"Ah! This hammock is so uncomfortable to sleep in!" Roland, who had just woken up early in the morning, twisted his tired waist.
"Damn, no way, I'm so young, I shouldn't be weak..." Seeing that there was no one around, Roland began to study the happiness of his second half of life.
"Sir, it's time to eat!" Caslo suddenly pushed the door open, and the dilapidated wooden door made a sound of being unable to bear the weight.
"Put it on the table!" Roland said casually, looking at the table that still had some fresh cracks on it.
"Okay, sir, enjoy your meal." Caslo respectfully placed the breakfast on the table and then walked out.
"Hmm, not bad, quite exquisite!" Roland looked at the breakfast in front of him: a bowl of oatmeal porridge, three slices of white bread, and two palm-sized grilled fish. Roland couldn't help but be surprised. Are these grown men's cooking skills so good? The food they make can only be called "not deadly" or "not starving to death"...
Thinking of this, Roland pushed the door open and walked out. As a result, with a bang, the wooden door finally collapsed under the weight. Roland's mouth twitched, and he helplessly ordered the two knights on guard to clean up.
"Caslo, who made breakfast today?" Roland asked curiously to Knight Caslo who was wolfing down his food.
"Well...it's the hostess of the refugee family that arrived yesterday. After all, none of us can cook very well, and Ivy is all about eating! She doesn't look like a woman at all." Caslo muttered.
As he spoke, Roland noticed the black bread and water bag in Kaslo's hands and frowned: "Is this what you're going to eat?"
Roland was greatly surprised. He had never imagined that a noble dragon knight would have to eat black bread one day. The thought of this infuriated Roland. How could these common people make black bread for the soldiers who protected them? Roland quickened his pace and headed towards the home of the refugee who had arrived yesterday.
At that moment, the Baobi family was busy preparing breakfast for the soldiers. They carefully ground flour and mixed it with bran, baking it into black bread and distributing it to the already starving soldiers. A large pot of mushroom and vegetable soup was stewing nearby, and their hostess carefully served a bowl to each soldier on guard. Several half-grown children nearby looked at the food with eager eyes, their bright eyes fixed on the bread and steaming soup, but they just huddled behind their parents, trying hard to inhale the aroma...
"It's time for dinner!" The mother smiled and served breakfast to the children, a bowl of porridge made of bran mixed with vegetable roots and a small amount of wheat grains.
The children immediately gathered around, received their own portion of food, and swallowed it happily. The hard-to-swallow bran and vegetable roots tasted as sweet as delicacies from land and sea in their mouths.
Roland, who was furious, just leaned over and saw this heartbreaking scene. His anger immediately disappeared. He looked at the bowls behind the couple, which contained the food they had left for themselves - clear soup with a few vegetable leaves floating in it.
Roland looked at all this helplessly. He didn't understand why this happened. Caslo, who had reacted behind him, quickly pulled Roland aside.
"Sir, we don't have much food left, so we have to eat sparingly..." Caslo explained in a low voice.
"I just want to know why the people under my rule are eating coarse food and my soldiers are gnawing on black bread!" Roland's voice was low but extremely angry.
"It's winter now! We have no supplies..." Kaslo lowered his head and said sadly. This is the sadness of a power without foundation... Even a cold winter could defeat him. Roland had replenished his supplies in addition to the food rewarded by the system, but of course he had no place to replenish them, so this led to the biggest problem that Jiliu City is facing now - famine!
Roland rubbed his nose helplessly. All his ambitions had turned into nothing. How could Roland, who couldn't even survive this winter, be qualified to restore the glory of Lagrange?
"Let's organize the archers to go hunting!" Roland could only rely on hunting to solve the urgent problem.
"Knight Commander Renault has already taken his men there! This is a wasteland... there are bound to not be many large prey..." Although Kaslo didn't want to say it, he could only pour a basin of cold water on it.
"Hasn't anyone organized to go fishing? The Rapid River is less than two kilometers away from us! There are plenty of fish in it for us to eat!" Roland asked again.
"Without fishing boats and nets...fishing with a fishing rod is just a matter of luck, and the harvest is just a drop in the bucket..." explained Kaslo.
The air suddenly became quiet, and Roland and Kaslo stared at each other, at a loss.
"Wait! What do you think we are missing?" Roland's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Fishing boats and fishing nets!" Caslo repeated in confusion.
"Hahaha! Problem solved!" Roland suddenly laughed.
Kaslo was frightened and thought his king had been driven crazy.
"We have boats! Have you forgotten the galleons we used to board the Long Lake Town?" Roland now felt that his decision to put away those boats was extremely wise.
"Where's the net?" Caslo asked quickly. If the boat is ready but there's no net, what can you do with your hands?
"Why don't you look for it in the ruins of Changhu Town? At that time, many fishing boats were used by the archers to escape! There must be a complete set of fishing tools on them. Ride your dragon and fly around the lake to look carefully!" Roland hurriedly explained the method.
"Yes! My lord, you are so wise!" Caslo ran excitedly to an open space and summoned his dragon to fly into the sky.
"Someone come!" Roland called out.
"Sir!" Several knights who were patrolling nearby rushed over after hearing the instructions. After all, there were only knights left in Jiliu City, and all the archers with skilled archery skills had gone out hunting.
"Call the idle knights, let's go fishing by the river!" Roland ordered.
After asking several knights to gather the troops, Roland headed straight for Radil's house.
"Sir Radil, we need to go and solve the problem of food shortage in the city. Please take care of this place." Roland asked.
"Hahaha, Your Highness, don't worry. As long as this old bone of mine is still alive, there will be no danger in River Rapids." Radil smiled and assured Roland.
…
"Boom!" The heavy dragon body hit the grass by the river with a dull sound.
Looking at the large and small bags on the dragon's back, Roland immediately laughed. It seemed that Kaslo had made a good harvest on this trip. Dried fish could be vaguely seen sticking out of a cloth bag.
"How is it, Caslo?" Roland asked about his harvest.
"What a great harvest! I thought they took everything away before we drove them away, but I didn't expect they left a lot!" Caslo showed off his harvest with a beaming face.
"How many fishing nets do you have?" Roland asked about what he was most concerned about.
"Oh! Fishing nets! Here are 17 of them! And there are 8 broken ones, which can be used to repair these good ones later." Caslo untied the fishing net from the dragon's back. The young wind dragon hummed impatiently, and seemed dissatisfied with being used as a tool to carry goods.
"Hahaha! Brothers! Let's go fishing!" Roland said happily as he released the galleon from the system space.
…
In the evening, watching everyone gathered around the fire roasting plump white fish, Roland smiled happily. He had fulfilled his duty as a lord, ensuring the food and clothing of his subjects. Looking at the smiling faces of the people, Roland suddenly felt sad. They held the roasted fish in their arms, covered only with a layer of linen, and shivered in the cold evening wind...
"Sir, 11 more people have come today. They are from three families..." Ivy, who had been staying in the city, introduced the new people to Roland.
"Looks like I have to go to Erebor..." Roland sighed helplessly as he looked at the new subjects who were also wearing thin clothes.
"Caslo will accompany me to Iluber tomorrow. Renault, you take the others to continue fishing!" After Roland gave his instructions to everyone, he turned around and left. He didn't want to see that sad scene.
"System! You're such a rip-off! You can't even give the refugees a few more pieces of clothing!" Roland cursed the system silently in his heart.