The Kerit Plains had a typical wintry appearance. The grass was already withered, and hungry wolf packs were searching for food. There were also roars of beasts echoing in the distance. However, this place was almost like heaven compared to the earlier Ice Aeon environment.
Not far behind the Kerit Plains were the Herit Mountains, which bore a similar name. These snowy mountains reached up into the clouds with sheer cliffs of ice that you couldn’t even see the peaks of.
On the Kerit Plains, the elves had organized themselves into large caravans that slowly yet adamantly proceeded north.
The great majority of elves would have to walk. Thus, their caravans were really slow.
They didn’t have many carriages to begin with. The carriages mostly carried either the seriously injured or potions, medication, food, and other critical resources like that.
Ordinary lifeless objects could be placed within Yongye City without a problem. However, food and medicine, which was meant to be eaten by the living, would likely turn those who ate it into undead if they were corrupted by negative energy.
There were some lightly injured elves and elven children who were unable to walk anymore, and other elves had to carry them. There were also faint sounds of crying from the caravans. Perhaps the surviving elves had previously been numbed due to fear and despair, but now that they were finally in a safe location, the sadness from losing their homes and families washed over them.
Even though our airship squadron was slowly advancing in the air along with the elves, using cannon fire to eliminate any nearby wild beasts, the elven aerial knights continued riding on their pegasi and falcons above the clouds. These aerial knights and their steeds were all injured, but perhaps they just wanted something to do something so that they wouldn’t have the free time to think, which would plunge them into sadness and despair.
While everyone in the mortal plane would be delighted at seeing the Elven Gods die, and while this would also bring about the best future for the elves, this future was far too distant and meaningless to the ordinary elves. They had just become war refugees who had lost their homes and families. They were crying because they had just lost everything.
The entire caravan procession was enveloped in this melancholic aura. There were constant sounds of crying and sighing. However, I had no intention of interfering. Things would become even worse if their sadness had no outlet to vent.
Perhaps the demons’ first goal had already been achieved. Or, perhaps the Elven Gods had been an unexpected perfect sacrifice for them. Or, perhaps the demon wave was even more chaotic than expected. Whichever it was, we came under far fewer attacks than I had expected. However, the fairies soon sent me the latest intelligence, which told us that the demon wave was feasting upon new prey.
“The Diven Dukedom was destroyed? In just one short day?”
“More accurately, it was destroyed in 18 hours and 40 minutes—from the time that the demon wave entered the Diven Dukedom’s borders to the time that Donatis personally broke through the walls of their capital city. Although the Diven Dukedom was only a tiny country with about one million people and three big cities, it was still destroyed far quicker than expected.”
It seemed that even after the elves helped to take out a large portion of the demon wave, the demon wave and Donatis were still too much for ordinary small human countries to handle. Moreover, if I recalled correctly, the Diven Dukedom had rejected our request to transport the elves through its borders in order to avoid getting tangled up with the demon wave. However, the final result was this.
I rested on my bed, appearing like I was focusing on the scenery outside the window. However…
“Is there any new information or development that requires urgent action? Is there any news on the Northlands’ Demon Abyss?”
“There’s no new information from the Northlands. The most important information is that the price of food has risen by about 30% in just two days, most likely due to the start of war…”
There was a loud ruckus by my side, accompanied by a highly passionate gaze. These caused me to helplessly abandon all thoughts of ignoring the other people in the room and slack off.
“Reyne, can’t you let a patient properly get his rest?”
I was still unable to move due to the aftereffects of casting a forbidden spell. I was now resting in the Borealis’s infirmary, a room filled with the scent of medicine and alchemical potions. These were all to help me recover after all the energy and mana I used. Compared to Holy Light that would be hard on the body and even lifespan, I preferred these slightly slower methods of healing that wouldn’t have any negative aftereffects. Even my bandages were infused with mana recovery potions, which was one of the best methods for mana regeneration.
A desk had been placed in this relatively small infirmary, and Reyne was doing her work here without even asking me first. Her concubine, Avi Fenso from the Suolo Federation, was also dealing with her own political work in my room.
Early in the morning, Reyne had brought her subordinates over to work here. When considering how she was just like me in working hard at slacking off and leaving responsibility to others, she most likely wanted to make me deal with the work for her.
“I know that you’re quite busy. Go to the Borealis’s captain’s room. Why are you here, disturbing a patient’s rest?”
“Even if you tie yourself up like a mummy, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that you’re actually injured. The doctors say that you’re perfectly capable of dealing with paperwork in your current state. If you have the free time to look at mechanical repair guides, you might as well do some proper work, such as giving us some advice, instead. By the way, that dwarven language mechanical repair manual you’re reading is upside-down.”
I hurriedly flipped the manual around, but the giggle from Reyne exposed the fact that she had just played a trick on me. I had been holding it properly after all!
Of course, I didn’t understand such high-level engineering. Although I knew the dwarven language, I wouldn’t be able to understand this manual filled with highly technical terms. I was just pretending to concentrate on reading as an excuse to avoid work.
I could only helplessly toss aside the manual. It would be quite embarrassing to continue pretending now, but I still complained a little.
“You’ve all done such a good job over the past couple years. You’re already more than capable of being independent. Why do you need old bones like me? I should have retired long ago.”
My complaint had no effect. Reyne directly shook her head as she spoke. “I should at least inform you of the recent changes in the Northlands. Also, you’re a true precognitor, so I should take advantage of you… er, I meant ask for your knowledge and guidance!
Precognitor? Oh, my pretending to be a precognitor with the Gentlemen Alliance had actually been believed. Still, in a way, I truly did have the ability to prophesize “precognitions”. Still, now that the game’s history had changed so much, there were very few things that I could still prophesize.
“…Don’t count on me too much for prophecies, especially with regards to the Northlands. Prophecies will forever become unreliable when they’re related to the prophet. The Northlands is too deeply connected to me. I won’t be able to tell anything.”
I wasn’t just spouting rubbish here. The Northlands in the game’s history was far more pitiful than currently. Without myself and Karwenz, the Mist Kingdom naturally wouldn’t have been revived, nor would there be a Mist Alliance. In the game’s history, after the Mist Kingdom was destroyed, the Northlands beastmen, who were the strongest faction in the Northlands, took over the entire Mist Kingdom’s territory.
The Northlands beastmen ruled over the former Mist Kingdom’s territory for 300 years. They teamed up with the Underground to defeat the Northlands elven kingdoms, even gaining the honor of having revived the beastmen’s former glory. Only when the demons swept over the entire mortal plane was the Northlands beastmen’s glory snuffed out.
I wasn’t lying at all to Reine. The game’s history had already changed far too much because of me. How could I possibly prophesize anything else?
However, my little speech about “the unreliability of prophecies” probably sounded like something that a random prophet on the street would say. That Avi girl from the Suolo Federation even laughed out loud with an expression that said she obviously didn’t believe me.
Reyne also overly trusted me as always. Since she heard that I didn’t sound so resolute in my refusal, she had a big smile as she continued taking advantage of me.
“That means you promise to guide us, then. Cati, continue the report.”
A Northlands government official, whose face was covered in acne, continued his report.
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“…The price of food for winter has dangerously increased by more than 30% in just the past few days. People are now beginning to fight over food being sold. The logistics department director of the Mist Alliance recommends that we should open up our food storage in order to lower food prices and steady morale since our food storage is quite ample.”
Although the Mist Alliance was an alliance of several dozen countries, the People of the Mist were by far a majority, which meant that Reyne had tremendous authority. Even if everyone in the Mist Alliance had come to an accord, she would still have to confirm things even if she wasn’t the ruler in name.
“I’ve already looked over the data on how much food we have stored. Based on current consumption rates, there should be no problem to last until next autumn’s harvest.”
Avi Fenso’s father was a parliament member in the Suolo Federation, and she had also been raised as a politician ever since young. She was now trying her very best to help Reyne deal with political matters as she was now Reyne’s concubine.
Everyone else around me seemed to be nodding. Reyne was about to give her permission for this, but I could no longer accept this.
“No. In fact, not only should we not open up our food storage, we should be trying to purchase as much food as possible from the market.”
I instantly overturned the political decision about to be made, and all the governmental officials looked at me with obvious looks of displeasure and dissatisfaction. The fact that none of them said anything against me was probably only due to my identity.
“…If my inference is correct, for quite a long period of time from now on, the prices of food will continue to furiously increase. Haven’t you seen the latest news? San Antonio, the number one food supplier in the entire continent, has gotten fully involved in the Holy War. As long as their emperor’s brain is still working, they’re either going to sell zero food next year, or sell a greatly reduced amount of food. It’s obvious that the price of food is going to furiously increase.”
The San Antonio Empire had taken over the beastmen’s holy land, the origin of all beastmen. It was said that those plains were so fertile that casually tossing a single wheat seed would result in a full harvest next autumn. San Antonio produced far too much food for their citizens to eat, so it was only natural that they exported the excess food.
Even though the Holy War had yet to affect San Antonio’s food production areas, any agricultural country would definitely begin stocking up food in a time of war as war resources even if they already had an abundant food supply. It was quite evident to me that they would sell much less food next year.
“We’ve already considered this possibility. However, we mainly import our food from Bardi and Auland. Even if the food prices are affected, it’s within our expectations to deal with.”
Avi, who had a special status as Reyne’s primary assistant, didn’t even bother to hide her disagreement. Judging from the other Northlands government official’s expressions, they also agreed with her judgement.
I was somewhat rendered speechless. This wasn’t because I had been convinced. Rather, I didn’t know how to explain how evil people could be. Merchants would always become greedier in times of war, wanting to make more profit off people’s difficulties. It was also difficult for me to explain that no matter what calculations they had, they had definitely underestimated the severity and length of this Holy War. As long as the Holy War continued to last, the price of food would naturally multiply several times over.
Due to Amelia’s assistance, the Northlands had planted many different types of excellent cold-resistant crops, but when considering the Northlands’ weather and poor soil, along with the mega increase in population after the Mist Alliance was established, we still had a significant food shortage every year even with Amelia’s food crops.
Of course, this could be taken care of easily. Amelia’s best cold-resistant wheat seemed to physically resemble Piranha Plants, and had a strange taste that resembled dirt, but they were truly harmless with no toxins!
But since the soil’s quality was far too terrible in the Northlands, production numbers were still quite low. However, the Northlands had plenty of empty land and lots of labor. As long as more crops were planted, food production would eventually rise, and self-sufficiency would be achievable. The rich who disliked the taste and lack of nutrition could still purchase food from other places.
As for the Mist Alliance government, being picky about the taste of food was far too much of a luxury. Being able to guarantee that nobody would starve despite the Northlands’ poor-quality soil was already a tremendous historical achievement.
Everyone knew that this was something major. Over the past eight years, the young people who applied to become farmers enjoyed the greatest glory. The fields for planting crops around each city had massively multiplied in number. The Northlands’ food production rate was also growing at an exponential rate.
It was precisely this exponential food production growth that gave these government officials a mistaken impression of the future. They felt that as long as they subsisted for a period of time, food prices would naturally balance themselves out. However, I knew that the Holy War wouldn’t let them reach that day so easily. As long as the Mist Alliance still needed food, all of the Northlands’ countries needed to stock up on as much food as possible. It seemed quite likely that there would be absolutely no more food that could be purchased in the international marketplace at all when the Holy War reached its peak.
I fell silent for quite a while as I organized my words. “How can any of you guarantee that Bardi and Auland won’t become involved in the Holy War next year?”
“How could that be possible…”
Avi paused in her denial halfway through. She had wanted to ask how such a coincidence could possibly happen as it was against all common sense, but then she realized that it was indeed impossible to make such a guarantee. Nobody would be able to predict the course of the Holy War.
“Also, none of you have experienced the chaos of an entire world at war. In such a situation, as long as the major food-producing countries become affected, the entire international food market will be affected. All the other countries will start only purchasing food without selling any. It’s only natural that the prices of food will exponentially increase. In fact, it might even become a market where no food will be sold no matter how high of a price you pay.”
I kept feeling like this was more and more possible. The world of Eich had no international peace-maintaining organizations. Moreover, greedy merchants could be found in every country. As long as they and various countries’ rulers started intentionally raising food prices, it was likely that food would eventually become more valuable than gold.
“Okay, it’s decided then. This year, we’ll be purchasing as much food as possible, without opening up our food storage.”
Reyne instantly made her decision after hearing me out. However, this caused Avi to worry.
“However, if the Mist Alliance’s food market lacks food for winter, that will affect the citizens’ morale and cause a panic.”
Reyne looked over in my direction. I simply shrugged. I was quite skilled at handling such a situation, but I definitely wouldn’t use a typical peaceful method.
“It’s quite obvious that greedy merchants are behind the increase of 30% in food prices in just two days. Execute all those greedy merchants and take their food stock to help balance the food prices. Right, if this is inconvenient for you guys to handle, leave this task to the dark elves. They’re all experts at this. I guarantee that they’ll be accurate at catching them and making those merchants tell all about even their ancestors.”
It was quite obvious that this was no typical way of dealing with things. Casually executing merchants would make the remaining merchants panic even more, perhaps making them choose to transfer themselves and their wealth elsewhere. This might seem like a decision with long-term consequences, but…
“This is already the time of war. Continuing to use peacetime methods of dealing with things will only make those greedy merchants look down on you. Killing some to scare the rest will make things much easier than having to fix everything down the road. Ha, this is the convenience of being in a feudal generation. Executing someone doesn’t even require evidence.”
Reyne nodded in realization at hearing my rather extreme method of dealing with things.
She knew that I wasn’t someone who enjoyed slaughtering. In fact, I loathed slaughtering. But, I obviously had my reasons for using such an extreme method here. She could also guess at the reason why.
“…The Northlands will also get involved in war?”
Since it was a time of war, even the most extreme methods would become understandable. However, I laughed after hearing Reyne’s question. She was still far too young and naïve. She was completely underestimating this Holy War which would get the entire mortal plane involved.
“No, it’s not that the Northlands will get involved in war. It’s that the entire world is already involved in this war. Every single species, every single country, and every single individual everywhere will get involved in this war. It’s quite possible that anyone will die, including you or me. This will likely be the final Holy War to end all wars, where everyone may die.”
After saying these shocking words, I didn’t care too much about their reactions. It didn’t matter to me whether they believed me or felt that I was spouting rubbish. I had simply become interested after saying this.
“Alright, youngster, continue your report. Let me see how well you juniors have done.”