Chapter 364: On the Road Ahead — The Old Hunter's Eerie Story and the Strange House

In the afternoon, after everyone finished their discussion, each person received various tasks assigned by the Knight and then dispersed. Jier's assigned task was to reinforce the carriage for its upcoming use, to avoid any issues with the wheels or the cargo bed once they were out in the wild and the carriage was loaded with supplies.

After returning to the Hunter Stronghold, Jier inspected the carriage that would be put to use later and discovered many damaged areas. He then fetched new wooden planks to dismantle and replace the original damaged parts.

Afterwards, Jier spent another day installing the wooden frame for the carriage canopy he had prepared earlier, then stitched on the large animal hides he had long since readied, piece by piece.

Once the canopy was installed on the carriage bed, there was no longer any need to worry about cold winds blowing or snowflakes falling inside the carriage. If anyone were unlucky enough to get injured, the inside of the carriage could also serve as a safe place for recuperation in the wild.

At the same time, while Jier was modifying the carriage, the other hunters were not idle. Every day, they continuously transported metal clamps, which the Craftsmen had worked together to forge, from the Craftsman District.

Each clamp was not light and looked quite fierce; no one would want to place their own legs or feet between these metal clamps to test their strength.

Therefore, to test the power of these things, the hunters opened the closed iron clamps, placed them on the ground, and took a wooden stick to act as a wild wolf's leg, placing it in the middle of the metal clamp.

The sensitive central mechanism was triggered by the wooden stick, and then, Crack!

A loud, rapid snapping sound rang out; the two sides of the previously opened metal clamp snapped shut quickly, instantly clamping the wooden stick tightly.

The hunter holding the wooden stick shook it rapidly, mimicking the way an animal caught in the trap would struggle desperately to shake off the mechanical clamp.

The result was very satisfying to everyone; once this thing closed, it bit into the wooden stick tightly and could not be shaken off at all.

"This thing seems quite useful," a young hunter said excitedly. While the old hunters were also satisfied with the power of the device, they discussed with grim expressions whether this type of hunting clamp would threaten the hunters' own work in the future.

Other young hunters felt that the old hunters were making a fuss over nothing; after all, using metal clamps for hunting was an expense that ordinary people could not afford.

After all, not to mention the material costs or forging expenses of the metal clamps, just placing these all-metal clamps in the wild, the wear and tear caused by rust alone was something ordinary people could not bear.

One only needed to do the math to know that the costs involved were something only local lords like the Knight could afford.

Everyone then tirelessly tested every single metal clamp the Craftsmen had forged, to prevent any substandard products made with poor workmanship from being mixed in.

Additionally, several young hunters received a request from Knight Lanisha to go to the workshop to briefly learn the simple maintenance procedures for these metal clamps.

They also specifically prepared a simple maintenance kit, which contained several of the most important elastic steel materials for the clamps, which could be used to replace parts—mostly the elastic steel—that might break while in the wild.

Besides this, the other hunters had other work. The old hunters first calculated the approximate maximum food supplies needed for this hunting expedition. After calculating, they handed this quantity to Knight Lanisha for inspection, and then had a young hunter leave the city early to reach River Mouth Town to have the Knight Lord there prepare these foods as soon as possible.

The things needed for the operation were, of course, not just the hunting metal clamps and food, but also a large amount of bows and arrows, potential replacement Hunter's Jackets, Ointment for treatment, and travel boots for everyone to change into.

As for armor, the hunters did not need any; they each had their own comfortable Hunter's Jackets. Jier and Knight Lanisha were responsible for their own armor.

Considering that they might later have to deal with the claws and teeth of fierce beasts, Jier took out his Hard Cowhide Full-Coverage Armor and asked Craftsman Ganna to simply use hard cowhide to make a set of thick, simple external armor.

This simple item was similar to a vest and could be worn directly over the original armor, effectively increasing the armor's defensive capabilities. Ganna had originally been working on parts for Jier's new Metal Armor, pondering and researching as he worked, but Jier had rushed over needing this set of simple Hard Cowhide Auxiliary Armor, forcing him to spend half a day clanging and banging to cobble this thing together.

After Jier put on this rough and simple item, he tested it in the Hunter Stronghold and found that it greatly affected the flexibility of his original armor, making it inconvenient to walk around, and it was not light in weight. However, apart from these downsides, it also brought defensive reinforcement to his torso. Jier let a hunter strike his chest with a Small Iron Hammer; aside from being pushed back two steps by the impact, he felt nothing at all.

This thing was not bad.

After working for several days, everyone had finished preparing the fifty metal clamps needed, and some supplies only available in Kendall City were also ready, all stacked inside the carriage bed. Then everyone prepared their respective weapons and equipment and notified Knight Lanisha.

That morning, Knight Lanisha also rode her warhorse, which was draped in horse armor, and was fully armed herself. Aside from the wooden box Jier had seen strapped to her back, the Knight did not act overconfident this time; the weapon slot on the warhorse held a solid-metal Black Long Spear.

The spear shaft was thin, long, and pure black; Jier estimated that the entire spear might be a Magic Material Weapon forged from Black Iron.

Not to mention its power, the weight of this spear alone was something he estimated would be too much for a young person to carry.

Jier was no slouch either; besides the two horses pulling the carriage, he had his other horse carry the extra weapons and equipment. In addition to a box containing his full set of armor and the newly added simple armor, the other side was loaded with his two long spears, a Two-handed Axe, and an extra Backpack filled with supplies. Because of the heavy weight, he did not sit on the horse; instead, he wore his Hunting Longsword and Dagger at his waist, hung his extremely light Metal Shield on his back, and walked while leading the horse, traveling light.

Knight Lanisha inspected everyone's preparations and confirmed that the young hunter from two days ago had already headed to River Mouth Town.

Thus, without doing anything extra, Knight Lanisha waved her hand, and everyone followed the Knight in turn, leaving the Hunter Stronghold, locking the large and small gates of the stronghold, and walking out of Kendall City on foot.

Jier was not worried about the stronghold being left unattended; not only was the Government Office right next door, but for security issues, the hunters had also hired people they were familiar with to come and check the doors and windows of the stronghold every day.

Jier had also long since hidden his money and valuables in a treasure chest outside the city, and he had also long since handed a not-so-small Element Crystal kept in a box to Jamula of the Fox Tail Chamber of Commerce.

He entrusted Jamula to pass this item to Knight Kela himself once the Knight returned to the city.

After the group left the city, the four elderly hunters climbed onto the carriage; two crawled into the canopy, and two sat in the front, clumsily mimicking the way drivers operated a carriage.

Fortunately, the two horses pulling the carriage had very docile temperaments; basically, without much direction, they would follow behind the horse Jier was leading, which was their friend.

If Jier fell behind the carriage, they would also follow behind Knight Lanisha's warhorse, very obediently.

Jier and the other young hunters walked slowly behind the carriage; although the speed was slow, the carriage full of supplies was still very important.

After they left Kendall City, they quickly arrived in front of the small shrine of the God of Rivers and Lakes. Knight Lanisha was quite familiar with the two priests here who were said to have great magical powers. She had originally wanted to say a few words, but heard from the orphans raised by the two priests that the priests had previously been invited away by a priest from the Church of the God of the Dead and had not yet returned.

Jier happened to know about this matter, so after the Church of the God of the Dead cleared the Shikeng created by the Bandits, they had asked these two to turn the large pit they had created into a lake.

Knight Lanisha smiled slightly: "Sounds very interesting, but unfortunately I have business to attend to and cannot go over to take a look. That is quite a pity."

Afterwards, they bid farewell to those children and did not take the Wooden Bridge nearby; they went directly along the west side of the river, following the road by the riverbank to head north.

Roughly heading north.

One could actually reach River Mouth Town from either side of the Kendall River, but compared to the east side of the river, which was full of wilderness—the road Jier often took that could reach Doraerlin Village—the west side of the river consisted of large stretches of alluvial plains, covered everywhere with neat plots of farmland and scattered farmsteads that looked more like simple castles than farms.

Because it was snowing, although the snow was not heavy, no one was walking on this road along the river; looking ahead and behind, their group was the only one slowly moving forward on the vaguely discernible road.

Another benefit of taking this side was that the road conditions here were much better than on the east side of the river. Because this was the main road for these farmsteads to travel to Kendall City, people from each farmstead would frequently repair the road.

During the rainy spring, they would patch the road with gravel or lay tree branches across it to prevent the Caravans' carriages from getting stuck in mud pits.

When plants were lush in the summer, the Farmers would spontaneously clear the plants from the road during their spare time to ensure the road remained clear.

In the autumn, everyone would even spontaneously organize Militia teams to help protect the Caravans that needed help on the road, because the grain from their year of labor was to be sold to these Caravans that came with coins to collect grain.

Unlike Farmers in other remote areas, because they were close to Kendall City, which produced all kinds of tools and good things, the Farmers on the farmsteads all wanted the grain-collecting Caravans to exchange their newly harvested grain directly for coins.

And they would then take these coins, bring their wives and children, and go to Kendall City to spend them. They would buy their wives a new dress, or buy their children an exquisite wooden toy made by the Craftsmen, or plan to add a new type of farm tool promoted by the Agricultural God Church to their household, calculating how much more land they could cultivate after using the new tool the following year.

Although many of the fields near the farmsteads did not belong to the Farmers themselves, after paying the grain tax to the lord and paying a portion of grain or tax money to the farmstead owner, they could still manage to have enough income left for their own families.

Otherwise, the shrewd Farmers would have long since left this place and run to other remote villages in the county to reclaim a piece of land of their own.

In fact, most Farmers thought this way. Many new immigrants who moved from other places would first settle in the farmsteads near Kendall City, either establishing new families or saving up a sum of money that had been exhausted by the migration, and after a few years, they would go to settle in other villages with better conditions.

After all, compared to remote villages, one had to pay an extra land tax to the field owner in the farmsteads. Farmers who were as smart as these new landlords saw this clearly, so often after a few years, they would go to settle in other villages.

Compared to the Empire and the Kingdom's regions near the Empire, where personal relationships were strongly tied to the land, these border counties on the edge of the Kingdom were very relaxed and loose in their management; as long as you were willing to work hard, it was basically very easy to obtain a harvest.

The group walked on the snow-covered road, listening to the crackling sound of ice floes being squeezed and broken on the surface of the river nearby, while discussing the lives of the various Farmers in the farmsteads they passed.

Compared to the life of farming, although the hunters had left the land and appeared very free, they still spent their days exposed to the wind and rain, heading into remote places amidst heavy snow; not only was it dangerous, but the hunting life also relied on one's own skills to make a living.

Speaking of this, the old hunters talked about the days of their youth when they would go hungry one meal and be full the next.

At that time, their archery skills were not up to par, and they often hunted for many days only to fail to catch large prey, having to settle for rabbits and field mice to make do and stave off hunger.

They couldn't earn any money at all throughout the year.

After all, compared to these small things, large prey with fur—like deer, wild boars, wolves, and lynxes—were the only ones that could fetch a price.

When hunting these animals as a single person or a two-person team, it often required multiple days of activity in the wild, searching for their habitats, water sources, and droppings, to accurately get ahead of the prey and lie in ambush in advance; only then could they capture the prey.

Compared to dead prey, live prey is, of course, more valuable.

But it is basically very difficult to capture large animals alive; they often refuse to eat or drink after being captured and die very quickly.

At the same time, the old hunters also shared some key points from their long experience: one must never enter the forest or mountain woods, and if one encounters any unusual signs, one must retreat immediately.

After all, although in the early days of Kendall County, the knights and tough men of various Knight Orders had already wiped out the Magic Beasts and Monsters that once ravaged the land in large numbers, the areas far beyond the plains where Humans live were still places where Monsters existed.

Strange things still lurked in various places far from Humans. Speaking of this, an old hunter told a strange story he encountered when he was young.

That was a matter from when he was young. He was still young at the time, following other young people he got along with to hunt near River Mouth Town to make a living.

In the wilderness west of River Mouth Town, where they often hunted, despite it being a familiar place, one day, a strange house suddenly appeared in the wild.

It was a tall, strange house; although it was only a two-story house, the size of each floor far exceeded the height of a Human.

Although everyone was startled at the time, seeing that the house seemed empty, some young people who wanted to take risks couldn't suppress the greed in their hearts and decided to go in and take a look.

The old hunter telling the story was timid and didn't follow them in; he stood guard on a high slope outside. He watched helplessly as his friends circled the house and then, instead of entering through the front door, climbed in through a huge, open window.

The old hunter on lookout waited from daytime until dusk; although at the beginning, his friends had come out to wave at him, asking him to come in and take a look, the old hunter still didn't go over.

Later, at dusk, that tall, strange house actually trembled and pulled itself up from the ground; huge, strange hands stretched out from the windows on both sides of the house, and long, thin legs grew out from the original foundation.

What was even more terrifying was that from the originally open door, a huge face covered in messy hair emerged. That face was two people tall, and after it stretched out, it actually looked at the old hunter and greeted him using his friends' voices, telling him to come over.

He was scared half to death on the spot, abandoning his bow, arrows, Backpack, and everything else, and ran straight toward River Mouth Town.

He kept running and running, with his friends' greetings constantly coming from behind him.

Getting closer and closer.

It wasn't until he ran to a place where he could see River Mouth Town that the greetings behind him disappeared just before the last ray of sunset fell.

The old hunter didn't dare to look back; he ran in one breath to the ferry, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he reached a stone pillar marked with the divine symbol of the god of rivers and lakes.

Although this was still the ferry and it was separated from River Mouth Town by the Kendall River, there were at least people around.

He hid behind the god's stone pillar and looked toward the place he had just run from, horrified to see that the tall, strange house that had grown limbs and a head was actually sitting in the wilderness not far away.

And lights had lit up inside the house.

This made the old hunter feel like he was going crazy at the time, and he shouted and yelled, waking up all the households at the ferry.

Following the old hunter's pointing, the Villagers also noticed the house that had abruptly stood up in the wilderness not far away.

Although the old hunter said that the house had grown limbs and chased him, not everyone believed the words of this young man from out of town. Especially since his panicked appearance at the time really made him look like he was crazy.

In the night, two young men took a Torch and, carrying a Cleaver and an axe, boldly walked over.

The Torch in the night was exceptionally conspicuous; they just watched as the young men went in, and only after a long time did they come out of the house, waving their hands to let the other family members come over to take a look.

Only the old hunter noticed at the time that the young men who went over no longer had the Torch in their hands, and their figures and movements were only revealed by the light shining from the house's doorway.

The old hunter desperately held onto the people from the few households, even kneeling on the ground and kowtowing to them, which finally stopped the others from going over.

The result.

Those two young men never came out of the house until the sun rose.

And that house remained standing there the whole time.

Everyone was terrified; some said they should pick up firewood and Torches and, without entering the house, just set it on fire from the outside. But the old hunter bitterly persuaded them against their impulse for revenge, and everyone rowed wooden boats directly to River Mouth Village, which was not yet a town at the time.

They found the Knight of that time, gathered more than ten boats and hundreds of people, and only after they all brought weapons did they rush over.

But when they arrived, the place where the house had been was empty. Only in a place clearly pressed by a wide, heavy object did they find two Human skeletons and tattered clothing.

There was no flesh or blood left on the Human skeletons; people even felt as if they had been licked clean by a Monster.

Led by the Knight, the hundred-plus people went to the place where the old hunter's companions had discovered the strange house, and sure enough, they found several fresh Human skeletons and tattered Hunter equipment.

Yet they could not find a trace of the house that could grow limbs and a head and face.

Speaking of this, Jier felt his teeth chattering, and he squeezed out a sentence: "Then what happened in the end? Did you, in the end, defeat that house?"

The old hunter shook his head and said nothing, but it made the others feel a different kind of chill, unlike the cold of heavy snow, rising from within their hearts.

Lanisha the Knight in front clearly also heard the old hunter's story; she slowed her horse and approached the group: "I have heard this story; it scared many people at the time because that thing did not seem like something an ordinary Knight could deal with."

"My lady, do you know what that thing is?" Jier asked directly; this was the thing he wanted to know most right now.

Lanisha the Knight thought for a while: "When I was studying, I seem to have heard someone mention it; that thing seems to be called a Strange House. I heard, I heard, mind you. It is said that after a powerful mage dies, their Magic Camping House comes to life, traveling all the way from the place where the mage died, carrying the mage's remains and personal property, following the road to return to the mage's family. Without the mage's restraint, they will constantly harm everyone they encounter as they please, and because they possess various Magic treasures of the mages, very few people can defeat them after discovering them.

Only until they return to the mage's family will they be restrained and controlled by other mages again.

Of course, it is said that there are also some mages who have no family; after they die, the Strange House with nowhere to go will wander in the Human world, or stand quietly in some place, or constantly pretend to be a normal house to hunt and lure Humans inside to be devoured."

After hearing this, Jier, like everyone else, was horrified by this news; it was actually like this.