“Regarding what to do from here on out, I have been thinking it might be best to send them to different towns...”
Any sort of plan we have will be ruined if the number of people continues to increase. As I ruminated on the impermanence of everything, I grabbed a document from the top of Document Tower.
“We can do something about the extra fifty today, however, if this keeps up, there will be nowhere for them to go.”
“Th-That’s right. I have been telling them that we can’t do it as we won’t be able to keep up, however, around two hundred more people were accepted without permission...”
“If the number of refugees increases by even ten percent of what we originally planned for, we risk running out of food supplies and other resources. What is the situation like over there?”
“Ah, yes,” Lady Renge said as she leafed through the documents in her hand.
“According to Suiren’s report, as for the distribution system itself, we are registering the units of refugees one by one, and she says it’s going well. As for food stock, going by what they have now, it should see them through until winter, but she asks that you start to plan for after that.”
“That’s an uplifting report.” That was the one report today that didn’t send my head spinning.
“Yes. Suiren is really working hard.”
Thinking back to when I first met Suiren, while it may be bold for me to say so, it felt like I had watched my own child mature into a young adult. It seemed like she did not only remember what I had taught her back in that cold and deserted village, but she was putting her knowledge to use. She had gained the ability to help people.
“If there isn’t food, then Sacula won’t be able to help them alone,” I remarked.
“Yes...while we have had an increase in supplies across the region, that won’t be enough to help.”
“The fall of a territory...”
While I did create the Frontier Alliance with this kind of situation in mind, I did not think it would be needed so soon.
“We recently requested supplies from a region particularly close to us, so we should be able to make it until at least winter with those. Please inform Suiren of this. Transport will be difficult, however...”
If the Frontier Alliance had made more progress, we would have been able to improve the transport routes. However, we had not seen much in the way of results in that regard. But even with that aside, the surrounding territories know that if things were to go bad in the Sacula region, they’d be next. With that in mind, a good majority of the Frontier Alliance should be willing to help in any way possible. It is a shame that we could not have done it a little more efficiently.
“However, this is not a problem that will be solved in the next one or two years. Having only the Frontier Alliance carry the burden is simply too much,” I continued. I would like to skillfully squeeze that virtue out of the central region nobles. As they were our companions in this same kingdom, it was paramount that they lend us their aid. If they do not aid us, then they are not our companions, and if they are not our companions, then they are our enemies, and then if they are our enemies, then is it all right if we treat them as such? I had left seeking cooperation from the central regions to His Excellency Count Gentoh and Princess Alicia, so I put that to one side for now.
“The next question is how many more refugees there will be after this,” I posited.
That depended on how much damage the Yanga region had sustained—something I was not able to discern unless we went there and saw for ourselves. I had heard that the southwestern half of the territory had been destroyed, however, it was unclear what the situation in the northeastern half was like. The number of refugees could significantly change based on the situation there. I wanted to know in advance if there were even survivors still in the southwestern half of the territory. While I still had a lot of work scattered about, it may be best to send scouts to Yanga’s region. I should discuss this with Lord Itsuki.
“Scouts? To Yanga’s territory?” Lord Itsuki asked in a tired tone of voice. He had an expression similar to what he wore during Sacula’s busiest season—the winter hell. Even though he appeared to be exhausted, he had still come to confirm what needed to be done. Truly a professional when it came to overworking himself.
“Yes. I wish to gather information on how many more refugees we can expect to take in.” Informing Lord Itsuki of my reasoning, I also let him know that we expect the number of refugees to increase. It looked like I had given him a headache.
“Right... Yeah, okay. Their territory has been destroyed, after all. It’s not like it’ll end with just one to two thousand people, huh.” Lord Itsuki agreed, then let out a deep sigh as if he were about to vomit blood.
I did not have a clear idea of the total population of this world, however, I did know that one frontier city housed roughly ten thousand people, and around five thousand people lived in each of the surrounding villages and towns. Thus, there were just short of one hundred thousand people in the entire Sacula region. It felt a little low, but in a world where there was a need for anti-demon defensive equipment, it seemed there was an inevitable cap on the total population. It was estimated that around three to eight hundred thousand people were living in the Yanga territory. The reason for such a large margin of error was the recent mismanagement of the territory, so there were a lot of discrepancies in the tax revenues and other documents that would be needed to determine population. Whether the number of people would be high or low, it would still be an issue that would affect Sacula’s management.