Toka pulled out a hard, dry meat patty from a wooden box and tossed it to him. "So you're here to mooch food?"
Gollon caught it with one hand, took a bite, and immediately scrunched up his face. "What is this? A roasted stone?"
"It tastes much better than the frozen dried meat you gave me before," Toka retorted flatly.
"Tsk, your mouth has gotten sharp," Gollon chewed, shaking his head. "Turns out there's nothing decent left to eat in your house either."
Toka raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just come back from Grizzly Hills?"
"Yeah," Gollon mumbled, taking another bite of the dried meat and swallowing it with a frown. "Not much of a harvest."
He said it lightly, but his tone held weariness.
"The hunting grounds aren't good?" Toka's voice lowered slightly.
"It's not that they're not good, it's that they're crowded," Gollon continued to gnaw on the meat patty with water. "Every few days, a hunting party from our side goes to the hills. Sometimes, three groups are chasing one prey in the same hunting ground. Everyone doesn't dare to shout too loudly when greeting each other, afraid of scaring off the prey."
He paused, then added, "I heard the Resistance Alliance is also sending people to the hills."
Toka frowned. "Are they also short on food?"
"Not just them. The entire South Zuldazar is almost sucked dry by our two factions," Gollon swallowed the last piece of meat patty with a large gulp of water. "Italk is a commercial center, not a granary."
"More and more people are coming to the city—for faith, for refuge, for shelter—but not everyone can work or hunt."
"To expand our food sources, the captain has sent people to the Tauren and Vrykul, brought by Proto-Dragons."
Toka recalled the Tauren and Vrykul merchants he had just seen. "So that's it. I thought the news of order being restored here had spread that far."
"Our Lord is benevolent. He allows the Proto-Dragons to hunt for us, which barely maintains the balance of food income and expenditure," Gollon sighed. "But the captain and I are both unconvinced in our hearts."
Toka understood Gollon's meaning. Although they and the Proto-Dragons believed in the same god, their churches had not merged, and constantly relying on a brother church for help was not a solution.
"I wonder how much pressure the captain is under now," Toka whispered.
At the same time, inside the main hall of the Italk Administrative Office, Skala was putting away a folded document made of beast hide.
He had just finished speaking with Aktus, an elder from a small tribe.
The elder had brought the unanimous decision of his tribe—to pledge allegiance to Italk, accept the new faith, and re-establish their identity under Italk's rule.
This was the fifth tribe this month to express a desire to pledge allegiance.
It seemed that it wasn't just them who felt the food difficulties; most of these tribes chose to join due to insufficient food and an inability to sustain themselves.
This was very unusual.
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