“This estate’s location isn’t exactly ideal,” Ketal began explaining. 0

It was situated very close to the border of another kingdom. Naturally, their maritime territories also overlapped, making fishing difficult. The slightest mistake could lead to trespassing in foreign waters, forcing fishermen to navigate cautiously and limiting their catch. 0

Furthermore, these waters teemed with pirates. Even if a crew managed to catch some fish, getting robbed blind on the way back was a frequent occurrence.0

To make matters worse, Lord Bulkan’s father, the previous lord, had shown little interest in revitalizing the suffering estate. Consequently, when Dorban inherited the lordship, the estate was in a deplorable state. 0

Vagrants filled the streets, and with little else to eat, people often resorted to consuming heavily salted, spoiled fish drenched in fermented sauce—the very dish Ketal and Baker had sampled at the tavern, a remnant of that desperate past. Naturally, this led to widespread illness, and while even such rotten food was scarce, some inevitably died.0

“I heard there were even occasional instances where starving people exchanged their own children to eat,”...0