Chương 82: Selling Rescue Supplies at a 10% Discount

Click. Click. Clack. The jade abacus clattered fast and sharp, drowning out even the roar of the Void Beasts clawing frantically at the trenches outside. Inside the 4th Legion's field command tent, the hide map had already been swept aside by Lucian. The ebony table was now buried under supply manifests, inventory ledgers, and troop rosters for every battalion. Lucian sat cross-legged on an empty ammunition crate, fingers flying across the abacus, eyes fixed on the stack of parchment.

"Thirty-one infantry battalions, nine armored cavalry regiments. Total combat-capable troops: ninety-eight thousand four hundred twenty. Consolidate all remaining mana-ore, distribute evenly across eighty defense substations. Cut lighting output on the barrier by 50%, maintain only the acid-filter layer on direct-contact surfaces." Earl Morid and his ten deputy commanders stood at rigid attention, cold sweat streaming down their foreheads, not one of them daring to speak.

A noble colonel stepped forward, trembling, hiding a small wooden chest behind his back.

"Report... my house's cavalry battalion is exhausted. Permission to hold back these fifty recovery potions as a—reserve fo—" CLACK! Lucian's silver dagger flew across the tent and buried itself between the man's two boots, tearing through the toe of his leather boot. Lucian didn't even look up from his abacus.

"My Read the Fine Print skill can see clearly that chest is hiding sixty stamina elixirs and forty premium mana crystals you've been sitting on since this morning. Seize it. Confiscated for wartime supply theft. One more offense, and I write to your father demanding he forfeit the entire estate to cover the debt." The colonel's face went bloodless, and he immediately dropped the chest to the ground. Lucian gave a light flick of his sleeve.

The pitch-black spatial ring on his finger radiated a burst of dark purple light. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Hundreds of large wooden crates, packed with premium medicine, fifty thousand bottles of mana-restoration potion produced by Vance's own factories, and a hundred thousand bars of compressed arcane rations imported from the Demon Realm, all dropped in an instant, piling up like a mountain in the middle of the command tent.

The rich scent of herbs and buttery barley bread hit the noses of the exhausted, half-starved officers all at once. Morid stared at the massive stockpile.

"Young Master... when did you bring this much material with you?!"

"Warehouse surplus from the textile mill and Vance's emergency reserve fund," Lucian pulled a stack of preprinted promissory notes from his coat and tossed them straight at Morid's chest.

"Open the tent flap. Start distributing relief supplies to the entire army — on an installment plan." The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Morid blinked, confused.

"An... installment plan?"

"That's right," Lucian said, standing up and grabbing the magical megaphone mounted on the tent pole.

"Fifty silver per ration pack, plus one mana-restoration potion. The Ministry of Defense guarantees the principal, and its emergency wartime subsidy covers most of the cost. Any remaining soldier share goes directly onto military payroll, repayable over twenty-four months, at a preferential 5% annual interest rate!" He took a deep breath and spoke into the megaphone, his voice carrying straight through the entire trench system across the battlefield.

"Special offer: 10% discount for any soldier who volunteers to hold the front trench line!" The entire crumbling defense line of a hundred thousand men fell into a stunned, breathless silence. Then, an instant later, a wave of pandemonium exploded outward. Tens of thousands of soldiers, trembling in the trenches, stared at each other, wide-eyed. Poor soldiers who could never afford recovery potions on their own suddenly sprang up like coiled springs, shouting and shoving in a frenzy.

"Move! I'm getting to the front for that ten percent!"

"Don't cut in! I owe money for my wedding, I need that discount!"

"Third Battalion, follow me to the outer trench! Get the potions, then skewer every one of those monsters!" Ting! Ting! A dim black Unified System v2. 0 notification burst into view before Lucian. [EMPLOYING SKILL: 'LAYERED FOCUS' AT MACRO SCALE!] Successfully coordinated 420 supply distribution points and 80 mana-recovery stations. Frontline volunteer response: rising. Desertion indicators: declining. Defensive performance: improving according to available battlefield telemetry.

Lucian threw his ash-grey cloak back on and walked out of the command tent, moving down the mud-and-snow-choked trenches. He tossed recovery potions, one after another, into the hands of wounded soldiers slumped against the trench walls, grumbling as he went.

"Drink up, now! That steel spear cost four silver, chip a corner off it and I'm docking it straight from your death benefit!"

"That shield was bought on installment from my family, keep a firm grip on it!" The blood-soaked soldiers caught the glowing potions, drinking as they chewed the sweet, hearty rations, wiping mud off their faces before bursting into laughter amid the roaring monsters. Eleanor walked beside him, her knight's cloak streaked with dried blood. She crouched down to rewrap a wounded young soldier's leg bandage, her blue eyes drifting toward Lucian's small back as he grumbled and cursed his way down the line.

She didn't say a word, only smiled softly, tightening her grip on the bandage roll. She understood it clearly: this boy didn't need some hollow, inspiring speech about courage. Through debt figures and practical scoldings, he'd just reignited a hundred thousand people's desire to survive and go home. At the head of the trench, General Morid watched soldiers who'd been ready to give up and die now fighting furiously, spears finding the eyes of one monster after another.

His eyes went red, tears streaming down his grey beard. He dropped to one knee in the muddy snow, his voice choked with emotion.

"Peak sage-level psychological therapy... forcing us all to sign debt notes... so every soldier would have a reason, an obligation, to survive and return home to repay it! Such profound, boundless compassion!" Lucian, passing by, overheard this and spun around, glaring.

"Compassion, my ass! I'm actually collecting on this debt! If you don't pay in full after this battle, I'll send people to seize the entire legion's assets!" Morid nodded rapidly through his tears.

"Yes! We understand completely! Please, keep playing the villain to forge our resolve!" Lucian pressed a hand to his forehead, completely out of arguments. CRACK CRACK! BOOM! The ground at the bottom of the ravine suddenly split open into a deep gash, more than five hundred meters long. A pillar of pitch-black destructive aura, reeking of death, erupted from deep underground, freezing the raging blizzard around it solid.

The Void Beast horde attacking the trenches suddenly stopped all at once, pressing their heads flat against the snow, trembling. The Unified System v2. 0 notification flashed with blinding red light. [CATASTROPHE-CLASS THREAT WARNING: ANCIENT BEAST AWAKENED!] Target: DARK COLOSSUS (RANK A — LEGENDARY). Combat Power Reading: 1, 200, 000, 000 (1. 2 BILLION!) Status: The Abyss's Alpha Beast has locked onto the entire ravine!