Might of Players

---Third POV---

With a sharp "snap," Fuki shut the suspicious-looking inventory list.

He closed his eyes, suppressing the surging emotions within.

The other party really wasn't treating him as an outsider. These items revealed that the Watchers' base of operations was nearby and under construction.

Having such a neighbor was far more dangerous than the occasional low-level monsters wandering out of the Great Oak Forest!

Opening his eyes, he gritted his teeth and said, "I have stone picks and iron hoes, but as for iron swords... and all the tools after that, I don't have any!"

His tone carried a hint of helplessness—a clear message that there was no room for negotiation.

Although the weapons on the list were insignificant compared to the abilities of The Watchers themselves—more sharp iron scraps than actual weapons—the Church wouldn't see it that way.

Trading these items with Edgar would be akin to boarding The Watchers' pirate ship, practically a death sentence for himself.

No, even if it meant offending the other party, he couldn't agree.

Disappointment flickered in Edgar's eyes, but he understood Fuki's reluctance given his circumstances. The quantity of items he needed wasn't small.

Fuki couldn't possibly provide them all on his own; he'd need help from the nearby farmers. That was precisely why Edgar had sought him out, the local power broker.

If the farmers had abundant resources, they wouldn't have ended up on the edge of the wasteland, selling surplus clothing and tools just to get by. It was unrealistic to expect a comprehensive inventory of goods.

After a brief moment of consideration, Edgar decided to compromise. Viktor's warnings about the area's instability are starting to make sense.

"What about a triangular ruler? I can do without the other items, but I absolutely need that."

The triangular ruler was one of the essential supplies that Viktor had insisted him purchase before he left. Honeyvale Town still lacked proper surveying tools for building construction. Without precise measurements, the structural stability of buildings would be a significant issue.

"As for resilient grass garments, we'll need at least six sets."

Fuki closed his eyes and took a deep breath, reminding himself to stay calm.

This wasn't someone he could afford to offend. Even if the intelligence reports claimed that the Fallen Blade was gravely injured, leaving only a fraction of his strength, he was still far out of his league.

"I'm truly sorry..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a loud thud interrupted him.

Bang!

Edgar turned slightly, retrieving a bamboo basket nearly as tall as his thigh from his storage space. The basket was brimming with bright red, fist-sized wild fruits—the same ones he had offered to the players as lunch the day before.

As soon as the basket appeared, the room was filled with a rich, sweet fragrance. Fuki's nostrils flared, his eyes fixed on the basket.

"Fresh ones too... still holding morning dew," he whispered, almost reverently.

"Will these sweetfruits cover everything I asked for?" Edgar asked, noting how Fuki's entire demeanor had shifted.

Sweetfruit trees were common in the Great Oak Forest. The fruits were tangy and sweet, filling, and produced year-round in large quantities. They were the staple food for many of the forest's monsters. The weaker monsters in the outer regions weren't a problem for Edgar to deal with, making this basket of sweetfruits essentially free resources.

Fuki's gaze was instantly drawn to the basket. He quickly agreed, "Enough! Absolutely enough! A triangular ruler and resilient grass garments, right? I'll prepare them for you right away!"

Without hesitation, he darted out the door, not even bothering to guard against Edgar tampering with his house. Before leaving, he casually snuffed out the oil lamp's wick.

"..."

With his abilities, Edgar could see perfectly well without the lamp, but Fuki's decisive and instinctive action made it impossible to ignore.

Looking around the empty room, he let out a long breath and muttered, "Viktor, you really nailed it."

Before arriving, he'd guessed that Fuki would be unwilling to accept Altari coins anymore. So he had planned to trade a magical life-saving artifact instead. But the basket of sweetfruits had been stuffed into his hands by Viktor before his departure. He had insisted that food was a harder currency than any magical artifact.

Edgar had been skeptical, but now the results were better than he'd expected! No lengthy debate was needed.

It's summer now, not autumn harvest season, but food shouldn't be as scarce as in winter. Could something have happened outside?

The triangular ruler was fundamentally different from the tools listed earlier. He could tell that Fuki hadn't wanted to help at first. Yet for a single basket of sweetfruits, he had quickly changed his mind.

Though sweetfruits were filling, they didn't store well. A basketful was far more than Fuki could eat on his own, suggesting that other farmers must share the same needs.

"Are there really that many farmers near the Great Oak Forest?" Edgar murmured.

Two days earlier, the farmers had taken all afternoon just to scrape together ten resilient grass garments. Now, he had requested six more, and Fuki had agreed without hesitation.

---

About half an hour later, the faint creak of a door signaled Fuki's return. Sneaking in like a thief, he carried a massive, bulging cloth sack that nearly buried him.

The moment the door shut, he dropped the sack onto the floor.

"Here, everything's inside." Fuki leaned on the table, panting heavily as he slumped into a three-legged stool. "Ugh, carrying so much in one go—I've really pushed these old bones to their limit..."

Edgar placed his hand on the basket of sweetfruits. The once-full basket now had a fresh mound of fruits heaped on top. "Is this enough?"

Seeing that the basket was nearly overflowing, Fuki immediately straightened up, grinning wide enough to show a yellowed tooth. "More than enough! Suddenly, I don't feel tired anymore!"

"Luckily, two newcomers among the refugees happen to be tailors—they brought plenty of resilient grass and ready-made garments with them. Consider the extras a little token of goodwill from the farmers at Stop Ridge. They're yours!"

Edgar stepped forward and carefully inspected the contents of the sack. Everything matched the list. The processed resilient grass and garments alone filled half the bag, enough to make at least 30 to 40 more garments.

He was quite satisfied with the extra gift.

He deftly tied up the sack and stowed it in his portable storage space. Then, as promised, he pushed the basket of sweetfruits over to the old man.

Fuki beamed with joy, hugging the basket tightly as he eagerly counted the fruits. Taking advantage of this moment, Edgar casually asked, "There seem to be more refugees wandering the wasteland lately?"

The smile on Fuki's face froze for a split second before returning to normal. Still counting the fruits, he replied nonchalantly, "Nothing special. Just that the number of refugees this time is several times higher than any I've seen in the past five years."

"Heh, they're practically taking over the wasteland! Perhaps one day we'll establish a Stop Ridge Town. By then, even I might become its mayor! Haha!"

After this lighthearted remark, he resumed naturally counting the sweetfruits.

Edgar furrowed his brow slightly.

This barren land was known among refugees as Stop Ridge, the closest point of human activity to the Great Oak Forest.

The meaning of its name was clear: once you reached this spot, it was time to stop and turn back. Going further would mean truly keeping company with monsters.

Usually, only those who were completely destitute, unable even to afford the cheapest outermost lands of Nary Town, would end up here, reclaiming land on this wilderness that wasn't part of Nary Town's territory.

And even then, they were often ostracized by the other refugees and eventually driven to the most dangerous area of this barren land.

Stop Ridge had no taxes but also no protection.

While the militia in Nary Town might have been lazy and rarely patrolled, having them was still far better than nothing.

But here, refugees could only rely on fate and past experience to avoid monsters that occasionally wandered out of the dense forest. They also had to find the right moments to clear wasteland and grow crops.

Life was harsh and filled with constant fear.

Even with refugees ending up here, their numbers rarely exceeded twenty. To see such a large group gathered together was akin to serving up a feast platter that would attract monsters out of the forest.

Recalling the parting instructions from Viktor to pay attention to events beyond the forest, Edgar, who had initially intended to stop the conversation, decided to bring it up again. "Why have the number of refugees increased?"

Although he believed it would still be a long time before they completed Honeyvale Town and could begin external explorations, and by then, this issue and its consequences might already be long over, his responsibility was simply to do the job at hand.

A glint of sharp light quickly flashed through Fuki's eyes but vanished just as quickly. He chuckled while counting the sweetfruits.

"And why else? His youngest daughter's dog dies, and suddenly we all pay for breathing!" Fuki spat out bitterly. "The number of refugees isn't decided by me, nor by the refugees themselves. It depends on what the mayor does!"

"If they could live in the town, who'd want to gamble their life on this barren land?"

Then, as though talking to himself, he began recounting some of the recent jokes from Nary Town. "As if farmers need reminding about the value of their livestock..."

"The mayor stood in the town square with this grand look on his face," Fuki said with a sneer, gesturing dramatically. "My fellow citizens! I have received a divine epiphany! To help you all realize the importance of the lowly creatures around us and avoid future regrets, I hereby announce an additional tax on all livestock in town!"

He let out a harsh laugh. "'Money can't replace emotions,' he declared, 'but it can make people more aware of each other's importance.' God bless them!"

Fuki then threw up his hands in frustration. "How in the world does he expect us to afford pets? These animals—our cows, horses, sheep—they're not some fancy companions! They're our tools, our livelihood!"

"Every farmer here depends on these animals day and night. We need them for milk, for grinding, for breeding. Without them, we won't survive the winter. They're our family's lifeline!"

"And now—" He let out a bitter laugh. "As if the livestock sales tax wasn't enough, he adds a maintenance tax on top! With feed costs already so high..." He shook his head. "People can barely keep their heads above water."

"But wait, there's more! Our dear mayor suddenly decides his fifty-two-and-a-half birthday needs a grand celebration. Everyone must attend to 'share his joy.' Share his joy!"

"It was nothing but a scheme to collect gifts. Those who couldn't afford presents, or whose gifts weren't 'thoughtful enough'—" he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers, "—were branded as disloyal. Next thing you know, their housing taxes doubled."

"When they couldn't pay, they were stripped of everything they owned and thrown out into the street." He gestured at the barren landscape around them. "And these are just the most ordinary of his schemes. With taxes piling up like this, where else can people go but here?"

"And recently, he even ordered all farm owners to utilize the abandoned fields they leased and start planting crops immediately, aiming to produce an additional harvest before winter!"

Fuki's smile turned mocking. "Those fields were sacrificial lands, drained for his magical herbs!" He gestured broadly at the wasteland. "These lands, not on magical power nodes, were drained of nutrients within a year. Without proper recovery, how can they grow anything now?"

"Yet he pretends not to know this and demands that these fields, like normal ones, bear the same taxes—recently raised by 60%!"

When Fuki finished, Edgar nodded slightly. "I hope you all get through this soon. Since the sweetfruits are accounted for, our transaction is complete. I'll be leaving now."

With that, he turned and prepared to leave.

Fuki's expression froze. Seeing Edgar truly had no other thoughts and was leaving decisively, he finally panicked.

He quickly threw down the basket in his hands, leaping to block the paladin's path. "Wait! Aren't you curious why?"

Edgar stopped in response, his gaze calm and devoid of emotion, as if the hint of sympathy in his earlier words had been Fuki's illusion.

"Earlier this spring, a section of the Great Oak Forest collapsed, and several monster corpses washed downstream with the Duskwind River, staining the waters black."

"This is a sign of the death of a high-tier monster and an impending monster tide. If nothing unexpected happens, this winter will be harsh."

"The events in Nary Town must be preparations for the monster tide, right?"

Monsters had a strict hierarchical system.

A high-tier monster typically ruled over a region of the Great Oak Forest. With its death, chaos wouldn't ensue immediately. But when winter came and food grew scarce, these leaderless monsters would start moving beyond the forest.

Edgar crossed his arms, recounting Nary Town's state as if telling a story. "Nary Town, being the closest settlement in the Kingdom of Yoan to the Great Oak Forest, is doomed to be swallowed by it eventually."

"It's long been in a semi-autonomous state of abandonment."

"Unfortunately, Abel is a fool who only knows how to indulge himself. He barely pays attention to governance or militia training, leaving Nary Town ill-prepared to resist a monster tide."

"Every time a monster tide comes, they barely scrape through thanks to reinforcements from the royal capital. Am I right?"

Edgar had only recently arrived in the Kingdom of Yoan. He had Viktor's occasional rants to thank for this knowledge.

Fuki smiled bitterly. "Indeed, this year, he initially requested aid from the royal capital, and they sent two Radiant Church clerics."

"But recently, they encountered an accident on their journey... In short, their bodies are already on their way back to the capital."

His bitter laugh echoed in the small room. "You know what's funny about the Kingdom of Yoan? They won't let go of even a handful of dirt from their territory, but they won't lift a finger to save it either."

He crossed his arms, leaning back against the wall. "Abel—that fool—he still has enough connections to cry for help, and the capital still sends aid. But they're not fools either. Why waste good resources on a dying town at the edge of monster territory?"

"And now that our last hope is heading back to the capital in wooden boxes..."