Chapter 420: Hollow Joy

Regarding the answer to this question, Dailike said this: "The Auguste Family is particularly hostile toward Elves; every generation must intermarry with humans, so they long ago lost their Elven characteristics. Of course, it is certain that those with Elven blood have relatively slender builds."

Xia Duo recalled the tall, sturdy figure of Mage Weierde and thought to himself that that didn't have much to do with being slender, but he still asked the question he was most interested in: "So the so-called 'Elf Dancers' all come from the August Territory?"

"Yes, my lord, but they are not all Half-Elves; some are humans in disguise. Otherwise, how could they come to Savile Territory every single year!"

"..."

"My lord, you must not look down on these 'Elf Dancers'; half of the money they earn from coming here every year has to be given to Savile Territory!"

Fine, Xia Duo stopped asking, but thinking about it, that Lord of August Territory was truly a clever man! He didn't know how he thought of letting his subordinates' Half-Elves earn extra money for him!

And he even always did it under the name of Elves.

Truly clever!

Xia Duo had seen real Elves in Savile Town, and had even lived as an Elf in a Projection Plane Avatar for several years. Now, thinking carefully about the "Elf Hot Dance" he saw back then, it was indeed quite hard to tell the real from the fake without careful scrutiny.

If it were someone who didn't know much about Elves, wouldn't they just take those fakes for the real thing! This was interesting!

Afterward, Xia Duo chatted a bit more with Sain and Dailike, and then Owen had already finished loading the cargo and was ready to set sail.

Returning this time, the ship carried some tools, such as axes, saws, ropes, chisels, planes, iron bars, whetstones, and the like. With hundreds of people in the Territory engaged in high-intensity labor every day, the wear and tear on tools was very severe.

Xia Duo saw it in his eyes and kept it in his heart. Every time the Lucky Owen made a round trip, he would have the ship bring some tools over, and some damaged iron tools could also be brought back to Savile Town to be recast and used again.

Soon, amidst a chorus of rhythmic chants, the "Lucky Owen" slowly pulled away from the port. Xia Duo waved at the shore, sent a Sending to tell Sain and Dailike, who were still standing in place, to go back, and then went into the captain's Xiu Xi Shi by himself.

Because winter was approaching, the water flow of the Wolfburg River was slower than in other seasons. Even traveling downstream, it was nearly dusk when they arrived at the Linshui Village pier.

As soon as he got off the ship, there were already people at the pier arranging to unload the cargo. Xia Duo didn't bother with it and went straight back to his small tent. Before long, Laidun came looking for him.

"My lord, good news, Mote's little darling has learned to chop trees!"

"What?!"

Xia Duo stood up immediately. It wasn't that he was making a fuss over nothing; it was truly a matter of great importance. Mote's little darling was actually a Goblin Undead.

Previously, Xia Duo had specifically arranged for Ximeng's squad to take Mote to kill Goblins and use the Goblins' corpses for the awakening ritual. From the initial repeated failures to the later barely successful attempts, and now, Mote had already awakened four skeleton Goblins.

Of course, since there was only one death priest, Mote, in the Territory for the time being, the training of those few Undead also had to be handled entirely by him.

It was just that before, those few skeleton Goblins had always been foolish, unable to understand human speech at all. Only Mote could barely communicate with them. Never mind chopping trees, even moving normally required them to be led by a rope.

Like walking a dog.

In reality, these skeleton Goblins were not even as good as dogs. When these little fellows were first brought back to the Territory, they were bitten to death on the spot by the Territory's hunting dogs as enemies.

He didn't know what Undead would turn into after they died.

But now, Xia Duo was in no mood to consider such profound questions. As soon as he heard that those skeleton Goblins had learned to chop trees, his mind was filled with thoughts of—

Producing troops, and producing more troops!

"Laidun, let's go, let's go take a look!"

Saying this, without giving Laidun time to react, Xia Duo had already rushed out and ran toward the cemetery in the south.

The cemetery, outside Mote's wooden house.

Xia Duo looked with disappointment at the skeleton Goblin waving a small hatchet, then looked at Laidun and Mote, and said irritably: "This is what you call knowing how to chop trees?!"

Strictly speaking, one of these four skeleton Goblins had indeed learned to chop trees, but this was a far cry from Xia Duo's expectations!

This skeleton Goblin was just holding a small hatchet, mechanically hacking at a small sapling!

Yes, just a small sapling, no thicker than Xia Duo's finger. Never mind an adult, even a child could easily chop it down.

But what was the result of this skeleton Goblin? It had been hacking for a long time and hadn't chopped it down yet. It had indeed learned to chop trees, but the power was just too low! The practical value was approximately equal to zero! Even if he were given an infinite number of such skeleton Goblins, it would be nearly impossible to chop down a normal tree. It was impossible for their physical bodies to overlap; at most, they could surround it in a circle, but with this little power, they would probably hack until their Soul fire was extinguished without chopping it down.

"This is what you call knowing how to chop trees?!" Xia Duo's voice rose in volume, and his tone was even sharper.

"My lord, it is my fault!"

Laidun knelt down with a thud. Mote was also at a loss, pinching his fingers and hanging his head. Even the little Goblin that had been chopping the tree stopped and stood there blankly, spinning in place.

"Get up first!" Seeing Laidun kneel, the frustration in Xia Duo's heart dissipated a little. It was also his fault for not being clear before, letting them think that as long as there was a chopping motion, it counted as having learned to chop trees.

There wasn't a relatively clear standard like there was over at the brick kiln, such as not breaking when dropped or not breaking when stepped on.

"Let it go this time. Do you see that tree to the south?"

"My lord?"

The cemetery was already at the southernmost part of Linshui Village, and further south was the untamed forest. Xia Duo pointed casually, and a ray of light flew from his fingertip, circling a small tree as thick as an adult's thigh, and said: "That one! The standard for chopping trees is that one Goblin must be able to chop it down within half a day!"

This standard was far below that of an adult, but considering that these skeleton Goblins could potentially be mass-produced in the future, this standard was not low.

Looking at the skeleton Goblin still being led by a rope, Xia Duo felt angry again. He simply stopped looking at it, gave Mote and Laidun a few instructions regarding the Moon Festival ceremony, and then turned and left.

Returning to his small tent, Xia Duo took the "Deep Weave" and a few Spellbooks from his Personal Space, preparing for his evening study, but seeing the books, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh: "A hollow joy!"

Sigh—

Xia Duo shook his head, as if to cast away distracting thoughts, and doing so seemed to be effective. Soon, he was fully immersed in the vast and profound world of Magic.

(End of chapter)