"Surprising, isn't it? ripe potatoes. It is simply a gift from the gods. Blackhammer will no longer be short of food. ”

"Yes, as long as this crop is spread, the people of Blackhammer will no longer have to worry about food, and we will no longer need to pay high prices to import food from other places. ”

At the end of summer, Rhodes and his butler Murros, knight Virgil, and a group of guards arrived at a farmer's house on the outskirts of Blackhammer Castle, and everyone picked up ripe potatoes with great interest and took a closer look. This was planted by Rhodes four months ago, but not much was sown because of concerns that the soil and climate in the north might not be suitable for the growth of this crop. After four long months, almost all of the potatoes that had been sown were ripe.

There is not much technical content, and it does not require too much manpower and material resources, this crop is so simple and easy to ripen, unlike ice peppers, which require careful care every day and a certain amount of magic to make it mature. Potatoes are a treasure for the poor, much less expensive than flour, but they can fill their stomachs just as much.

Rod held a ripe potato in his hand and studied it carefully. It is not as big as the potatoes seen on Earth in previous lives, and the potatoes here are so small that they can probably be fully grasped with one hand. Some are only the size of an egg. But that doesn't mean it's not ripe yet, that's what they look like when they're ripe. Because the climate in the north is too cold, it can only make them grow so big.

"It also takes a process to get the masses to accept it as a staple food, but that doesn't stop us from growing it on a large scale. And quickly, summer is coming to an end. I estimate that there will only be one more harvest this year at most. This will be an important reserve for our winter. ”

Rod said, tossing the potatoes in his hand back into the potato pile. It was the farmer's harvest, and in order to encourage more people to settle here, Rhodes even reduced their land tax for the previous two years.

"My lord, I have a request, is that okay?"

The farmer on the side asked tremblingly.

"Say it. ”

Rod turned back.

"Can you give me and my children weapons? Crossbow, is it okay? I wonder if winter comes, and the beastmen or other strange beasts attack, we can protect ourselves......"

The farmer's voice was small, but everyone present heard it. They knew that Rhodes had previously given weapons to civilians to fight for Blackhammer. But allowing civilians to freely bear arms is not a long-term solution.

Soon, Rod came up with his own answer.

"No, no. ”

He replied.

The expression on the farmer's face immediately became melancholy, even a little frightened. He knew that it was not an honorable thing to ask the lord for a weapon to defend himself, and if it had been done in Bretonnia, he would have been driven out by the nobles and confiscated the land. He had only heard that Rhodes had given his weapons to those gamblers in the Battle of the Evil Moon, so he dared to try his luck.

"The tower has been built, and if there is another attack from the beastmen, you can raise the beacon fire. The troops of Blackhammer Fort will be here as soon as possible. It's not that they don't arm themselves with weapons, but it's useless to give them to you, you are not soldiers, you have not undergone formal military training, and by virtue of your skill and numbers, even if you have the best weapons in the field, you are no match for the beastmen. It is better to give you weapons than to give them to those who need them more. ”

Rod then explained.

The cool breeze of late summer blows from the empty fields, reminding him that summer in the north is always so short.

"Your letter, my lord. ”

While Rhodes and the others were chatting at the farmer's house, a letter from Blackhammer caught everyone's attention. Not from Blackhammer Castle, to be exact, but from the north, thousands of miles away, the land of trolls.

In front of everyone, Rhodes opened the letter. He spread out the parchment letter and silently read the jerky words inside.

I didn't say anything for a long time.

"My lord, whose letter is this, and what is written in it?"

Seeing Rod's sad look, the old butler Muros asked with concern.

"Northern nomads, they told me that a Norscan force was advancing on our side. ”

Rhodes returned.

"Why?"

"Because someone has come to us from their tribe. ”

Rod said calmly.

In fact, Rhodes had long guessed that there would be such a day, and since that single killing of the manticore, the Norscans from the north have joined him one after another. It doesn't matter when the number of people is small, sooner or later there will be problems when the number of people is large. This is the reason why people are afraid of being famous, pigs are afraid of being strong, and the more Norscians join their banner, the more they will attract the attention of the border Norsca tribes. After all, they no longer trust their leader and turn to another chief, which is absolutely intolerable for the Norsca tribes in the border region.

"Looks like those Great Wall sentinels have a good relationship with you. ”

Celta joked.

"There is only one side. ”

Rod replied faintly.

"How many of them are there?

Knight Virgil asked seriously.

"Thousands. ”

Rhodes had a hunch that this might be the largest battle he had ever encountered. There was absolutely no possibility of peace between these Gnoscans from the north, and their goal was clearer than that of the Beastmen, which was to eradicate Blackhammer and kill themselves, so that they could show the other Norscans that Rhodes Lawn was not a son of God, but a mortal body.

And the thousands of troops are beyond what Blackhammer Fort can handle. He had about 400 troops on hand. More than three hundred of them were Norscans, and the remaining dozens were Lady Keishrie. The strength of the army is only one-third of that of the opponent. According to the Ranger of the Land of Trolls, this is an army of an entire tribe. Now they can't be sure of the specific number of each other, there must be thousands of people, and if there are more, it may reach more than two thousand. In that case, even if you defend the castle, you may not be able to defend it. The Norskas are not beastmen, they have better siege weapons, and if they are some large tribes, even terrifying creatures such as mammoths, they can easily break through enemy walls without siege weapons. Fortunately, the Norsca force heading south seemed to be an army of a small tribe. It was not a collective Norscan action.