The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I'm a "Farmer", Not a Demon King! ~ - Chapter 538

The Strongest Farmer in Another World ~I’m a “Farmer”, Not a Demon King! ~

Chapter 538   How to cook food

However, just distributing food wasn’t enough to turn it into a proper relief operation.

So, what did we do? We hurriedly sent our subordinates to inform the king.

And that was a problem. To avoid causing any more trouble to the king of another country, I requested forgiveness from the king for causing a disturbance and offered to conduct the relief operation myself. In return, the king sent food and soldiers to us.

From there, the king’s soldiers began the relief distribution, and we decided to assist them. Then, we sent our subordinates to obtain permission once again, stating, “We will also contribute to the relief efforts,” and received approval. That’s how things unfolded this time.

With this setup, the leadership falls on the king, and we won’t be blamed for anything.

As for the king, if he doesn’t assist me here and doesn’t conduct the relief operation, the reputation of the country will suffer. It would be considered even worse than Karakas. After all, we distributed our own food to the citizens of another country. If we don’t do the same for our own country, it’s only natural to be deemed inferior.

Therefore, regardless of what the church may say, we can conduct the relief operation without any issues.

Well, even if they can’t blame the king, they might try to stop us from helping. But the fact remains that the citizens of the Holy Kingdom inconvenienced me, a king from another country. I overlooked that fact. Furthermore, considering how difficult the situation is in this country right now, I offered to help in any way I could.

However, if they were to refuse my offer, it would be akin to saying, “We don’t need your help,” in a situation where they are receiving food out of goodwill. Such actions would portray this country as one that lacks sincerity towards other nations.

So, they can’t just exclude me from helping.

Given this situation, well, it probably won’t be a problem.

Well, maybe the process from spotting a homeless person to engaging in conversation and providing food happened a bit quickly, or perhaps it felt like the homeless were gathering as if guided, or maybe there was a familiar face among the group. But that was probably just a coincidence. Ha ha.

And while obtaining permission and receiving food from the king went smoothly, it’s probably because of the king’s exceptional leadership skills. Amazing.

Oh, and I might inadvertently say something like advertising while distributing food, but if it just slips out, there’s nothing I can do about it. Yes, it’s all inevitable. Inevitable, inevitable.

However, even if all these coincidences happened, the church would still want to stop this relief operation.

Because from the church’s perspective, they’re not providing any support, yet the king’s faction and Karakas, the “enemy,” are taking action to help the citizens of the Holy Kingdom. While their own citizens and believers might be liberated from hunger, they might lose faith to them in return. So, they can’t possibly welcome such a situation.

“Oh! Hey, what about this? Can I use this fabric?”

Well, if it comes to that, they might say something like, ‘The people of Karakas have come to know God’s mercy and have repented,’ but that’s fine. The result that ‘Karakas did a good deed’ remains unchanged, and the Holy Kingdom acknowledging that ‘Karakas isn’t the villain’ would be significant.

Besides, we have other motives. Whether they work out as intended remains to be seen, but it’s worth a try.

However, even if their response is deemed acceptable, there’s nothing they can do about dealing with the king’s faction. After all, the king is just doing what’s normal for a king, so there’s no reason to criticize him or try to deceive him. He’s simply helping the people as a king should.

The church might think they should distribute food themselves, but that’s unlikely to happen. The church officials had the same agreement we made with the king to Granny yesterday, but they rejected it. And apparently, they did so quite vehemently.

Well, it’s only natural to want to protest if someone suddenly demands an exorbitant amount of money after having a reasonable conversation until then. But if that doesn’t happen, it’s troublesome.

Since they refused, there’s no food to distribute. They could perhaps prepare some portion to distribute by using what they’ve accumulated so far, but since they rejected our agreement, there’s no “next time.”

When will the next batch of food arrive? If they distribute food without having the next batch, won’t they end up starving themselves? Besides, even if they use it, it’s better to use it for the benefit of their own territory rather than for the people of the capital who won’t be of any benefit.

That’s what they must be thinking. So, the church officials can’t distribute food.

“…So, the plan has been a great success so far. I thought it would work given the current situation in this country, but I didn’t expect it to go this smoothly.”

“Well, even though this city is overflowing with greenery, it doesn’t mean there’s enough food to eat. I have experience too, and just eating grass won’t satisfy your hunger.”

“While we were going to the Sacred Tree’s place, it seems like the church isn’t distributing food.”

“Well, the royal castle was distributing, but most of it was requisitioned by the church, and the rest was divided among the castle’s people. It probably didn’t reach everyone.”

“Right? So, hunger continues in this city. The upper echelons are the only ones who have had their hunger somewhat alleviated. Well, I think hunger isn’t just in this city but across the entire country, so sooner or later, other cities will have to do something about it.”

Yesterday, we talked to the king and made agreements for future food transactions, but nothing was decided before that.

Granny was supposed to handle the negotiations, but even though the food we brought when we came here and the initial price were quickly decided, subsequent negotiations for the second or third batches of food didn’t progress at all.

Originally, it should have been settled more quickly, but unexpectedly, there seems to be some disagreement on their end. Apparently, it’s about things like the price being too high, wanting the food to be taken to certain cities, and adjusting the distribution—more for us and less for them, that sort of thing.

We couldn’t inquire about the price being too high since we can’t lower it too much either, but regarding the distribution of food to be sold to the Holy Kingdom, I don’t think it’s our place to discuss. Frankly, I don’t care how they distribute the food we’ve sold. All we can say is, “Please distribute it as you see fit,” and we don’t intend to say anything else.

So, as soon as the price is decided, we could have started moving, but for some reason, the negotiator changed after a day. And now, the discussions we had yesterday are back to square one, and we’re supposed to have detailed discussions again.

I think this is the result of power struggles within the castle or the church, but isn’t it too cruel to do this to a foreign king who has come with good intentions?

Well, the one actually talking was Granny, but even so, it’s probably the worst response they could have given.

We could have used Granny’s abilities to manipulate and forcibly conclude the negotiations, but that would definitely raise suspicions.

Moreover, if the negotiator keeps changing, manipulating one person would be pointless if another one replaces them.

Some might think that charming the new person in charge would suffice, but that’s not the case. Even if it works with that person, there’s always the possibility of another one replacing them. If we keep manipulating different people over and over again, the likelihood of being noticed increases significantly.

So, Granny couldn’t make any significant moves and just wasted time in pointless negotiations every day, planning to wait for my return to decide on a course of action.

Well, while the negotiations weren’t progressing, my subordinates… especially Granny’s team seemed quite busy.

They were gathering information while entertaining, sometimes even leaking information, and working to improve relations with karakas.

It might seem strange that the invited party is the one doing the entertaining, but since it benefits us, there’s no complaint. After all, Granny’s group came here with the intention of entertaining them anyway.

So, in the end, there was no progress in the negotiations for food trade. Therefore, there was almost no distribution to the citizens, and they had no choice but to continue starving.

However, since I’ve already had a conversation with the king about future food supplies, food will probably start arriving soon.

But for now, hunger persists, although there might be relief in the future.

“At a time like this, if we were to distribute food and say, ‘Huh? Didn’t we bring food to the church too? Why isn’t it being distributed?’ the church, which monopolized the food, would surely incur the citizens’ resentment.”

“Well, that’s quite an annoying way to put it. But if we actually did that, the citizens wouldn’t just stop at resentment, would they? Maybe some would even launch an attack out of sheer anger?”

“Stopping this food distribution would make things even worse, wouldn’t it?”

In response to my words, Kyle chuckled once, then spoke, followed by Bell, but I couldn’t help but wonder if things would really escalate to that extent.

However, it’s understandable that the citizens would be angry, and it might be a natural progression. Even if they face execution if caught, they’re facing death by starvation as it is. In that case, they might just attack out of anger without thinking of the consequences.

“Does anyone have any paint or something?”

But that’s the story in a normal country.

In a country with a normal king who governs like any other country, a citizen uprising might be possible.

But this country is a gathering of religious figures.

“Is it really that simple? This is the headquarters of the religion, so as long as we talk about faith or whatever, won’t they just obediently comply? Well, I mean, I’m grateful for that, and both ‘him’ and I are aiming for that outcome.”

If someone were to attack and die, it would be a boon for us.

Because if someone were to charge in like that, others would surely follow. Then the authority of the church would plummet in an instant.

But even in such a situation, isn’t this what religion is about? Deceiving people with talk of God’s trials… Well, that might be quite biased, but in reality, it’s not much different. Religion is about convincing people to endure by talking about trials or teachings.

Everyone has their own thoughts on religion and its ambiguity, but at least that’s what I believe.