Chapter 68: Husband and Wife, Never Defeated
"Hey, why are you calling me that?"
Hearing Morgan's words, Lot sulked.
Horndog...
[Just 'dog' would be bad enough.]
[But you had to add 'horny' to it?]
[Have you ever seen a horndog who's only horny for one person?]
[I'm being wronged here!]
It's true you're only like that with me... but you're way too horny with me.
I both love it and fear it.
"It's just a term of endearment. A pet name! I call you 'horndog' because I like you, okay?"
Morgan propped her chin in her hands as she spoke to Lot.
"Can't you pick something nicer?"
"Like what?"
"Like... 'Number One Handsome Husband in the World,' or 'Most Beautiful Man Alive'... I'm not picky."
Lot pondered for a moment before answering.
Hearing this, Morgan rolled her eyes.
"You call that 'not picky'? You really have no shame."
Though, to be fair... it wasn't entirely wrong.
Morgan thought about it compared to other handsome men she'd met, whether it was Kay, Galahad, or even that Lancelot, none could hold a candle to her husband.
"Then how about something simpler? Like 'husband'? Or 'darling'? Just imagine if you accidentally call me 'horndog' in public what would people think?"
Lot continued making suggestions.
"Too cheesy. I don't like it."
Morgan wrinkled her nose in distaste.
Then, realizing she might have been too harsh, she reconsidered and said:
"Fine. In public, I'll call you 'darling' or something else to save face. But in private, I'll call you whatever I want."
"Do whatever you want behind my back, then."
Lot grumbled, though he tacitly accepted the "horndog" title.
Satisfied with this answer, Morgan grinned.
Hehe, perfect.
At the same time, she overheard Lot's brooding thoughts:
[To think my own wife gave me such a nickname... I really need to reflect on myself.]
Sigh, what are you reflecting on? I never said there was anything wrong with you!
Morgan instinctively wanted to tell him how much she loved him just the way he was.
[I'm too upright I don't deserve this nickname.]
"..."
!!!
Morgan now had the urge to bite him.
Whatever. If he weren't like this, he wouldn't be him.
"Alright, let's get back to what you were saying earlier. What did you see that shocked you so much?"
Morgan quickly steered the conversation back to the matter at hand.
What had made him react like that?
"This..."
Hearing her question, the smile vanished from Lot's face.
He picked up the document he'd been reading and handed it to Morgan.
"Here, take a look."
"What is it?"
Morgan took the file and scanned the numbers.
Her expression darkened.
If she hadn't understood these things before her marriage, her time handling Orkney's affairs had made her intimately familiar with agricultural yields.
And these numbers... were abysmal.
"Is this just one region, or all of Britain?"
"Everywhere except Camelot and Orkney is like this."
"Camelot was Uther's carefully managed capital. Orkney is my territory, so it's fine. But everywhere else... it's bad."
Morgan's face stiffened.
"Why didn't the nobles ever report this?"
She asked, disbelieving.
[Obviously, food shortages don't affect them. It's the commoners who suffer. No one cares about things they don't see.]
[Fat pigs who've drunk their fill never notice the ants struggling for a drop of water.]
Morgan fell silent.
In this moment, she understood Lot's perspective even more clearly.
The nobility...
Were truly useless.
But now wasn't the time to deal with them. She turned back to Lot:
"Horndog, what should we do?"
By now, Lot had stopped caring about the nickname.
He began considering solutions.
[The barren state of Britain's land isn't just because of the nobles. On the surface, years of war have ruined the soil. But the real root cause... is the decline of the Age of Gods. The world itself wants Britain to perish.]
Morgan's eyes widened.
She understood the issues with the nobles and the wars.
But the decline of the Age of Gods? This was new.
The world itself rejects Britain's existence?
Are we destined to die out?
No. I won't let that happen.
Lot was right about one thing
Man can conquer heaven.
No matter what hardships the heavens throw at Britain, if we unite, we can overcome them.
Morgan silently swore this oath to herself.
Meanwhile, Lot continued thinking:
[The laziest solution would be to dump this mess on Merlin and Artoria let them handle it until the Age of Gods fully ends, then clean up the aftermath with Morgan later. In the past, I might've done just that. But not now. I won't let Morgan feel like her efforts were wasted.]
Hearing the first half, Morgan nearly scoffed. But the second half made her smile.
Mmm.
A diligent Lot is nice...
But a Lot who clearly wants to laze around yet pushes himself for my sake?
Even better.
Don't worry. Together, we're unstoppable.
Morgan and Lot
Never defeated.
[For now, we'll have to increase food production. The incentives for farming I introduced earlier were just one step. But the priority is solving the immediate crisis.]
Right, right. We must address the urgent issue first.
Our food reserves are running low.
The decline of the Age of Gods can wait.
Only by handling the present can we secure the future.
"Morgan, how about we go fishing?"
Lot suddenly suggested.
Fishing?
Morgan frowned.
"Lot, I know you love fishing. But now isn't the time for your silly hobby."
"Who said anything about hobby fishing?"
Lot gave her a "you just don't get it" look.
"I'm talking about developing marine fisheries using seafood to supplement our food supply."