"Prince Draconis, the tents have been set up!"
Outside the carriage, a knight came to report the situation.
Draconis nodded. He got out of the carriage, holding the blanket that concealed Dratini.
Everyone ultimately chose to set up a temporary camp at the edge of the forest by the river.
As Draconis exited the carriage, he saw everyone around him bustling with activity.
Some were clearing snow from the ground, some were setting up tents, some were tending to the sick, and others were making fires to keep warm. The knights with weapons were surveying the surroundings to prevent any danger.
Seeing this scene, Draconis slowly exhaled a turbid breath, his long-held anxiety finally easing a little.
He returned to his tent. The tent wasn't large, but it was adorned with golden royal patterns on the outside, clearly a royal tent.
The interior space of the tent was about twenty square meters. Although not large, it was considered very luxurious compared to the tents of the Commoners.
When Draconis entered, the maid had already prepared hot tea. Draconis took a sip and immediately felt much of the cold around him dissipate.
He took Dratini out of the blanket and placed the remaining half-cup of hot tea near its mouth: "Drink it, warm yourself up."
"Woo..."
Dratini opened its big, watery eyes and looked at the human in front of it for a few moments, then lowered its head and, with Draconis's hand, drank the remaining half-cup of hot water.
Dratini felt its entire body warm up.
This made it involuntarily let out a happy Growl.
"Woo~!"
Draconis looked at it with amusement, then said, "Go back to sleep for a bit!"
Dratini was very well-behaved, obediently returning to the blanket.
Old Butler Alfred stood by, holding a list. The scene of Prince Draconis interacting with the magical beast reminded him of the King and Victini.
"Alfred, report our remaining supplies."
"Yes, Prince Draconis." Alfred nodded, then placed the list in front of Draconis.
It clearly detailed all the supplies in the camp.
Draconis looked down.
"Black bread, white bread, ham, bacon, pickled fish, beef jerky, almonds, figs, wine, beer, mead, oats, cheese, wheat, spices, salt (various quantities)."
As Draconis expected, these were all foods with a long shelf life and easy to store.
Their reserves were still plentiful. If consumed sparingly, there was enough for everyone in the camp to survive the cold winter.
Draconis continued to look down.
Besides food, the Old King had also prepared various daily necessities, tools, crop seeds, and various herbs for him.
For example, soap, combs, a large amount of clothing, and so on.
The tools included shovels, hammers, axes, sickles, and other farming implements. Coupled with the farmers in the convoy, it seemed the Old King wanted his son to be able to grow things he liked to eat himself.
As for the crop seeds... to Draconis's surprise, the variety of these crop seeds was quite rich.
Cabbage, carrots, flax seeds, oat grains, onion seeds, rye seeds, wheat grains, and so on.
Stored food is ultimately limited; there will come a day when it runs out. At that point, these seeds will come into play.
It is now essential to ensure these crop seeds are well-preserved.
"How are these crop seeds being preserved?" Draconis asked.
Alfred replied, "I just checked, and all the seeds are perfectly preserved."
"That's good." Draconis nodded, letting out a long sigh of relief.
Draconis then turned his attention to the food items listed above.
Jerky, ham, pickled fish, bacon... As is well known, the source of meat in the Pokémon world has always been a mystery.
Although the anime initially hinted that ordinary animals also existed in this world, later on, the setting was changed to some Pokémon also being consumed by humans.
For example, Bounsweet, Slowpoke tails, Veluza, Basculin, and similar beings.
But... consuming intelligent creatures like Pokémon was something Draconis found somewhat unacceptable.
After all, from the very beginning, he had been exposed to concepts like "Pokémon are partners, they are family."
Thinking of this, Draconis briefly searched through the original owner's memories.
Soon, he found the answer.
According to the original owner's memories, ordinary animals also existed in this world.
For example, common chickens, cows, sheep, and fish. Some humans also raised these livestock to obtain resources such as meat, eggs, and milk.
However, unlike Pokémon, the production capacity of these ordinary animals was very limited.
For instance, an average ordinary cow can only produce five kilograms of milk per day, but Miltank can produce twenty liters of milk, and Miltank's milk is more nutritious.
In front of Pokémon, ordinary animals had no advantage and could only serve as food on the tables of humans and Pokémon.
Furthermore, their physical strength was no match for Pokémon.
Of course, according to the original owner's memories, Draconis discovered that this world only contained some ordinary animals, such as chickens, cows, and sheep, but lacked fierce beasts like tigers and black bears.
This could be considered good news, couldn't it?
Alfred looked worried.
Draconis noticed his expression and asked, "What's wrong?"
Alfred slowly sighed and said, "While you were resting in the carriage, I counted the number of people in the camp. As of now, we only have 78 people left."
There were over five hundred people when they departed from Eindoak, and now only this many remained... The Old Butler looked grief-stricken.
No one was clearer about the personnel situation in the team than Draconis.
He pondered for a long time, simultaneously using his interface to check the situation of every Commoner.
Butlers, maids, knights, farmers, apothecaries, doctors, carpenters, blacksmiths, gardeners, barbers, chefs, Commoners, slaves... Among them, there were twenty Commoners and thirty-five slaves.
Oh, and two enslaved Bouffalant.
Draconis had observed them on the way; the two Bouffalant were docile. Perhaps due to long enslavement, they had become honest, unaggressive cattle.
Besides this, Draconis also noticed that many people were ill.
There were frostbite, high fevers, and even broken bones.
At this moment, Alfred also spoke about this matter, concluding with a question:
"Prince Draconis, what should we do?"
Draconis couldn't help but feel a headache. He pinched his temples. What else could be done?
"Have the doctors examine their conditions. I see there are still many herbs in the storeroom; bring them all out to use!"
Alfred paused slightly: "But those were prepared for Your Highness..."
Draconis shook his head, while also looking at his Cheat interface. He saw that the 'Territory' section had already changed.
"Lord Name: Draconis"
"Territory: Small (Unnamed)"
"Subjects (Humans): 78 people (Click for details)"
"Subjects (Pokémon): 3 (Click for details)"
"Public Sentiment: 2 (Precarious)"
"Satisfaction: 0"
"Technology: None (Spend Satisfaction to unlock new technologies)"
For a territory to develop, a sufficient population is an indispensable condition.
Moreover, he couldn't just stand by and watch those people die; he simply couldn't do it.
Draconis pondered and said, "Once they recover, I will have many things for them to do."
It seemed they would be staying here for a long time.
Draconis could use this small piece of land to test the functions of his Cheat.
And as the Lord of this land, he needed subjects to work for him to develop the territory.
So, hurry up and get well so you can work for me!