losses elsewhere, the expansion orders would likely face knightly orders fighting to the death every year.

Although most of the supplies had been divided away, Liszt was still satisfied with this expansion order. He had come for the serfs, and