A Tiny Bit of Food DX

"Shut the door!"

The moment we stepped inside, a bald middle-aged guy slammed the door shut and bolted it.

Thud. Thud.

The sound of pounding came from the other side, but the vibrations were surprisingly weak.

"As expected of the Mitsugoshi Company," Christina noted. "That’s one sturdy door."

"Yeah," the bald guy agreed. "Whether it’s the materials or some kind of gimmick, this thing is solid. You’d need to be a Spellsword to break through it."

He let out a heavy sigh.

"Good grief, what a stench. I’m never opening that door again. The name’s Margari. I’m a mercenary Spellsword. Who are you two?"

"I’m Christina. This is Cid-kun. We’re students from the Midgar Academy for Spellswords."

"Midgar students? What are you doing in the Oriana Kingdom?"

"My mother’s family is from here, so I have certain... connections. Cid-kun is just here on a trip."

"A tourist? At a time like this?"

"Haha..." I forced out a polite, awkward laugh to dodge the question. Don't mind me, just a background character passing through.

"I heard the Mitsugoshi Company was sheltering residents, but..." Christina trailed off as she scanned the room.

There were dozens of people who looked like local residents, but not a single Mitsugoshi employee was in sight.

"Apparently, they evacuated with a group of people last night," Margari explained. "The place was a hollow shell by the time we got here."

"So we were too late..."

"It’s a bad break, but we’ll just have to manage on our own."

"That’s not true," Christina countered. "The Anti-Doem Faction should be arriving to help any time now."

"If only..." Margari spat the words out.

"Are you saying they won't come?"

"How many townspeople do you think have turned into Abominations? There are probably far more of them out there than there are soldiers. If the people outside knew what it was really like in here, they wouldn't come within a mile of this place. If it were me, I’d do the opposite—lock the gates and wait for the monsters to starve to death. These city walls have basically become a cage to trap us all in."

Christina’s expression darkened.

He’s actually being quite rational, I thought. A very realistic, level-headed assessment of the situation.

"In other words... our only options are to wait here for the Abominations to starve, or find a way to escape on our own."

"That’s the long and short of it. Some people here still think rescue is right around the corner, but I’d say their hopes are pretty slim."

Margari looked over the other residents with the pitying gaze of a veteran mercenary who had seen it all.

"Look, we’ve got a mountain of problems, but I’m just glad you two look like you can actually hold a sword. If things go south, it’ll be the three of us doing the fighting."

"Are we the only Spellswords here?" Christina asked.

"Worse. We’re the only ones with any combat experience at all. Forget Spellswords; there isn’t even anyone here who’s finished their basic military service."

"...If it comes down to it, we won’t be able to protect everyone," Christina whispered.

"I know. But we still have to do what we can."

"I suppose you're right."

"For now, we’re staging a siege here," Margari said. "I’m the one calling the shots for this group. I’ll need you two to follow my lead."

"Understood."

"Glad to hear it. Now, straight to business—there’s something we need to handle immediately. Do you know what the three essentials for a siege are?"

"Water, food, and firewood," Christina answered promptly.

"Exactly. For water, we can just melt the snow on the roof. Firewood should last us a while. But the food..."

"T-T-That’s why I said we shouldn't let them in!"

A resident interrupted Margari, his voice cracking with desperation.

"F-Food is scarce! We should have just left them to die out there!"

"You're not getting a single bite of our rations!" another chimed in.

"Yeah! That’s right! This is our food!"

Only a few were shouting, but the glares from the rest of the crowd weren't exactly what I'd call "welcoming."

"These two are students from the Academy for Spellswords!" Margari growled, his voice dropping into a low, intimidating rumble. "If anything happens, the three of us are the only ones standing between you and the monsters!"

"Ugh..."

The residents recoiled, properly intimidated by the mercenary’s aura. They hung their heads and went quiet.

"Sorry about that," Margari sighed. "Everyone’s just hit their limit."

"I don't mind," Christina said.

"Well, you get the gist. We’re short on food."

"Aren't there products left in the store?"

"The high-value items were cleared out by the Mitsugoshi Company before they left."

"I see. Specifically, how many days' worth do we have?"

"I couldn't tell you how many days it’ll last, but... this is it."

Margari opened a large crate sitting in the middle of the crowd. I could feel the hostile gazes of the residents practically drilling holes into us.

"Is... is this..." Christina stuttered.

Inside the box was a mountain of candies wrapped in obnoxiously luxurious packaging.

"S-So many Special Beauty Drops DX!?" Christina shrieked.

She was staring at a pile of candy that usually retailed for ten thousand Zeny a pop.

The fact that they didn't even bother to take these with them pretty much confirms the theory that they only cost ten Zeny to manufacture, I thought.

I looked at the star-struck Christina with a gaze of pure pity before scanning the room for anything else the Mitsugoshi Company might have "accidentally" left behind.