Chapter 556: Volume 14: Accumulating Thinly and Striking Forcefully - 1: Helplessness
Gazing outside the window at the incessant autumn rain, the rough and ferocious Half-Beastman sat in the grand hall with a look of worry on his face. The lavish home was a place once out of his reach, where he never dared to dream he’d reside, but now seated here, he realized it was not as comfortable and peaceful as he had imagined.
"To put it in his own words, sitting here listening to the endless complaints and threats from those below all day long, he would rather choose to fight or toil," Komer said.
Finally, footsteps could be heard outside the hall. Woodhardt had grown somewhat afraid of facing his subordinates. Unable to meet their needs, let alone their minimal requirements for subsistence, not to mention winter clothing, the Half-Beastmen, although physically far stronger than mortals, needed food and clothing just the same. Now with nothing at all, how would he get through this winter?
The person appearing before Woodhardt had a mortal’s face, which, to his relief, prompted a weary Woodhardt to invite him in.
The expression on the other’s face seemed a bit odd, not the usual gloom. Woodhardt didn’t know what had happened, and he had to admit that his abilities were insufficient to manage this land. The needs for food, clothing, housing, and transportation of more than a hundred thousand people all depended on him. He was not an omnipotent god who could conjure these things from thin air, and he could only watch as the situation on the land worsened day by day, feeling powerless.
Perhaps it was time to make a decision, to prove to his kin that although he was incapable, he was not a leader who selfishly clung to power.
"Bovary, how are things?" This mortal man who had emerged with him from the coal mines’ ever-threatening caves had always been his most reliable supporter and planner. Unfortunately, he couldn’t change the current situation in Banassia either. He deeply regretted being unable to provide this mortal friend with a better life. Their demands were so modest, so why were the mortal nobles unwilling to make even the smallest concessions to satisfy their kin?
"Hmm, there’s been some change. I’ve heard that Baron Komer has returned to Ugru, and he brought back some good news. The Jellyfish People have been persuaded by Baron Komer to open up the Catania River for navigation. Now all of Caucasus is boiling with excitement, and the food prices in Caucasus and Mandu have already dropped. Maybe this way, we can endure a little longer."