The Grain Was Stolen

But when they completed the registration in that shabby public office, Robert Miller finally understood the reason. Because when settling in Green River Town, the government truly did distribute grain.

"Robert Miller, right? You're a blacksmith?" asked the old scholar William Brown, who was temporarily filling in as Galen Veritas's secretary.

"Yes, sir!" Robert Miller replied, bowing and scraping.

"According to the rules set by the town chief, Magnus Valorion, any blacksmith or carpenter who settles in Green River Town will receive 200 pounds of rice as a reward. Since you are a family of five, that amounts to 600 pounds of rice."

After saying this, William Brown prepared to issue a note for 600 pounds of rice to Robert Miller's family. At this moment, Robert Miller's father-in-law, Daniel Clark, timidly said, "Excuse me, sir, I am also a carpenter, could I possibly...?"

William Brown glanced at Robert Miller's father-in-law and said, "Old man, don't call everyone 'sir.' In this entire Green River Town, there's only one 'sir,' and that's our town chief, Magnus Valorion!"

"James Miller, make sure to educate your family about the rules of Green River Town!"

After saying this, William Brown handed a note for 700 pounds of rice and another for 90 pounds of rice to Robert Miller and James Miller respectively. James Miller nodded repeatedly, saying, "I will definitely teach my family the rules of Green River Town."

William Brown nodded in satisfaction and instructed James Miller to take Robert Miller's family to the granary to collect their grain.

Each bag of rice weighed exactly 100 pounds. Robert Miller's family stared in a daze at the seven bags of rice neatly stacked on the cart. They were all in a daze, as if they were dreaming.

After all, they had lived their entire lives scraping by, and they had never seen so much surplus grain. These grains would be worth hundreds of silver coins in Greenwood Town.

After the granary officials finished issuing the grain to Robert Miller's family, they took out a bag, opened it, took 10 pounds of rice, and handed the remaining 90 pounds to James Miller. This left James Miller's family even more stunned.

What? The bags contained not unprocessed rough grain but pristine, white rice. As a result, the value of these 700 pounds of rice multiplied several times, reaching the value of several thousand silver coins.

Daniel Clark was overwhelmed, trembling as he looked at the mountain of rice before him. He asked James Miller, "James, am I dreaming... Are these grains really given by the Great Latium Imperium government?"

James Miller immediately corrected Daniel Clark's mistake, saying, "What Great Latium Imperium government? Do you think the Aedile of Greenwood Town would give so much grain to the common people?"

"This is all given to us by our great, merciful, and kind town chief, Magnus Valorion of Green River Town!"

Daniel Clark quickly corrected himself, "Yes, yes, it was given by our great, merciful, and kind Magnus Valorion!"

"Such great kindness must be properly acknowledged."

Then, Daniel Clark led his daughter and son-in-law's family to kneel and bow several times towards the town hall.

After Daniel Clark's family finished paying their respects, Ethan Thompson, responsible for managing the granary, suddenly said, "Hurry home; our chief does not need these formalities."

Daniel Clark, though puzzled, thought, "I've lived for half my life and never encountered a leader like this."

Robert Miller, along with his cousin and father-in-law, pushed the cart loaded with nearly 800 pounds of grain without feeling tired. It was like a joke from his previous life: If you ask me to carry 100 pounds of bricks, I might struggle, but if you ask me to carry 100 pounds of gold, I would carry it briskly.

On the way back, James Miller explained the story of the fountain stone and the spring well in the town to Robert Miller's family and told them about the sacred mountain's potato seeds that the townspeople were now planting.

After hearing about the yield of a thousand pounds of grain per acre, Robert Miller's family felt that Green River Town was truly a paradise on earth.

Meanwhile, in the Green River Town grain store in Willowbrook Town, storekeeper John Falstaff was leisurely munching on melon seeds, waiting for the grain delivery.

John Falstaff was in charge of Willowbrook Town, while Galen Veritas was in Greenwood Town. Since Galen Veritas was Magnus Valorion's confidant, the rice in Greenwood Town was directly provided by Magnus Valorion through the system. The grain in John Falstaff's store, however, was transported by the townspeople of Green River Town.

According to Magnus Valorion's plan, John Falstaff and the local grain merchants in Willowbrook Town conspired to inflate the grain prices. Then they spread the news that grain was cheap in Green River Town to entice Willowbrook Town's residents to migrate to Green River Town, thus increasing its population.

Under the combined efforts of John Falstaff and the local merchants, grain prices in Willowbrook Town indeed rose, and the business at John Falstaff's store flourished, even booming. The reason was simple: although John Falstaff's grain was 10% more expensive than others, it was all premium rice.

As a result, the business at the Magnus Valorion Grain Store was much better than other shops in Willowbrook Town.

If no grain arrived soon, John Falstaff's warehouse would only have enough stock for about three more days. According to past experience, the grain should have arrived in Willowbrook Town by noon. But now, with the sun setting, there was still no sign of the delivery team from Green River Town.

"Could something have gone wrong on the way?" John Falstaff anxiously speculated.

No sooner had he thought it than it happened. The next moment, a familiar, dust-covered man burst into John Falstaff's grain store, panting heavily, "Master, master, our grain has been stolen!"

"What? The grain was stolen? Who would dare to rob Magnus Valorion's grain?" John Falstaff urgently shook the man, asking.

"They... they said they were from The Crimson Vultures. They took all ten of our grain escorts up the mountain. The bandits from The Crimson Vultures demand 100 pounds of grain per person as ransom!"

Such a significant matter was beyond John Falstaff's authority. Moreover, there wasn't enough grain in the Willowbrook Town granary to redeem the townspeople.

So John Falstaff immediately sent a message via carrier pigeon to Green River Town.

At that moment, in the mountaintop hall of The Crimson Vultures in Shadowpeak Mountain, a burly man with a face full of scars was pressing a slender woman onto a bear-skin chair, mercilessly tormenting her.

This scar-faced man was none other than the leader of The Crimson Vultures, Tuco.