Thousand-Faced Dragon

Chapter 96 Old Tricks and Travel
"I'm afraid the days ahead will be very difficult."

Rean did not have all the information; he only saw parts of the burning warehouses and granaries, but that was enough to make a judgment.

Even though he still had many adventurers and guards from the South Gate fighting all night, and many local residents showed amazing martial spirit in the crisis, they were still only passively responding to the attack.

Too many areas were engulfed in flames from the very beginning, and the attack was largely successful from the start.

Strategically, it was a near-perfect surprise attack; Radiant City was completely unprepared, they had taken advantage of the situation.

Many people know that there are too many underground passages and hidden compartments in various regions used for smuggling and carrying goods, but no one expected that they would become the trigger point for an attack from within the alien race.

Those smugglers, either for money or by defrauding people and then silencing them, became accomplices in this attack.

The key point isn't why it wasn't prevented, but rather why it should have been prevented in the first place!
No one expected that these foreign tribes would have such great power, be able to infiltrate so many people in the city, and be so ruthless and well-organized.

Before our side was even ready to engage in a decisive battle, the enemy had already launched the most vicious surprise attack.

"This is already a real act of war."

Rean sighed. During the battle that night, he encountered many dark elf warriors and grey dwarves, who clearly showed signs of military life.

Most obviously, their weapons and equipment are mostly standard-issue, likely high-quality products procured by the government, and their swordplay movements are clearly standardized military routines.

So it seems the opponent isn't a scattered group or a wild tribe, but an entire force.

But the focus now is no longer on why they are acting so recklessly, but on how to deal with it.

"I'd better hurry and stock up on some food too."

Although it was quite frustrating, Rean realistically turned around and joined the grain-grabbing army.

News of the damage to grain reserves has not yet spread, and many grain shops and markets are still selling normally.

But it won't be long before prices skyrocket, and the authorities will likely begin to regulate them.

"The key issue isn't how much was lost, or how long it will take to restock, but rather these unscrupulous merchants. Would they let go of the opportunity to profit from a national crisis? No, absolutely not."

Rean sighed. If things started to get out of control, the final outcome could be worse than in another world, because the local nobles and unscrupulous merchants were two sides of the same coin.

In this world, without the support of nobles, commerce cannot take off. Families that achieve a certain level of success in commerce must pursue political and religious influence; otherwise, they are nothing more than fattened pigs.

“The local monarchy is a bit weak; can it control the situation?” Rean was a little pessimistic. He knew that the main strength of the royal family was in the new capital, and the resources here were actually limited. Meanwhile, the local nobles might just be waiting to make a fortune.

If one-tenth of the food is lost, it doesn't just mean the price will rise by one-tenth; it means that only 90% of people can afford it, and the rest could actually starve to death.

In an era when nobles and unscrupulous merchants monopolized the market, half the population might starve to death. They would not miss any opportunity or justification to make money.

Considering the inhuman luxury of the slave market, Rean would never overestimate the moral bottom line of these people.

Bad news rarely ends there, and Rean wasn't so lucky as to be caught in a surprise attack.

Besides the South Gate area, at least six other areas were attacked, with varying focuses. Attacks included city defense armories, animal pens, and city reservoirs, among other infrastructure.
"At least half of the docks in the dock area have been destroyed, and shipwrecks are blocking the alleyways."

Talia had a reason for working overtime all night; those guys hadn't even spared the dock area, and their attacks were focused on the dock area's most important maritime infrastructure.

The situation is much worse than losing cargo at the port and seafood supplies.

“But it’s already been cleaned up. The dock will probably take three days to rebuild.” Kotalia’s words surprised Rean.

This project's efficiency is a bit ridiculous. I've seen it myself. Although most of it is simple wooden structure, it's quite large and can accommodate big ships.

Even with large machinery, building a deep-water wharf of this caliber wouldn't be easy, let alone here where it can only be done by manpower.
"Several archmages have arrived with their apprentices. It seems the gentlemen in the Radiant District are also getting anxious this time."

That makes sense. Others have machinery and engineering, but this world has magic.

In this era, manual labor is more reliable and efficient than large machinery.

Turning fossils into mud and communicating with elements might be done in a day. Considering that some mages may also study architecture, the new building might even be better than the original.

The attacks in other districts were also large-scale, but the losses were not as great as those in Nanming District, and they occurred slightly earlier, making them more like feints to attract reinforcements and confuse the enemy.

Their plan was clearly successful; many grain shops closed that day, and news of grain shortages appeared on the market.

Rean is now only praying that Her Highness the Princess will be more helpful, and that the higher-ups of the Church of Benevolence will at least act like human beings. From beginning to end, he has never expected the local nobles to act like human beings.

"How much grain prices will rise depends on their capabilities, but they will definitely rise."

While the development of events confirmed Rean's guess, it was much better than expected, with food prices rising by less than 20%.

To be precise, this is thanks to Dania's decisive methods.

"Traitors to the kingdom, rumor-mongers, and those who drive up grain prices... Tsk, this little girl is ruthless."

On the city gate of the South Gate District, more than a dozen corpses hung, and the posters below revealed their crimes.

No one thought the princess had gone too far; many passersby even picked up stones and threw them at her out of hatred.

But that wasn't enough. The south gate reopened the next day, and a whole batch of fully loaded horse-drawn carriages and wagons drove in, one after another, their warehouses overflowing with thick sacks of grain.

As they passed by, a sack of wheat fell off the carriage because of a hole in the ground. The whole sack of wheat spilled out!
When Rean heard this news, he felt very uneasy. This tactic was too old. Could it really work?
But seeing the others chatting happily and even raising their glasses in celebration, Rean knew he was overthinking things. Most ordinary people in this world didn't even know how to read, let alone know these methods.

If you don't read books or learn, then even the oldest tricks become new stories to people, and it seems no one in the city can see through them. Rean couldn't help but sigh, "Tricks may be old, but they're useful as long as they work." This must be a similar story recorded in the history of this world.

On the second and third days, trucks loaded with goods arrived again, and when the princess personally came to greet her and waved, it drew cheers from the crowd.

A day later, a group of at least fifty griffin riders descended from the sky. They must have come from the new capital, and Rean saw that they looked travel-worn.

Among them were knights, spellcasters, and probably high-ranking court mages; the griffins were also dragging what appeared to be heavy cargo holds.

Some corn and grains even spilled down, landing on rooftops and streets, eliciting cheers and celebrations from below.

At this point, the news spread quickly, and the people were no longer worried.

Even the prestige of the royal family has risen sharply.

Rean also learned from another source that the Holy Knights were recently wreaking havoc in the Radiant District. Dania did not trust the local nobles, so she sent her royal spies to gather intelligence and had the Holy Knights of the Church of the True God carry out the executions.

There were far fewer nobles speculating on grain prices and inciting rebellion. Their homes were confiscated, and a considerable amount of grain was actually found, which filled the void.

"It seems I underestimated her."

Rean knew that the griffin and the fake grain cart were probably part of the same scheme. The griffin was a war beast and a very expensive flying creature.

If you ask them to transport goods, they need a lot of meat. They might end up eating more than they're transporting, which doesn't seem worthwhile at all. In an era when technology wasn't advanced enough, air freight was mostly expensive and not cost-effective.

Rean estimated that if things continued as they were, famine should not occur, but the problem remained "military rations".

The expectation of deploying troops within three months seems unrealistic. The supply lines at the front don't lie; advancing without adequate logistics would be suicidal.

Moreover, the morale of people in Radiant City is currently unstable, and it seems unsuitable to launch a military campaign at this time.

Since the price of grain had only risen slightly, Rean naturally felt more at ease. He continued to store large quantities of grain, and many of his neighbors did the same; no one was stupid these days.

"...He should master the long stride technique soon."

These days, Rean's learning progress is also quite good.

He had a vague idea of ​​why Kuku was unwilling to convene the Hall of Heroes. These nightly "dreams" had become Rean's special tutoring and evolution; the archmage's learning memories were extremely helpful to him.

This targeted approach, with one-on-one instruction combined with virtual reality-based teaching, saved Rean at least a month's worth of effort every day. There were even some things that Rean, with his limited talent, might never have been able to master on his own.

He was somewhat grateful, but he didn't want to say it outright.

So he took Kuku to Mage Street a couple more times, and some of the "shops" were inexplicably missing something.

At the same time, they also bought some books from other ethnic groups for Kuku.

During this process, Rean was surprised to find that Dania was far more mature and experienced than he had expected. She did not direct her hostility toward all foreign races, nor did she directly identify the dark elves and gray dwarves as enemies.

She even gave a speech, actively reducing local hostility towards other races and implying that some were inciting racial hatred.

Undoubtedly, this is a good thing. After all, once racial feuds start and hatred is locked in, there's no turning back.

As time went on and information about the dark elf prisoners was revealed, Rean also learned that the dark elves and the grey dwarves were not a united front.

The princess is right. Indeed, some people want to completely provoke conflict, preferably to the point of a deadly war.

Rean then realized that there seemed to be another underground city belonging to the Dark Elves, and most of the attackers this time came from them.

But whether this was an act of war by that city is hard to say. Even if prisoners of war leaked the information, it would be hard to believe.

Grey dwarves? They're just vassals of the dark elves.

Rean originally thought that these "peaceful" days would last for a while, at least until he could complete the inheritance of Kuku's heroic spirit. However, the butterfly effect of the alien attack immediately spread.

"Get ready, we're leaving tomorrow morning." Magical girl Purple Rose suddenly appeared.

The exploration work, originally scheduled for a week later, was brought forward.

"I've received two more royal commissions. Heh, this time we might have to take a longer route." This time, it seems Miss Purple Rose has been assigned an escort mission.

Soon, Rean met his companions, including some of his old acquaintances and friends.

Larry arrived excitedly riding her Greatsword Spider. Both her Spider-Man bloodline and her mount seemed to be products of the Underworld.

But this time, she didn't just come over to say hello; she also introduced one of the people riding with her to Rean.

“This is Nokturna, my sister, and the future head of the Labor family.” Larry seemed quite proud of his sister.

"Hello, my sister/brother, thank you for taking care of me." But this spider-woman with a bright smile gave Rean a completely different feeling.

This slip of the tongue seemed to be a test, although his two main eyes were always squinting, as if he had a naturally smiling, squinty-eyed look, like a very approachable businessman.

But the four crystal compound eyes above his eyebrows, which resembled decorative headbands, remained fixed on Rean.

She seemed to have seen through it all, knowing that Rean already knew Larry was a woman.

“Please call me Lorna, that’s what my family calls me. Larry talks about you at home every day.”

(End of this chapter)