Chapter 96: Old Tactics and Departure

"It seems the days ahead will be hard."

Li En didn't have all the intelligence—he only saw parts of burning warehouses and grain stores—but it was enough to judge.

Even though many adventurers and Nanmen guards fought through the night, and many locals showed astonishing martial virtue, they were still merely reacting defensively.

Too many districts fell into fire from the start; the attack succeeded in half its objectives before it even began.

Strategically, this was a near-perfect surprise assault—Huicheng had no preparation at all; they used the tactic of hiding in plain sight.

Everyone knew the districts had countless underground tunnels and hidden holds for smuggling and cargo, but no one imagined they'd become the detonation points for an internal attack by outsiders.

Those smugglers, whether paid to cooperate or simply murdered after deception, became accomplices in this attack.

The key question isn't why they weren't prepared—but why should they have been?!

No one expected these outsiders to have such power—to hide so many people in the city, strike so brutally, and organize so thoroughly.

While our side hadn't even prepared for a decisive battle, the enemy had already carried out their most vicious surprise.

"This is already an act of war."

Li En sighed; during that night's battle, he encountered numerous dark elves and gray dwarves, clearly bearing the marks of military service.

Most obvious was their equipment—mostly standardized, likely government-purchased premium gear—and their sword techniques were clearly standardized military drills.

If that's the case, the enemy isn't a band of mercenaries or wild tribes—it's an entire faction.

But the current priority isn't why they're so insane—it's how to respond.

"I'll hurry and secure some grain while I can."

Though frustrating, Li En pragmatically turned and joined the grain-hoarding crowd.

News of the grain losses hadn't spread yet; many grain shops and markets were still selling normally.

But soon, prices won't just skyrocket—the authorities will start imposing controls.

"The issue isn't how much was lost or how long it'll take to replenish—it's these merchants. Will they pass up a chance to profit from national disaster? No, absolutely not."

Li En sighed; if things spiral out of control, the outcome might be worse than in another world, because here, nobles and merchants are two sides of the same coin.

In this world, commerce can't thrive without noble support, and families that reach a certain scale in business inevitably seek political or religious influence—or they're just fattened pigs waiting to be slaughtered.

"And the local Wang Quan is weak—can they even hold the situation?" Li En wasn't optimistic; he knew the royal family's main strength lay in the new capital, and local personnel resources were limited, while the local nobles were probably just waiting to profit.

Losing one-tenth of the grain isn't just a ten percent price hike—it means only nine out of ten people can afford it; the rest may truly starve.

In an era where nobles and merchants monopolize the market, they could even let half starve—if there's an opportunity and a pretext to make money, they won't miss it.

Thinking of the slave market's luxurious, inhuman cruelty, Li En would never overestimate their moral limits.

Bad news never comes alone; Li En wasn't lucky enough to encounter only the surprise attack.

Besides Nanmen District, at least six other districts were attacked, each with different targets—including the city defense arsenal, animal pens, and the city reservoir—all struck, even...

"At least half the docks in the Port District were destroyed, and sunken ships blocked the alleys."

Talia S Daer worked through the night for a reason—those bastards didn't spare the Port District; their attacks focused precisely on its most vital maritime infrastructure.

Losing the docks meant losing sea freight and seafood supplies—this situation was far worse.

"But it's been cleared. Rebuilding the docks will take about three days." Talia's words left Li En stunned.

That efficiency was ridiculous—he'd seen it himself; though mostly simple wooden structures, the scale was huge, capable of docking large ships.

A deep-water dock of this level—even with heavy machinery—wouldn't be easy to build, let alone here where only manpower is available.

"Several high-level mages arrived with apprentices. Looks like the old masters in Huiguang District are desperate too."

That made sense—others had machinery and engineering, but this world has magic.

In this era, human magic is more reliable and efficient than heavy machinery.

Turning stone to mud, communing with elements—maybe done in a single day. Considering some mages also study architecture, the new docks might even be better than the old.

Attacks in other districts were also significant, but losses were less than in Nanmen, and they occurred slightly earlier—more like decoys to draw reinforcements and confuse attention.

Clearly, their plan succeeded; many grain shops closed that very day, and rumors of shortages spread.

Li En now only prayed the Princess was capable, and that the High Clergy of the Good God would act like humans—he never expected the local nobles to act like humans at all.

"How much the grain price rises depends on their ability—but it will rise."

Though events confirmed Li En's suspicions, they turned out far better than expected—the grain price rose less than twenty percent.

More accurately, this was thanks to Dai Niya's decisive actions.

"Traitors to the kingdom, spreaders of rumors, grain speculators... Hmph, the little girl hits hard."

On the gate of Nanmen District, over a dozen corpses hung, beneath posters declaring their crimes.

No one thought the Princess went too far; passersby even picked up stones to throw at them.

But that alone wasn't enough; the next day, Nanmen's gates reopened, and a line of fully loaded carts and wagons rolled in, one after another, each packed with thick sacks of grain.

As they passed, a cart tipped over a pothole—one sack spilled open! Full wheat poured out onto the ground!

When Li En heard this, he felt a strange unease—was this old trick still effective?

But seeing others chat happily, even raising cups to celebrate, Li En realized he'd overthought it—most ordinary people here didn't even know such tactics, let alone recognize a single character.

If you don't read or study, even the oldest trick feels like a new story—the citizens seemed completely fooled.

Li En couldn't help but sigh: the trick may be old, but if it works, it's fine—this must be a similar anecdote recorded in this world's history.

The next two days brought more fully loaded wagons; the Princess even came personally to greet them, waving—and the crowd erupted in cheers.

Another day later, at least fifty griffon knights descended from the sky—they must have come from the new capital; Li En saw their dusty, weary appearance.

Among them were knights and spellcasters, likely high-ranking court mages, and their griffons dragged what looked like heavy cargo holds.

Even some corn and grains rained down onto rooftops and streets, sparking further cheers and celebration below.

At this point, news spread rapidly—the people no longer feared anything.

Even the royal family's prestige rose sharply.

And Li En learned from another source that the Holy Knights' Order was now slaughtering ruthlessly in Huiguang District—Dai Niya didn't trust the local nobles; she sent her royal spies to gather intelligence and ordered the Holy Knights to carry out executions.

Nobles who speculated on grain or incited rebellion grew fewer—their homes were raided, and plenty of hidden grain was recovered, filling the shortages.

"Looks like I underestimated her."

Li En knew the griffons and the fake grain carts were another trick—griffons, as war beasts, were extremely expensive flying creatures.

Feeding them required massive amounts of meat—possibly more than they carried; it made no economic sense. In an era with underdeveloped technology, air transport was always costly and inefficient.

Li En estimated that, under current conditions, famine wouldn't occur—but the real problem remained: "military rations."

The expected three-month mobilization now seemed unrealistic; the front-line supply lines couldn't be faked—advancing without adequate logistics was suicide.

Moreover, Huicheng's morale was still unstable; now wasn't the time to launch external campaigns.

Since grain prices had only risen slightly, Li En relaxed—he continued stockpiling heavily, and many neighbors did the same; in these times, no one was foolish.

"I should master the Great Step Art soon."

These days, Li En's progress had been excellent.

He now understood why Ku Ku refused to open the Hall of Spirits—these nights' "dreams" had become his exclusive tutoring sessions; the high mage's memories were immensely helpful.

This targeted, one-on-one, virtual-reality-style feeding of knowledge saved him at least a month's effort every day—some concepts, limited by his innate talent, he might never have mastered on his own.

He felt grateful, but couldn't say so outright.

So he took Ku Ku on two extra trips to Mage Street, and certain "shops" mysteriously lost a few items.

He also bought Ku Ku some foreign-language books.

During this process, Li En was surprised to find Dai Niya far more mature and shrewd than he'd expected—she didn't direct hostility toward all outsiders, nor did she immediately label dark elves and gray dwarves as enemies.

In fact, she gave speeches actively lowering local hostility toward outsiders, hinting that someone was stoking racial hatred.

Undoubtedly, this was good—once racial slaughter began and hatred became entrenched, there'd be no turning back.

As time passed and more dark elf prisoners' intelligence was unlocked, Li En learned the dark elves and gray dwarves weren't unified.

The Princess was right—someone truly wanted to ignite full-scale conflict, ideally a war to the death.

Li En now knew there was another underground city belonging to the dark elves, and most of the attackers came from there.

But whether this was an act of war by that city was uncertain—even the prisoners' claims couldn't be trusted.

The gray dwarves? Merely vassals of the dark elves.

Li En had thought this "peaceful" period would last a while—at least until he completed Ku Ku's Spirit Heritage—but the butterfly effect of the outsider attack struck immediately.

"Get ready—we leave tomorrow morning." The Magic Girl Violet Rose appeared suddenly.

The exploration scheduled for a week later was moved up immediately.

"I've received two royal commissions—hmm, this time we might have to take a longer route." This time, Violet Rose seemed to have received an escort mission.

Soon, Li En met his fellow travelers—including an old acquaintance, a friend.

Larry rode in on a giant sword spider—her arachnid bloodline and her mount both seemed products of the underworld.

But this time, she wasn't just stopping by to say hello—she introduced another rider to Li En.

"This is Nocturna, my sister, and future head of Labor." She clearly took pride in this sister.

"Hello, my sister-brother—thank you for taking care of her." The smiling spider-girl gave Li En a completely different impression.

The slip seemed like a test; though her two main eyes remained half-lidded, naturally appearing as a friendly, smiling merchant's gaze,

the four crystal compound eyes above her brow—like ornamental head rings—stared fixedly at Li En.

She had seen through him—she knew Li En was aware Larry was female.

"Call me Lona—my family calls me that. Larry talks about you every day at home."

(End of Chapter)