[Chapter 19 No Money]

“What a pity! If only I could speed up like in some games, or use some props to let me see the results directly.”

No matter how much David hoped that Winter Village would soon be free to eat and work, he could only wait for the results day by day.

However, compared to Mark Watney, who ran back and forth, David’s life was much easier. In addition to exploring the forest in the north from time to time to check if there were any other dangerous neighbors, the most important thing every day was to practice and study.

The practice was mainly aimed at the use of several weapons and fighting skills. In addition to being a teacher, Fording would also serve as a sparring partner. It was not a good experience for David.

The study of various knowledge was also not interrupted. David felt that this kind of learning might continue for a long time, because according to his own ideas, it was not possible to complete all kinds of messy knowledge in a few years.

After a few days, Mark Watney finally successfully opened up a potato field in the Mars base. Next, he only needed to wait for the results quietly.

Because he had the backing of Winter Village, he did not have such great psychological pressure for this purely experimental project. Of course, he still hoped that he could succeed – if he could grow potatoes on Mars, he would definitely be the first person in history.

“You know? Maybe I will be called the first human to colonize Mars.”

Mark often mentioned this during meals. Compared with the sprouting of wheat in Winter Village, it was not a surprising thing.

“There is one thing I don’t quite understand.” As time passed, Fording’s English level improved rapidly. Now he can communicate in English normally. Because he learned English with Mark, his accent and speaking habits are more American: “Why go to a planet where there is nothing and even no one can survive on it?”

In Fording’s view, even if there are too many humans on Earth and they need to find a new home, they should find a world where they can survive, right? But in Mark’s description, the place called Mars does not seem to be a good place to be a new home.

“This… because it is very difficult for Earthlings to leave Earth and go to other planets. In this case, Mars is the ‘best’ choice.” Mark introduced several other planets in the solar system to Fording, and emphasized again the significance of his experiment once it succeeded: it seems that humans have the possibility of living on Mars.

Listening to Mark and Fording’s conversation, David was playing a fighting game with Laura – Laura brought a lot of electronic products one after another, as well as generators, solar charging panels, etc.

Seeing that the character controlled by David was easily defeated by the character controlled by her, Laura looked at him with a meaningful look.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” Laura held the handle and started the next game, talking about a topic that had nothing to do with the game in front of her: “When are you going to leave?”

David’s next plan was to go to Iron Tree Castle, report the situation of Winter Village, and obtain the kingdom’s certification.

Everyone knows this. If David hadn’t wanted to see if the wheat planted by Mark could sprout, he would have set off after destroying the troll village a few days ago.

“We’ll set out at dawn tomorrow.” Now that he had the results and confirmed that wheat could be planted, he felt that he had more bargaining chips to recruit villagers. The only thing he was worried about was that the news spread by the pioneers who had returned earlier might greatly reduce the credibility of his words.

“Iron Tree Castle is a big city, right?”

“Iron Tree Castle is the largest city in the north of the Kingdom of Tilan.”

As an important town in the north and the kingdom’s main source of high-quality wood, Iron Tree Castle has a high status in the Kingdom of Tilan. Based on the wood of iron tree, Iron Tree Castle itself is also prosperous enough – of course, in the eyes of David, who has seen the world, it is just so-so, and it can’t get rid of the evaluation of being dirty and messy.

“Why? Are you interested in Iron Tree Castle?”

“Of course, I’m interested in many things in this world.” Laura frequently ran to this world and almost regarded it as her new home, because it was an unexplored new world full of unknowns. Her desire to explore made her want to dig out everything in this world and understand it clearly.

“So…” Hearing Laura’s voice suddenly rise, David guessed her thoughts: “You want to go with me?”

“Yes! I have made some preparations.”

“Ah? Preparations?”

“Yes, such as clothes that are more in line with the style of this world.” Laura paused the game and ran back to her room. When she appeared in front of David again, she was holding clothes and pants of similar style to what David wore at the beginning.

“You are really well prepared.” David also dug out his old clothes in the past few days, and camouflaged his backpack and bow, such as covering them with a layer of beast fur.

Mark and Fording also stopped the popular science introduction of the Milky Way when they found that David and Laura were discussing going to Iron Tree Castle.

“How long does it take to get to Iron Tree Fort from here?”

“If the journey goes smoothly, it will take more than half a month, or at most a month.” It took two months to get from Iron Tree Fort to this place, but that was because the team had a large number of people and the speed of travel was not fast. If

it were just David and Laura, the walking speed would be much faster. David estimated that if there were no accidents, half a month to twenty days would be enough.

“It’s a pity that there are no livestock left in the village.” Not to mention leaving a horse as a mount, even if there were some livestock that could be used to carry food, this journey would be much more comfortable.

Now David and Laura can only bring more compressed food and walk along the river, using the river flowing out of the Iron Tree Forest as the main source of food on the road.

“Speaking of this, it seems that in addition to recruiting villagers, we have to buy some livestock.” David only remembered at this time that if he wanted to develop the village, various livestock were also indispensable-if possible, he should also bring back some poultry?

After a few words of discussion, Mark suddenly became curious about something: “After talking for so long, I suddenly remembered, is there money in the village?”

“…”

The scene became very quiet. Several people present had never thought about this question before. Three eyes turned to David. Only he could answer this question.

“No.” David looked at the three people who were staring at him and gave a straightforward answer: “In fact, the pioneering team will make all preparations before setting off. Once the village is successfully established, the next step is a normal life development.”

David explained the current situation to the three people: “That is to say, under normal circumstances, things like livestock, seeds of various crops, farm tools, and poultry are all prepared when the team is formed. If there is anything needed later, the village can only find a way by itself.”

For example, sell the food produced, the fine furs obtained from hunting, the mineral deposits found, etc., and then use the money earned to buy what you need.

“Under normal circumstances, it should be like this…”

But David’s situation is not normal. His Winter Village was originally not successfully established. All the resources brought in at the beginning were basically consumed. Although the village is now established and there is food, it is not rich enough to sell on a large scale.

“What should I use to buy poultry and livestock?”

“I’ll think of a way after I get to Iron Tree Castle!” David’s idea is to see if those who agree to come to Winter Village can bring some poultry or livestock with them. He doesn’t consider the number of poultry or livestock first.

As long as there is a foundation, there will always be more as the village develops.

In addition, I wonder if Iron Tree Castle will give Winter Village some “support and support”?

According to convention, once he becomes the head of Winter Village, the Lord of Iron Tree Castle will become his direct superior. As a subordinate, it is normal for David to ask his superior for some material support.

After briefly explaining his ideas, Fording felt that there was nothing wrong with David’s ideas and that they were feasible, so he agreed.

Mark lamented that the timing was not good. His Martian potato planting experiment was in its infancy, and he also needed to take care of several fields in the village, so he couldn’t get away to see the big cities in this world.

“When we have enough manpower, you can go out and stroll around at will.” However, David was worried that Mark lacked sufficient self-protection ability: “Before that, you should improve your military strength.”

“I will!” Mark also knew that this world was full of crises, and he was not prepared to run around alone: “And I’m not going to run out alone. Maybe after you come back this time, I can go with you next time I need to go to Iron Tree Castle.”

“There will definitely be many opportunities.”

No matter what the final result is, David can be sure that he will have to travel back and forth between Winter Village and Iron Tree Castle frequently in the future.

Thinking of this, he suddenly became curious about one thing: “Speaking of which, there were three pioneering teams that set out from Iron Tree Castle. I wonder what the situation of the other two is like?”

“Ah? There are two other pioneering teams?” Mark and Laura heard that there were two more teams like David’s previous miserable teams, and they were also curious about the situation of the two pioneering teams.

“One of the teams is building a village in the south of Winter Village, next to the Ironwood Forest. We will pass by there on the way to Ironwood Castle. If the village is built, we can replenish some supplies.”

However, including David, everyone present felt that the possibility of successfully building a village there was not great.

(End of this chapter)