[Chapter 18: Freedom to Eat]

David agreed with Fording’s judgment.

Compared with the altar he and Laura found in the mine, this altar was more severely damaged. Only some patterns could be vaguely seen on it, and it was impossible to tell what was “written” on it.

At the same time, because of the killing just now, the stone tablet was covered with blood stains. The existence of these blood stains made the stone tablet and the broken stone platform constantly emit scarlet light, giving people a very strange feeling.

“The spells used by these giants before should have been obtained from this altar.” Fording was more familiar with mysterious power than David, and after fighting with the giants just now, he roughly guessed the function of this altar: offering sacrifices to gain power.

“These giants immediately attacked other creatures when they saw them. Maybe it was because of this altar?” According to Fording’s guess, the habit of these giants to attack at the slightest disagreement came from this – as long as they were not of the same kind, they were prey, and after killing them, they were offered as sacrifices to the altar to gain that kind of power.

“I think so!” Fording raised his weapon, but looking at the two-handed heavy sword in his hand, he didn’t know whether to chop it down for a moment: “I should have brought a heavy hammer.”

“…”

These paladins and warriors from Azeroth have polished their bodies to a considerable extent. They are not used to ordinary weapons at all. On the contrary, some “heavy weapons” that look exaggerated in the eyes of ordinary people are particularly favored by these guys with steel bodies (weakened versions).

If Fording was using a two-handed heavy hammer at this moment, he would surely smash the stone tablet with a hammer without hesitation and completely destroy it.

But now… he is a little reluctant to use such a good two-handed sword to chop stones.

“Leave it to me!”

“Do you have a way?”

“Yes!” David rummaged through his backpack and found what he needed: “Laura brought some explosives earlier, just in case I brought some in my backpack.”

The original idea was that if he was blocked by something or trapped in a cave, he could use this thing to blast a way out.

It shouldn’t be a problem to use it to blow up a stone tablet.

As for the mysterious power on this altar, it should not protect this stone tablet, otherwise it would not be in its current state.

Boom!

After setting it up and igniting it, David and Fording ran to a safe distance and watched the stone tablet being blown into countless pieces of rubble. After

standing there quietly and observing for a while, and making sure that nothing strange happened again and the stone tablet had been completely destroyed, David and Fording cleaned up the battlefield again – burying the body of the giant monster and looking for any suitable spoils.

After checking, the two were completely sure that the lifestyle of this group of giant monsters was quite primitive. Even if they had intelligence, they were not very smart, and there was not much difference from other beasts.

“It’s a pity. If the body of this giant wolf could be preserved intact, then this fur would be a good thing.” Fording looked at the huge wolf head thrown in the corner. It was probably thrown there after eating the leftovers, and there were other bits and pieces scattered around.

David took a look and recognized that it was the head of the huge wolf head that was placed on the altar before. This giant wolf had beautiful snow-white fur, and it was a pity that it could not be kept.

“Anyway, we don’t need a piece of fur now.”

After checking, the two set out on the road back. Because the threats near the village were completely eliminated, the two were in a good mood and walked back with laughter.

“Now that the food problem has been solved, and farmland that can continue to grow food has been reclaimed, what are your plans next?”

On the way back to the village, Fording was very curious about what David’s next plan was? Ever since he was curious about what David could do, Fording began to pay attention to every step of David’s actions.

This was completely different from the initial “whatever, I just need a place to live”. In a sense, Fording only began to integrate into Winter Village at this time.

David was very happy about this situation. He knew that people like Mark and Fording, who were deeply involved in their own world, would find it difficult to truly become villagers of Winter Village. Even at the beginning, David did not really have the idea of turning them into his own villagers, but just hoped to use these people and the power behind them to develop the village.

After the village had farmland and comfortable housing, and improved these “hardware attributes”, he would use these to attract more locals to join. This was his original plan.

Now it seems that it may not be impossible to let them stay in Winter Village sincerely and become villagers of Winter Village.

“Take the pioneering order to Iron Tree Castle.” Now that everything is ready, he should go to Iron Tree Castle to truly confirm his identity as the village chief: “In addition to making Winter Village recognized by the kingdom, I plan to recruit some villagers to Winter Village.”

“If the village wants to grow and develop, sufficient population is indispensable.” Fording agreed with David’s plan. At present, he couldn’t come up with any better suggestions. Next, whether it is to reclaim more land or expand the scale of farmland, it is inseparable from sufficient population: “If possible, find more craftsmen.”

Whether it is a blacksmith, a stonemason or a carpenter, Winter Village has none of them. If you want the village to develop stably, craftsmen are also indispensable.

“I know.”

Carpenters and stonemasons may not be in a hurry, but a blacksmith must be found, otherwise ordinary farmers will not have any guarantee of farm tools. You can’t rely on Laura to go home and buy them, right?

Think about it carefully. If there are few people, it can be barely acceptable, but if there are too many people, it will definitely not work. So what will happen in the end depends on how many people you can abduct.

“It would be great if you can recruit a hundred people in one go.”

In that case, you can even plan and build Winter Village according to Winter Town, but David knows that this is impossible.

First of all, the population of this world is not so large that you can fool more than a hundred people with just a few words.

Secondly, many pioneers ran back to Iron Tree Castle before, and the situation in Winter Village may have spread in Iron Tree Castle. Maybe many people will not believe what David said.

“Haha, don’t be in a hurry. As long as the village develops steadily, the population will slowly increase.” Fording felt that he had enough experience in this regard. After all, he was originally the lord of the Kingdom of Lordaeron and managed a large piece of land: “As long as there is no disaster like war.”

“War? It shouldn’t happen!”

David felt that the war was too far away from Winter Village. Because his village was located in the northernmost part of the Kingdom of Tiran, and the Kingdom of Tiran was the northernmost force in the entire continent. This northernmost did not only refer to the human kingdom, but all the ethnic forces on the continent.

Before David established Winter Village, there was no real country on the plain north of the Tiran Mountains and the Ironwood Forest, and even no towns had been built. In other words, around David’s Winter Village, there were at most small threats like the troll village that was just destroyed by Fording.

In addition, the only real forces were the elves living in the Ironwood Forest.

As for the outbreak of war between the Kingdom of Tiran and other countries, and then affecting Winter Village? This possibility is also relatively low. First of all, Winter Village has just been established, and there are not many registered able-bodied men in the village. To be precise, there is only one able-bodied man named David at present, and the rest are not from this world. When a war breaks out and the whole country needs to recruit able-bodied men, no one can be recruited.

Even if a conscription order is really issued, it is likely that David will deal with it alone.

Moreover, according to the pioneering decree, unless there is an emergency, the kingdom generally will not issue a conscription to such a newly established village. Winter Village is not really established yet, and there are still many processes to be completed.

In this environment, as long as David does not provoke the elves in the Iron Tree Forest, Winter Village is basically away from the threat of war.

Of course, being away from threats does not mean absolute safety, nor does it mean that David has given up the improvement of “force”. At any time, he must not let himself put down the sword in his hand. Only when the sword is sharp enough can he face any threat calmly.

He understood this truth in his previous life, and he dare not forget it in this life! He

stopped and walked along the way, and picked some wild vegetables, mushrooms and wild fruits. In addition to eliminating potential threats, this trip also replenished food.

When they returned to Winter Village, they found that Mark did not return to the Mars base, but reclaimed a small field outside the village.

“What are you doing?”

When David and Fording approached, Mark was wiping his sweat with his arm and a shovel. Seeing that the two people’s clothes were not even dirty, he knew that the giants did not cause any trouble to the two people, so he did not ask them about the battle situation at all, and directly answered David’s question: “Laura brought some wheat and corn seeds, I will try to plant them.” There

is also wheat in this world, but the wheat seeds brought by the pioneering team in the past two years have not been successfully planted, so David has not considered planting wheat or barley.

But Mark is willing to try, and he has no reason to object. Maybe the seeds provided by Laura can adapt to the soil and climate here? Or maybe the feeling that the land has changed before is not an illusion? Anyway, it doesn’t hurt to try.

“Aren’t you going to try Mars?”

“It’s just a small piece of land to plant wheat. It won’t take much time.” Mark now has enough food and rest. With his physical strength guaranteed, he can do whatever he wants. He doesn’t care about wasting so much energy: “When the Mars base is ready, I’m going to try to plant some vegetables.”

By then, there will be all kinds of fresh vegetables, wheat-made pasta, a lot of potatoes, and a variety of meats. Winter Village will truly be free to eat.

Thinking of that scene, David was full of expectations!

(End of this chapter)