Reincarnated as the favorite of an obsessive goddess: gave me a system-Chapter 42: The hunger is starting to set in.

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: The hunger is starting to set in.

The eighth day of the journey dawned with a thick mist crawling across the ground, chilling their weapons and dampening the blankets. Kai woke before the others, as was his habit. He stood by the remains of the campfire, watching the silhouette of the caravan. It wasn’t just them anymore; there were now three additional rickety wagons and a group of people whose hopes hung directly from his shoulders.

"You’re counting the rations in your head again, aren’t you?"

Lyla’s voice, soft and heavy with sleep, pulled him from his thoughts. She approached, wrapping herself in her blanket and rubbing her arms for warmth. Kai sighed.

"Lint gave me the inventory last night," Kai said quietly, careful not to wake Keram and his family sleeping nearby. "With twenty two more mouths to feed, our supplies will run out in less than four days. Lint is hysterical. He says if we touch the commercial salt cargo to trade for grain at the next town, he won’t have enough profit to pay the taxes at Terminus."

Lyla stepped closer and pulled Kai under her blanket, drawing him near. "He’s a merchant, Kai. He only sees numbers. But you see people. The problem is that hungry people become dangerous. And believe me, I’ve seen kingdoms fall for less than what’s missing in that pantry."

By mid-morning, the caravan set off. The pace was agonizingly slow. The refugees’ oxen were malnourished, and one of Keram’s wagons had a wheel that screeched with every rotation, a constant reminder of the fragility of their situation. Kai rode on Valira, moving from the vanguard to the rear, ensuring no one fell behind. He noticed the atmosphere had shifted. The initial gratitude the refugees felt after their rescue was beginning to be eroded by the reality of hunger.

Around noon, the first incident occurred.

"Hey! You! Drop that right now!" Nick shouted from the back of the main carriage.

Kai reached the spot in seconds. Nick was gripping the arm of a young man from Keram’s caravan, a youth named Rab, who was holding a loaf of stale bread that clearly belonged to the private rations.

"Just a piece, please! My sister hasn’t eaten since yesterday!" Rab cried out, struggling to break free from Nick’s grip.

Lint climbed down from the driver’s seat, flushed with rage. "He’s a thief! Kai, I told you this would happen! If we start letting them rob us, there’ll be nothing left in the carriage by tomorrow! I demand he be punished!"

The refugees came to a halt. Keram approached, face pale and hands raised in a gesture of peace, but his eyes reflected a spark of contained defiance. Thorne and Allice positioned themselves on either side of Kai, waiting for an order. Lyla and Roshia watched from the carriage, concern etched on their faces.

Kai looked at Rab. The boy didn’t look like a criminal; he was just a frightened kid. Then he looked at Lint, who protected his interests with the ferocity of someone who knows no other way to survive.

"Let him go, Nick," Kai ordered. His voice was calm, but it had an edge that made the guard obey instantly. Kai dismounted and approached Rab. The young man flinched, expecting a blow, but Kai only reached out and took the bread.

"I understand you’re hungry," Kai said, looking the boy in the eye. "We all are. But if everyone takes what they want without asking, order will break down and we’ll all be dead before we reach the border."

"But you have plenty of food!" a woman shouted from the back. "We saw you eating meat last night while we only had watery porridge!"

An immediate and dangerous murmur of approval rippled through the refugees. Kai felt the tension rise. Thorne growled, resting a hand on the handle of his axe, causing several men to back away, intimidated by his wolf like appearance.

"Enough!" Kai roared. The shout was so powerful that silence slammed back into the clearing. "We do not have food to spare. What we have are rations calculated to get us to Terminus. If we hand them all out today, no one will have the strength to defend this wagon from bandits tomorrow."

Kai looked at Keram. "You are the leader of your people. Calm them down or this will end very badly." He then turned to Lint. "Give them my breakfast and dinner."

"All of it?" Thorne whispered. "Boss, you need..."

"All of it, Thorne," Kai repeated. "We aren’t feudal lords. We’re a team. And they are our responsibility now."

Rab lowered his head, ashamed. "I’m sorry, Kai. It won’t happen again." 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"So be it," Kai said, handing the bread back to him. "Share it with your sister."

Kai looks to Keram "But Keram, if I see another theft, the culprit will be expelled from the caravan. There will be no second chances. Justice is the only thing that will keep us together."

The rest of the day was grueling. Kai’s gesture of fasting had calmed their spirits. During the march, Kai took the opportunity to speak with Allice.

"Look, I need you to scout off the path," Kai said in a low voice. "If there’s a deer or even wild boar, we need to bring them down today."

"I’m on it. But the animals have moved west, toward the river," she replied before disappearing into the brush with an agility that always amazed the refugees.

Kai remained pensive. At dusk, the caravan stopped in an area sheltered by a rocky outcrop. Hunger was a physical presence in the camp. The children were unusually quiet, which was always a bad sign. Lyla approached Kai while he was checking Valira’s hooves.

"Kai, some of the refugees are starting to get sick. It’s not just hunger, it’s exhaustion. Keram says his mother has a fever."

Kai turned his jaw. He couldn’t let Lyla heal everyone, without supplies, she would grow too weak. "Roshia, can you help with the fever?" he asked.

"I can bring her temperature down, but Kai... if we don’t eat something substantial soon, we’ll start burying people before the week is out."

Just then, a familiar whistle drifted from the forest. It was Mira. She appeared carrying two young deer over her shoulders. She was sweaty and scratched up, but her smile was one of triumph. Behind her, Allice carried a couple of hares she had caught while covering Mira.

"Meat!" a child screamed, and suddenly the entire camp was transformed.

The refugees rushed to help. Thorne took charge of skinning the animals with a brutal but expert efficiency. Within an hour, the smell of roasting meat filled the air, breaking the day’s heavy atmosphere. Kai ensured the distribution was fair. He sat on a log, watching the families eat. He felt a little lighter, but his mind wouldn’t rest.

After dinner, Kai walked away from the fire to look at the stars. He felt a presence behind him. It was Keram. The carpenter sat beside him in silence for a while.

"You know, at first I thought you were just a rich adventurer looking for glory. But what you did today, with your ration..." He shook his head. "My people have never seen a man with power choose to go hungry so that others could eat."

"It’s not for glory," Kai replied, looking toward the horizon. "It’s logic. If my team eats and you don’t, we become your masters, not your protectors. And I’ve seen enough masters in this world."

"Rab is very grateful," Keram continued. "He says he wants to be like you."

Kai smiled sadly. "Tell him he’s better off learning to be a good carpenter. The world needs people who build things, not just people who know how to destroy them."

When Keram retired, Lyla took his place. She curled up against Kai’s arm, gazing at the same horizon. "You gained something today that gold can’t buy, Kai. You’ve earned their absolute loyalty. Look at those men..." She pointed to the refugees who were now offering to help Thorne with the night watch. "Before, they were afraid of Thorne. Now they see him as one of their own."

"It’s a double edged sword, Lyla," Kai whispered. "The more they trust me, the more it hurts to know I can’t guarantee they’ll all make it alive."

"That is the weight of leadership," she replied, kissing him on the cheek. "But you don’t have to carry it alone."

The night went on peacefully until around midnight.

[ SYSTEM MESSAGE ]

Enemy detected.

Type: Human.

Approximate Threat Level: C.

Distance: 40 meters and approaching.

Kai sprang to his feet, his daggers appearing in his hands instantly. "Thorne! Allice! We’re under attack!" he shouted.

The camp woke into a state of controlled chaos. The refugees, following the instructions from previous days, huddled between the wagons. Roshia raised a defensive ice wall on the open flank.

Figures emerged from the shadows of the forest. "The Silver Crows!" Lint screamed, hiding under his carriage. "They’re back!"

There were at least a dozen riders, but they didn’t attack head on. They began launching fire arrows toward the refugees’ wagons. The goal wasn’t to kill them, but to sow panic and destroy their supplies.

"Mira, take care of the archers!" Kai ordered as he dodged an arrow. "Thorne, don’t let them break the circle!"

Mira positioned herself on a high rock. The sound of her compound bow began to resonate through the night. Each of Mira’s arrows found its mark, knocking riders from their mounts with a force that sent them flying.

Kai lunged into the darkness of the forest, searching for the leader of the attack. He encountered three mercenaries trying to flank them by the river.

"Poor choice," Kai said.

He moved between them, blocking a sword with his left dagger and sinking the right one into the attacker’s shoulder. Before the second could react, Kai delivered a kick that sent him straight into the freezing water. The third tried to flee, but Kai threw his dagger with pinpoint accuracy, embedding it in the man’s thigh.

By the time he returned, it was all over. The remaining mercenaries had fled after seeing their surprise attack fail. But the damage was done. One of the refugees’ wagons was burning, and Keram was struggling to smother the flames with a blanket. Roshia intervened, casting a blast of snow that extinguished the fire in seconds, but half of that family’s belongings were lost.

[ SYSTEM MESSAGE ]

All enemies have been defeated.

+100 XP

Level: 30 (350/800)

By the dawn of the ninth day, the group was exhausted. There were no deaths, but fear had returned. Kai walked among the remains of the charred wagon. He saw Keram staring at the ashes of what used to be his children’s bed.

"They’ll keep hounding us, won’t they?" he asked, his voice weary.

"Yes," Kai replied, looking down the road.

Kai looked at his team. Lyla was treating a small scratch on Mira’s arm. Allice was cleaning her daggers with an expression of pure fury.

"We’re changing strategy," Kai declared. "Lint, from today on, your carriage goes in the center. Keram, yours will surround it. Allice, I don’t want you just scouting the path, I want you to find their camps. We’re not going to wait for them to attack us anymore."

"Are you going to hunt them?" Lyla asked, approaching him.

"I’m going to secure this road," Kai said. "I won’t let them get away with this."