348 Leaving the city

If this guy noticed the problem and fixed it by himself, I could spare him in the future, as it could serve as proof of his sincerity, but if he did nothing, then his reign would be limited for as long as it would take me to move everyone I would like to incorporate into my society into my own island!

"Here is your food. I certainly do hope that you have some means of transporting those people because no matter how much you ask me, I can't risk approaching that tabooed island with my own ship!"

At first, I thought the overlord will boast about his ability to make things hard for me, but I couldn't help but agree with him in the end. With the popular misconception about the hardships apparently bound to appear when one was going to travel to my island, it would be strange if he offered up his own and only mean of sea transportation for my sake!

And to be honest, while everyone keeps calling his boat a ship… It was nowhere big or modern enough to be of any use to me!

"Tsk tsk… Pushing the responsibility of taking your strategic decision onto someone else actions? This is kind of immature approach!"

Just as I was about to reply to the overlord, Bonger butted in with his scorn. Am I the silly one, or are all his replies negative? Why can't he just ask me how is my day going?

"Maybe because I'm a part of you? What's the damned point of having such useless talk? If you are in pain, I know about it. If you are horny, I'm the one who stops you from raping everything that moves and stands on two legs. What would be the point of asking how are you?"

Well, I can't argue with that. It would be just a bit nicer if you made it easier for me to treat you like someone else than just a part of my personality that I can't even acknowledge as entire mine!

"Not my problem. I don't really need your recognition to fulfil my duty."

While I still wanted to argue with him for a bit just for the sake of doing so, I decided to drop the matter. Even if our talks happened way faster than it would take to spell even a single sentence of our exchanges, it still made me pause for a bit before replying to the overlord.

"That won't be any problem. Anyway, everyone! I need you to tear a small part of your clothing apart! When you are done, go to the carriages and pick three days worth of food and wrap it up in the cloth you tore off. We will be set off as soon as you are done!"

Even if some would scoff at the idea of holding their precious food in the cloth permeated with their sweat and dirt, it was the best idea I could come up on the spot!

"Do you think you are excluded from this? Don't you need any food?"

The problem of eating wasn't something I could solve just like that. Even if I were to invest energy to get better and faster crops, it would still take a reasonable amount of time before the first harvest could be done, making the food the most vital part for the early times of my future nation!

"The both of us are strong enough to survive without eating for weeks. After the feast we could enjoy in the Overlord's mansion, it's better for us to just let others eat more, even if only a bit!"

It was Heila who answered, but Jessie continued to nod throughout her entire sentence. But while I could understand their approach, I didn't want them to suffer hunger because of their kindness. If one were to split six daily rations between one hundred people, the only difference it would make would be them staying hungry while everyone else would have their fill!

"Don't give me that shit. Go and take your portions. I don't know how long it would take me to secure a stable source of the food, so everyone needs to get as much of it now as we can. I'm sure that if anything will be left out on the carriages, the Overlord will surely claim it for himself!"

This argument was what broke their previous resolve, and made both of the girls finally make their move. Because of their late start, they were the last ones to grab the rations, giving them the opportunity to stuff their sacks with way more food than others, who actually followed my order strictly to its letter, not daring to grab more rations than I allowed!

"So this marks the end of our today's meeting. I hope we will meet soon!"

Seeing that entire one hundred of his former slaves finished with their task, the Overlord hastily approached me, only proving that his previous lack of initiative when it came to how all those people were supposed to carry their food wasn't just an oversight!

"Yes, I think it will take me a few days to finish all my matters. I hope I will be welcomed back when I will be ready to return!"

After shaking the hands with the Overlord despite the clear disgust that both of us had to feel when doing so hidden behind kind smiles, I was finally ready to move out.

But it didn't mean that I would lead everyone right to the shore!

The place I picked to organise everyone, was quite a distance away from the place where I hid all the canopies. If we were to go in a straight line, it would take us about one hour to reach the spot.

But instead of following the line of the shore, I actually led everyone to the forest!

As we marched through the dense woodlands, I picked some herbs I found on the way, without explaining a bit to anyone else. Only when our journey extends to over two hours, I stopped everyone and gathered them around me in the small clearing I found in the middle of the forest.

"Listen, guys. From this place, we have only about thirty minutes walk to reach the boats I prepared, but there is one thing we need to do before leaving this island!"

After speaking those words and confirming that everyone was listening to me, I finally raised my hand with a stalk of about twenty different herbs in it.

"I want everyone to split into groups of five, take one herb each, and look around, gathering every single piece you can find. This is something of immense importance if you want me to be able to take proper care of you!"

The easiest way to alleviate the problem of hunger without actually providing normal food lied in alchemy. The kinds of herbs I picked up weren't random, but consisted of the stuff that would allow me to mix it with either dirt or even a plain wood in order to make a nourishing meal, based on the energy contained within the herbs!

In fact, I had one additional plan, which was the main reason for splitting everyone into small groups.

If everyone were to move to a single unit, no beast would approach them simply because of their numbers!