Hope Town

Hope Town is a remote town on the outskirts of the Joseph Kingdom, and its lord is Earl Lindsay Monroe.

Earl Lindsay Monroe is a member of the royal family of the Joseph Kingdom and the elder sister of the current king.

Decades ago, during the royal succession struggle, it was the marriage of the then fifteen-year-old Countess Lindsay Earl to a powerful minister in the kingdom that allowed His Majesty the King to stand out among the many princes.

Therefore, His Majesty the King had a special affection for his sister and always took extra care of Earl Lindsay Monroe.

Earl Lindsay Monroe was also a renowned beauty in the kingdom.

Her silky blonde hair shimmered with a captivating luster in the sunlight, as if it were golden threads kissed by the sun.

Her face was like a finely sculpted work of art, fair with a faint blush, her high nose bridge, cherry-like lips, every line was so perfect it was breathtaking.

Especially her pair of deep blue, jewel-like eyes, so profound and lively, that a single glance is enough to captivate and enchant.

Even though she is now over fifty, she still has countless suitors throughout the kingdom.

Earl Lindsay Monroe was married three times in her lifetime.

Her first marriage was to a powerful minister who was captured and killed on trumped-up charges after His Majesty the King secured the throne. His family was also wiped out, leaving only the fifteen-year-old Earl Lindsay Monroe.

Ten years later, at the tender age of twenty-five, Earl Lindsay Monroe made a surprising move to everyone's astonishment—she resolutely married a little-known baron from a remote corner of the kingdom.

It's important to know that at this time, Earl Lindsay Monroe not only inherited her ex-husband's vast territory, but was also His Majesty the King's only biological sister.

In addition, she possessed unparalleled beauty, truly a beauty that could topple kingdoms. Such exceptional qualities made countless princes and nobles fall for her.

Who would have thought that she would choose such an ordinary baron as her partner? This marriage undoubtedly became a topic of much discussion.

If that baron were exceptionally handsome and young, that would be one thing.

Unfortunately, that person was not only thirty years old, but had also been married once and had a five-year-old child.

The news was like a bombshell dropped on the entire kingdom. The nobles couldn't imagine how an Earl with such a noble status, enormous wealth, and unparalleled beauty could make such an incomprehensible choice.

They had assumed that the Earl would choose a suitable husband from among the many noble suitors, or perhaps marry a king from another kingdom and become a noble queen, but they never expected her to be so unexpected.

Ultimately, the only explanation could be that the baron possessed exceptional talent in certain areas.

However, not long after their marriage, the baron and his child were killed in a bandit attack.

Hope Town, his ancestral territory, was naturally inherited by Earl Lindsay Monroe due to the succession law.

The noble Earl, of course, looked down on this desolate little town.

This place is located at the border between the Joseph Kingdom and the Orc Royal Court, and apart from producing some ores, it seems to have no special value.

For thirty years since acquiring this territory, the Earl had never visited it, leaving it to Baron Stan, the lord of Bluetooth Town, which was more than thirty miles away from Hope Town, to manage.

Perhaps the Earl has already forgotten about this enclave.

Everyone believed that this territory would soon merge with Bluetooth Town, and Baron Stan would be able to take this opportunity to be promoted to viscount.

But things took an unexpected turn.

Outside Hope Town, a portly middle-aged man led a large group of people in waiting.

He had a large belly that looked like a round watermelon, and his broad body was like a thick wall, giving people a heavy sense of presence.

His face was round and full, like over-fermented dough, with a slight sheen of oil.

A pair of small eyes were squeezed between the fleshy folds of her skin, occasionally flashing with a cunning light.

His eyebrows were sparse and messy, like wild grass growing haphazardly. His nose was rather flat, and below it were thick lips.

His hair was sparse and greasy, hanging haphazardly on his head, with a few strands stubbornly sticking up.

Its appearance is ugly and unsightly no matter how you look at it, and it even has a kind of comical quality.

However, no one present dared to be negligent in the slightest; their faces were filled with awe and respect.

Baron Stan, lord of Bluetooth Town, has ruled Hope Town as acting lord for decades.

Here, he is a truly powerful and influential figure.

This place is close to the wilderness, and only a few days' journey from the evil Orc Royal Court.

Because of fear of Beastfolk attacks, most nobles in the kingdom are rarely willing to establish territories here.

Baron Stan, a powerful lord whose lineage has been established on the frontier for centuries, has long been rooted here, ruling this land with his authority and power.

To his men, he was an imposing mountain that could not be ignored.

The weather was very hot; the huge sun hung high in the sky, like a giant fireball, recklessly releasing endless heat.

The scorching sunlight, like sharp swords, pierced straight down, making the ground scorching hot.

The air seemed to be on fire, with waves of heat rolling in, making it difficult and scorching to breathe.

There wasn't a breath of wind on the ground; everything seemed still, except for the unbearable heat that raged on.

The temperature difference here is extreme. During the day, the sun scorches every inch of the land, as if trying to dry up the whole world; at night, the temperature drops sharply, and the cold is like sharp ice thorns, piercing straight into one's bones.

The scorching heat of the day and the chill of the night create a stark contrast. The parched earth, cracked by the sun during the day, condenses a thin layer of frost in the night's cold air, as if the earth, having had all its moisture drained during the day, is now draped in a cold coat by the night.

In such extreme conditions, only a small number of crops can survive.

Therefore, establishing a territory here presents a significant challenge in terms of food supplies.

The scarcity of crop yields often leads to food shortages, forcing people to rack their brains to find other food sources to maintain their basic survival needs.

They could either travel to more distant places to exchange goods for precious rations.

Alternatively, we could plant some specialized crops that are better adapted to this extreme climate.

Here, every bite of food is extremely precious, and every grain of rice can be the key to life or death.

In a territory established under such circumstances, the issue of food rations weighed heavily on everyone's mind like a mountain, causing constant worry about food and a struggle for survival.