"Innit! Is there no firewood left in our house? ”

"No, dear. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info" In the door of a wooden house near the shipbuilding area of the main island of Lancas, a young mother leaned out, "You go buy some?" The child is very noisy, and I have to take care of him at home. ”

"Got it!" Frankuts nodded impatiently, turned and walked back out of the courtyard.

Frankuts was a naval engineer at the Bilunar Church Naval Shipyard - specializing in material selection and timber making.

Similar to the differences in the selection of materials for each part of modern ships, the selection of wood types is also very demanding for each part of the wooden seagoing vessel. Taking a step back, the whole timber sent from the Lancas Islands was also identified and graded by these engineers to suit the needs of different ships.

Moth-eaten, damp, these factors will affect the final quality of the ship. The selected wood is to be made into boards, sticks, blocks, etc., and the surface is magically heated or varnished, as is the work of Frankuttz.

But not anymore. Gone are the days when you could divide the wood into three, six, nine, and so on, that you couldn't even get on the slipway, and had to go into the wood drying furnace—"The Church of the Two Moons is over." "In the shipyard, Frankuttz's master, and his father's best friend, had told him so clearly a few weeks ago.

For no other reason, the Lancas shipyard is now hungry. Even birch, which used to be crushed for papermaking and firewood, is now used as a treasure in the planer and becomes a so-called "boat plank" that needs to be plugged with sawdust.

No ship will ever send a full deck of logs from overseas. After the "fall" of Elta, one of the origins of timber logs, the Bimoon Church has other overseas log origins that can continue to be exploited. However, no matter how desperately the overseas authorities tried to collect logs, grain, gold, silver and precious metals and other strategic materials, these things could not be transported back to Lancasbhar. Not only did the country of origin become suspicious of the "credit" type of trade of the Bilunar Church, and there was the idea of changing the court, but the sea route for transporting these materials had long been cut off by the Chinese, but most of the ships flying the flag of the Bilunar Church would be disposed of.

What's more, the important chain of the magic cycle chain, the magic powder, has been strictly controlled by the Chinese in the form of state control. After that, the Church of the Two Moons instantly plummeted from an exporter of magic powder to a pure importer. Under such an environment, not only is the use of military magic restricted, but the alternative use of civilian magic has almost always been terminated due to cost issues.

The Frankuts family used a magically powered all-in-one stove for cooking and heating. Needless to say, how convenient the stove is, both the ventilation and the flue do not need to be considered by the user...... But since the use of rationing, the vast majority of households have had to switch to the most traditional open fires for heating.

They must say goodbye to a comfortable life - this is just the beginning.

Frankuts walked down the ramp and headed back towards the shipyard. The surrounding houses were covered with chimneys, and the flues that climbed up the walls always looked particularly glaring: every household seemed accustomed to such a life, but Frankuts knew that it was not.

Today's shipyard is a place where you can get firewood at a lower price. This route is basically only open to shipyards and the navy, so there is no need to worry about running out of supply, the only thing to worry about is the price.

It is precisely because of the rising prices that the poor who used to burn wood for heating are now reliant on their own and have given up the idea of buying wood. Fortunately, now that winter has passed, I am afraid that there would indeed be a large number of urban poor people freezing to death in their burrows.

Originally, in the shipyard, there was a new counter in the magic tooling area in the corner of the slipway area. Frankuts walked into the slipway area, said hello to a few colleagues and subordinates who had just said goodbye, and walked straight to the counter.

This counter is not big, the big one is the space in the back. The place that was originally used to process wood is now stacked with layers of firewood, which is literally piled up into a wall. And behind this "wall", you can still faintly hear the crackling sound of chopping wood.

Frankuts approached the counter and threw out a phrase without raising his head: "Two bundles." ”

The other party didn't raise his head at all, and counted the account in front of him: "A silver coin." ”

It is said that "prices are expensive", but in fact, if you only look at the amount, the prices in the Lancas Islands under the rule of the Bilunar Church have not changed much. These two bundles of firewood are a bit more expensive, and the price is definitely fair in the past, but Frankuertz frowned.

The price of goods is calculated by adding the income index. Prices in the Lancas Islands have not moved much, but once inflation (deflation) is added, the price figures have not changed, and "money has gotten bigger", and the comparison between the two shows why Frankuts frowned.

The brows are furrowed, and I still have to buy it. But when Frankuts paid the money and carried the bundle of firewood tied with rope in his hand, his brow furrowed even tighter.

No matter what kind of wood it is, he can know the bottom of the eight points when he looks at it and touches it. This split bundle of firewood is full of moth-eaten holes, why can it be heavier than ordinary firewood?

If you look closely, even ordinary people can see the problem above. In the cross-section of firewood, moisture is still retained on the surface, giving the surface a dark color that is different from other places.

The timber grown throughout the archipelago is now "fully used". Not to mention the details that were originally discarded, even the inferior among the inferior, the damp goods in the moth-eaten wood were brought back by the transport ship in one go.

As for drying? These woods were not even qualified to enter the lower level of the drying oven, and now where is there a more bitter cold to warm it? This is wishful thinking......

"Can't you change a bundle?" Frankuts asked, pointing to the profile of the wood with an ugly face.

"This batch is like this, and the transport ship was loaded on the other side of the strait by some turmoil, and the originally dry timber was made into this way." The man behind the counter listened to Frankuttz's words calmly and explained to him in a serious manner. "This is already the best firewood that ordinary people can get, and the bakeries in the city use this batch of goods. There's really nothing to change, you can go back and use it......"

This is the fact, the irrefutable fact - just behind Frankutz, a new propulsion ship that is more than eighty percent advanced is still lying on the slipway, leaving the traces of time on it by the sea breeze - and its varnish has not yet covered the whole ship. As for why it is not fully covered, the reason is also very simple: the import channels for varnish made of gum have been completely cut off.

Even the reason why the new propulsion ship stopped work and did not continue construction was due to the lack of timber. The above excuse is that these have been used as war materials for the preparation of war by the various overseas branch offices. However, grassroots people like Frankurtz have long been like mirrors in their hearts, not "for other purposes" at all, but "there is no way out".

Carrying enough firewood for his wife Innita to cook soup for two days, Frankuts paced home in no energy.

"This firewood is really rotten. I really regret not buying more last time. Frankuts entered the door and threw the bundle of firewood into the corner of the house, then took off his boots and leaned back in his chair and grumbled.

"Is it more expensive than last time? My dear? Inlet patted the baby with a worried look.

Frankuts nodded: "Not only is it expensive, but it is also subject to water and moisture, and it is estimated that it will have to be dried before it can be used, otherwise the smoke in this hearth will make a mess of the whole house." ”

"Oh my God." Inlet covered her mouth and exclaimed, "Such a bundle of firewood is also taken out and sold?" Do the people in the Navy have no conscience to this point? ”

"Of course not," Frankutz stretched out in a dejected manner, "they don't have a better one to make for firewood." Our slipway is now all supported by trees collected from all over the archipelago, and God knows how long it will be before that......"

Both Frankut and Inrite naively thought that there would be a better day. In other words, the current bad is only temporary, and sooner or later they will revert to the way they lived before a series of failures.

There are still a lot of people like them who still have faith in the current situation in the Lancas Islands. One of the biggest reasons for this is that until now, the food supply under the Bimonthly Church has been able to proceed smoothly, and there has been no sharp rise in food prices.

This may be due to the long-term planning of food by some earthly god. Through tripartite cooperation with the navy and the bakeries, the Bimoon Church has stored a year's worth of food in various parts of the archipelago in advance to cope with possible harvest failures and wars in the exporting countries.

Whether it's firewood or magic powder, in the final analysis, it's all something outside the body. If the price of food is raised to a level that is unacceptable to the vast majority of people, that is, to boil frogs directly in boiling water, a discerning person can see at a glance that the situation is irreparable, and even filling the stomach has to be exhausted.

But conversely, the lack of something outside the body is only a pain in the skin, not in the flesh, because "smart" humans will always find various solutions, including replacing the magic power stove with firewood.

At this time, Inlet, in front of the hearth, watched Frankuts laboriously light the firewood she had bought today. The wood chips in the hearth had burned many times, but only the split firewood stood still, lying there like a stone in a toilet.