The bells hanging at the front of the carriage jingled brightly as Arthas escorted grain through one northern town after another.
After Kel'Thuzad, leader of the Cult of the Damned, was killed, the cult's activities gradually died away. Arthas was tasked with overseeing reconstruction in the kingdom's Northern Lands. He ordered the Royal Society of Magic to contact the Kirin Tor and inspect several granaries in Andorhal.
Once inspected, the grain would be delivered to the villages and towns around Andorhal by the three army corps under Arthas's command.
The inland residents had long been suffering bitterly from the Scourge Plague.
Andorhal was far from Southshore and the Northflow Coast. After overland transport stopped, the kingdom relied on the Graded Grain supplied by the Norwington Family to feed villages and towns throughout the country.
The grain eaten by inland residents passed through one merchants' guild after another, driving prices to outrageous heights. Families with money could still barely scrape through.
Poor families had long since reached their breaking point.
For this reconstruction effort, Arthas requested permission to provide every household with half a month's rations free of charge.
The Royal Court had no objections, and the local merchants' guilds stockpiling grain did not dare demand payment from the prince.
Arthas wrote an IOU and set off with the grain.
Whenever the free grain reached a town or village, nearly every resident came out of their home and voluntarily lined both sides of the street to welcome the prince.
Within a week, the bells at the front of the prince's carriage had become a herald of salvation.
Whenever people heard that clear, pleasant ringing, they knew the grain had arrived.
Arthas knew this grain delivery was an excellent opportunity to raise his standing. As heir to the throne, he had no