Chapter 37: Sharing Benefits, Bread, and Nighttime Conversations

This left him somewhat at a loss: "Apologies, my lord, you perhaps don't understand. If it were just me, I couldn't even handle one of these monsters. If not for you, and the hard fighting of the warriors under your command, I would never have had the chance to analyze and study the fluids of these plant monsters."

He waved his hand: "Honestly, any qualified Herbalist could do what I am doing right now..."

But Jier only smiled slightly: "But I only know you as a Herbalist, don't I? And now that you are employed by me, I am willing to give you a portion of the future related profits. This is appropriate; at least in my view, an excellent team physician is far more precious than the clinking of some coins in a pocket."

The middle-aged Herbalist Suoye-Zuojigela stared deeply at Jier for a good while, and Jier did not say anything more, letting this man think and understand Jier's thoughts.

"What if you regret it in the future? Unlike the warriors under your command, I haven't had much time in contact with you..." he asked cautiously.

Jier waved a hand and said nonchalantly: "Then earn a sum of money before I change my mind. After all, only the money that falls into one's own purse is a reliable friend, isn't it?"

The Herbalist also laughed: "That sounds like something someone with Faith in the God of Wealth would say."

Jier was amused too: "I once even rode on a type of simulacrum warrior made entirely of coins, capable of flight and combat, created by the Church Priests of the God of Wealth during a battle."

Subsequently, Zuojigela briefly explained to Jier the production methods for the three types of Potion, as well as the corresponding matching medicinal raw materials that needed to be purchased, the pharmaceutical tools for processing and preparing the ingredients, and the many small portable bottles for bottling after the Potion was finished.

These all required a large investment, and many small places could not provide these goods, meaning it was quite difficult to spend money to buy these things unless they hurried to a large town with an Alchemist Guild.

"You don't need to worry about this; I know a place where there should be the things you need. Although it's unlikely to have everything in sufficient quantity, it is at least enough to satisfy your requirements in small amounts. And the best part is, it happens to be on the route we are traveling."

"That's good, that's good. My lord, then I will first process these most important raw materials, and later, once the relevant supplies are in hand, I will immediately begin processing and blending the Potion. However, regarding the three types of Potion, which one do you need? Because all three types require Monster materials as the main ingredient, so..." the Herbalist said, rubbing his hands.

Jier nodded and walked out of the courtyard: "You will have plenty to keep you busy later; there will be many of these Monster materials. Considering the needs of battle, prepare one bottle of the Potion for restoring physical strength for each warrior, and make as many of the Potion for accelerating healing as possible. As for the Ointment and Potion for boosting spirits and assisting Meditation, these things should be valuable, but none of us really need them, so just make a few bottles for now, and I will find an opportunity later to see if anyone wants to pay a high price for them."

Jier then came to the Dwarf camp area located on the other side of the open space in the center of the village. Unlike the gloomy human warriors, the Dwarves had finished their meal and were sitting around the campfire, excitedly discussing these large numbers of parasitic plant monsters.

Because they had not seen the final fused parasitic Monster face-to-face, although they were amazed that such a large number of monsters appeared in an ordinary village, they clearly did not hold much wariness toward these plant monsters.

After all, even the human warriors, who were far weaker than them, could defeat several times their number of monsters without a single death; clearly, the monsters were still a long way off from them in terms of combat power. This made the Dwarves quite self-satisfied, and they commented on the battle process they had heard about.

Several Dwarf Soldiers sat in the middle of the crowd, their voices the loudest. Even the former Captain who was not liked by everyone before was now loudly discussing this matter with the others. Clearly, although everyone complained about his 'defection' when captured at Torito Cunzi, the changes he ultimately brought had already affected everyone, so after complaining a few words and giving him the cold shoulder for a while, they accepted him.

After all, this Captain had facilitated their departure from the Treasure Mine in Babotali Valley and was walking on the road home together with Jier, this Human Knight. If they were to dislike and cold-shoulder him at this time, how would Jier view this matter?

"If you ask me, these monsters are most afraid of fire oil! That fierce fire oil refined from the ground—you only need to spray it out, and once they are drenched, they can be burned to death in one go. It's a pity that there was still some hard-refined fire oil in the mine, but we didn't bring it with us; instead, we installed it on the mechanical traps inside the mine," the former Captain 'Pebble' Lata-Baofeisi-Comrade said loudly at this time.

"Forget it, that thing is rarely used, and it's heavy and troublesome to store. Besides, the pressure sprayer for it is so heavy; are you going to carry it, or am I?" another Dwarf Warrior retorted.

'Pebble' Lata pursed his lips: "It could be loaded on an ox cart, and it doesn't necessarily have to be a large thing like a pressure sprayer. Using a smaller spring-loaded sprayer should also work, right? That thing is much lighter, isn't it? Although it doesn't hold much at one time, it's still possible to ignite a dozen monsters at medium-to-close range."

But someone still refuted: "A qualified spring? In this small place of ours, the springs in the warehouse are all parts sent by the Kingdom over a hundred years ago. We people here can't make qualified spring parts just by hammering! As for using those precious springs to make a few of those sprayers, it's really unnecessary. Old 'Iron Fist' is unlikely to approve, right?"

After finishing, this person looked at the old Dwarf. The old Dwarf was sitting by another campfire not far away, recording something on paper by the firelight. Hearing someone call him, he nodded and said: "There is no point in talking about the preparations before departure now; let's all argue less. I have actually felt relieved these past two days. If the outside world is only at this level, then we didn't actually need to be so careful and worried about the situation outside before."

"That's true."

Many people echoed the old Dwarf's words. These monsters outside were actually not much more powerful than the mountain monsters that broke into Babotali Valley from time to time. They had previously overestimated the strength of the outside world because the former Captain of the mine had gone out and never returned, leaving no news, and thus they had wasted many years of time.

If they had known earlier that the level of human warriors in the outside world and the monsters they fought against was just like this, they would have broken out and returned home decades ago. Starting from here and heading west, decades ago there were not so many humans in the Western Province, and at the same time, the relationship with the Dwarves was not so bad. If they had set off then, it would have taken at most one to three months to cross the Lost Homeland to the west and return to the Dwarf Aimuli Kingdom.

But Xiaoxuezi's lips moved at this time, muttering about what had happened to his father who had gone missing. His mother had sworn that as long as his father was still alive, he would certainly not ignore them, let alone the other Dwarves in the mine who were as close as family.

He had walked out of Huitou Forest decades ago and never returned; what was the reason for that?

He must have died, but who killed him? Who could have killed him?

Xiaoxuezi still had a certain impression of his father, as well as the other Dwarves' assessment of his father's strength; even if it were Knight Jier, several of them combined would not be his father's match.

That was a Dwarf male Warrior who seemed to be made of steel. Not only had he won most of the hundreds of battles, large and small, in his life, but he also had Faith in the Dwarf God of War. The thrown spear could fly over two mountains in one shot and shatter a house-sized rock more than ten kilometers away.

His movements were more agile than the most nimble mountain leopard, and he could wield a Long Spear to trap a fluttering butterfly.

He ran faster than a racehorse, and in terms of strength, he was not inferior to 'Shishou' by much; he was simply a perfect Warrior.

But he just went and never returned.

Considering his loyalty, his promises, his feelings, and his interests, unless he was dead, he would not have failed to come looking for them.

Xiaoxuezi glanced at his mother, who was sitting to the side processing grain; his mother also happened to look over.

Seeming to guess what Xiaoxuezi was thinking, his mother whispered to Xiaoxuezi: "So, if there is a chance, this time I must find out where your father died. And who killed him? I will find a way to avenge him. Even if I don't have much ability, revenge is never a duel; there is no need to talk about methods."

"Mother, don't forget me, I'll help too!" Xiaoxuezi said immediately.

His mother nodded. Seeing Jier walking over, she immediately put on a smiling face and brought the machine she was using to grind wheat into flour with a portable grinder toward Jier: "Jier, do you want some freshly ground wheat flour? This is last year's new grain; the flour ground from it is white and delicious. If you want to eat it, I'll get some water and bake you a fragrant Bread; I guarantee you'll be full with just one!"

Jier nodded with a grin: "Thanks, Auntie. See, there was no problem with me letting you bring those kitchen utensils, right? If we didn't bring the portable oven, it wouldn't be easy to eat freshly baked Bread. After all, not every place has a bread oven. You definitely wouldn't be used to the bread ovens in our human villages, and the efficiency of cooking wouldn't keep up with everyone's speed of eating."

Hearing that Jier wanted to eat, Xiaoxuezi's mother poured the newly ground wheat flour from the portable grinder into a Wooden Basin for kneading dough, added water, salt, and some of the nuts they had brought when they set off from Torito Cunzi, and made the flour into a large Bread dough.

The Dwarf Chef naturally had sourdough starter that had been cultivated for a long time. This sourdough starter, full of yeast, was crushed and sprinkled into the dough. After being repeatedly squeezed and kneaded for a while, it could be left to ferment naturally for a while.

After the dough expanded for a while, it could be put into the portable oven placed on the campfire. After waiting for a while, the Bread would be baked quickly.

This Chef's Bread was large in size, and because it was made with pure wheat flour and added nuts, it was fluffy and delicious. If eggs or milk could be added to the Bread, it would be even more perfect.

However, the people in this other world usually didn't add eggs or milk to their Bread; it was just salt and water. The Bread made was consumed as a staple food. It was similar to the flatbread or solid steamed buns and flower rolls he often ate in his previous life.

After thanking the Dwarf Chef, Jier came to the old Dwarf's side and saw the other party writing something on paper in Dwarf script, so he asked curiously: "You're writing about today's observations, right?"

"Of course, I must write down the observations of this journey. This way, when I am too old to walk, I can organize my life records. I know what you want to ask. People from our family, if they die of old age at home, need to organize a record of their life's memories before they die. This way, when future descendants want to understand you as a person, or some important experiences you have had, they can find the relevant records."

The old Dwarf stopped the ink pen in his hand and explained to Jier.

"We Dwarves record history like this, using a person as the marker for the record. When you check a relevant historical record, you can find and view the memory records of the relevant people who personally experienced that history, and understand firsthand what happened at that time."

Jier curled his lip: "Doesn't sound like much. Everyone will beautify their own experiences; can the things written in memoirs be the real situation?"

But the old Dwarf was not annoyed. He looked at Jier with a smile: "Then tell me, is history recorded by a third party that real? You must know that as a third party for recording, they are also an intelligent life, and also have their own stance and interests. How could they describe a period of history accurately and truthfully? Even for civilizations with large populations like us Dwarves and you Humans, there are gods who record history, but to say something disrespectful, don't the gods have stances and interests?"

"Even if that is the Divine Essence of that god, and they need to record history fairly and objectively, will they, who are not powerful gods, be pressured by powerful gods to change the records?"

Jier had nothing to say: "According to you, gods can't be trusted either? Then what is the use of those gods? Just because such a god is needed, so they exist?"

The old Dwarf was amused: "How could that be. Magic for recording images has existed for a long time. Things recorded on paper can't be trusted, but some image records stored in Magic Crystals are always correct, right? After all, you can see for yourself what happened at that time."

Jier slapped his forehead, forgetting that the magic technology of this other world had already developed for thousands or tens of thousands of years. Although it was not popular, just from some corners, it could be seen that in terms of the depth and breadth of technology, the magic technology of this other world was not inferior to the scientific technology of his previous life.

Or rather, for the people of this other world, their scientific technology was the magic technology they mastered. Magic was not a fantasy thing, but a real thing that could truly explore the universe, explain the universe, and transform the universe.

However, Jier felt some contempt for the old Dwarf's optimistic and confident attitude toward magic images. Having watched many movies, he would not easily believe things recorded in images, let alone that he came from an era of AI-faked photos and fake videos.

The two chatted for a while longer, and Jier brought up the low morale of his men and the reasons for the low morale.

The old Dwarf stroked his beard, pondered for a while, and said: "Is it that scary?"

Jier scratched his cheek: "It's alright, I think it's just average."

"That is quite impressive then; it would be hard for an average person to deal with it alone, right?" the old Dwarf asked.

"It's hard to say. Although that thing has many legs, it can only move in one direction. As long as one isn't a cripple, a normal person can still get away," Jier chuckled.

Finally, the old Dwarf provided the answer: "Next time—I mean, if next time your men encounter a Monster in such a situation, Jier, do not intervene. Let your subordinates finish it off. They fear that kind of Monster precisely because they have only seen its formidable side and have never had the chance to personally shatter its prestige. You killed the Monster, which seemed to save time and trouble."

"But because of that, they lost the best opportunity to overcome this fear. Tell me, if that Monster had been defeated by the combined efforts of your men, it would no longer be a terrifying Monster, but a military achievement they could boast about—it would be glory."

Jier nodded, indicating he understood.

In the training of his team, he clearly still had a long way to go.

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