Chapter 336 (1/2)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“That’s unreasonable!” Bishop Miramon opened his eyes wide. “You’re just a baron, and there’s a viscount, earl, and marquis between the Thunder Lord and you. How could he just jump over the others and ask for grain from you? Won’t your monarch be angry? That’s too much!”

“The Keane Hill is directly under the control of the Thunder Lord.” Crick sighed. “The surrounding area is under Earl Holhuck, but ours isn’t. Perhaps it was a special arrangement when the Hill was built in order to avoid Earl Holhuck’s complete control of the area.”

“Since the surrounding area is under Earl Holhuck, it should be his residents that suffered from the disaster. Thus, Earl Holhuck should have been the one to ask for grain from us.”

“The Thunder Lord just needs an excuse.” Crick sighed again.

“What a shame!” Miramon understood. He shook his head and said, “There’s nothing I can do. We Orcs never do things this way.”

“In the winter of the year before last, didn’t you follow the Thunder Lord’s orders to join the war?” Knight Howard James said with a frown. “I know a courtier should be loyal to his monarch. You already led your soldiers to join the battle of the Sun’s Death Day. What’s more, your army suffered a great loss there, and you even almost died on the battlefield. Wasn’t that loyal enough?”

“That’s why the letter was put it in a sincere way. It says that it’s not the Thunder Lord that needs the grain, but the people in the disaster-stricken area,” Crick said with a sneer. “How smart our Thunder Lord is!”

“We also had a good harvest last year, but he didn’t ask us for grain. Why did he ask this year?” Knight Charles Ouss asked with confusion.

“Last year’s harvest wasn’t as noticeable as this year’s,” Crick said. “Last year, although new farming techniques were used in most fields, the harvest wasn’t as good as it was this year. It saw only a 20 percent increase in output. To be honest, that was nothing special. But this year, with the wide use of fertilization and the adoption of new farming techniques, we had a sharp increase in output. Although we haven’t received the final statistics, judging from the current figure, the output for this year will probably be four times what it was last year.”

After Crick finished his words, the whole meeting room fell into an amazed silence.

Several seconds later, Scout Rena couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Sir, is that true?”

“Yes.”

“No wonder!” Ryder, the captain of the military patrol of the Keane City, sighed deeply. “If it was me, I would have also envied such a good harvest!”

“But our neighbor Earl Hulhock didn’t envy us at all,” Layton said.

“Maybe he did. He just acted slower than the Thunder Lord,” intelligence officer Rafael said slowly. “Earl Hulhock has held several meetings with its high-level officers recently. Maybe they’ve discussed taking advantage of us.”

Crick looked more worried. He hadn’t solved the current problem yet, and the next one was already coming.

What could be worse than a piece of bad news? Two pieces of bad news!

“Fortunately, Earl Hulhock hasn’t come. We still have time to save the situation,” Mage Damwade said. “We’ve received the order from the Thunder Lord, so that’s what we have to deal with first.”

“Is there anything we can do?” Crick huffed deeply. “That fat guy is sure that there’s nothing I can do about it. I really want to chop him to death!”

“Stop talking like that, please,” persuaded Thomas, the priest of the God of Art and Culture who had focused on researching all day. “With the fighting power of our hill, we can fight against a viscount at most. If it really is the Thunder Lord, we’ll definitely lose.”

“I just said that to say it,” Crick huffed disappointedly and coughed again.

“Sir, take care of yourself!” Layton persuaded Crick worriedly. “No matter what difficulties we meet, as long as you’re here, there’s a future for our hill. Even if we suffer a loss this time, does it matter? After all, we had a good harvest this year, and we’ll have more in the coming years.”

Crick nodded slightly and sighed. He agreed with Layton.

As Layton had said, this time, the Thunder Lord had come to rob grain from Keane Hill, but he couldn’t come every year!