Chapter 58: Solving the Food Crisis

‘No, impossible. How could Aetherinra, a heroine, possibly like me, a cannon fodder villain?’

Ian found his own thought amusing.

“Alright, Elise, don’t bring that up anymore.”

Ian coughed and said to Elise.

“The reason I just said I liked Aetherinra was only to stop the marriage proposal from the Count Raymond’s family.”

“But actually, I have no feelings for you, Aetherinra. I hope you won’t misunderstand.”

Ian turned to Aetherinra again and said.

…

‘That should be enough, right?’

‘If I had known Aetherinra would reject the Raymond family’s terms, I would never have said that.’

‘After all, in a lily game, any side character who falls for the heroine won’t have a good ending, right?’

‘Let alone that I’m a villain. I must draw a clear line immediately.’

…

“Mm, I won’t misunderstand.”

Aetherinra said calmly.

But there seemed to be a hint of disappointment in her ordinary tone.

Actually, before Ian said those words, Aetherinra had already guessed that reason.

But after hearing Ian say it himself, she couldn’t help feeling disappointed.

As if she had lost something important in her heart, but she hid her disappointment well, making it unnoticeable.

[VIP] Chapter 58: Solving the Food Crisis

Hearing Aetherinra’s usual voice, Ian became even more certain of his guess in his heart.

‘As expected, Aetherinra doesn’t like me. Otherwise, would she react like this after hearing my words?’

“Let’s not talk about this anymore. We should discuss how to raise enough food and supplies.”

Aetherinra didn’t want to see Ian anymore at the moment, so she turned to Deere and asked.

‘Uh, is Aetherinra deliberately avoiding me?’

Ian thought silently as he watched Aetherinra’s action.

“You don’t need to worry about this. I will launch another appeal to the other nobles.”

Deere said to Aetherinra and Ian.

“No, we’ve already sent appeals before. There are no other nobles willing to lend us food,”

Aetherinra retorted.

“We have to try again. What if some nobles are willing to provide?”

Deere said helplessly.

As a ninth-tier mage, he felt utterly powerless in this matter.

Their Far East City was the first line of defense against the Demon Race’s invasion, yet now they couldn’t even gather enough food.

And as far as he knew, the other nobles in the royal capital actually had plenty of food stored, but they were unwilling to lend it to him for free.

It was quite sad to say: their Far East City fought desperately to protect the empire, while those nobles in the capital indulged in pleasure and wouldn’t even offer a bit of help.

If it weren’t for the people of Far East City, Deere would have gone to the royal capital to argue.

But the most important thing now was to gather enough food to get through this crisis.

“The king has done his best to gather half of the needed food for us.”

“And what we need to do is gather the other half to survive this food crisis.”

Deere continued.

Ian naturally knew who Deere was referring to—the king of the entire Farah Empire, Ilelif XV.

As the ruler of the country, he certainly understood the importance of Far East City to the whole Farah Empire.

So upon learning of Far East City’s plight, he immediately began gathering food.

But even as the ruler, he was not all-powerful.

Faced with those deeply entrenched nobles, he could do nothing and only managed to gather half the needed food.

The remaining half would have to be figured out by Deere and the others.

“This food crisis in Far East City was caused by me alone, so leave the gathering of the remaining half to me.”

Aetherinra patted her chest and promised Deere.

“No, this wasn’t caused by you, Aetherinra. It was caused by the labyrinth.”

“No matter who conquers the labyrinth or when, the labyrinth will produce rainstorms that destroy the crops.”

Hearing Aetherinra’s words, Ian retorted.

“But it’s still because of me…”

Aetherinra wanted to continue but was interrupted by Deere.

“No one blames you, Aetherinra. This is all the labyrinth’s fault. It’s not your responsibility.”

“Yes, miss, it’s not your responsibility. If anything, it’s the responsibility of the three of us.”

Elise also chimed in to comfort Aetherinra.

Hearing Elise’s words, Ian felt a blackout.

‘What do you mean “responsibility of the three of us”? It’s obviously the labyrinth’s responsibility, okay?’

Aetherinra felt a warmth in her heart upon hearing the comfort from Ian and the others.

She had always been used to taking all responsibility on herself.

No matter what it was, she wanted to handle it alone.

But now it seemed she couldn’t bear it alone even if she wanted to?

“Alright, this time it’s not my responsibility.”

Hearing the three of them, Aetherinra gave up on the idea of bearing it alone.

“But I will also do my part to solve the food crisis in Far East City.”

Aetherinra continued, speaking to Deere.

“Mm, I won’t stop you from contributing, as long as it doesn’t come at the cost of sacrificing yourself.”

Deere said.

“But how do we solve the remaining half of the food?”

Elise asked from the side.

“For this, we can only continue looking for other places that can support Far East City.”

Deere answered.

“No, Father, leave this to me.”

Ian suddenly spoke up to Deere.

“Young Master, do you have a solution?”

Hearing Ian suddenly speak, Elise’s eyes lit up.

In her eyes, Ian was a deity, a deity who could accomplish anything.

“Mm, I have a general idea, but I can’t explain my plan to you yet.”

“But although I said I’ll take charge, I’ll still need your help at critical moments.”

Ian continued.

“As long as you can solve Far East City’s food crisis, ask for any help you need.”

Deere said to Ian, somewhat excited.

He knew his son; if he wasn’t confident, he would never take on such responsibility.

“If you need any help, please tell me.”

Aetherinra also said to Ian.

“Mm, I will.”

Ian replied.

And the method Ian had in mind was actually very simple.

Since no other nobles in the Farah Empire could lend them food…

Then they could only look for food elsewhere.

And the solution Ian thought of was to “borrow” food from the Demon Race!

Borrowing food from the Demon Race, the mortal enemy of the Human Race—if he said this out loud, Deere and the others would probably think he had gone mad.

But Ian was very confident that he could borrow the food.