Chapter 166: The Chaos Resolved, Soru and Jeru, Temugi Returns...
The living room at Hagrid's house was very warm. After breakfast, the two kids, who were on winter break and had nothing to do, would usually play in the living room.
After the arrival of their little brother, Danny and Luna, now older siblings, focused most of their attention on the baby, reducing their time spent going out to play.
As soon as Ray and Neil entered the living room, they saw this lively scene: a little baby, bundled up in thick clothes, was standing while holding onto a chair, and Farah was feeding him half an apple by scraping out the puree with a spoon.
"Mom, my brother is here!"
Lamb called Linda out and eagerly brought out chairs for Ray and Neil. Linda invited them to sit down and busied herself bringing out lots of snacks for them.
"Lay, the fish Neil sent yesterday tasted very good, thank you."
"Aunt Linda, you're too kind."
Hagrid sat in the living room, looking at Ray and then at Neil, his eyes filled with admiration.
“Your decision was right, Neil has changed a lot.”
Neil smiled shyly.
After exchanging brief pleasantries with the others, Ray got straight to the point, asking about what had happened the previous night. Upon hearing this, Hagrid's face also showed signs of worry.
“We heard noises last night, but we didn’t wake everyone up because we were afraid of scaring the children.”
Linda interjected, gesturing for Farah to take the children upstairs.
"Luna, Danny, come upstairs with me to help."
Farah picked up the chubby little baby and pulled a reluctant Luna upstairs.
"What are Uncle Lei and the others going to say? I want to hear it too! I want to hear it too!"
Luna struggled in vain, only to be stopped by a single look from Farah.
Danny wanted to stay in the living room and listen, so he moved slowly. Hagrid noticed his intention and called Danny over.
“Danny is a big kid too, he’s even older than Neil, these things won’t scare him.”
Upon hearing Hagrid's words, Danny quickly pulled up a chair, sat down next to Neil, and gave Neil a bright smile.
“Last night’s beast tide was extremely abnormal. If it wasn’t something that happened in Eaton Forest, then someone must have done it on purpose.”
Since the first blizzard, Barnett has been diligently patrolling the area, and nothing unusual has been found in the mountains or forests recently. Normally, this shouldn't be happening..."
Hagrid shared his analysis.
"But if the trouble really came from Eaton Forest, we don't have any good solutions. We can only report it to the town for handling."
Beast tides are natural disasters that occur periodically, and are virtually unavoidable when they happen without warning. A silence fell over the crowd.
The sound of the living room door opening came from inside; it was Rhys returning from going out to gather information.
He swept the snow off his shoes in the entryway and took off his thick leather coat and hat, hanging them on the wall.
"Oh, Ray and Neil are here. Have you eaten yet?"
"I've already eaten."
"oh oh."
"Second brother, how's the situation in the village?"
Hagrid asked Rhys, and Linda handed Rhys a cup of hot barley tea. Rhys took a big gulp of tea to calm himself down and exhaled a breath of stale air.
"The situation in the village is not good. Several fences were breached by wild animals, and the jars and other items in the yards were trampled. A section of the village road was also destroyed."
Then there's Booz, who was really unlucky. He got up in the middle of the night and bumped into a wandering Grumon, breaking his leg. Luckily, his family heard the noise and pulled him back inside, otherwise, he might have broken more than just his leg.
"He's really unlucky, but at least this will give him some peace and quiet for a while."
Linda commented.
"What did Barnett say?"
Hagrid then asked.
"The clan elders have already sent people to town and started organizing people to clear out the wild animals that have run away or are injured and unable to leave. My older brother and I will have to go out in a bit."
"You should hurry on your way, but be careful of the wounded wild animals; they become very wild when they are injured."
Brian went back inside to get some warm clothes and his sword. Reese put on his clothes and grabbed his bow and arrows. The two brothers were out at the threshing ground in no time.
"Lay, don't go to town to sell vegetables these days. Try to stay home as much as possible and don't go out around the neighborhood. If you need anything, I'll have Lamb deliver it to you."
“Okay, we have everything we need. I’ve stockpiled plenty of food for the winter.”
"I will let you know as soon as there is any news, so don't panic."
"good."
Hagrid asked about Rye and Neil's recent situation. After chatting for a while, it was lunchtime. Rye declined Hagrid and Linda's invitation and made an excuse to take Neil home.
After going through all that, Lai had a better understanding of the situation. If things got out of control, the only option was to deal with whatever came his way.
This minor disturbance not only harmed the small mountain village but also affected a nearby area, with the goblins bearing the brunt.
They were not directly harmed, but they were attacked by lone wild animals.
Not only were many holes dug into the vegetable garden, but several sections of the wooden fence were also knocked down because the wooden fence was not as sturdy as the village's stone walls.
The villagers were too busy taking care of themselves to deal with the goblins. Seeing the situation was getting out of hand, Iru organized a dozen or so goblins, armed with axes and farm tools, to hunt them down.
After a busy day, he finally caught an injured male deer, which made Soru, who loved watching the drama, laugh at him behind his back.
He usually liked to go against Iru, but when the goblins were dividing up the meat, he would shamelessly join in, pretending to help, hoping to get a share of the pie.
Iru initially didn't want to pay him any attention, but Soru, shameless and having a connection with Nanara, kept harassing the goblins present. In the end, he had to give Soru a small bowl of deer blood to appease the scoundrel.
Having gained an advantage, Soru didn't go straight back to the cabin, but instead smugly went around to Jeru's house.
In fact, the wooden cabin he lives in now doesn't belong to him; it was built by two of his underlings. Apart from the verbal instruction he received, he didn't put in any physical effort.
But it was a case of one willing to give and both willing to receive; no one knows what kind of spell Soru had cast on the two goblins, but even though Hru had abandoned them and run away, they still followed Soru...
"Oh, busy again!"
Soru watched as Jeru struggled to prop up the collapsed wooden fence.
"Come on, let me help you."
Soru pretended to put down what he was holding, and Jeru had already lifted the fence in one go.
"No need, I've already taken care of it."
"Hahaha, you young goblins are really strong, you're efficient at everything. What? Didn't that guy Yiru invite you to go hunting with the goblins? You've always considered him a good brother. Look, this is the deer blood he gave me, it's hot and smells delicious!"
Jeru ignored Soru's behavior completely; he knew what had happened in the small mountain village the night before.
Goblins are a nocturnal race, so it's hard for them not to notice such a commotion.
He also knew that Iru wasn't hunting, but rather clearing away wild animals that had wandered in by mistake. The so-called deer blood that Iru gave him was definitely something that Soru shamelessly asked for himself.
If it weren't for his special status, he wouldn't have wanted to put Yiru in a difficult position. He genuinely wanted to contribute his share to this rare gathering place.
Jeru's silence only fueled Sol's arrogance, and no one knew what he was so proud of.
"Haha, once Iru catches the other prey, he'll definitely share some with me."
Soru chuckled, his dark skin making him look particularly sleazy. Jeru's eyes practically rolled back to the sky.
"From now on, I'll have plenty of fresh meat and goblins fawning over me. Hahaha! Jeru, Jeru, you can just keep farming, though you won't be able to farm for much longer."
"What do you mean?"
Jeru frowned.
Solu's words were clearly loaded with meaning, as if he had suddenly encountered some good fortune, which made him particularly confident.
"Pfft, what do you mean? The meaning behind your words."
Soru left without looking back, unusually refraining from trying to take advantage of him, which filled Jeru with suspicion.
He understood Theroux's way of doing things as well as he understood his own brother.
Brothers... Khru!
He wished he had never had a brother who betrayed his subordinates and family like this!
Thinking of that goblin he never wanted to mention again, Jeru's mood plummeted. The suffocation and hatred made him feel as if a pent-up resentment was stuck in his stomach.
If he were familiar enough with human culture, he would definitely use the word "bad luck" to describe his current mood.
Some things are not forgotten with the passage of time; those things that have happened can always sting unexpectedly, triggering a powerful reaction similar to pangs of pain.
Jeru's mood was ruined by Sol and Heru today, so he could only work hard to pass the time.
The knights sent by the town acted swiftly, arriving at the small mountain village the very next day.
They first assisted the villagers in capturing the lone wild animals, and after hearing that there were also magical beasts mixed in, they invited two offensive mages to capture them as well.
In areas where ordinary people congregate, even the lowest-level magical beasts can cause immense damage, so these cannot be ignored.
With the combined efforts of the villagers and knights, it took five days to finally clear away the thirteen wild beasts that were roaming around.
Barnett had the hunter kill one alive, and then roasted it for the busy group to eat.
They even killed two more and distributed the meat to the villagers as compensation.
The remainder was sold to shops in town. Half of the proceeds went to the people who came from town, and the remaining half, after deducting the five silver coins given to Buz for medical expenses, went into the village's accounts. It was used to repair village roads and strengthen defenses.
Those who hold a certain position in the village know how much money is in the village accounts; Barnett is a very reliable leader.
Those that couldn't be found mostly disappeared into the nearby dense forest, making them impossible to catch. The villagers would have to deal with them slowly later.
In addition, they captured a seventh-tier demonic wolf and an eighth-tier demonic fox, which reassured the villagers of the small mountain village.
Barnett sent people to visit several surrounding villages and learned that only the small mountain village was the most severely damaged. Other villages only had a few wild animals that wandered into them, but they were quickly dealt with.
The villagers acted quickly, and the damaged wall was repaired. Many villagers followed Laijia's example and raised the height of their own courtyard walls to prevent wild animals from breaking into their homes. Only Temuqi's courtyard still showed signs of wild animals having visited.
Temuqi's houses are all built of stone, making them warm in winter and cool in summer, and much sturdier than the wooden structures that make up the rest of the village.
Despite the wild animal attack, the exterior walls of the house were undamaged, but they were smeared with blood.
The open forge was also made of stone, and the tools inside had been scattered all over the floor by wild beasts that had run in.
Temuqi hadn't cultivated a large vegetable garden, so he hadn't bothered to build a fence.
His small vegetable garden and the clothesline railing were both damaged; the carefully laid furrows were trampled to pieces, and one of the railings was broken.
Lei came to Timur's house and helped tidy up the forge, but he'll have to deal with the broken railing when he gets back.
Two days later, on the morning that Lei decided to go to the black market, Temuji finally returned.
His long beard was braided into an intricate and elaborate plait, and he looked very energetic, quite different from his usual image in the village.
After putting down his things and changing his clothes, Temuqi went to Laiyi's house, seemingly to share some important news with him.
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