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Chapter 26 – New Crisis
Zhao Hai and Blockhead stood at the lake edge while Maylin was chanting an incantation in a low volume. It didn’t take more than a while for an aqua colored barrier to appear around them. A wave came from the lake which, while Zhao Hai was startled, brought them to the lake itself.
But Zhao Hai soon discovered that the 3 of them were standing inside the transparent spherical barrier while the lakewater was pushing the barrier like a geyser to a ball, making the barrier move forward constantly.
This was the 2nd time Zhao Hai witnessed the marvel of magic. The 1st time, Maylin just used a simple illumination spell, but even so, Zhao Hai felt that it was amazing already. Now, this was even more amazing than the last. They were actually travelling on the waves, and it was a single person bringing 2 along. It was even more awesome than ‘Water Gliding’ and ‘River Crossing Bound’ in Chinese martial arts.
Compared to Zhao Hai who counted as half a visitor, Blockhead’s response was much calmer, who already knew about the amazingness of magic, not to mention how Maylin was a level 8 water mage. Fighting against such a mage in water was everyone’s nightmare, because it’s their home turf.
Maylin was also looking relaxed. She was very confident about her abilities as she believed she was invincible on the water. That’s why when she said that there was possibly a water type magic beast in the water, she didn’t even show a hint of worry. Because she believed that she could easily kill a water type magic beast even if there was one.
The speed was fast when using magic to travel on water. They came here after more than 3 hours, but they saw a cave in front after just about half an hour’s time. Even more fortunately, that cave was exactly the cave behind the castle. This proved that this lake could be used as a natural water route, allowing them to transport people to the valley secretly.
When Zhao Hai stood on solid ground after Maylin dispelled the magic, he couldn’t help himself from jumping once. It was truly good to stand on solid ground.
It was very dashing to travel on water, but Zhao Hai always felt that he was going to sink. This made him feel extremely uncomfortable.
When the 3 of them walked out of the cave, they saw the working slaves outside. They had not rested since it wasn’t noon yet. There were still a lot of places to tidy up in the cave, and a lot of slaves were doing carpentry.
In order to raise blue-eyed rabbits in this cave, a lot of fences were needed. These things had to be made out of wood, since Zhao Hai and others didn’t have so many metals.
Greene and others bought some timber considering the situation in the castle, but it wasn’t a lot. Most of the things they bought were completed products, because Greene knew that even if there were some slaves who knew about woodworking, they wouldn’t know how to make sophisticated things. Because slaves who were good at carpentry were of a different price than normal slaves.
The appearance of the 3 made the slaves surprised. They immediately bowed down, and the 3 only nodded as they left the cave.
Meg and Blockhead who were standing outside the cave were also shocked when they saw the 3 coming out. Meg immediately went to them and asked, “Young master, granny, how did you come out of the cave?”
Maylin smiled, “If we go all the way inside from the lake, we can reach a valley. That is where we decided to be most suitable for our planting operations. Young master improved 10 acres of soil over there just now, so we’re back.”
Meg’s eyes sparkled and said, “Really? That’s great! I didn’t think things would be this smooth. Granny, young master, return to the castle and rest. I can handle things here.”
Maylin turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Young master, go back to the castle and rest. I have something to tell you.”
Zhao Hai was startled as he didn’t know what was up with Maylin. But looking at her seriousness on the face, he didn’t take his time and just nodded his head, “Alright. Let’s go back to the castle. Blockhead, you stay here and help Meg and Rockhead.” Blockhead heeded with a sound and stayed back, while Zhao Hai returned to the castle with Maylin.
After the 2 of them arrived at the living room, Zhao Hai looked at Maylin in confusion, “Granny Maylin, what is it that you can’t speak of outside?”
Maylin nodded, “Young master, when we were coming back, I searched for the conditions in the lake while on the surface, but I didn’t find any powerful water magic. There are only 2 explanations for this. 1, the water magic beast is very powerful and is very good at hiding its movements, which makes me unable to discover it. But this situation is almost impossible since I’m a level 8 water mage. I’m confident that there’s nothing in water that can hide from my detection. 2, there’s no powerful magic beast in the water. The reason why there are no fishes lies elsewhere.”
Zhao Hai was startled, but he soon realized the severity of the problem. The lake was going to be one of the crucial parts of the development of the fief. If there was really no way to raise fishes, he would lose an important source of funds. Leaving a lake without being able to use it was too much of a waste.
Zhao Hai asked with a darkened face, “Can you find a specific cause?”
Maylin’s expression was also heavy, “I’ve heard of a rumor but I don’t know if it’s related to the situation of the lake. It was said that because Black Wastelands is too close to Rotten Corpse Swamp, there is a united horde of some necromantic creatures and toxic beasts which comes to Black Wastelands often. They will kill every living creature on Black Wastelands, which is why Black Wastelands has become a dead land. But because not many would come to here since before, this information had also not been given further confirmation. If it’s true, then the reason why there are no fishes in the lake might be due to this.”
Zhao Hai’s expression changed. If it really were as Maylin said, then the trouble would be huge. Other than Maylin, Meg, Greene, Blockhead and Rockhead, who had some fighting power, everyone else were slaves without fighting abilities. If the necromantic creatures and toxic beasts from Rotten Corpse Swamp came to attack them, then all of them would be dead for sure.
Zhao Hai lowered his head while he kept on rubbing his own forehead. This was also a movement he used to make when he was thinking about matters in his previous life.
Maylin was also very worried when she looked at Zhao hai. If such a thing were to happen, then all of their activities would have to stop. It was hard to say if they would survive.
Zhao Hai couldn’t think of a good plan right now and just said, “If this is true, then we have a huge problem. Let’s discuss what to do after grandpa Greene gets back. How about this; Starting tomorrow, we’re not cleaning up the mine caves. Gather all of our supplies on hand and make some simple weapons, then train the slaves for a bit while conduct some maintenance on the castle. If it really happens, we can at least use the castle to hold up for a while. If we really can’t do it, then I can only bring everyone into my space and let everyone hide. Once those necromantic creatures and toxic beasts retreat, we come out.”
Maylin frowned as she thought, and she could also not be able to think of a good plan. She could only nod and said, “Seems like we can only do this. We’ve come to Black Wastelands for some time and we haven’t seen any strange movements from Rotten Corpse Swamp. There should be problems. I just hope my worries are misplaced.”
Zhao Hai shook his head, “Whether or not the worries are off the mark, these things are still needed to be done in order to prevent being caught off guard. The last capital of Buda family is here. If we lose it all, we will have no hope of reversing the situation ever again.”
Maylin nodded, “Alright. I will arrange it immediately. But we haven’t brought a lot of weapons this time, and the supplies are mostly for living so they can’t be made into weapons. What to do?”
Zhao Hai also didn’t have any good plans right now. If his farm were at a high enough level, he would plant some trees to be used as weapons. But as his current level was too low, he couldn’t plant trees. He couldn’t possibly let people use corn stalks to go and fight against necromantic creatures, right?
Zhao Hai rubbed on his own forehead so much, his forehead had been rubbed into a shade of red, yet he still hadn’t thought of a good way. Suddenly, he noticed the stone floor, and a bold thought entered his mind. He raised his head to look at Maylin, “Granny Maylin, how about this; Tomorrow, we organize people to bring some rocks back, and then we can make some stone weapons. The killing power of the weapons won’t be great, but we’re just defending the castle so they can be used. What do you say?”
Maylin thought about it and nodded, “Good. We don’t have that many supplies in our hands right now. When we came out from the empire, they didn’t even let us bring weapons, so we can only do this right now. After Greene comes back, let’s have him buy some weapons as fast as possible.”
Zhao Hai nodded his head helplessly. He never imagined that he had to go back to the life of Stone Age one day, and one they couldn’t avoid facing.
Zhao Hai had thought things through by now. It seemed like the old farts from the empire really didn’t want to give them any chance to survive. Otherwise, they wouldn’t let Buda family come to Black Wastelands without bringing weapons. He wouldn’t believe that the old farts from the empire never heard of the rumors about Black Wastelands.
Now, they not only had to face the crisis of starvation, but also the possibility of being killed by the necromantic creatures and toxic beasts.
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