“Why is there so little meat?” The soldiers who went hunting for the wolf pack, who were waiting excitedly for the kitchen to serve the dishes, could not help but complain when they saw the meat soup in their bowls.
“Don’t say anymore. The wild wolves that you guys fought over only have this little meat.” The soldier who was cooking sighed. “They live in this valley, so they should be having a hard time too.”
“Don’t snatch it. This piece of meat is mine.”
The soldiers had already started to snatch the remaining wolf meat in the bowl.
No one was listening to what the soldier in the kitchen was saying.
The soldier in the kitchen sighed and walked towards Devitt’s tent with a plate of food.
“Captain Devitt,” the soldier called out softly after walking into the tent.
Devitt, who was lying on the table, raised his body. After seeing the bowl in the soldier’s hand, he waved at him and said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice that it was already dinner time. Sorry to trouble you.”
“No problem.” The soldier shook his head and walked forward to put the food on another table.
After seeing the soldier put the food on the table, Devitt was about to look away, but he found that the soldier had no intention of retreating. Instead, he stood there hesitantly. So he raised his head and asked, “What’s wrong? What’s the matter?”
“Well…” the soldier hesitated and said, “Captain Devitt, we’re almost out of rations.”
“Huh?” Devitt said in surprise, “But we have only set off from Dwarf Town for a few days. How could we run out of the amount we prepared and the supplies we purchased so quickly?”
“When we were purchasing, we were tricked by the dwarf merchants. After we set off, we found out that what they sold us were all scraps that could not be used for cooking.” The soldier explained nervously, “In the past few days, we have been using up the food we brought with us. Now, we are almost at the bottom.”
“Then, how long can we last with the food we have now?” Devitt rubbed his temples and asked.
“I am not very clear about the situation on the elves’ side. On our side, we can only last for… three days.” the soldier replied carefully.
“Three days?!”
This number really shocked Devitt.
Three days. He probably wouldn’t even be able to walk out of the valley.
“… I understand,” Devitt sighed and replied. Then, he asked the soldier to leave.
Devitt walked to the table where the dishes were placed and started to drink the soup one mouthful at a time.
Over the past few days, all sorts of unexpected situations gradually made him haggard.
As he ate, he thought about how to resolve this crisis.
After dinner, Devitt summoned Claremont and Abel. The three of them sat opposite each other in Devitt’s tent. Devitt relayed to them the facts that the soldiers had reported to him today.
“Can the two of you think of any good strategies?” Devitt surrendered his hopeful gaze to the two of them.
“Why don’t we give some of our rations to the Caradia soldiers as a contingency?” Abel suggested.
The elves only ate one-fifth of what humans ate every day, and they drank even less water.
Under such circumstances, the troops that supported Caradia soldiers should still have some spare food.
“How much food do the elven soldiers have left?” Claremont asked worriedly.
“This… I’m not too sure. We’ll know once we get someone to ask.” Abel immediately stood up and walked out of the tent to get someone to find the elven logistics soldiers.
Not long after, an elven soldier walked in.
When Devitt saw Abel’s questioning, the soldier’s nervous expression, the hope in his eyes extinguished by half.
The elves had encountered the same predicament as the Caradia soldiers. The rations could only last for ten days.
“These soldiers who knew about the situation but didn’t report should be taught a good lesson,” Claremont said angrily.
“The grain of our two teams can only be used for about six days,” Abel concluded. His expression was not as clear as before.
“So, should we advance? Or retreat?” Claremont read these words and set his gaze on Devitt.
Devitt lowered his eyes and sat quietly in thought for a while.
He got up and took the map that the dwarf guild had given him from the table and spread it on the ground.
“If we retreat, the food storage will still be enough to support us to return to Dwarf Town,” Claremont said as he pointed at the plains on the map.
“If we continue forward, we can only walk to the wilderness outside the valley,” Abel added in a deep voice.
“No, we can’t go back. It was purely a fluke that we were able to successfully pass through the Troll Valley this time. I don’t think they will let off the foreign tribes who have been wandering around the borders of their own territory. Moreover, this trip will take at least half a month. We have to hurry and complete our mission.” Devitt carefully examined the map, “We need to change the original route and find a new way out.”
“But we don’t know anything about the races other than the races around the route,” Claremont reminded.
“A map is enough,” Devitt insisted.
In the end, the two of them were convinced by Devitt’s train of thought.
The three of them took out the piled-up maps and looked through them carefully. Only by taking the route and going there would they be able to provide supplies for their team.
“I found it,” Devitt said after twenty minutes.
“Where?” Claremont and Abel came to his side and asked.
“We can cross the river to go to the centaurs’ territory.” Devitt raised the sheepskin map in his hand and said, “This map indicates that they have a market open to the public.”
Abel took the map and looked at it carefully.
“But to go there, not only will we have to cross the river, but it’s also very far. It’ll take at least eight days to go there.” Claremont gestured on the map and said worriedly.
“The food from the hunt should also be used as a part of the resources. Right now, this is the only way we can go,” Devitt said.
“Then let’s inform the soldiers and let them understand the situation the team is facing now.” Claremont and Abel agreed to the plan and then suggested it to Devitt.
“Okay.”
When the news reached the group of soldiers, none of them were as dejected as they had imagined. Instead, they started to joke with each other. They pushed each other and said, “It must be because you ate too much or something.”.
In Claremont’s eyes, this could be considered as his strengths complementing his weaknesses.
The combination of an optimistic attitude and carelessness was a problem that the three new leaders were still trying to figure out how to balance the two. But now that the team had reached this point, Claremont finally put down the requirements for his performance to be perfect. He also gradually understood the words that Derrick had said to Devitt at the banquet before the expedition.
After this night, they would begin a new challenge.
