I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 229 Stealing Grain (Part Two)
"Tsk, lucky me, I've stumbled upon a poor man's house..."

He slashed through the street, ignoring the family huddled in the corner of the living room. He went straight to the dining table, used his sword to lift the rattan lid, looked at the empty bread basket, and then turned to the man who was clearly the head of the family and asked him in the local language.

"Hey buddy, have you cooked yet today?"

Should we cook?
This means eating, right?

If this person doesn't eat, he'll definitely starve to death. So, this morning, Old Jack took out a loaf of black bread, and the whole family ate it with cold water. But this wasn't the last food... The last food was hidden in the attic on the roof.

But you definitely can't tell the people who barged in that you're telling them. They're definitely coming in to steal food. If you don't give it to them, they might kill you or assault innocent women.

The former was hard to accept, but as for the latter... Old Jack subconsciously glanced at his wife and daughter.

My wife isn't very bright, so if she's gone, she's gone. As for my daughter... well, let's just leave it to fate.

"No...no more...we've run out of food..."

"very good."

Kan Jie was very satisfied. The room was dark, and even with the player's good eyesight, he couldn't see the expression on the guy's face clearly. However, the former didn't need to distinguish whether he was telling the truth or lying.

You can tell from the tone of his voice that he is truly hungry; that listless feeling is very difficult to act out.

This family must be starving.

Yes, this is the person I've been looking for.

"Come!"

As she spoke, Kanjie tossed the large biscuits she was carrying in front of the man.

"Tell me, where is the food stored in this city?"

The dull thud of the oat cake hitting the ground made old Jack's pupils shrink. He stared at the oat cake, which was as big as a washbasin, studded with raisins and bits of cured meat, the aroma of oil instantly filling the damp room.

Old Jack, his daughter in his arms, and his two sons and wife all unconsciously swallowed hard, the gurgling sound particularly noticeable in the quiet house, eliciting laughter from the other two players.

Old Jack's Adam's apple bobbed up and down, and the large pancake seemed to be a magnet, stuck firmly to his eyes.

In that instant, many things flashed through his mind, and among them, old Jack suddenly realized that this was an opportunity.

what chance?
He couldn't quite understand his sudden idea, but Old Jack knew for a moment that he really wanted this piece of the pie.

Old Jack didn't speak, and the player wasn't angry. The NPC's silence, on the contrary, proved that he knew something.

So...

The second large piece of pie landed with a resounding thud.

"Speak up, tell me, and both of these pie cakes are yours."

"Sir, what... are you going to do?"

Old Jack's voice was as hoarse as a rusty door hinge.

"Of course, we'll rob the grain!"

He grinned as he cut through the street.

"Don't worry, fellow villager, we don't rob poor people."

Nonsense. In the current climate, what food do the poor have to rob? Only the granaries of the rich and nobles have food left. If you throw a mouse into a poor person's rice bin, they'll starve to death.

Old Jack's eyes darted around, and an idea popped into his head. He suddenly realized what his opportunity was, and at the same time, he saw the double-headed eagle medallions on the shoulders of the black-armored warriors in the moonlight filtering in from outside the door.

"Sir, sir." Old Jack rubbed his hands together, put his daughter down, and stood in front of the street with a fawning smile.

"Are you Prince Chris's knights?"

"Yes, more or less."

"That's great!"

Old Jack pretended to be overjoyed.

"The prince has finally returned and quelled this rebellion... Sir, I know where the Magquelan family's granary is. There's a mountain of grain stored there!"
"If we capture it, it can definitely serve as military rations, enough to feed His Highness the Prince's men for a month..."

"The prince has no shortage of food; we just want to rob him."

The candor of the street-slingering man froze the smile on Old Jack's face.

No, are you guys really that honest?
"That...this..."

"Lead the way. This flatbread is yours, along with the money. If you find the granary and successfully rob it, you can each take a bag of grain home."

As he spoke, Kanjie raised his hand and stuffed several small, round, shimmering silver trinkets into Old Jack's hand. Even from the touch, the latter could feel the exquisite craftsmanship of these little gadgets.

Ah, it's money!

With food and money, everything becomes much easier.

"Sir, sir, I'll lead the way right now... Oh, by the way, can I bring the kid from next door along too?"

Wow, you're getting the hang of it.

Kanjie looked at Old Jack with surprise, a smile involuntarily creeping onto his lips.

"Of course, there's strength in numbers. Let's go call them and rob the rich and nobles together!"

"Okay!"

Old Jack's heart skipped a beat. He knew that he had seized this only chance... a chance to get his family out of hunger and find a way to survive in this chaos.

He bent down and picked up the two flatbreads. The aroma of wheat instantly filled his nostrils. He tossed one flatbread into his wife's arms, broke off a piece of the other and put it in his mouth. As he swallowed and chewed, he gave her some instructions.

"Take the child... hide away, I'll be back tomorrow..."

After saying that, Old Jack ran outside, and Knife Street followed.

Actually, before encountering Old Jack's family, Kanjie and his companions had already broken into seven or eight houses, but when faced with the player's invasion, either the house was empty, and it was unknown whether the original inhabitants were dead or hiding, or the person who was found remained silent.

There is clearly an issue of trust and fear involved here.

It wasn't until he met Old Jack and started hacking away that he realized his plan was correct; he just hadn't encountered the right NPC.

Old Jack said he would find people to help, but whether it was because the area was too poor and the people had been starving for a long time, or because Old Jack had a lot of prestige, a large crowd gathered from all directions when they heard that they could go with him to rob food.

So much so that it was impossible to tell how many people had gathered in the street in a short time.

However, in the players' understanding, the more people involved in a robbery, the better. So, they didn't mind at all; in fact, they were quite happy about it, and even called in twenty or thirty heavily armored players offline.

Then, led by the players, a strange group consisting of hundreds or thousands of elderly, weak, sick, disabled, and starving people ran towards the city center under the guidance of Old Jack. The group was so large that no one could ignore it.

"Charge! Prince Chris is here! Everyone will be able to eat their fill!"

(End of this chapter)