Chapter 699: Section 485: Knowledge Comes with a Price (Part 3)
The elders of the Gnome tribe welcomed Queen Malin and her party at the town center. Truth be told, their houses were somewhat too small for Malin, so nobody minded that the queen of the kingdom stood in the wind and snow.
Winter had come again, and snow began to fall in the Farol region. Malin did not know how cold the northern regions would become, but she thought... it would always be a struggle.
The situation of the Gnomes was indeed somewhat dire, with summer drought causing widespread crop failure and reduced yields. This year, winter had come particularly early, and the state of these short-statured beings was not looking good; hunger was visible throughout the city.
As previously discussed, Queen Malin had exempted the Gnome tribe from this year’s taxes—of course, in return, the tribe would send adults to Malin’s semi-plane for reproduction—the sacred reproduction.
When the Gnomes entered the portal opened by Malin, carrying their farming tools, they also carried a sense of tragic determination about the unknown future. But once they entered Malin’s semi-plane and saw the huge tree shadows, the warm climate, and the fertile land suitable for farming, they immediately began to calculate how much land they would need to plant.
Then they came up with the idea, "Might as well invite the other tribes over."
In the end, Malin paid a sum of gold for professionals from the Mage Tower to establish a semi-permanent transportation channel. This channel had limitations; only Gnomes could enter, so in case of any trouble, they could escape through it.
After all, as time passed day by day, the day when those northern zombies would head south was drawing ever nearer.
Malin had previously tossed into the historical trash bin the Farole military’s plan of "gathering the nation’s troops in the northern front to hold back the zombies." A new strategy involved withdrawing a part of the reserve forces from the Farole legions to augment the city’s defense, while the front-line troops would defend along the old Rongma defensive line. The zombies had always failed at this line, and this time they would face even more terrifying firepower.