The Carrett Plains were currently a scene of winter desolation. The plains were already yellow and withered. Wolf packs were roaming the area in search of food. It was even possible to hear the roars of beasts nearby. However, compared to the glaciers that filled the sky not long ago, this place seemed like heaven.
Not far behind us was the Herit Snow Mountain. When we turned around, we could see that the walls of ice pierced the clouds. It was impossible to see the end of the snow-covered mountain.
Meanwhile, on the plains, the elves formed a grand caravan that slowly but resolutely advanced northward.
Most of the elves had to walk. This grand caravan moved incredibly slowly.
There weren't many horse carriages or large bird carriages. They were either heavily injured or filled with medicine, food, and other supplies.
Ordinary lifeless items could still be stored in Yongye City. However, food and supplies that were meant to be eaten would likely transform into the undead if they were corroded by negative energy.
Occasionally, there would be lightly injured people or children who were unable to walk anymore. They would be dragged away by others. Faint sounds of crying could be heard from the caravan. Perhaps this was because the survivors had been numbed by fear and despair. Now that they were finally in a safe area, they couldn't help but feel the pain of losing their homes and loved ones.
Even though the airship fleet was slowly advancing in the sky, and cannons were already chasing away any wild beasts that approached the caravan, the elves' flying horses and Hippogryphs Knight were still flying in the clouds. Even though these flying Hippogryphs and their mounts were all injured, perhaps they wanted to find some work to do so that they wouldn't think too much and drown in sorrow and despair.
Perhaps the destruction of the Elven Gods would be something that all species in the mortal plane would love to see. It would also be the best choice for the elves who remained in the mortal plane. However, for the ordinary elves, it was meaningless to look too far ahead. They were nothing more than war refugees who had just lost their homes and kin. They were only crying because they had lost everything in the past.
The entire caravan was faintly enveloped in a gray, sorrowful atmosphere. Endless sounds of crying and sighing could be heard. However, we had no intentions of interfering. If we couldn't release our sorrow, it would only become even more trouble in the future.
Perhaps the demons had already completed their first goal, or perhaps the Elven Gods were unexpectedly perfect sacrifices, or perhaps the demon wave was far more chaotic than we had expected. But soon, the fairies' latest battle report told us the truth — the greedy demon wave was currently enjoying a new prey.
"The Devon Dukedom has been destroyed? In just one day? "
"More accurately speaking, it took 18 hours and 40 minutes for the demon wave to cross the border to Natis breaking through the capital's gates. Although Natis was only a small country with three cities and a population of nearly a million, it was indeed destroyed far faster than expected."
It would seem that even after the elves were exhausted, the demon wave and Donatis were still far beyond what any ordinary small country would be capable of dealing with. And if I recalled correctly, that country had rejected our previous request to travel to Donatis in order to avoid bringing trouble upon themselves. However, the result was the same.
I lay on the bed, trying to focus on the view outside the window, but …
"Is there any new intelligence or government affairs that need to be handled? Is there any news about the Demon Abyss in the North? "
"There's no new news from the Northern Lands, but probably because of the outbreak of war, the average price of winter grain inland has increased by 30% in just two days …"
The noise in my ears and the passionate gazes made me reluctantly give up on ignoring the other people in the room and focus on hiding.
"Renée, can't you just let the patient have a good rest?"
I was currently lying in the Borealis' medical room, still unable to move. The room was filled with the smell of medicinal herbs and alchemy pills, which were used to replenish the energy I had expended after casting a forbidden spell. Compared to the Holy Light, which was even more draining on one's life force, I preferred natural treatments that were slow to take effect but didn't have any side effects. Meanwhile, the Bandage Therapy, which was infused with mana recovery potions, was a secret technique for healing mana overdraft.
The small medical room was actually already filled with work desks. Renée unceremoniously chose to work here. Her concubine, Ivy Marceau from the Suolo Federation, was also here to handle government affairs.
Early in the morning, Renée had brought her government team here to work. Considering how she was more hardworking than I was, but her work style was limited, it was likely that she was trying to find someone to shift the blame to.
"I know that you're very busy. Go to your captain's room. What's the meaning of disturbing a patient's rest?"
"Even if you tied yourself up like a mummy, that doesn't mean that you're truly injured. The doctor said that you're completely capable of handling government affairs. If you have the time to read a mechanical repair manual, why don't you do something else instead? For instance, give us some advice. By the way, you're reading that dwarven mechanical repair manual upside down. "
I hurriedly flipped the manual over, but the little girl giggled secretly, telling me that I had accidentally been tricked.
That's right, how could I possibly understand engineering? Although I knew some dwarven language, I wouldn't be able to understand a mechanical repair manual that was filled with engineering terms. I was pretending to be focused on reading the manual only to find an excuse to refuse to do any work.
I helplessly tossed aside the manual. It would indeed be quite unsightly for me to continue at this point. Yet, I still muttered something under my breath.
"You've all done well these past few years. You've long since become independent. Why do you still need old bones like us? We should have retired long ago."
My complaints weren't drowned out. Renée directly shook her head when she heard me.
"At the very least, you should know about the recent changes in the Northlands. Also, you're a true 'prophet.' It would be such a waste if I didn't squeeze you a little … I mean, ask you a little."
Prophet? Oh, so I had been taken seriously when I tricked the Gentlemen Alliance back in the day. Still, in a way, I did indeed have the ability to predict "history." However, "history" had changed so much already that there weren't many things that could be "predicted" anymore.
"… Don't count on me too much, especially when it's something related to the Northlands. Prophecies aren't real at all as long as they involve the prophet's own actions. I'm too deeply involved with the Northlands. Even I can't tell you anything."
This wasn't pure nonsense. The history of the Northlands' Holy War back in the day was far more pitiful than it was now. Without me and Cavendish, the Mist Kingdom wouldn't have been revived, nor would the Mist Alliance have been established. After the Ancient Mist Kingdom was destroyed, the strongest beastmen in the Northlands directly occupied that land.
Three hundred years was more than enough for the beastmen to completely occupy the Northlands. They cooperated with the Underground to counterattack and defeat the Northlands' Moon Kingdom of the Elves. In fact, they even received historical praise for the beastmen's revival. It wasn't until the demons swept through the entire mortal plane that the Northlands beastmen's final glory days were ended.
I wasn't lying. The "historical" development of the Northlands had far too much to do with me. It had long since changed beyond recognition, so what could I possibly prophesize?
Perhaps it was because my "believe it or not believe it won't work. You can prophesize others, but you can't prophesize yourself" sounded too much like a wandering fortune teller on the streets. The little girl from the Suolo Federation immediately laughed out loud. Her smiling expression made it obvious that she didn't believe me at all.
However, Renée trusted me far too much as usual. When she heard that my refusal wasn't very firm, she giggled and took advantage of the situation.
"Then that means you've agreed to help us. Kati, continue with your report."
And so, that middle-aged government official with a pockmarked face continued his report.
"… The increase in winter grain prices has exceeded the danger level of 30% in just a few short days. There's already a panic buying frenzy within the Mist Alliance. The Mist Alliance's logistics department heads' opinion is that we still have plenty of food reserves, and that all the countries should open up their national coffers to balance the prices of food in order to calm everyone down."
Although the current Mist Alliance was an alliance composed of several dozen countries, the People of the Mist were far too important. Renée's words carried tremendous weight. Even if all the countries had already reached a consensus, they would still have to rely on this uncrowned ruler to make the final decision.
"I've checked the data on the food reserves. Based on the current consumption rate, it should be no problem for us to harvest next autumn."
Ivy Marceau's father was the Suolo Federation's member of parliament. Ivy Marceau had been raised to be the descendant of a politician since she was young. Now, she was helping Renée deal with government affairs with the status of a concubine. She was doing her best.
Seeing that everyone was nodding in agreement, and that Renée was about to agree as well, I finally couldn't bear to watch any longer.
"Don't, don't even talk about producing food now. We should open up all the warehouses and do our best to harvest food."
The moment I said this, I overturned the government decree that was about to be made. All the government officials in the room looked at me with obvious dissatisfaction and displeasure. Perhaps it was because I was in front of the emperor that they didn't immediately retort.
"… If my inference is correct, food prices are going to skyrocket for a long period of time. Haven't you all seen the latest news? San Antonio, the number one food exporter in all of Eich, has been dragged into the Holy War. As long as San Antonio's emperor doesn't have a screw loose in his head, next year's food exports will be greatly reduced, even if not zero. It's only natural that food prices will skyrocket."
The San Antonio Empire occupied what used to be the beastmen's holy land of origin. It was said that any wheat that was scattered there would be harvested the next year in the Golden Plains. Not only would the San Antonio Empire produce enough food every year, the surplus would naturally be exported.
Even if the Holy War wouldn't affect San Antonio's food production areas, the San Antonio Empire's agricultural exporting countries would have an excess of food reserves even if they had enough food for themselves. It was only natural that San Antonio's food exports would be greatly reduced in the coming year.
"We've already considered this. However, most of our food imports are from the Bardi Empire and the Ottoman Empire. Even if food prices are affected, that's within expectations. We can deal with it."
As Renée's chief support officer, Ivy, who had a special status, didn't even try to hide her dissatisfaction with my judgment. Judging from the other government officials' expressions, they all agreed with Ivy's judgment as well.
I was rendered speechless. It wasn't that I was convinced. It was that I didn't know how to explain how evil humans were, how unscrupulous merchants would eat people, and how a large number of unscrupulous merchants were waiting to profit from war and national disasters. It was also difficult to explain that no matter how much they predicted the Holy War, they had all underestimated the Holy War's intensity and duration. As long as the Holy War dragged on, food prices would naturally multiply.
Although the Northlands now had several excellent cold-resistant crops thanks to Amelia's assistance, when considering the Northlands' weather and barren land, as well as the rapidly increasing population after the Mist Alliance was established, there would still be a significant food shortage every year even though the Northlands had been promoting cold-resistant crops.
Of course, this was something that could be solved. The cold-resistant wheat that Amelia had chosen in the end looked rather similar to piranha flowers and tasted rather strange and earthy, but it wasn't a magical plant. It was harmless and wouldn't kill anyone who ate it.
Although the planting conditions in the Northlands were too poor, there was plenty of uncultivated land and labor in the Northlands. As long as the planting area increased and the food production increased, it would be possible to reach a balance. The rich who disliked the monotonous taste and imbalanced nutrition would naturally be able to purchase food from other places.
For the Mist Alliance's officials, being picky about food was far too extravagant. It was already a tremendous achievement in history that the Northlands' barren lands didn't starve to death.
Everyone knew that this was a major event. For the past eight years, the number of young people who applied to become farmers was the greatest honor. The number of fields around the cities had increased exponentially, and the Northlands' food production had increased exponentially as well.
It was precisely this exponential increase in food production that caused the Northlands' officials to misjudge the future. They felt that as long as the Northlands' food supply could be maintained for a while, they would be able to reach a balance. However, I knew that the Holy War wouldn't give them an easy time. As long as the Mist Alliance required food imports, the Northlands' countries would need to stockpile food on a large scale. Perhaps when the Holy War reached its climax, there wouldn't be any food on the international market anymore.
I fell silent for a moment as I organized my words.
"How can you guarantee that the Bardi Empire and the Ottoman Empire won't get involved in the Holy War in the coming year?"
"How is that possible …"
Ivy stopped mid-sentence in surprise. She wanted to say that common sense didn't allow for such a coincidence, but then she recalled that nobody would be able to guarantee such a thing. Nobody would be able to predict the Holy War's progress.
"Besides, perhaps you haven't experienced the chaos of a world war before. In such a situation, if a grain-producing country has a problem, it'll have a psychological impact on the entire international food market. Other countries will start purchasing food instead of exporting it. It's quite predictable that the international food price will increase. In fact, it's even possible that there's no market for food even if there's a price. "
The more I thought about it, the more I felt that it was possible. There were no international organizations in this world that could maintain the balance of the world. If those international merchants and agents with country backgrounds really started to increase the price of food, it was quite possible that food would become even more expensive than gold.
"Yep, then it's decided. This year, we'll purchase food instead of selling it."
Renée made her decision quite directly. However, Ivy became anxious.
"But there's a shortage of food in the domestic food market. The lack of winter food will affect people's morale and cause panic."
Renée looked towards me, and I shrugged. I was quite skilled at dealing with such things, but it definitely wouldn't be something that would ensure peace and prosperity.
"Would you believe that the price will increase by 30% in two days without any unscrupulous merchants selling their goods? Just search all of those unscrupulous merchants and take out all of their stored goods to balance the prices. Right, if it's difficult for you to deal with this, just leave it to the dark elves. They're all experts, and I guarantee that they'll be able to catch anyone they want. If they catch any one of them, they'll even explain everything to their ancestors. "
Obviously, this wasn't a normal method of dealing with such a situation. Casually searching the properties of wealthy merchants would only cause the merchants to panic. Perhaps the merchants would choose to relocate and transfer their wealth, which would cause endless problems in the long run. However …
"It's already wartime. Using peacetime methods will only cause those unscrupulous merchants to look down on you. Killing a chicken to warn the monkeys is better than constantly causing trouble in the future. Heh, the feudal era is so convenient. You don't even need to find evidence when searching for property. "
My overly intense method of dealing with the situation caused Renée to nod as if she understood something.
She knew that I wasn't a bloodthirsty person. In fact, it could even be said that I was tired of killing. However, there was naturally a reason why I was using such an extreme method at such a time. She could guess some of it as well.
"… The Northlands will also face war?"
Since this was a time of war, it was understandable that I would be using such an extreme method. I laughed at Renée's question. She was still too young and underestimated the Holy War that was about to engulf the entire mortal plane.
"No, it's not that the Northlands is about to face war. It's that the entire world is already at war. Every species, every country, every region, and every individual will be able to face the test of war. You die, perhaps I die, or perhaps we both die in the final Holy War. "
Since I had already said something so shocking, I didn't care about their reactions. It didn't matter if they believed me or treated me as nonsense. However, since I had already said it, I was rather interested.
"Brat, continue reporting. Let me see how you juniors are doing."
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