Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton

Chapter 544: Chapter 312: Really, the ‘Ghost’ is Shouting_1
 

Am I really so cruel? Misha began to question her life after being interrogated by Anthony.

“When you have the ability to save lives, but choose not to, that’s cruelty. Especially when your inaction may result in everlasting problems. Countless innocent lives are waiting for your rescue while you stay safe and sound in your own territory, oblivious to their agonizing cries at your borders. Without your food supplies, do you know how many people will starve to death?” Anthony asked in sorrow.

Misha’s mood sank, and she shook her head.

Anthony sighed: “I am not aware of the precise situation in the Wusu kingdom, but based on the conditions in the territories under the control of the Holy Church, we may be seeing food shortages affecting up to five percent of the entire region.”

Five percent? That doesn’t sound too bad. Huh? The Holy Church? Anthony? You mean he’s the acting Pope! Only then did Misha realize who the enigmatic man in the hood standing before her was.

Anthony noticed Misha’s slight disbelief and shook his head: “This is not just about five percent. When five percent of the population in this world lacks food, it means the price of food can be inflated indefinitely until five percent of the population starves to death.”

“Adding to that, issues such as food hoarding, unequal distribution, inconvenient transport, wartime chaos and so on, these factors can multiply that number by several times. In order not to become part of that percentage, people driven to starvation can do anything cruel, like eating a Minotaur.”

Vania seemed to be hit by a wave of calamity, her bulging eyes looking around in confusion: Why would they eat a Minotaur?

Lisa, Negris, Rogge, and the others all fell silent. They understood Anthony’s implications–if people could resort to eating a Minotaur, they could do other things, like cannibalism. If it ever came to that point, starving creatures would undoubtedly be capable of such actions.

Rogge suddenly said: “In the past, when the Undead Empire faced such situations, they would directly initiate the Undead Calamity. Instead of having people turn against each other, it was better to send them on their way.”

Everyone from the Resting Abyss turned to look at Lisa; they all knew that Feilin had almost made a similar decision when the Witch’s Underground City was threatened by a food crisis. Feilin was ready to initiate the Undead Calamity.

Anthony continued: “Although there is a shortfall, does it mean we don’t do anything? We can implement food control measures, crack down on food hoarding, organize food production recovery, find alternative food sources. As long as it’s managed well, we can totally bridge a five percent food deficit.”

“With proper control, we can overcome the deficit. But all these measures require efficient organization and equitable distribution. If you are content with merely keeping the enemy at bay, you might as well be abandoning the peasants in Wusu, which could equal up to twenty-five percent of the population. With the population of Wusu at five million, this could potentially result in more than one million deaths.”

Misha felt as if her legs had turned to jelly. The number was too massive; it left her staggered, all these people could die because of her… but that’s not her concern, is it?

Misha struggled and said: “But if I send troops into Wusu, it will be my loyal soldiers who pay the price. What if we fail?”

Oh ho, a clear-headed consideration. A worthy leader.

Anthony nodded approvingly: “Your concerns are justified, but not at present, because we have got your back.”

As he spoke, Anthony moved towards Ange’s back and started patting his own chest with authority, showing that the ‘we’ he referred to included Ange as well.

Ange had no interest in fighting, it would interfere with his farming, so he quickly grabbed the back of Anthony’s clothing and pulled him back.

Anthony drew his head back in embarrassment and chuckled.

“Hahahaha…”

“Ahahaaha!!”

Seeing Anthony embarrassed, everyone burst into laughter, particularly Negris, who laughed the loudest, “So what you blather all day long, Ange isn’t buying any of it.”

Anthony scratched his head in embarrassment and laughed along.

Misha watched in trepidation. Is it okay for them to laugh like this? Wouldn’t his Holiness the Pope be angry? How is it that his holiness’ status holds so little weight among this group?

After all the laughter, maybe because it was rare to see Anthony embarrass himself, Luther, in high spirits, stepped forward, patting his longsword and said: “Lord Anthony, I’ll help you, my Dragon Pattern Steel Core Mithril Tailed Demon Pattern Terra Clay Burnt Aiyo Aiyo Sword and I will help you.”

Before he could finish his sentence, Luther found himself scrambling for cover in a hail of punches, but he still managed to finish pronouncing the full name of his sword.

Lightning slapped his chest with his hoof: “Lord Anthony, I’ll help too.”

After all the fooling around, everyone gathered their belongings and prepared their equipment. Looking at them, it seemed more like they were bored out of their minds and wanted something to do than really wanting to help Anthony.

Watching this ‘army’, Misha couldn’t help but be moved. She knew full well the strength of the Wusu kingdom from being neighbors for so many years.

If Ange and his men were to help, they indeed could seize Wusu kingdom at a meager cost.

Doing so, she wouldn’t have to station so many troops at the border or reallocate food supplies for relief. Exactly as Anthony said, there’s a deficit in food across the entire region, and Misha was no exception.

The Kingdom of Luosha is not a food-producing nation, and in the past, they bought their food. The pressure of maintaining food supplies was massive, but for this reason, they built several large grain fortresses and thus possessed abundant food resources.

But who knows when this crisis will end? No income and everything is outgoing; even the largest grain fortress couldn’t last more than a few years.