Chapter 121: Milking Money (1)
“It looks like we’ll be busy for a while, my lord,” said Lloyd.
“Eh?”
Screech!
The abrupt voice seemingly broke the silence. The baron tightened his fingers, and his chisel skidded forward. The wooden doll in his other hand ended up with a long scratch as a result.
“Oops, oh my…”
But his wistful look quickly disappeared. The baron removed his gaze from the sculpture and turned to Lloyd.
“What do you mean that we will be busy?” asked the baron.
“Forget that, are you okay?”
“Oh, I’m okay. I meant to peel off the area anyway, so it is all fine. And my hand didn’t get injured,” said the baron.
“That’s a relief.”
Lloyd was actually feeling the opposite of what he said. The baron had discontinued his hobby of chiseling wooden dolls when he was pressed under crippling debt. But now that the debt was paid off and the crisis in his family was nonexistent, his habit returned to ensure a peaceful merriment in his daily life. However, such a joyful hobby was set to be put on hold for a moment again.
“Refugees have come to our fiefdom,” Lloyd explained.
“What?” The baron was about to pick up the chisel to smoothen the area but stopped. “What refugees?”
“Just as I said. There are about 80 refugees here,” explained Lloyd.
“Have you checked where they are from?”
“Yes, they’re from the Sortino barony.”
“What? Hold on. Sortino barony is…” The baron looked at Lloyd meaningfully.
“Yes, it’s near the eastern range. Just like us.”
“…”
The baron’s eyes gradually grew bigger as the meaning of Lloyd’s words slowly sunk into him.
“Unfortunately, they failed to respond to the monster domino,” Lloyd said. “The entire fiefdom became desolated.”
“What about the Sortino family?”
“They have gone missing,” Lloyd said, his voice low.
“What a tragedy…”
“I had people serve up warm water and food to the refugees first. So, I have something to tell you, my lord,” said Lloyd, hurrying up before the baron’s face grew darker. “It appears that more refugees will be coming soon.”
“Yes, I see. That is the reason why you said we will be busy soon,” replied the baron.
“Yes.”
“But what about the other fiefdoms? Any news?”
“No. But…”
“But?”
“I presume that most of them met the same fate as the Sortino barony.”
“…”
The baron shut his mouth. It was hard, but it was plausible enough because he, too, experienced firsthand the shock and terror of the monster domino when hundreds of thousands of locusts stormed into his fiefdom.
Yes, there would only be a few… that could defend themselves against such a terrorizing event…
The baron still suffered from nightmares of that day. He broke out in a cold sweat on those nights, and he would wake up from sleep completely soaked. And so, he didn’t take the matter in front of him lightly.
Clack.
The baron put down the wooden doll and chisel.
“So… are you saying that those refugees will come to our fiefdom?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“How many?”
“Almost all of them.”
“What?” The baron threw a glance at Lloyd.
“The number will likely be in the thousands, and it could easily rise into the tens of thousands.”
The baron’s eyes widened in surprise. The number was somewhere between thousands and tens of thousands. The baron, who had braced himself to hear the figure, was shocked to hear the actual number. His surprise made sense, for the Frontera barony boasted less than 5,000 people in population. And right now, his son was notifying him that a group of refugees was expected to arrive, and the number was a couple of times more than the current population in the barony.
“But… even so, do you really think it will happen?” said the baron.
“I presume it will.”
“…”
The baron’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. Lloyd was always right. It seemed so looking back. There was never a time he was at a loss when he did whatever his son suggested. Putting faith in Lloyd rendered a host of benefits. The same thing would be with the refugee situation. Plus, there was enough evidence to trust his son’s words.
“You’re right,” the baron agreed, “Come to think of it, you do have a point.”
The baron began to collect his thoughts as he spoke.
“Most of the fiefdoms near the eastern range have probably been greatly damaged. The same is true for the fiefdoms sitting in the west.”
“Yes, that is likely.”
“Right,” said the baron, “there must not be many places for the refugees to turn to.”
“Yes, my lord. Another range sits further into the west, and the south is a foreign country,” said Lloyd.
“And since they won’t be able to move to the east because that’s where the monsters came from, their only option is the north…”
“And in their route, the only working fiefdom would be us and the Lacona viscounty. There is also Cremo, the central city of this province. But it’s too far.”
“Right,” said the baron, “and making things worse, winter is nearing. From the perspective of the refugees, traveling to Cremo would be extremely difficult.”
“Yes. They will flock to a place where they can safely spend the winter.”
“And that would be our fiefdom.”
“Yes.”
A soft smile escaped him. Truly, the baron was a sensible person. He slightly lacked the grit to overcome challenges, but he gave ears to the advice of people around him. In a situation like this, such quality was imperative.
“And so, I think we need to prepare for two things before more people flood in here.”
“Two things?”
“The most urgent ones would be providing food and shelter when accommodating the refugees.”
“Food and shelter. Hmm.” The baron’s expression became dark.
“I suppose we must halt the festival first since we should save as much food as we can. But that still won’t be enough to feed thousands of refugees.”
It was true. The food stocked up in the storage wasn’t enough to feed the refugees. Sure, the Maritz land finally saw harvest, but there was still room for improvement as this was the first time the land was being refurbished and worked. The harvest was only enough to cover the people in the fiefdom. So right now, a flood of refugees whose number was set to reach multiple times their current population was far from promising.
“Should we resort to importing from Cremo?” the baron suggested the first thing that came to his mind.
“Well, that is a great idea as well. But I wish to leave it as the next best alternative.”
“Do you have any ideas in mind then?” asked the baron.
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
“Locusts. The bugs Bangul caught with her volcanic ash.”
The baron’s facial expression froze.
“What…? Do you mean to say we should feed the refugees the locust carcasses?”
What if they throw it up in disgust? Or what if they blow their gaskets and stir up a riot? Those were the two questions that popped into the baron’s head. But such a reaction was only natural because eating a locust was unimaginable and foreign to the people in the Laurasian continent. However, it wasn’t to Lloyd, who was from South Korea.
I mean, locusts may look repulsive, but grill them up well, and they become a great bar snack.
Plus, most South Koreans enjoyed pupas as snacks. So Lloyd and the baron had differing perspectives on consuming insects.
“It is all right. They won’t die eating it. The locusts should be surprisingly tasty. Not to mention the fact that they’re very nutritious.”
“But still, they’re insects…”
“Plus, they’re not small bugs. So that would be even better for us,” reasoned Lloyd.
“What do you mean by that?” asked the baron.
“The refugees won’t be eating up the entire thing.”
A corner of Lloyd’s lips curved upward.
“The locusts are over 2 feet in size. Snap the head and legs, and tear the skin naked. It’d be about a foot and a half. That is why…”
“So?” the baron asked in expectation.
“There is no one who can consume an entire locust in one sitting. Isn’t it comparable to the size of a steak?”
“Oh…”
The baron’s eyes glimmered. He was starting to get the idea.
“You plan on chopping only the meaty parts to feed them, yes?”
“Yes, that is what I mean.”
The corners of Lloyd’s lips pulled further up. Human psychology worked like that. Cooking something up and seeing the ingredients in their raw form repulsed humans. They either loved or hated it, nothing in between. And so many ingredients were chopped and sliced into most dishes to hide their original shapes. Moreover, these refugees weren’t mukbang streamers or food fighters. No one among them would be eating a raw 1.5-foot-long locust as it would be processed and cut up into small pieces before being served.
“But of course, that wouldn’t entirely get rid of the repulsion toward the locust meat. So we have to come up with a recipe,” said Lloyd.
“A recipe? Why?” asked the baron in curiosity.
“Since a recipe is just a thing to make the refugees enjoy them,” Lloyd said as he shrugged. “Now, let’s get moving, my lord. We need to take care of the urgent matters first.”
“Yes, that sounds like a good idea.” The baron nodded at the same. If the refugees were right about their testimony and if Lloyd was right in his prediction, there was not a second to lose.
The barony carefully moved in preparation for the incoming refugees. First was the processing of locust meats attained in mass. They were already grilled to a crisp by the volcanic explosion, and the cold climate preserved them to be of the best quality. Javier oversaw the process.
“Okay, I want you guys to follow me. From here to here. Like this.”
Javier demonstrated with a dagger, and the crispy locust was skinned in a flash, exposing a white meat likened to a shrimp.
“It’s easy, right?”
“…”
But it was never easy. The guard soldiers struggled to peel off the skin. Once only the juicy meat was left, the fiefdom’s women, who were supervised by Baroness Marbella, took over.
“Actually, I had a taste a while ago,” the baroness said in a dignified manner.
Her words caused the other women to widen their eyes in surprise, unable to internalize that the baroness had tasted those creepy and disgusting locusts before anyone else.
“Yes, I did. I chewed and ate it. It was not so bad,” she added.
“…”
“Based on my experience, I think we need a bit of a strong spice. This meat was a bit gamey. That is why…” The baroness grinned elegantly and placed an old book on the countertop.
“I am sure you are familiar with this cookbook. Yes, this is the legendary cookbook ‘I Became the Dragon King’s Chef’ any refined and high-status lady owns or wants to own.”
“Oh, my!”
There was an envious clamor among the women. It was only natural, given that the cookbook had been regarded as one of the best of the best cookbooks on the continent for several hundred years. It was a legendary and rare cookbook authored by a foreign girl who became the wife of a dragon in human form eons ago.
“Yes, it is the cookbook you all are familiar with,” Marbella explained, “I am sure you can recall how my son had taken care of the dark sorcerer the last time. He brought it from the evil man’s den. It is my plan to refer to this book to develop a recipe for cooking locusts. What do you say to that?”
“…!” The women nodded their heads in enthusiasm.
Amid the busy preparation in the fiefdom, Lloyd’s days were hectic as well. But his business was different in nature. He was busy walking, which went on for a whole day. Every day, without fail, he aimlessly walked and walked as though he was possessed by a spirit that loved strolling. At times, he stopped and nodded. Other times, he looked around, sighed, and contemplated. Just like that, Lloyd walked, observed, and walked every corner of the fiefdom for several days. It was as if he had become Anaximander, the first mapmaker in the world. But none of the residents thought his behavior was strange.
“He must have a reason. After all, he is Master Lloyd.”
“Of course. He is Master Lloyd.”
“Indeed. He is Master Lloyd.”
The troublemaker, the gangster, worse-than-a-plague hooligan young master was gone in their perception. In its stead, his actions were defined and understood in one sentence: He is Master Lloyd. That was enough. Even if Lloyd did handstands all day or tumbled forward and backward and jumped around, everyone was almost ready to understand him, saying, “He is Master Lloyd.”
Regardless, about 15 days passed by. Lloyd’s prediction turned real. Each day, more refugees fled into the barony on and on. There was no end. Some were in groups of ten while others came in hundreds. Men and women came from all corners of the east. The refugees began to be packed full in the fiefdom. Once this truly happened, the baron paled.
“What do we do?”
On the morning of the 16th day the refugees arrived, the baron called Lloyd, and he spoke in a voice mixed with anxiety.
“Whew… I somehow braced myself for this to happen after you told me, but as I see the endless queue of people, my heart is afraid.”
It was the indisputable truth. He did see this coming, for he was warned of the massive influx of refugees. So he decided to stay prepared and determined. But when he actually confronted the situation with his own eyes, this whole thing felt real. The actual situation turned out to be much worse than what he vaguely imagined. He felt frustration bubbling over inside him.
“Yes, we made various preparations on our end, like the locust meat, but I am afraid,” the baron confessed. “I am worried about whether we can take care of them. Or I wonder if we should take in a certain number of them and send the rest away. Will we be able to offer them a place to stay safe against the cold wind? I couldn’t get a wink of sleep last night.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“Yes. How am I supposed to accept this situation…? On that note, I heard that you have been walking across all around the fiefdom. Tell me, did you find the solution to solve this shelter problem which you kept to yourself the last time?”
The baron recalled the report he had heard a few days ago about how Lloyd spent the whole day roaming around the fiefdom. So the baron figured that Lloyd was doing what he called surveying, that he was devising a housing plan he vaguely mentioned the last time. The baron’s presumption was right.
“Yes, I do have a plan, my lord.”
“I knew you would have one,” the baron said. “That is great. Tell me, what is this plan?”
“Other than obviously providing a temporary tent, ultimately…”
“Ultimately?” The baron asked again, still hopeful.
Lloyd grinned happily and said, “Have you ever heard of an apartment complex?”