Shipping goods from the game to the World of Warhammer

Three months later, on a routine rationing day during the long harvest season in this agricultural world, a long line formed in front of the rationing station in the seventh settlement of Esperan.

Vasily Kovacs stood in the middle of the line, flanked by his fellow laborers dressed in similar drab work clothes. Each of them wore the numb expression worn down by the long wait. Esperan's ration day came once a week, and it was one of the few days these lowly laborers could catch their breath from their work.

"Let me tell you, those livestock are like pets; they coo when you touch them."

Vasily leaned against the iron railing of the ration station's outer wall and gestured to the workers beside him, "It only takes three days for a baby to grow from an eggshell to an adult."

The old laborer Mikhail, who was in front of him, turned around and looked at him with the eyes of someone looking at a madman. "Vasily, have you gone crazy from being suffocated in the barn? Growing up in three days? Why don't you say that Grox beasts can grow to adulthood in a day?"

A younger worker nearby chimed in, "That's right, you said last time that all you were responsible for was pouring hay into the trough and then catching chickens. If this job is really that easy, then I'll apply for a transfer tomorrow."

"Believe it or not, it's up to you." Vasily shrugged, too lazy to waste any more words explaining to these guys who had only ever dug in the fields.

The line moved slowly forward, and the tin window of the ration station finally came into view. Vasily peeked inside and then froze.

Besides the usual neatly stacked cans of parsnip, there were several huge, steaming metal drums on the counter behind the window, piled high with golden, crispy fried chicken nuggets, glistening with oil and emitting a tantalizing aroma. Next to them were several baskets of fresh, uniformly sized eggs.

"This...this is meat?" Mikhail's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. He sniffed hard, confirming that the rich aroma of meat wasn't his imagination. "Fresh fried meat?"

The staff behind the ration window, expressionless, pushed several cans of parsnip, a bag of fried chicken, and two cartons of eggs in front of Vasily. "This week's rations. All workers who have met their work targets can collect them. The meat and eggs are free. Next."

free?

When Vasily sat down at the long table with his ration tray, the table was eerily quiet. A dozen or so laborers sat around it, most of them having already taken out their rations to replenish their energy for the afternoon's work.

A piece of golden-brown, crispy chicken, when broken open, revealed tender, juicy meat inside, steaming hot and fragrant. Mikhail was the first to take a bite; he took a cautious bite, then froze on the spot as if electrocuted.

"By the Emperor..." the old laborer's voice trembled, "This is real meat... not synthetic protein blocks... not starch paste..."

For a moment, the entire table was filled with the sounds of chewing and muffled exclamations. Some people were tearing into the chicken with big bites, afraid that if they were too slow, it would be taken away; some people held the eggs in their hands and examined them for a long time, as if they were some kind of precious gem; and some people chewed while their eyes reddened, and they kept their heads down and didn't say a word.

According to the customs of the lower-level laborers of the empire, even in an agricultural world, the best they could eat on a daily basis was nothing more than inferior crops and synthetic starch noodles, along with a little bit of egg white paste. Occasionally, they might get a small piece of dry, second-grade jerky, which was already considered a favor from the bigwigs above. As for freshly fried poultry and eggs in their shells, most people had never seen them in their lives.

The young laborer who had started the commotion earlier, his mouth stuffed with chicken, turned to look at Vasily with a complex mix of emotions in his eyes: shock, shame, and a touch of jealousy.

Vasily leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed, saying nothing, but simply raising an eyebrow at him.

Just then, the loudspeaker in the distribution station emitted a piercing electrical hum, followed by a strong, resonant voice.

"Attention all laborers! This ration of meat and eggs is a reward and favor from the traveling merchant Rhodes for your hard work! Praise be to the Emperor! Praise be to the traveling merchant Rhodes!"

The announcement over the loudspeaker at the ration station was repeated three times, and then almost reflexively, all the laborers at the station stood up in unison, their mouths full of chicken, not even bothering to swallow, and they patted their chests and shouted:

"Bravour Emperor! Bravour Merchant Lord Rhodes!"

Mikhail shouted especially loudly, his face shiny with oil and a crumb of fried chicken still hanging from the corner of his mouth. His devout appearance really made him look like he had received some divine revelation.

Of course, for Rhodes himself, who was sitting on the bridge command seat of the Christina at this moment, the reasons for making this decision were far from noble.

"Aliya, how many chickens are there on Esperan now?" Rhodes asked casually, his gaze falling on the holographic projection of the star map in front of him. The Christina was slowly adjusting its attitude above the planet Esperan, preparing to head towards its next destination.

Aliya looked at the data panel in her hand. "According to Governor Lope's latest report, as of this month, the number of hens in Esperan has exceeded five million, but at this rate of reproduction, it is expected to exceed one billion within a month, and soon the total will exceed tens of billions."

Rhodes rubbed his temples.

He couldn't find enough merchant ships. Esperan's crop yields had increased several times over, which required a large number of transport ships. In this region far from the center of the empire, the Vandreich dynasty only had a limited number of cargo ships that it simply couldn't meet the demand.

After deducting the share set aside for tithes, rations for other planets under the dynasty's control, and portions for interstellar trade, there was still an excess of meat and egg products.

Rather than letting these things pile up in the warehouse and get moldy, it's better to distribute them directly as food rations. At least that will earn the loyalty and enthusiasm of these workers.

Only by solving the problem of subspace transportation can the value of this planet be truly realized, but that is not something Rhode needs to consider right now.

With the successful trade of products on Esperan, the mission to enhance the influence of the Vandrick dynasty in the system's side quests also got on track. Rhodes was receiving hundreds of universal energy points every day. Now that Rhodes had these points, he planned to find a suitable planet for the human base.

"Aliya, inform the officers on the bridge to prepare to depart for Mordax."

Mordax, a rekindled forging world located on the edge of the sector, had a priority cooperation agreement with the Vandrek dynasty, but the forging director and sages there seem to have encountered some minor trouble recently.