Volume 3: Fellow villagers, let’s farm together~ Chapter 85: Gift from the Forest Spirit
A beautiful mountain range with an altitude of less than 100 meters meanders from west to east. In the middle of the winding mountain range, a tributary of the River of the Earth is cut off. The flow of this unnamed tributary is gentle, but it cannot be blocked by the beautiful mountain range. The water flows into a large area of low-lying and wet swamps on the southern end of the middle part of the mountain range, and then gathers into a river, the gurgling river water flows eastward.
The Chestnut Tribe lived in the mountains east of this low, wet swamp.
The two major rivers and countless tributaries on the plain do not have absolutely fixed river courses. The naturally generated mountains are not enough to form a barrier, and river diversion is common. When the rivers flood every summer, nearly one-third of the land in the plain area can even turn into low-lying wetlands. Therefore... even if such terrain is not suitable for grazing, in many cases the grassland people can only hold their noses and make do with it.
A huge herd of bison, numbering hundreds, lurks in the swamp, some drinking water, some rolling in the mud, comfortably occupying this "wetland" to spend the hottest noon.
Not far from the bison herd, where the nameless river converged again, two dark-skinned snow wolves with messy white hair were standing naked in the river water that was above their knees, bent over, and groping for something in the muddy water with their hands.
"We caught it!" One of them's eyes lit up, and he exerted force with his arms and bulged his muscles. Amid the sound of splashing water, he grabbed a half-meter-long fat fish by the jaws and pulled it out of the water, then threw it hard onto the drier river beach nearby.
With a loud "bang", the big fish that was swinging constantly was knocked unconscious.
There were already four or five unconscious big fish on the river beach, the longest of which was over one meter long. Two wild snow wolves washed the mud off their hands and jumped onto the river bank. One of them went to collect the animal skins they had taken off, while the other found some peeled vines and put the big fish on them.
"Let's go!" After throwing the big fish that had been pierced through the cheeks by vines onto their bodies, the two snow wolves waved to the herd of bison lurking in the swamp before leaving.
"Moo--" Among the bison herd, a bull with a shoulder width of 1.5 meters, a body length of more than 4 meters, huge horns on its head, and an astonishing size lying in a mud puddle let out a roar, as if in response.
"The big horn is getting longer and stronger. Let's catch it and eat it someday." One of the snow wolves laughed.
"You can't beat it, it has turned into a monster." The second Snow Wolf Man also laughed.
"Xiaohua will definitely be able to beat it."
"Haha, if we catch the big horn, we won't be able to support the herd of bison."
The camp of the Li tribe was built on the hillside. Their tribe was located on a relatively flat platform between the mountains. They had lived in this land for more than a hundred years and were no longer satisfied with wool felt tents. So they mixed mud and grass leaves from the nearby wetland swamps and pasted them on the frame made of branches to create a primitive earthen house... It looked ugly, but in winter, this earthen house made of thick wetland soil was very warm, and their life was much better than that of the Huoyan tribe before.
"We're back~" Two snow wolves carried the fish and climbed up the mountain briskly. As soon as they climbed onto the platform, they were stunned, and then rushed up with cheers, "Ayan, Ayan, you're back!!"
"I'm back hot!"
When Ah Yan saw his friends, he immediately jumped up and threw himself on them. The three of them rolled into a ball: "Ahahaha I missed you guys so much!"
"Hey! Come back!" Veins popped up on Hongye's forehead.
A Yan quickly got up and trotted back to the team.
"..."Xiaohua, the guard soldier of the Li tribe, stared at Ayan with a twitching mouth.
"Uh... these are the spices we brought." Hongye didn't want to scold other people's children in front of them, so she pushed the things they carried forward. "This bag is garlic, this bag is ginger, this is chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns, this roll is white cotton cloth, and this box contains scissors, needles, and thread..."
"Put garlic and ginger in soup. If someone gets frozen when the weather turns cold, give him some ginger water. Make clothes made of white cotton cloth for the cubs..."
"...As Ayun agreed before, we will only exchange these things for furs. If your tribe has any stored skulls and hides of magical beasts, we will also take them. We don't need the cattle and sheep for the time being, but if you can smoke them into bacon strips, we will also take them next time we come."
The chief of the Li tribe... was working in another transport team and did not come along this time, but the content of the transaction had already been agreed upon when Ayun came to recruit soldiers, and the guarding soldiers could also make the decision.
Xiaohua, a top brother of the same model as Hongye, nodded readily: "Okay, we have prepared the fur, and we have also left some parts of the monster. But we have never used spices, so you have to teach us."
"no problem!"
Garlic and ginger have become hard currencies in modern times. Their role is certainly not just to be an annoying addition to food. In fact, the more backward the productivity, infrastructure, and logistics level in a world are, the more popular garlic and ginger are in the market, because these two spices can eliminate odors to a certain extent, allowing spoiled food to be eaten, and they also have a certain disinfecting and sterilization effect.
Modern people's pursuit of green, environmentally friendly, pesticide-free and pure natural food is just a habit formed by decades of abundant material life. A hundred years ago, at least 80% of the world's population ate a lot of spoiled food every year, and a small number of people even had nothing to eat when the food was spoiled.
People who have traveled around the country know that the cooking methods in some regions that use heavy amounts of oil and spicy food are actually meant to cover up the staleness of the ingredients... ahem.
In addition, there is the enjoyment of taste stimulation - don't doubt it, if we go back a few decades on the timeline on Earth, 90% of people's pursuit of food is only to be full, not to eat well. Why? Because the food tastes bland. "Eating delicious food and drinking spicy drinks" is a common yearning for people for a better life, and they only talk about it when they can't get it; just like the description of the heroes in Water Margin drinking big bowls of wine and eating big chunks of beef, it was a lifestyle that people at that time envied and envied.
The broth made with a little bit of pepper, garlic and ginger slices tasted completely different from the soup with only salt. Everyone in the Li tribe took a sip of the soup and immediately took out the exchanged supplies without hesitation.
The Snow Wolf tribe's food sources are grazing and hunting. Each tribe has accumulated a certain amount of fur. As for the monster parts, it depends on luck... The speed of the Snow Wolf warriors is really quite painful. Unless they meet a tough guy, they can only watch helplessly when the monster escapes.
After counting the items exchanged between the two parties, Hongye said with a smile, "We will come again before autumn. I have a suggestion. While it is hot now, you might as well shave your wool and store it. The wool should grow back by autumn."
"Wool? Wool from long-wool sheep?" Xiaohua was stunned.
"Yes, we can lend you the shaving tools." Hongye waved, and Ayan quickly took out the wool shears stored in the bag. "Pack the shaved wool into bundles, and try to mix as little garbage as possible. You can also exchange it with us for fur."
"No problem!" Xiaohua nodded immediately. Shaving the sheep does not require killing the sheep, and the wool can continue to grow. It is more cost-effective than exchanging the fur.
After staying in the Li tribe for a day, Hongye and the others were about to set off again. Xiaohua's partner reluctantly said goodbye to her in tears, which made Xiaohua laugh and cry...
Hongye's team headed northeast, and Yu's team headed southeast. When Hongye and others left the Li tribe, Yu's team also came to a cat tribe with more than 200 people.
Because of their good looks, cats are the race that interacts most with human caravans on the grassland. After all, cats are closer in size to humans, while the size of snow wolves and minotaurs is too threatening...
It is no exaggeration to say that the 15-man Snow Wolf warrior team is qualified to fight a local war on a tribal scale. As soon as this team entered the cat tribe’s territory, the patrolling cat warriors were frightened. But when they took another look, they found that this group of Snow Wolf people were carrying large and small bags of supplies, but not many weapons, which made the patrolling cat warriors very confused...
After some warnings and negotiations, Yu expressed the Snow Wolf Tribe's intention to trade, but the Cat Tribe was obviously not so easy to believe - Is it poisonous? Snow wolves can do business! Who would believe it!
Therefore, Yu's team had to stay where they were for two days, and let the cats come to check on their team one after another. Only then did they finally believe in the sincerity of the Snow Wolf Clan and let Yu in...
When Yu explained their trading method, the cat tribe immediately felt relieved - such a big bargain is delivered to the door, why not take it! The human caravan would exchange a bag of salt for an adult curved-horn bull over four years old, and the snow wolf's spiced white cotton cloth for fur... As expected of the snow wolf tribe, they are so active in losing money!
On the third day, after completing the transaction and leaving the cat tribe, Yu said to everyone with great exhaustion: "Next time we should bring a few cats with us, otherwise it would be a waste of time to do this every time."
The warriors in the feather team nodded in agreement - they thought the cats were as easy to deal with as the familiar Qingyan, Qiuqiu, Yugu, and Rosemary! They were so naive!
In the Fire Tribe, the busy cats at various posts sneezed together.
"Qiuqiu?" The cheetah, who was combing wool with a foot-operated combing machine, looked at Qiu with concern.
"It's okay, my nose is just a little itchy... A-choo!" Qiu touched his nose, and the wool on his hand irritated his nasal cavity...
“Why don’t you take a break? You can’t process all the wool anyway,” said the cheetah.
In everyone's impression, cheetahs seem to belong to the large cat family... but in fact, the cheetahs that specialize in speed are actually a bit biased. They are generally light in size and lack frontal combat power. After transforming into a human form, they are only one size larger than the caracal Qiu. No matter how devilish Xiao Yun is, he can't treat the cheetah as a secondary labor force to destroy it... the labor intensity is completely different.
"No need. We need to spin this batch of wool quickly." Qiu quickened his hands. "Ayun said we don't have enough people to spin it. We should just sell the wool directly in the next transaction. Pure-colored wool can't be sold at a high price. Let's spin the wool quickly and let Ayun dye it."
Well… Phosphate fertilizer production has not yet been successful, but mineral dyes have been extracted from phosphate rock. Chemical industry is so magical that you never know which additional industry will smile at you first when you develop a product.
This vast jungle owned by the forest elves also has a name. The common name on the continent is Yatis Forest, which means "the residence of the forest goddess". But after the green dragons shamelessly occupied the northern area thousands of years ago, the green dragons shamelessly called the largest and most extensive jungle on this continent "Yagalan Forest", which means the garden of the goddess of life. This made the forest elves very angry - in theory, the forest goddess and the goddess of life are the same, and they are both goddesses, but the three major monotheistic religions on the earth are so stupid that they can't be on good terms with each other.
So no one calls it the Yatis Forest or the Agalan Forest anymore, and people all over the world unanimously agree that this jungle should be called "the forest"... Otherwise, do you want to make things difficult for the stubborn elves, or do you want to compete with the green dragon in terms of loudness?
General Crest's tribe is located in the middle of the forest, on the coastal area in the southwestern corner of the northern continent. The tribe has more than ten thousand members, six elven villages, an elven city, one thousand elven warriors, more than sixty elven wizards, and more than thirty elven druids.
That’s right… They are called tribes, but their strength is far greater than some small human countries. So it’s impossible for you to ask General Crest to respect the prince of a small human country…
The city of Ananas is a city built in the towering mountains that divide the Bloomfield continent into two major plates, east and west. This elven city has an area comparable to that of a small human city, with more than 4,000 forest elves living there and more than 300 buildings.
The dome building in the center of the city belongs to the Council of Elders. When Kai and Helin walked through the long corridor in the center of the lake and crossed the square courtyard where birds were flying and landing to enter the council, the elder Gwendolyn on duty saw them and floated down from the bookshelf more than ten meters high.
Well... the elves are not the boring race that even has hollow patterns on their armor as imagined by Earthlings. They also value practicality and utilization. The large-scale Council of Elders is not only used to discuss tribal affairs, but also serves as the tribe's library at other times. Ordinary elves can come in by simply reporting to the guards.
Elder Gwendolyn is one of the twelve elders. She is over 600 years old and an elven wizard. Under the influence of the wind element, she slowly floated to the ground. Her smart eyes swept over the young warriors Kai and Hailin, and she smiled gently: "It's Kai and Hailin. Didn't you follow Crest to guard the port? Why are you back?"
"Elder Gwendolyn." The two elven warriors saluted in unison.
Hailin took out a white porcelain plate with blue patterns from her arms and said, "We came back under the orders of General Craster. The Snow Wolf Tribe on the grassland wants to trade with us using this porcelain. General Craster hopes the elders can give us some guidance and suggestions."
The wind element swept the porcelain plate away from Hailin's hand, gently lifted it in front of Elder Gwendolyn, and turned it freely as if it was held by a hand.
Gwendolyn looked surprised: "This... This belongs to the Snow Wolf Clan?"
"Yes."
Elder Gwendolyn reached out and took the white porcelain plate. The smooth touch and pure body of the plate made her even more surprised. "How could it be... Could it be that the Snow Wolf Tribe has found their heritage? But I remember that the Orc Empire had never produced such products two hundred years ago. Where did they learn this technology?"
This thought lasted only a moment before it dissipated. Gwendolyn didn't really care about a certain race possessing a skill she didn't understand - the new magic alloy of the Alchemist Association, the inorganic life mechanical creations of the Dwarf Kingdom, the method of the sea tribe's priests temporarily controlling the weather in a local area, the magic steam train of the Orc Empire, the large airships owned by the Spellcaster Association... There are innumerable unknown ancient technologies or new skills in this world. If she had to worry about her ignorance about every one of them, then her life would be meaningless.
"Nice workmanship. I would love a plate like this. What direction would Kleist like to seek advice on?"
Hailin honestly reported the Snow Wolf Tribe's expected price... They wanted to exchange the porcelain for an equal weight of sun cloth.
Well... although it is troublesome to manually spray patterns and glaze kaolin porcelain, it would definitely be profitable if it could be exchanged for sun cloth of equal weight. Xiao Yun offered a high price and was waiting for the other party to pay him back.
Gwendolyn was stunned for a moment, then she covered her lips and chuckled. She didn't know how the Snow Wolf Tribe made this kind of porcelain plate, but the craftsmanship of the Forest Elves was very mature and the mass production was cheap. In her opinion, the price of such exquisite porcelain was indeed a bit low... No wonder Crest asked two elf warriors to make a trip. How could the elves take advantage of the Snow Wolf Tribe? Wouldn't it be laughed at if it got out in the future?
"I think the Snow Wolf's offer is reasonable, so let's do as they wish." Gwendolyn said softly, "We forest elves value etiquette in inter-ethnic negotiations. When the transaction is going on, we can give our friends from the Snow Wolf some elven specialties as a token of our gratitude for the Snow Wolf's friendship."
It is not possible to gain the friendship of the elves through a transaction. It is better to exchange gifts and settle the matter.
So half a month later, the busy Fire Tribe welcomed a team of sixty elves.
Xiao Yun hurriedly washed his hands, changed his clothes, and ran to the other side of the artificial river to greet them. Even though he was determined, he was stunned by the things the forest elves brought over - what's going on! The total weight of more than 4,000 kilograms of porcelain, even if the elves didn't bargain, it would be more than 4,000 kilograms of sun cloth, which a few snow wolves carried back with just a pocket. You even specially organized a team to deliver it? !
You even used a flatbed truck to drag over several intact fruit trees? What’s wrong with you forest elves?!
"Mr. Ayun!"
The team leaders were still two acquaintances, Hailin and Kai. Kai still had a sick and sick look on his face, but Hailin was very enthusiastic.
“Uh…Hai Lin, what are you doing…?” Xiao Yun bit his tongue and held back the question “What the hell is wrong with you?”
"The four vehicles in front are loaded with the sun cloth for the trade, and the agreed porcelain, weighing 4,200 kilograms." Hailin smiled, "The dozen or so vehicles behind are carrying the gifts from our forest elves to the Snow Wolf Tribe, six kinds of fruits that are special to our tribe, totaling 20,000 kilograms, plus six fruit trees cultivated by our druids, and two blessing trees... There are two rivers between you and us, so we can't transport them across. Do you think we can ask people from your tribe to carry them?"
"..." Xiao Yun was dumbfounded and rubbed his face hard, "Wait, you said... a gift? Give it to us? Why?"
Hailin smiled but said nothing...
In his heart, Xiao Yun complained again about what was wrong with you forest elves. He twitched his lips and said, "Since... you have sent it all the way here, I can only express my heartfelt gratitude... What is the blessing tree made of?"
"This is the signature of our forest elves!" Hailin immediately perked up. "The Blessing Tree is the legendary 'lucky tree'. Due to the different watering methods, growing areas, and people who take care of it during the production period each year, the Blessing Tree will bear different fruits. The most enviable blessing fruit of our forest elves, which is not available in the entire continent, including other continents, is grown from this tree. Among adventurers, the highest level of Blessing Fruit is equivalent to ten times the weight of gold, and it is priceless. BALBALABALA... The Archdruid of our tribe has speculated that if the person with the purest heart takes good care of the Blessing Tree, the Blessing Tree will definitely return the same amount of blessings."
Xiao Yun: "..." You guys are too lazy to think about what to give, so you just pick two trees and make up a story to make up the number. Anyway, if they can't grow anything, it's the Snow Wolf Man's own fault, just like the King's New Clothes.
There was no time to build decent bridges over the rivers and artificial waterways in the tribe, so the elf team delivering the "gifts" naturally couldn't pass. The elves who came on field work curiously looked at the fields across the artificial waterway and at the snow wolves who had come out to greet Xiao Yun and others. Xiao Yun had no choice but to ask the work team to stop working and move things over, and to have the canteen start work as soon as possible... They have come all the way here, so you have to provide them with meals, right?
Hailin was waiting to eat this meal, standing comfortably by the side, waiting with his arms folded across his chest as he watched the snow werewolves carry the things… It’s not that he didn’t want the elves to help, but in terms of strength, the elves really couldn’t compare with the snow werewolves.
These gifts... the fruit trees were just insignificant extras. The big part was on the two blessing trees. After giving these things away, even the most shameless and evil-hearted dragons couldn't say that the elves took advantage of the snow wolves. But this extra was not given casually. Why was it that only the forest elves had blessing trees? Because it was difficult for others to keep these things alive, let alone bear fruit...
Elder Gwendolyn is as gentle as water, but she is the Elf Queen who has to be summoned to the Royal City to deal with the green dragons when she is annoyed to death. Want to take advantage of her? It's very difficult!
Hailin was very proud of himself. This mission could ensure that he would not take advantage of the Snow Wolf Tribe nor suffer any loss. The elders had taken everything into consideration, so he did not need to worry too much.
On the other side, Xiao Yun walked around the Blessed Tree that had not been moved yet. No matter how he looked at it, he felt that it was just an ordinary green-leaf tree. The forest elves were teasing them... But anyway, it was given to them for free , so he accepted it with a pinch of his nose. The six mature fruit trees that were tamed by the elven druids were already a pleasant surprise.
The escorting elves all stepped aside, and Xiao Yun moved closer to identify what kind of tree it was. Then... he had just approached within three meters of the Blessing Tree that was lying flat on the flatbed, when he saw the branches and leaves facing him spread apart uncomfortably as if they had some feeling.
Xiao Yun: “…”
He took a few steps back gently, and the separated branches and leaves closed on their own.
Xiao Yun took two more steps forward, and the branches and leaves seemed to disdain him and moved away again...
"What the hell?!" Xiao Yun didn't believe it, and walked directly to within half a meter of the tree canopy. Then he saw that the leaves on the branches that were avoiding him awkwardly, which seemed to be full of vitality, were actually starting to wither and turn yellow...
Xiao Yun quickly took big steps back, and the leaves that had turned half yellow finally stopped moving.
Xiao Yun: "...Wait, everyone else, don't get close to this tree, someone go call Niu Jiao over!"
"What's wrong?" Lan Guo thought Xiao Yun had discovered something wrong. As an adult member of the tribe, she immediately rushed over and stood in front of Xiao Yun.
Lan Guo didn't know the peculiarity of the blessing tree. He just passed by the tree crown directly. The branches had no intention of avoiding him at all. When Lan Guo passed by, the leaves rubbed against him actively without any wind.
Xiao Yun: “…” He turned around to look at the tribesmen around him and called two of them over.
The two tribesmen passed by the crown of the blessing tree without noticing, and the leaves were still very respectful...
…Suddenly, tens of thousands of harmonious beasts were running wildly through Xiao Yun’s heart.
…The elves who were standing not far away waiting to see the joke were all stunned.
