He had to leap out of this massive pit,
During the banquet, Lorist delivered an emotional speech about the tremendous pain and bloodshed that three years of cruel warfare between the Commercial Alliance and the Andinak Kingdom had inflicted upon the innocent peoples of both nations. This was a war with no victors, Lorist said gravely. Look at what had become of the once prosperous and peaceful Mana Hill Plains—now nothing but ruins everywhere, every inch turned into a battlefield. The pastoral songs of old could no longer be heard, nor could one see farmers joyfully welcoming the harvest, or village girls dancing gracefully in the sweet orchards...
"We must end this war. This damned war brings nothing but destruction and pain. I cannot believe that the greatest commercial city on the Galentea Continent, which left me with the most beautiful memories during my ten years of study, has become this—devoid of all vitality, with over a million residents forced to subsist on coarse grain." As he spoke, two streams of tears rolled down Lorist's cheeks.
Viscount Penelope and the other nobles present were deeply moved by Lorist's words and tears. They all pledged that they would spare no effort to travel to Mawei Forest Province and do everything in their power to persuade the Commercial Alliance's leadership to end the war and reach a peace and ceasefire agreement with the Andinak Kingdom. Lorist also declared with righteous conviction that once a ceasefire agreement was signed and peace restored, the Norton Family's armed forces would immediately withdraw from all fortress cities on the Mana Hill Plains and return Morant City to the Commercial Alliance.
After seeing Viscount Penelope and the other nobles off to Mawei Forest Province in carriages and dispatching a company of Flying Tiger Corps cavalry to escort them, Lorist immediately plunged his face into the washbasin Genorio had brought. Well, at the banquet, Lorist had accidentally applied a bit too much chili powder to the corners of his eyes, which caused him to tear up incessantly with red-rimmed eyes. But the effect had been excellent—Viscount Penelope and the others had been so moved that they insisted on departing immediately before the banquet even ended...
For the next seven days, Lorist waited with the anticipation of someone counting the stars and watching for the moon. Finally,
Having followed Lorist on the northward caravan expedition to the family's territories all those years ago, it had been nearly twenty years since Fatty Shi had left Morant City. This return to his old haunts was something of a homecoming in triumph. Though Fatty Shi's true homeland could arguably be the Trinbo Kingdom that had been destroyed by the Commercial Alliance, he had been sent to Morant City by his father at the age of seven or eight. It was here that he had spent his youth and most of his young adulthood, right up until he had met Lorist.
Fatty Shi had been eager to show off his knowledge of Morant City and impress Steward Sper with a tour of the sights, letting this country bumpkin from the Northlands see what the Galentea Continent's premier commercial metropolis looked like. But the impatient Lorist gave him no chance—he had carriages ready and sent them straight to the conference room the moment they arrived.
Since everyone present was a trusted member of the family's inner circle, Lorist made no attempt to conceal anything. He got straight to the point and laid out the predicament the family's armed forces currently faced.
"What? We captured Morant City and there's nothing to show for it? Worse, we have to feed over a million residents?" The one who shrieked was Steward Sper. During the voyage to Morant City, he had been fantasizing about the family raking in tens of millions of gold Forde coins from this venture. When his beautiful dream shattered, Steward Sper launched into a tirade—what kind of lousy city was this, and it had the nerve to call itself the Galentea Continent's top commercial city...
Fatty Shi, meanwhile, was furrowing his brows tightly. That Morant City had fallen to this state was something he had never imagined. It had become an almost entirely different city, bearing no resemblance to the vibrant Morant City of his memories.
Carefully reviewing the stacks of documents before him—files containing all manner of collected intelligence and seized records—Fatty Shi said, "Your Highness, give me three days. We'll organize a team to conduct a thorough investigation of the entire Morant City, find out exactly what the situation is, and then figure out some countermeasures."
Lorist smiled bitterly. "I regret it now. If I had known, I would never have refused His Majesty's offer. I could have handed over the five fortress cities on the Mana Hill Plains and this Morant City to him to deal with, then led the family's forces back to the Northlands. Even if it was a mess, it would be the king's problem to clean up, and it would have nothing to do with our Norton Family.
I only have myself to blame. I shouldn't have boasted before the campaign that we were marching to end the war. We defeated the Invincible Fleet and captured Morant City, only to end up trapped in this massive pit ourselves. All I can hope for now is that Viscount Penelope and the others send back word soon. The sooner we reach a peace and ceasefire agreement with the Commercial Alliance, the sooner our forces can leave this pit called Morant City..."
Fatty Shi couldn't help but laugh. "Your Highness, the situation probably isn't as dire as you think. Look—there's good news too, isn't there?"
The prisoners in the inner city district had been forced to purchase bread at exorbitant prices just to keep from starving.
"On one hand, we must honor our noble promise and not violate these prisoners' sacred right to private property. On the other hand, we need to find ways to extract money from them. This is just small-scale stuff. But the real problem is that Morant City's million-plus residents have nothing to do. Although our family has been providing free coarse grain, there have already been numerous fights and brawls across the twenty-four outer city districts these past few days. I'm worried that if this goes on much longer, it could escalate into larger-scale unrest..." Lorist said, his face heavy with concern.
"I understand. The urgent priority is to find suitable work for Morant City's million-plus residents so they don't cause trouble out of idleness. But Morant City isn't territory our family intends to hold long-term, so we can't make large-scale investments here. If we did, once the Commercial Alliance reclaims Morant City, we'd end up having lost everything for nothing." Fatty Shi pinpointed the crux of the problem with characteristic precision.
"Exactly. Unless we implement the same rationed distribution system that the Commercial Alliance uses in Morant City, there's no way to profit without investment. But we're occupiers. Unlike the Commercial Alliance's trading houses, we can't win the residents' trust. To avoid conflict, we can't force the system on them. But if we don't implement it, the family will have to pour enormous amounts of gold into this, and that's simply not cost-effective..."
Lorist was interrupted mid-sentence. Genorio approached and reported quietly that Al, commander of the Imperial Guard Corps, was requesting an urgent audience and was waiting in the small study.
Lorist rose and strode out of the conference room to the small study. Al, who had been sitting on the sofa, immediately stood and saluted. "Your Highness, could you come with me to a place?"
"Al, you're my brother—no need to be so formal. Let's go right now. Oh, and Genorio, have Baron Shrade meet us at the Red Crow Tavern. It's been ages since we last saw Old Gar; we should have a proper get-together there." Without even asking where Al wanted to take him, Lorist agreed immediately.
"My uncle's tavern has also become one of Morant City's rationed distribution establishments now. Residents can only go in for a single mug of ale using their allocated ration tickets. Even Head Chef Fatty Shi left with a marquis, because there's no place for him in the tavern anymore—there's no food left for him to cook." Al sighed.
"Did you go see Old Gar?" Lorist asked curiously.
Al nodded. "Reidi and I went together. My uncle has aged a great deal these past few years. He's turned down all the invitations from nobles wanting him to become their family knight, and he just stays home teaching his two sons. The Red Crow Tavern is now managed solely by Aunt Louise, though all she can serve is the most basic ale. Reidi and I tried to persuade the whole family to come back with us to the Northlands—our territories are adjacent, so they could live anywhere there. But my uncle refused. He said he didn't want to leave Morant City. We tried to talk him around and he flew into a rage..."
Lorist donned the cloak Genorio brought over. Fatty Shi came up and asked, "Can I come along too?"
Al hesitated for a moment, but ultimately made his decision. "You can, but we can't go in a way that attracts attention. We'll need to dress down—don't look like nobles."
The place Al was taking Lorist and Fatty Shi was the former headquarters of his old society. It was a three-story bluestone building near the edge of the neighboring community, with a fairly large courtyard. Inside the courtyard stood not only an elegant fountain carved with small angels, but also a small grove of over thirty trees.
Al explained that this residence had once been a country estate belonging to a Trinbo Kingdom count in Morant City. After the Glass War, the courtyard had been confiscated by the Commercial Alliance Parliament, then auctioned off and purchased by Ledos to serve as their society's headquarters. Although Ledos was not a noble, he was responsible for maintaining order and collecting taxes in three outer-city communities, which made him something of a local figure in Morant City.
Ledos was already waiting by the side door on the ground floor. Once inside, Lorist discovered that the entire building was empty except for Ledos himself. Upon seeing the three of them enter, Ledos said nothing—merely nodded and led them toward the kitchen at the back. Though surprised, Lorist said nothing and simply followed.
They entered a utility storage room next to the back kitchen. Ledos fiddled with something, and an opening appeared in the floor along with a wooden ladder. Without a word, Al began descending.
"Your Highness..." Fatty Shi began.
"It's fine." Lorist shook his head and followed Al down.
Below the ladder was a small dark room, and from it led a narrow tunnel of uncertain destination. Torches blazed along both sides of the tunnel at three- to four-meter intervals. Ledos was the last to descend. He closed the trapdoor above the ladder, then hurried forward to lead the way.
"This tunnel connects to Morant City's sewer system. It's also the society's underground smuggling route. Over the past few years, because the Commercial Alliance implemented a rationed distribution system for grain and daily necessities in Morant City, Ledos's society had no choice but to resort to smuggling to generate some income and keep the brothers fed better," Al explained.
"Then why did you bring us here? We're not smugglers, and we haven't prohibited your smuggling..." Fatty Shi asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Ledos wants to give you a gift. Upstairs, there are too many eyes and ears—we were afraid word might leak out and cause problems for the society. So he arranged things down here instead," Al answered.
"This is it," Ledos said.
It was a chamber near the sewer line, excavated to serve as a temporary storage cache for smuggled goods. It measured about seven or eight square meters. But at the moment, it held no merchandise—only two men, bound tightly and thoroughly drunk.
"Who are they?" Lorist asked.
"The one with the long beard is the chief steward of the Livord Trading Company. He was once responsible for overseeing the rationed distribution of grain and daily necessities across all twenty-four outer-city communities. All of us in the outer-city societies had to bow and scrape and flatter him endlessly just to get a few scraps of leftover food to fill our bellies. He was recalled to the company's home territory last year. The big man behind him is a gold-ranked bodyguard captain from the Livord Trading Company—somewhat well-known in Morant City." Ledos answered coldly.
"Then how did they end up here? In this state?" Fatty Shi asked.
"They ended up here because they came to me voluntarily, demanding that I cooperate with them to incite the residents of Morant City into rioting and cause you trouble. They said if I did well, they would recommend us for noble titles before the Commercial Alliance Parliament in the future. I heard them say they came to our society first because we're relatively united, organized, and capable. So I invited them for drinks and slipped something into the wine. They've been like this ever since." Ledos replied impassively.
Lorist studied him with interest. "Ledos, why didn't you go along with their plan?"
"I have no desire to be their cannon fodder. They aren't even nobles themselves—what are the chances they'd recommend us? Only a fool would believe that. More importantly, the residents in our communities are our own kin. We would never push our own people into the depths of suffering. Inciting a riot is easy enough, but people die in those things. And they'd just be hiding in the back, perfectly safe.
If they hadn't mentioned that they were the first volunteers dispatched to Morant City and that the Commercial Alliance would be sending additional support afterward, I probably would have buried them alive long ago. I'm not doing this to curry favor with you. It's because Al is our big brother, and we don't want to see Morant City descend into chaos with innocent residents paying the price..." Ledos wore the same cold expression as always.
"Thank you, Ledos. Even if you don't consider me a brother, I still regard you as the same kind, sincere, and warm-hearted friend I once knew." Lorist expressed his gratitude with genuine solemnity.
"Uh..." Ledos was taken aback. He glanced sideways and saw Al smiling, then said with some awkwardness, "Just take them away. Don't go back through the top entrance—someone might see. I'll lead you to the sewer exit. It comes out in a secluded corner outside the city walls. You can head back from there."
...