The Villainess That Was Once A VRMMO player

Neighboring merchants selling food had indeed come. But either the Isbell Continent merchants had bought up all the food here as well, or some other shrewd merchant who had done business with them had made the first move, and all the surplus food in the neighboring countries had been bought up.

“We don’t need any more Isbell Continent silver, as expected. If you want food, why don’t you ask your lord for some?”

Following the merchant’s advice, the wealthy merchants went to the lord who had been running a soup kitchen to ask for food aid, only to be met with a cold stare and a sneer from the lord.

“I only have enough food here for my people. When I asked you in the Royal Capital for help before, you refused. What are you talking about now? And the crops sold in the city are sold with my support so as not to raise the price as much as possible. If you try to take them with you, I will charge you ten times as much as the tariff on food when they leave my territory.”

In despair, the merchants could only return to the Royal Capital with what little cloth they had bought with their meager Caenista gold and a large amount of Isbell silver.

Food was in short supply. Supplies began to stagnate.

The commoners were being fed, they did not need to buy new clothes every month like the upper class, and they could make their own daily necessities from the bounty of the forest if necessary, but the merchants, officials, and others above a certain level had no choice but to buy everything in town. Prices of commodities continued to rise along with food prices, and Royal Capital was already in a state of inflation, with prices increasing more than tenfold.

A dramatic change in just a few months. Although wages remained the same, the food sold yesterday had doubled in price already by today.

The workers in the stores and in the aristocratic districts were unable to make a living, and the wealthy merchants gave away goods in lieu of wages, but the scarce food was not provided.

The same was true for the Lannon Trading Company, which was making great strides.

The Lannon Trading Company’s main product was processed food, so when the store ran out of products to sell, not only the customers but even the employees disappeared.

Of course, there were products other than food, but who would buy a suspicious-looking pot, a suspicious-looking seal, or a lucky pendant in such a time of need? 

There were enough Isbell Continent silver coins to fill the basement, but they could not buy anything at the Royal Capital with those silver coins.

Alice, with a typical expression on her face, joins the refugees, thinking of a way out of this situation while eating another bowl of soup.

“Hmmm…we should just collect the food.”

At the “request” of the [beloved child] Alice, the crown prince Julio and his companion Ian, the prime minister’s son, lead the Royal Guard and tried to collect food from the new stores, but the commoner soldiers and low-ranking knights who had been receiving food aid oppose them.

They left the country and formed a camp to protect the new merchants with the commoners who were receiving food aid, leading to a standoff with the Royal Guards.

The Kingdom of Caenista began to decline rapidly.

The Royal Family and the high nobility refused to acknowledge this.

The day of the execution of the renegade Flare, sponsored by [beloved child] Alice, was approaching.

Little did the people know that the threat of the [Demon Lord], who defeated the Caenista Kingdom’s army, was at their throats.