Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest
Chapter 113 - 17: Must Be Too Greedy

Chapter 113: Chapter 17: Must Be Too Greedy

Behind the hillside.

Stood a silent formation of soldiers, fully outfitted and with spears erect.

He randomly shot a pirate to warn them. If Scarhead was senseless enough to retaliate with his forty North Ice warriors, this group of a hundred men would cooperate with Roman to hang them all right here.

However, he made the wise choice.

As for whether the latter would still come, that was Morry’s problem to consider.

Without Scarhead, just let Morry bring another Scarface, as long as he delivered 300 slaves each month.

But Roman thought, that pirate trader knew the value of salt, he probably wouldn’t give up this route.

To stop doing business just because someone dies, what kind of merchant does that?

He casually handed the Riptide Large Bow to Kao.

Kao witnessed his master shooting the North Ice Pirates, his heart surged with excitement, this was his long-cherished desire. He almost wanted to bow down and kiss that fierce and valiant blood-colored bow.

Roman waved his hand, and Dick and Jet, along with all the soldiers, quietly disappeared like a moving forest.

He walked down the hillside.

The reception of the slaves went smoothly. Most of them were weak and sick, but Roman wasn’t picky. He believed that adding brick and mortar to the construction of Sige Town was achievable.

Even the disabled who couldn’t stand had to sit up and sew or mend for him.

Firewood was forever in short supply.

And the cost of keeping them was extremely low, just food and shelter.

How much could they even eat if they were starving?

The more they ate, the more they worked, Roman was hardly fearful of them eating too much.

Here, the chance of someone dying from overeating was higher than from starvation.

The resources they produced as long as proportional to the resources consumed was, in Roman’s eyes, profitable.

The only downside was, low-quality slaves polluted the Recruitment Pool.

This was an inevitable occurrence.

Yet Roman did not initiate a new round of recruitment.

He instructed Jimmy to preliminarily number everyone’s identities, place them in appropriate brick houses, and arrange jobs according to their physical features and past occupations.

These people only needed three days of rest.

Then Roman could have an additional batch of usable labor.

In Origin Manor, he paced within a small area, seemingly restless and turned to Seth, speaking,

"I want them to construct a road to the iron mine within 20 days. This demand isn’t too harsh, is it?"

Seth bowed his head, "Not at all! You have already bestowed upon them many graces. And they are to dedicate everything they have to you."

"Good! Good!"

Roman clenched his right hand into a fist.

He gently swung his fist, his white teeth tightly clenched, the rich scent of fire and steel seemed to spew out from his breath.

It was time to speed things up!

He said.

It was time to speed things up!

...

At dawn.

Dane awoke.

He didn’t rise from bed, still preoccupied with the events of the previous day.

The wooden bed was comfortable, the brick house sturdy, a cool morning breeze blew in through the window, his wife Pamela was nowhere to be seen.

Pamela worked at the food camp, not as a cook but at the mill and ovens.

She would wake before dawn every day to bake enough bread and pies.

Thus, the Lord had exempted them from the mill tax and the oven tax.

In the future, when using the mill, ten pounds of wheat wouldn’t require a half-pound tax.

The same with the oven; the rye bread baked wouldn’t be partially taken anymore.

They were initially quite pleased.

But now, he and Pamela realized that what appeared to be the Lord’s benevolent policy concealed a great trap—

Because they no longer had time to grind their own wheat or bake their own rye bread.

Moreover, the daily tasks arranged by the Lord filled their schedule completely.

Every task was heavy, exhausting him to the point he couldn’t stand straight.

Under such conditions, even if they had half a day off, they wanted to do nothing but rest or sleep.

It was only when moving houses that they belatedly discovered a problem.

The food at home had molded!

This wasn’t a small issue; it wasn’t just the wheat, various grains amounted to seven or eight hundred pounds.

He and Pamela looked at each other, and after a long calculation, realized they hadn’t touched these grains in three months.

Now with the weather hot and humid, soaking rains made it normal for the food to mold.

But this problem had never occurred to them before.

Dane’s father had never encountered it.

Dane’s grandfather hadn’t either.

But now Dane had encountered this situation.

Having never had such an experience, Dane naturally became bewildered.

No matter what, his mind could not comprehend this phenomenon.

His family had once had to precisely allocate their food rations, only allowed to eat so much each day and not even finishing everything when the summer harvest came, leaving reserves and begrudgingly splitting a grain of wheat in half to eat.

Why were they able to keep these grains for so long?

Who was to blame?

"All Gods bless! That’s not the culprit, that’s our savior..."

Dane abruptly began to repent.

He felt a strong sense of guilt and was annoyed for harboring disrespectful thoughts, offending the supreme authority of the Lord.

He was very fearful and no longer thought of lying down, so he rolled out of bed. Walking out of the bedroom, he came face-to-face with his eldest son Glen and his second son Keli emerging from the neighboring room.

Glen was 18 and Keli 16, considered adults in the eyes of a farmer.

Unlike Meiqie’er, Wayne, and Lana.

They couldn’t go to the Origin Manor for education and could only work as young laborers, tiling fields, building roads, firing bricks, and constructing houses.

Dane hoped Glen and Keli could become honorable Guards.

But they had been eliminated twice already and still not chosen.

Fortunately, there were still opportunities, as the Lord would recruit warriors periodically.

Being a Guard was great!

They would receive a monthly reward, and every meal included meat, those soldiers who couldn’t eat meat even faced punishment.

Dane couldn’t imagine what such wonderful days would be like.

He could only look again at the moldy grains and couldn’t help but worry.

What to do if the food was not finished?

It couldn’t be wasted.

Dane glanced at Glen.

Glen shook his head; he had three meals a day at the big kitchen, how could he eat anything else?

Glen then left the house.

Dane looked at Keli.

Keli shook his head; he ate more than Glen.

Following Glen, he too left the house.

Dane then turned to Meiqie’er, his third daughter who had just emerged from her bedroom.

Dane made a decision against his ancestors’ wishes.

"Meiqie’er, would you like some breakfast?"

13-year-old Meiqie’er looked confusedly at the pile of somewhat moldy grains, suddenly shuddered, and shook her head like a rattle drum.

She quickly stepped out of the house.

10-year-old Wayne also came out of the bedroom.

"Wayne, I remember you used to say you were hungry every day..."

Wayne glanced at his father. "Then give this to the younger me." He remembered every time he complained of hunger, his father would hit him, scolding him for being endlessly greedy.

He spoke and followed in Meiqie’er’s steps, leaving the house.

The youngest daughter Lana was the last to wake up, only 8 years old, yawning as she walked out of the bedroom.

"Lana..."

Before Dane could finish speaking, he saw his fifth daughter spot the somewhat moldy grains first.

She was too young to hide her emotions.

Clearly, Dane saw expressions of disdain and disgust on Lana’s face, then, without a second look, she left the house.

She followed her older sister, Meiqie’er, and older brother, Wayne, who went to Origin Manor every day.

There, the chubby chef Bob would teach them how to make breakfast—the manor didn’t have enough hands to cook, the children had to fend for themselves.

But the Lord was not stingy at all, providing rich ingredients like fish, meat, sugar, salt, milk, and flour.

Not everyone had to cook; they took turns—today it was their turn to cook.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t have to get up at five o’clock, they could sleep until past six and then leisurely head to the manor for breakfast.

Sometimes the Lord would even eat the meals they prepared, which they took great pride in.

After Lana left, Dane felt hurt; he felt his children had all changed.

It wasn’t like this before...

...

Dane always thought this was a punishment from the Gods.

He and Pamela had five children.

Opening his eyes each day to five hungry children.

Eating only two meals, so they were never full,

Each meal strictly rationed to half a pound of rations, so they were always crying hungry, like baby birds.

They had no choice, so they never complained about food, let alone moldy or even rotten old grain, they would have to eat it.

Dane had thought that this was what they deserved.

He heard from the merchants who came to Sige Town that greedy people would be punished by the Gods.

It must be because he was too greedy, and not diligent enough, so he received the Gods’ punishment, leaving him impoverished and hungry...