Chapter 95 Attitudes Towards Life: The Albino Orc's Values...

A few days passed in the blink of an eye.

Neil was off today, so Ray hitched up the mule cart early and drove Neil and Timur to town.

Temuqi went to town mainly to buy meat, grain, and some other materials.

The place where they bought the materials was rather unusual; it only opened close to dusk, so Temuji would stay in town for the night.

This place was basically the local black market, and Ray was eager to see if he could buy the water elemental stone Tata needed. But Neil was too young, and Ray didn't dare leave him home alone.

After storing the mule cart, the three split up. Neil went to the market with Rye, while Timuch went elsewhere.

"Neil, is there anything you want to buy?"

"We're running out of notebooks and ink; we need to buy some more."

"Okay, let's go to Mu's stall first to buy the meat, and then we'll go buy the notebooks."

"Okay, brother."

Lai and Neil easily found their way to Mu's stall, where business was booming as always.

The fluffy little bear cub, Li, sat quietly under the stall, munching on jerky without any fear of people. It was the customers who came to buy meat who were occasionally startled.

"Here to buy meat?"

Mu and Lai greeted each other while Mu continued cutting meat.

"yes."

The two exchanged friendly greetings.

"By the way, Lei, I have something to tell you. Wait a moment."

"good."

Mu handled the customers' various requests efficiently, his knife work swift and precise. His movements were clean and efficient, and he quickly saw off the group of customers waiting to buy meat at his stall.

With a flick of his wrist, the meat cleaver was firmly nailed to the wooden cutting board with a crisp snap.

"Bai, you can check on the stall first. I have some things to do and won't be back for a while."

"Okay, go ahead."

The meat cleaver was driven at least three or four centimeters into the cutting board, but he pulled it out with a little force.

Bai had a pair of round white ears on its head, and its skin was snow-white, unlike Mu, who was tanned and shiny.

Not only my ears and skin, but also my white hair, and even more strangely, my eyes are a light pink.

Lai didn't stare at Bai, as that would be very impolite. But Bai seemed very sensitive to other people's gazes, and looked up at Lai with a very friendly smile.

"This is Bai, my good brother."

"Hello, I'm Ray, and this is my brother Neil."

"Lay, Neil, hello, I'm Bai."

Lai only had time for a brief greeting before more customers came to buy meat, and Bai became busy, constantly cutting and wrapping meat for customers.

Lai and Mu arrived next to a large tree. There were fewer people there, so it was relatively quiet, but they could still see the situation of the stalls.

"Bai is a rare bear-like beastman in our tribe whose fur is all white. His parents believed that he was born with a curse, an ominous sign, and a future calamity. Shortly after his birth, they abandoned him in the wilderness, wanting him to fend for himself."

My parents couldn't bear to see him, so young, eaten by wild animals, so they secretly took him home. And so, Bai became my brother.

A brown bear with completely white fur, red eyes, and skin that's averse to sunlight—aren't these obvious characteristics of albinism?

Albinism is a congenital genetic disorder, and consanguineous marriages are more likely to result in children with albinism. In modern times, the various manifestations and causes of this disease have been fully understood by science.

However, this is a magical world still in the agricultural era, where mathematics has not yet formed a complete system, and although alchemy has some connection with chemistry, it still doesn't have much influence.

Alchemists knew what materials and under what conditions would change in what way, but they could not explain these phenomena from a scientific perspective.

Moreover, biology, which involves understanding various diseases at the genetic level.

Therefore, it's not impossible that Bai, who is completely albino, is considered an outcast by his parents. Lai immediately understood Bai's current predicament.

"This is not a curse; it is just a congenital disease."

Upon hearing Lei's words, Mu's eyes flashed.

He knew that Ray was a very different human being. He knew a lot about many things, and his understanding was far more profound than that of others.

He wouldn't make a fuss about Bai's snow-white fur, nor would he point at Bai like others would, as if he were a monster.

"Mu, what were you trying to say?"

"Oh, right, it's like this. I castrated all the males of the litter of Gulu beasts that were born in the fall, following your method. After a whole winter, they really did grow fatter and better than the Gulu beasts born in the same period in other beast families! And their temperaments were also much more docile."

Lai was pleased to see this result. The life experience passed down from our ancestors for thousands of years is not something to be taken lightly.

"Lay, I can't wait to kill a little Gulu beast and taste its flavor."

Um... I'm sorry, Brother Beast. Not only did I make you lose your little brother, but I also caused you to return to the Beast King's embrace so far ahead of schedule.

"Mu, don't be too hasty. Let it rest for another month or two and see. The difference in taste will be even more obvious then."

"Okay, Ray, whatever you say. I'll treat you to meat later."

"good."

Thanks to Lai's persuasion, the little goo-goo beast successfully escaped a disaster temporarily.

"Lay, do you still want some beef? We'll be slaughtering another cow the day after tomorrow; it'll be the last one this year. For the next six months or so, I won't have any beef at my stall. I can set some aside for you in advance."

Just when I was about to fall asleep, someone handed me a pillow. The hot pot base at home was almost gone, and Lai was thinking of making another batch of hot pot base, either to keep for ourselves or to give some away.

"I also want beef tallow this time, and please save me another fifteen pounds of beef. I want to make some braised beef and beef jerky."

"Okay, no problem. I'll save all the beef tallow for you this time. Actually, I've been curious why you need so much beef tallow, can you tell me?"

"I'm using it to make a special seasoning that tastes really good. You can use it to cook vegetables and sliced ​​meat. I'll bring you some to try when I make it. It contains a lot of the chili peppers that your orcs like, I'm sure you'll love it."

"Thank you, Ray."

Mu thanked him repeatedly.

"The jelly you taught me to make last time was especially delicious, and Li could eat a lot of it every time."

"As long as the little one likes it."

"Lay, which cut of meat do you want this time? I'll cut it out for you in advance, and you can pick it up when you're ready to leave after you've finished shopping."

That's wonderful.

Lai paid half the money as a deposit, ordering several ribs, a pork knuckle, and a dozen pounds of other cuts of meat.

After chatting with Mu for a while, he took Neil and left, heading to the shops that sold notebooks and paint.

"Brother, what is castration?"

"Forehead……"

Children's attention is always strange. Castration is currently used here to punish the most heinous criminals. In a quiet and peaceful place like Rosen Town, this kind of punishment is basically not used.

Generally, when someone dies, once the criminal is caught, they are sent to meet their maker with a cup of poison.

It's normal that Neil, a teenager who had rarely left his village, had never heard of this word before.

However, when it comes to castration, the topic inevitably involves organs and the sensitive issue of sex education. For a moment, Ray was unsure whether he should use this topic to enlighten Neil.

"It is a means to prevent an individual from reproducing."

"oh."

Neil seemed confused, but didn't press the matter further. Ray secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, Neil is a boy. If Neil were a girl, Ray, who was jokingly called a "straight man" by her former college classmates and roommates, really wouldn't know what to do.

The paper here is more expensive. Although Neil said that buying one notebook would be enough, Ray still generously bought Neil three notebooks and a thick notebook with an animal skin cover.

After Neil refused to buy them, he carefully placed them in his handbag.

It's clear that he likes it very much.

"Brother, don't buy me such expensive notebooks next time. I don't really need them."

"How can you say it's useless? You can write down all sorts of things you want to remember on it, and then take it out to look at it when you grow up. That can also be a wonderful memory."

"But it's really too expensive, it costs three silver coins."

“Listen to Neil, if we earn money just to save it, then we lose the original purpose of earning money. Enjoying life reasonably within our means and indulging in occasional luxuries is not a sin, but a right we have.”

"I understand, brother, thank you."

"It's alright, Neil. There's a long road ahead, and you can learn and grow gradually."

"Um."

Neil's views on money are somewhat old-fashioned; it's not that saving money is a bad habit. But I don't want Neil to suppress his life too much in order to save money.

Life is only a few decades long. Although he is much luckier than others, he still has about 150 years to live.

But in addition to our busy lives, it's good to stop our hurried pace and take a look at the world's splendor, isn't it?