Reading the report, Freon asked, "How is the kingdom planning on resolving this? We still don't have enough food to support everyone living in the Yunyun Stronghold. If we don't satisfy their demands, another riot or rebellion might be possible."
"There's only two solutions that we could do: reduce our demand or increase our supply," Benedict remarked.
"Reducing our demand… I don't think anyone would want to willingly eat less food to feed someone else. A lot of them probably don't want to or can't leave the Yunyun Stronghold either," Shirley said. "That leave us with increasing our supply, which means we need to get more food to leave everyone happy."
"That's the problem though. It's winter, so there's no way we can grow more food, and our current supplies are meant for military use. I doubt the kingdom would want to send more supplies to support the empire's people either… I can't see an easy way out," Freon replied.
"Elizabeth, what do you think?" Benedict asked.
"No, the three of you are right. We can't reduce our demand, nor can we increase our supply through conventional means," she said. "However, we didn't agree to false promises to pacify the people. I worked with General Dennis, and later General Petra and Princess Ming to come up with two possible solutions. Do you want to explain the first one, Princess Ming?"
"The first solution is related to… Freon, was it? It's related to what Freon said. While food can't be grown in the wintertime, it doesn't mean that there is necessarily no food available. For centuries, nomadic tribes and northern barbarians relied on living off the land to survive. There are historical records and testimonies about how they managed this. One of them spoke about a star-spangled mushroom that grow on mossy cliffsides, said to be an excellent medical salve for burns, but can be rendered into soup stock too. Another is a fungus that grows of some pine trees' roots, said to be cure all illnesses, which should be steeped in water for tea. Aside from those, there are also animals most active in the winter months, such as deer, wolves, and rabbits. I referenced local maps and geography to isolate any points of interest in the surrounding areas. If we organize hunting and foraging parties, we could increase our food supplies significantly."
"Hunting and foraging, huh? That's true because we haven't been utilizing the local resources well enough," Freon agreed. "However, isn't that a risk?"
"What do you mean?"
"The locals would be the best choice for the job but allowing them to freely enter and exit the Yunyun Stronghold means the Imperial Council can find opportunities to infiltrate us again. It would be one step forward, two steps backward."
"That's where you're wrong, Freon," Elizabeth interrupted. "We will also be assigning a few soldiers to monitor these parties as well as Arcanists to increase efficiency. Slipping past them should be hard."
"But how much food could they reasonably get? Back at my hometown, the hunters and gatherers sometimes came back empty-handed, or barely had enough to feed their own families. On good days, they might be able to sell in the markets, but knowledge on good hunting routes were kept secret. There's a lot of things that they won't tell you if you're new to the business," Shirley spoke from experience, having tried her hand at it once.
"The locals can help traverse and locate the points of interest, while the actual hunting and gathering can be done by the soldiers and Arcanists. We have enough people to search through an entire region at once. Yield-wise will be hard to make any assurances, but combined with the other solution, they should be a good enough of a stopgap until we enter the warmer months," Ming said.
"And what is this second solution?" Benedict asked.
"I can answer that one." Elizabeth raised her hand. "Ten Dawn Yvonne and Rosemary have been conducting a research project into the viability of using Arcania to support crop growth through the winter months, specifically to sustain humidity and temperature. Our camp at the coves which I've mentioned before is where we have set up multiple enclosed fields to experiment. Although there were initially many problems, the two succeeded! They developed new water-type, wind-type, and light-type spells and implemented a rotation system for Arcanists to maintain growth conditions. We should have a consistent flow of supplies through the winter!"
"Developing new spells for that purpose alone…" Freon chuckled wryly. Ten Dawn Rosemary Arkfell was the Headmaster of the First Celestial Magic University, the premier institute for Arcania research and development, whereas Ten Dawn Yvonne Malkhorn was the person closest to Medium Condensed Drop Core Level, boasting a monstrous Magic Potential herself. These two definitely had the capability to succeed where others would fail. It was a perfect job for them!
"This seems a bit too easy though. Was the Imperial Council's plan really that shallow?" Benedict frowned. He thought that Prime Minister Pon-Wai and the Imperial Council were more cunning than this. Was their plan truly enough to take down the Alzar Kingdom? They looked down on the kingdom! Shirley and Freon shared the same sentiment. They felt that things were more complicated than they seemed.
"I feel like we're missing something…" Freon mumbled.
"I have a question," Shirley said. "Even if they did destroy our supplies here, can't we always get more from the mainland? What's the point in destroying our supplies then?"
"Well, that's… Of course, it's unreasonable to transport that many supplies across the Maelstrom Gulf in a timely and efficient manner. The pandemonium it causes would severely impact our war efforts on the frontlines."
"But we have full control over the Maelstrom Gulf, right? I don't think starving for a week or two is enough for the Imperial Council to do anything big."
Freon was stumped because Shirley hit the nail on the head. With full control over the Maelstrom Gulf and a thorough supply network from the mainland, any shortages could be quickly amended. Granted, recovering enough supplies to support two hundred thousand soldiers might be a tall order, but it was possible. The Imperial Council might net some success by striking then, but two weeks was far too short of a timeframe for any substantial developments. Even accounting for anomalies like the Featherwind Sect or the Perception Realm armies, it still fell short. It was not to the point of a 'fatal weakness' that Elizabeth described. To make it a true killing strike, the other essential component that the Imperial Council needed was…
***
At the same time, somewhere in the Maelstrom Gulf, Admiral Aura poured over a chart in a cabin. Waves rocked the ship and shook her desk's candle, casting ominous shadows across the walls. Fog covered the ocean like a vast curtain and made visibility poor. Their fleet could barely see ahead in these conditions. Thankfully, the Maelstrom Gulf had a strong westerly wind in the north and a strong easterly wind in the south, which meant they would reach their destination regardless of visibility. This was something that she personally plotted out over the course of several months. As they say, a general masters the land, while an admiral masters the seas! Her understanding of the wind and ocean currents could be instrumental in the overall war, doubly so with the recent events now. The suspected death of Princess Elizabeth pushed the kingdom to send more supplies and soldiers over in an effort to stabilize the chaotic situation.
This fleet was particularly large, fielding an abundance of ships, soldiers, and supplies and they were also accompanied by the Zino Kingdom's experimental fleet led by Admiral Jacken. The Battle of Liguang impacted not only the Alzar Kingdom, but also the Zino Kingdom. According to the rumors, they lost four of the Ten Dawns! Four! The Ten Dawns represented the pinnacle of Arcania in the human world, a symbol of the Zino Kingdom's power and authority. It enabled them to stand alongside the Alzar Kingdom and Xingyuu Empire as one of the three human civilizations! Therefore, losing any of the Ten Dawns was akin to a slap in the face, so what to say about losing four at once? It had directly stomped on their reputation! No one would take them seriously after this, so they had to retaliate in kind. They had to show the Zino Kingdom was not to be trifled with!