Over the next few days, no matter how quickly the dukes relocated their camps, an unbearable hunger erupted every afternoon, as though they had been cursed.
That hunger drove them to gorge themselves, eating several times their usual portions at every meal.
Once Duke Olivier and Duke Nall recovered their senses, they immediately sent people to investigate, turning the entire camp upside down.
Strangely, despite all their mages, warriors, knights, and magical beasts-even several priests they had invited-no one could discover what had happened.
Stranger still, nothing happened beyond the hunger. They even felt unusually full of stamina and magic power, a little stronger than usual.
Gradually, the two dukes began to let it slide.
After all, for transcendents, eating more was a good thing in a certain sense. Consuming so much food rich in nutrients and magic power helped them grow stronger quickly.
Dragons could attest to that.
However...
Another half month passed, and the dukes' expressions changed. Their food supplies were beginning to run short.
Food production in the Nolant Kingdom had already been somewhat low lately, and neither the Royal Court nor the Mage Association could obtain the food Kroya sold.
With a whole horde of transcendents eating and drinking to excess, their food vanished faster than if they had set it on fire.
Transcendents, particularly knights and warriors, needed staggering quantities of food every day. A Nall Magical Beast could eat two hundred kilograms of meat daily, along with assorted magic plant vegetables, fruits, and other foods.
Mages were slightly better, but they demanded fresh vegetables and fruit, as well as elegant, fragrant surroundings for meditation. Their tastes were absurdly refined.
Logistics had always been the greatest constraint on war, and even a magical world was no exception.
Although more or less everyone in Duke Olivier's