Chapter 254 - Elderly offers
Scarlett’s fingers sifted through the towering stack of documents cluttering her desk. The papers, a mixture of official business and reports, ranged from shipping manifests and bills of loading to imperial charters and writs issued by the relevant authorities. Invoices from entities such as Elystead Tower mingled with correspondences from the Followers of Ittar, while preliminary reports from Evelyne’s various newly hired clerks peeked out from beneath the chaos.
The sheer volume of paperwork was honestly daunting. Scarlett had never been one for bureaucratic tasks to begin with, and most of the content here was far outside her area of expertise. Despite this, she’d been diligently reviewing every document while Evelyne was unavailable, her eyes scanning each page methodically while trying to sort out what was worth remembering and what wasn’t.
Although most of the actual work would still be handled by others, including the barony’s seneschal, Kinsley, Scarlett felt compelled to gain a more comprehensive overview of current operations than she’d gotten from simply reading through Evelyne’s usual reports.
Two days had passed since the attacks on the empire, and only one since Scarlett’s return to the Freybrook mansion. In that short time, the barony had initiated several of their relief measures. For now, this primarily focused on establishing communication channels with the Followers and Kilnstone officials, coordinating the distribution of emergency supplies. They were also arranging chartered ships to transport resources that couldn’t be moved via Kilnstone.
Across the empire, needs varied significantly from one settlement to another. Some cities hit by the attacks had ample food supplies but suffered significant losses in infrastructure and the available workforce. Others faced severe shortages of water and basic sustenance, requiring urgent deliveries from external sources. Their efforts currently focused on the latter, more time-sensitive issues, but initiatives to provide medical support and other critical aid were also underway.
In her preparations, Evelyne had explored various options for delivering, sparing little expense. At present, the barony alone had probably stockpiled enough basic supplies to sustain a medium-sized town for a few weeks. Though modest on an empire-wide scale, they had also secured several contracts to ensure a steady influx of further supplies, and in this situation, every contribution, no matter how small, was crucial.
Fortunately for Scarlett, they’d yet to encounter any major issues that demanded her direct intervention. Admittedly, though, things were still in the early phases. She knew Evelyne anticipated that some suppliers, both domestic and foreign, might challenge their standing agreements given the drastically changed climate, so it was only a matter of time until those complaints surfaced. Their contracts should be pretty airtight, however, so barring any imperial decrees to start seizing grain and other vital resources, their position should remain secure.
Personally, Scarlett was more concerned about the potential questions regarding their timely preparedness for an emergency of this magnitude. But she would handle those as they came.
In addition to deepening her understanding of the relief operations and everything surrounding them, Scarlett had been in regular contact with Beldon Tyndall, receiving updates about the situation throughout the empire.
So far, no members of the Cabal or Tribe had been spotted during any of the attacks, meaning there was still a lot of confusion among the general populace about the nature of the threat. The monster assaults had sparked widespread panic, and while authorities and nobles had managed to stabilise the situation temporarily, the damage to cities had been significant. Ambercrest and Wildscar had been hit particularly hard — the former due to the precarious political situation following Count Soames’ recent detainment and ongoing investigation, and the latter because it had been forced to contend with three adult dragons along with the other monsters.
Freybrook and Elystead were the only cities that fared relatively well. Freybrook’s defenders had repelled some larger monsters, but overall, things had been calmer here than in the rest of the empire. Elystead, meanwhile, had both the natural defences and a high concentration of powerful factions that helped it weather the attacks better than most.
These developments had been in line with Scarlett’s expectations, which provided some relief. She had feared that, because this event diverged from fate and occurred several months earlier than in the game, the Cabal would launch an all-out assault immediately. Thankfully, that hadn’t been the case.