The lead soldier looked at the ground. "My lord... all of the merchants sold most of their food items to a traveling merchant."

Alexander froze. "What?"

The soldier nodded nervously. "They sold it all a few days ago."

Alexander’s blood turned cold.

’Okay.’ Alexander realized with pure horror. ’It looks like he already made his move a long time ago... and this is just him showing his claws right now.’

He was finally properly scared and nervous.

Adrian didn’t just show up with zero plans about the operation. He had made a move on the city days ago and now, he had finally showed his cards.

Alexander slowly looked around at his soldiers.

He could clearly see the doubt in their faces. Back when he looked confident about plundering merchant stockpiles, the guards did not care at all. They figured a lord fighting a war had to feed his troops no matter what so they knew that they would get food.

But the game had completely changed now.

Those thick stone walls were not a shield anymore. It was like a cage now. The magic communication building was completely destroyed and the other means of communication was actively being suppressed. The city would starve soon at this point.

Alexander took a slow step back. He looked at the men gripping their spears and the horrific truth finally clicked. He was not just fighting Adrian’s forces on the outside. He was trapped inside with a hungry, desperate army.

Cold sweat dripped down his neck as he stared out at the dark forest.

Because he was totally screwed.

There was absolutely no food left in his city. Adrian had parked a massive army right outside his gates and completely cut off all communication lines. The magical devices were reduced to scattered ashes and the carrier pigeons were shot out of the sky.

He could not contact his allies in the capital. He could not beg the Ironhold Kingdom for military reinforcements, and he could not even send a soldier out to buy grins from a neighboring territory.

They were completely trapped inside.

Alexander turned around and looked at his soldiers. He could actively see their expressions changing right in front of him.

The confident smirks were totally gone. The men gripped their spears tightly and their eyes darted between the empty supply warehouses and Alexander.

He could practically hear their thoughts. He could tell that they were already calculating how long it would take to starve. They were probably wondering if betraying him and handing him over to Adrian would save their families.

’If I wait or let Adrian dictate the pace of this war, I am finished.’ Alexander thought frantically.

He had to take back control immediately.

"Listen up!" Alexander shouted to his men. "Get your weapons ready and check your armor. We are going to fight them tomorrow morning."

The soldiers just stared at him.

"We have three thousand men!!" Alexander said smoothly. "We will crush their vanguard and take their supplies. Get some rest now, and we march at dawn."

"Yes, my lord." a few soldiers muttered weakly.

Everyone expected to get some proper sleep before they marched into a bloody war. They needed to rest their bodies and prepare their minds for the whole thing.

It was almost midnight and everyone were ready to get some rest. But little did they know about Adrian’s plans.

Alexander retreated into his private bedroom. His first wife and his young concubine huddled on the edge of the massive bed. Ever since the moment he walked in, they kept shooting him panicked looks.

Alexander was sweating bullets on the inside but he just kept a cold poker face on so that he wouldn’t have to worry them.

"Go to sleep." Alexander muttered. "I will fix everything tomorrow."

He kicked his boots off and lied on the mattress before closing his eyes shut. He thought he could get some nice sleep before going to war properly tomorrow.

And that was exactly when Adrian launched his peaceful attack.

A weird, incredibly loud noise suddenly blasted through the entire city and it perfectly matched the terrifying loudness of Adrian’s magical voice enhancement from earlier that day.

But the contents of the broadcast were completely unhinged.

"Unga bunga!" a voice boomed from the heavens. "Hoo hoo ha ha! Unga oonga!"

Alexander snapped his eyes open, sat up and stared at the ceiling in pure confusion and annoyance.

"Bunga bunga Unga!" the voice continued cheerfully. "Hoo hoo! Ha ha!"

It sounded like a crazy tribal dance, just much louder and annoyingly in the middle of the night when everyone wanted to sleep. The repetitive, rhythmic nonsense just kept playing on a loop. It barely stopped and the volume didn’t go down either.

Adrian sat comfortably on a tree stump in the forest and channeled his mana into his vocal cords. He just kept making stupid monkey noises to keep the entire enemy city awake.

It was extremely annoying and he knew it, so he sent half of his soldiers into the dungeon so they could sleep peacefully for at least three hours before switching with the other group.

Alexander grabbed a thick feather pillow and shoved it over his head. The magical sound easily pierced right through it without any issues.

"Oonga oonga! Bunga bunga!"

His wife started crying from the sheer stress while Alexander gritted his teeth and kicked his blankets off. He could not sleep at all.

This psychological torture went on for the entire night.

Adrian was actually getting pretty tired himself because constantly funneling mana into a voice amplification spell took a lot of focus. But he knew he could not stop. He had to force Alexander to make the first move out of pure desperation. He was absolutely not going to give his enemies a single second of rest.

Morning finally arrived.

The sun slowly peeked over the horizon and lit up the defensive walls of House Halerius.

Every single soldier standing on the wall looked like a walking corpse. Their eyes were bloodshot red and dark bags hung heavily under their eyelids. They were struggling from pure sleep deprivation and their tempers were pretty unstable.