Volume 6: Helping the World Chapter 189 Missing Isaac
West Coast, late night.
Under the moonlight, several furtive figures tiptoed through the grass that was more than one meter high, looking back nervously from time to time.
"Is anyone chasing us?"
“No.”
"Great, those adventurers must be fast asleep."
"Are we going in the right direction? It's too dark and we can't see anything."
"You can't go wrong. The sound of waves is on the left. Follow the coastline and you will reach the Elf Port."
"Hehehe...the chicks in Elf Harbor must be hotter than the women in Valentine, right?"
"Of course. Last time when we passed the Elven Harbor, I made a special observation. The woman standing at the door of the tavern had that thin waist and those thighs. Hehe, you know what I mean!"
“Hehehe…”
Several people laughed together...
"I wonder what the price of women here is. Will they be more expensive than Valentine?"
"I can't say for sure. Anyway, I brought all the money with me. What about you?"
"I've brought some too. Twenty or so silver coins should be enough. If it's more expensive, I won't play."
"It won't cost that much. The women in the central city of Valentine only cost one or two silver coins."
"Elf women must be more expensive!"
"What are you thinking about? It's great that you can see the elf woman— "
The group of people walked out of the bushes while guessing the price in an obscene manner, and then... nothing happened.
There were a dozen people squatting outside the bushes, staring at them coldly.
One of them stood up with a gloomy face and said, "I have to say, you are really brave... Even adventurers like us don't dare to run around in the cursed land at night, and you actually have the guts to sneak out of the factory and run to the Elf Port under the cover of night?"
The MSG factory workers who sneaked out at night looked pale and looked at each other. One of them said, "Mr. Isaac, you adventurers can move freely, but we can only be locked up in the factory. This is too unfair..."
"Oh?" Isaac said expressionlessly, "The factory work is too unchallenging, so you guys want to run around like us and drive away wild beasts and monsters every day?"
"No, no, I mean, we also need to relax occasionally..." The man said with a smile, "I don't ask for you to go to the Elf Port anytime like you do, but at least we should go once every half a month, no, once a month-"
"Shut up, idiot!" Alex couldn't stand it anymore, so he walked up to Isaac and shouted, "You guys are the only ones who can think of going to the Elf Port to play with women! Do you believe that if you go to the port, the forest elves will chop you idiots into pieces and feed them to the fish?!"
"Alex." Isaac used his eyes to signal Alex to calm down. He turned to look at the workers who made him feel a little disgusted, and said expressionlessly, "There are no prostitutes in the Elf Port. Not all adventurer settlements are as prosperous as Valentine's flesh trade. No, it should be said that apart from the human territory, no other race is so keen on using women of the same race as a tool to make money. Those stories about foreign races circulating in the human kingdom are all false. Dark elves are not promiscuous, orcs will not rape women, the Elf King has no harem, and the Forest Elf Queen will not keep a gigolo. Adventurers spend a lot of money on wine and women only in casinos, drinking tables and arenas. Do you understand? The fun of this world is not limited to what happens in bed."
Several workers stepped back in fear, but from the flickering looks in their eyes, it was obvious that they did not quite believe it.
The dwarf Arnold sneered and said to the orc Malken: "I heard earlier that the more incompetent humans are, the more they like to show off the things between their legs. I didn't believe it before, but now I do."
"Hey, Arnold!" Alex was unhappy.
Melken has been in the human kingdom longer than Arnold. He spread his hands and said, "This is probably because humans are not restricted by the estrus period."
"Malken, why are you here too!" Alex became even more unhappy.
"Okay." Isaac had no intention of arguing about racial differences, and said to Malcolm, "Malcolm, take Carter and Basalo and send them back to the factory. The rest of you, follow me and continue patrolling."
Isaac and others sent some men to escort away the MSG factory workers who had attempted to sneak away, and continued to patrol the coastline.
In the past two years, the Lamia Chamber of Commerce's coast patrols have rarely been seen on the west coast, but no one can when the Lamia Coast Patrols, which have suffered losses, will come back. The team of adventurers guarding the MSG factory will have to take on the responsibility of patrolling.
"Those guys will cause trouble for us sooner or later. I think the Snow Wolf Tribe is too indulgent to the workers. Why give them a holiday every week? Every time they have a holiday, they can't stop catching those who sneak away." Ali held a branch in his hand and beat the dense thorn bushes as he walked, complaining, "These ungrateful bastards were willing to listen to anything last year just to fill their stomachs. Now that they have some spare money, they immediately don't know who they are."
"It's not their fault, actually." A fellow human couldn't help but say, "Before I became a treasure hunter, I often thought of the beautiful mistress of my neighbor's house. The mating instinct of humans is stronger than that of all other races. It's not surprising that ordinary people who haven't become professional level can't resist the instinct."
"Are humans so troublesome?" another orc companion who just joined the team this year asked curiously.
Another human ranger said, "Yes, I read the book 'Origin of Race' at the Bards Association headquarters. It is said that the ancestors of the human race were almost extinct, and they worked hard to reproduce and barely gained a foothold in the southern continent. The mating instinct was strengthened from generation to generation, just like rabbits that got rid of the restrictions of the estrus period to develop to today."
"Is that so? Then what is the origin of the orcs?" The orc companion immediately came up to the ranger.
"The orcs were the masters of the Far East during the Age of Gods. Why do you need to do this?"
Arnold didn't care about history, origins, or other things that gave people a headache. Instead, he was very interested in teasing Alex: "Alex, before you became a thief, were you always thinking about getting horny like those workers?"
Listening to the noise of fighting behind him, Isaac endured it for a while, then turned around and scolded: "Okay, why don't you use all your energy to do your work?"
"Alex started it!" Arnold shouted.
"Go to hell, you stinky dwarf!"
Isaac put his hand on his forehead and didn't bother to pay attention to them.
Before dawn, Isaac led the team back to the MSG factory, handed over to Hannah who had just woken up, and returned to the dormitory allocated to the adventurers to rest.
The total number of the two adventurer teams has now been adjusted to about 100 people. Some people have left, and some new companions have come. Although the job of guarding the MSG factory is stable, the income is indeed not as high as the upper limit of adventure in the grassland. The more adventurous ones have left, and those who stay either want to settle down and relax for a few years, or have confidence in the Snow Wolf Tribe and believe that the Snow Wolf Tribe has a promising future and have "invested" in advance.
Isaac belongs to the latter. After seeing how Xiao Yun quietly supported Laura Philip to become the youngest countess of Cronin, he may have more confidence in Xiao Yun than the members of the Snow Wolf Tribe.
"Aren't you going to sleep, Isaac?" Alex came back from washing up, yawned and climbed onto the kang, and casually asked his companion sitting at the desk.
"This issue of 'Travels in the Mainland' contains Mr. Ayun's serialization. I'll finish reading it before going to bed." Isaac showed the cover to Alex.
"Have you delivered the travel notes? Read them to me." Ali became excited.
It takes two hours for even the most stamina-filled Snow Wolf tribe to run from the MSG factory to the Elf Port, not to mention the others. The items that are lacking at the MSG factory are usually gathered at Ashu's food store and delivered every once in a while.
"You'd better go to sleep first. You won't be able to sleep after listening to it." Isaac said with a smile, "Besides, Arnold will ask me to read it to him later, so we might as well read it together."
"Okay." Alex was straightforward. He yawned and lay back down.
Well... although they often fight over trivial matters, Alex and the Dark Iron Dwarf Arnold still have a good relationship.
Amid the snoring of Alex, Isaac read the stories published in this issue of the travel journal seriously. The Gourmet Hunter's Travels, as always, not only taught cooking skills but also advertised the products produced by the Snow Wolf Tribe and the spices of St. Bridget. The Elf Ranger's Travels taught people how to improve their lives. From the initial agricultural guidance to the breeding industry, which has been in continuous for several issues, the style is completely different from other articles in the travel journal. For example, this issue talks about pig farming, and focuses on how to remove the piglets' testicles to ensure that the pork is fresh and not fishy. Isaac's eyelids twitched...
"Mr. Ayun really has no taboos in letting the general of the forest elves teach knowledge about castration of pigs." Isaac finished reading the travelogue with a smile and tears, and then he saw... There were actually two full pages of illustrations of castration surgery for boars at the end of the chapter - Isaac felt a pain in his balls after just one glance.
"...General Kleist is even willing to draw this kind of illustration!"
After reading the travel notes written by Mr. Ayun and then looking at other articles, Isaac discovered... It seemed that because the two games were so popular that they affected the relationships of other contributors, even the style of the articles written by the elves became much more straightforward. For example, Leo Sylvester, the plains elf who always put more than a dozen poems in his travel notes every time he contributed articles, reduced the number of poems to five in this travel note... Although it is a bit "un-elf", it has to be said that it is indeed much smoother to read, at least not as annoying as the previous articles.
After flipping through the articles of his favorite authors, Isaac perked up when he came to the end of the travelogue, which recorded major events across the continent last month.
Last month, three major events occurred on the Bloomfield continent. First, an expeditionary force from the northern federation of the southern continent, carrying Kronin's fleet of ships, landed on the coastline at the border of the Kingdom of Saint Bridge and the Kingdom of Holmes and engaged in a battle with the Saint Bridge Kingdom's National Defense Army. Because the federal expeditionary force had traveled a long distance and was unfamiliar with the geographical environment, they were repelled by the Saint Bridge Kingdom's National Defense Army after only ten days on shore and had to retreat hastily back to the sea.
At the end of the incident, the opinion of the bard who wrote the article is included. The neutral ranger of Elliot Palace who observed the war with his own eyes believes that this is just a test by the Federation Expeditionary Force, and the highlight is yet to come. He also implicitly expressed his pessimism about the six southern countries.
The second major event came from the underground world, where the tiger tribe and the dark elves formed an alliance to resist the invasion of the dwarf kingdom.
The bard who wrote the article recalled the glory of the tiger tribe in the past, and wrote in great detail about the achievements of the previous tiger tribe king. Isaac turned back to the previous page and looked at the name of the author. It turned out to be a dark elf... He praised the tiger tribe, but in fact he was proud of the tiger tribe's joining the dark elves.
The third major event was far inferior to the first two, and the ranger who wrote the article was obviously paid - the event took place in the Kingdom of Kronin, and a member of the noble parliament with a background in the Lamia Chamber of Commerce accused Countess Laura Phillips of opening the gates of Bolton Territory and accepting criminals exiled from other noble territories, and threatened to launch a territorial war.
Isaac is not from Cronin, but his hometown is also a member of the Alliance. After reading this notice, he just wanted to laugh... When the royal authority is questioned, the nobles below may stir up trouble. With the prestige of King Cronin, if he rashly launches a territorial war, I am afraid that the royal family will intervene before the army reaches Bolton.
"Two months ago, Mr. Ayun transported one million kilograms of vermicelli to Bolton Territory through the Adventurer's Association's Transportation Department. That made people jealous, didn't it? Laura didn't share the profits with others, but she was unexpectedly strong." Isaac analyzed silently. He envied Prince Carlisle and Countess Laura for becoming Mr. Ayun's disciples. He also knew that he had no right to envy these two... but that didn't stop him from learning from them himself.
When he was on the ship, Isaac had the honor of sitting in on a few of Mr. Ayun's classes given to the Snow Wolves, and Isaac was astounded by him. Later, he became a security guard at the MSG factory. Whenever the Grassroots Chief and A Li Chief formed study groups, Isaac would take the initiative to sit in on the classes. When he had the opportunity to go to the Fire Department, he would also stay to attend.
"The truly valuable resource that the lords have is food." Isaac, who was born in an aristocratic family and had never been hungry since he was a child, would probably have taken many years to see this point if he had not audited the Snow Wolf Tribe's classes. "Whoever's territory can be self-sufficient in food will have an unshakable position. The way the Snow Wolf Tribe expands its influence abroad... is to transport food."
Isaac, who had been stationed on the west coast to protect the MSG factory since last year, knew very well that the Snow Wolf Tribe exported a large number of goods, but had never sold wheat or rice!
Soy sauce and vinegar are made from soybeans, vermicelli are made from sweet potatoes and potatoes, and the Snow Wolf Tribe has always had a firm hold on wheat and rice.
He had been to the Fire Tribe many times. The wheat and rice fields in the Fire Tribe were so large that even the earldoms he had seen when he was young could not compare to them...
He has a large amount of staple food in his hands, and at the same time releases cheap vermicelli that can replace the staple food to gradually impact the internal food market of other forces; if it were the previous Isaac, he would definitely not see any problem here, but if he still can't figure out the trick after taking so many classes, then Isaac must have been killed by someone after being kicked out of the house by his parents, and no one knows where he is buried.
"--Mr. Ayun is very ambitious!" Isaac murmured to himself, with yearning and desire in his eyes.
The more he looked at Ayun, the more he discovered the enormous power hidden behind that harmless face. Isaac firmly believed that he would one day influence the entire continent - every time he thought of this, Isaac felt as if some kind of heat was being generated in his veins.
Yes, Ayun is an alien, a snow wolf, but Isaac is not afraid of him because of this... Compared with the actions of the snow wolves, the despicable humans he has seen are even more hateful.
It was precisely because of this that Isaac felt quite lost... It would be fine if he knew nothing, and there would be nothing wrong with just squatting under the small sky and living in a daze; but knowing that the pattern of the entire continent would change before his eyes, but he could only be an unknown spectator, this feeling was really terrible.
After catching up on some sleep for half a day, when Isaac got up in the afternoon, Chief Ali came to see him.
"You like running errands for the tribe the most, right? I'll give this mission to you too." Chief A Li stuffed a leather document bag into Isaac's hands. "Give this to A Yun. Please also take two questions with you. Ask A Yun to help me think of a solution."
Isaac was eager to do so, and quickly took out his pen and notebook: "Chief A Li, you tell me, and I'll write it down."
"The workers' representatives proposed that young people without partners... unmarried people should go on blind dates with the female workers in the woolen mill." Chief A Li said unhappily, "Please tell A Yun that I don't agree with this. If humans ask the other party to live with them after they get married, wouldn't that reduce the number of people in the woolen mill? Wouldn't Qiuqiu have to give me a hard time?"
"..." Isaac's mouth twitched slightly. There are very few ordinary humans, especially men, who are not dominated by their lower bodies... It made him feel a little embarrassed.
"Then there's the matter of the sea tribe. Master Winston hopes to have their princess with a difficult name come to visit us. I don't care. Let's see what Ayun thinks."
Isaac accepted the task, and immediately took Arnold and Alex to the mouth of the canal, and took the canal boat that was carrying supplies from the Snake Tribe to the Fire Tribe.
As for why I brought these two along… it was because I had to keep a close eye on these two troublemakers. Arnold was careless and Alex was sure he could tolerate him, which made Isaac feel so uncomfortable that he wanted to ask Ah Yun how he managed to keep so many people in line.
After floating upstream all night, they arrived at the Fire Tribe the next morning. It was breakfast time, and Isaac found Xiao Yun in the cafeteria without much effort.
Then the two humans and one Dark Iron Dwarf stared blankly at the miniature green dragon flapping its wings beside Balk for three minutes.
"Eat something. You guys are starving." Xiao Yun urged. "There's nothing to see. That's Balk's father, Auston. He has a bad temper and he'll spit out his dragon breath at you at any time. Even though it's not very powerful, it's still very hot. I won't introduce him to you."
"..." The three adventurers twitched their lips at the same time. They dared not say anything or ask anything. They just lowered their heads and ate silently.
"If Chief Ali asked you to come back, he must have brought some contraband with you, right? What did he ask you to bring back?" Xiao Yun looked at Isaac.
Isaac quickly put down his chopsticks and repeated Chief Ali's words in a proper manner.
Just as Isaac expected, when he heard the first question, Ayun showed an extremely disgusted expression...
"Tsk, what's wrong with us being too kind? Are they getting more demanding? They want food, salary, work, and women? Don't they take us seriously?" Xiao Yun was very unhappy. "Let them handle it themselves when they go back to Valentine for the winter. Don't delay the factory production. They only work eight months a year and they are still messing around. Also, if they can't accept separation and working separately, we won't allow it. It's the woolen mill that's losing employees. They don't need to come. It's easier to recruit male workers than female workers anyway."
Isaac silently wrote it down in his notebook. He was used to the thinking mode of the Snow Wolf Tribe and was not surprised at all.
"The princess of the sea tribe can come if she wants. We welcome her. But you have to make it clear to Master Winston that we are poor and not wealthy, and our reception standards cannot be compared with those in other places. The princess of the sea tribe will receive the same treatment as Prince Carlisle when he comes to the grassland."
Isaac couldn't write anymore. He wiped his sweat and said, "Mr. Ayun, I heard from the Grassroots Chief that Prince Carlisle seemed to have gone underground when he came to the Fire Tribe..."
"There was a severe shortage of manpower at that time, and Carlisle arrived during the spring ploughing period. Now the spring ploughing period has long passed, so it won't be that serious." Xiao Yun said calmly.
"..." The three adventurers all stared at each other with dead fish eyes. So if it's spring ploughing time, you really plan to let the princess of the sea tribe go to the fields, right?
"Hmm? Wait, does Chief Ali need you to tell him about this?" Xiao Yun touched his chin and thought for two seconds, "Isaac, does Chief Ali have a conflict with the Sea Clan?"
Isaac was stunned: "Huh?"
"I know that." Arnold finally found an opportunity to interrupt and actively answered, "I saw Chief A Li and the housekeeper of the Winston family arguing, and they parted unhappily."
"That's right." Xiao Yun nodded, knowing what was going on.
Young Master Winston, who cooperated with the Snow Wolf Tribe, was a great noble of the Sea Tribe after all. Of course, he could not come to the West Coast MSG factory in person. He only sent a butler. The nobles of the Sea Tribe were not as ignorant as the nobles of the Human Tribe, but they did have some old habits. Chief A Li did not give the butler face. The butler probably wanted to use the princess's visit to find trouble.
This is not a big deal. Just receive the princess and it will be done. There is no need to pay attention to the butler who is taking advantage of the power of others.
Xiao Yun finished his breakfast, gave up the table to others, and returned to the mobile home before opening the documents that Chief Ali had asked him to send back.
"The production of sea intestine powder is reduced by one level? Tsk, it really can't be done by just fishing... The bait used in farmed sea intestines seems to be algae powder and fish meal? I'll assign some people to arrange it later - price reduction is bullshit, ignore it."
After reading the document and quickly writing down his comments, Xiao Yun handed the envelope to Isaac. He discovered that there was something strange about the way this guy looked at him.
"You...Isaac, you are also a knight after all." Xiao Yun said defensively.
Arnold and Alex, who couldn't sit still, didn't come along. Isaac was the only one left alone with Xiao Yun, so Isaac couldn't control himself...
"...I'm sorry for losing my composure, Mr. Ayun. Actually, I'm not someone who pursues personal strength. I haven't trained in knight skills since I became a second-level knight." Isaac said nervously, "Actually, actually...Actually, I wanted to say that I read the Elf Ranger's Travels in this issue of "Travels of the Continent". I'm confused. Mr. Ayun, you generously teach the public how to raise pigs. Will this, will it damage the interests of the Fire Department?"
"Well..." Xiao Yun stared at Isaac strangely, "Don't tell me you want to retire and go back to your hometown to raise pigs to get rich?"
"Of course not! It's still a long time for me to retire!" Isaac didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
"Oh... so are you really concerned about whether the Fire Tribe will suffer losses?" Xiao Yun touched his chin.
"That's right," Isaac said, trying to be sincere.
Xiao Yun stared at him for a few seconds and suddenly smiled mysteriously.
"I'm willing to do anything except losing money." Xiao Yun said with a smile, "The black beans cultivated by the Tauren are specially adapted to the grassland climate. Although the yield is locked at 400 kilograms per mu and is difficult to increase, it is the crop that requires the least manpower after large-scale cultivation—"
As Xiao Yun spoke, Isaac showed an expression of sudden enlightenment, which then turned into admiration. He couldn't hide the admiration in his eyes...
Xiao Yun's eyes flashed. He did not explain it clearly. It would take ten or twenty years to use black beans, which are most suitable for large-scale cultivation on grasslands, to enter the pork market. But even with such a vague explanation, Isaac could understand it. Obviously, this young man's mind was not idle at all when he was a security guard in the MSG factory. Maybe he could understand what he was doing better than his own family members.
Tsk tsk, it seems that my judgment of people needs to be improved. First I missed Chief Arthur, and then I missed this young master~
Author's words:
(1) I personally believe that the evolution of intelligent creatures should be the suppression of instincts, such as sexual needs.
(2) Regarding self-sufficiency in staple food and protection of staple food. Let’s not talk about the grain storage that we all know about. Let’s talk about the current sweater war. Why is my country determined to fight? Because the United States has crossed our country’s grain red line... We all know that Japan uses high tariffs to protect the interests of farmers. my country is the same. It is very strict on rice and wheat imports. Why? It is to ensure self-sufficiency in staple food and to ensure the income of farmers from growing staple food. The United States requires my country to cancel the tariff on staple food. It wants to use cheap staple food to impact my country’s grain market and destroy my country’s self-sufficiency in staple food. It would be strange if the central government did not turn against us.
Some readers don't understand why they sell cheap vermicelli in large quantities. It's inconvenient for Xiao Yun to expose the conspiracy in the main text... so the explanation is delayed until this chapter (only stupid villains would expose themselves, and our Ayun is not a villain!)
In a nutshell, in ten years, those places whose staple food markets are impacted by cheap vermicelli will have to follow Ayun’s lead without any fight!
The destructive power of internal economic imbalance is not something that has only been demonstrated in modern times. The Ming Dynasty, which was destroyed by financial fraud, and the Qing Dynasty, which was ruined by the outflow of silver and the sharp decline in product competitiveness, are both bloody lessons in our country's history.
Developing our own country upwards, while secretly and unobtrusively working on the internal economic environment of other countries and forces, this is our Ayun's route to hegemony~
If the economy is ruined and then there is a war, even if there are many people, Ayun is not afraid, because poor people are not worthy of fighting~
