Chapter 93 Construction Team? Please, logging, traveling...
Lai stopped what he was doing and gestured for Iru to continue recounting what had happened and what had happened.
"We were staying at home that day when a goblin suddenly came and told us to gather. I went to the place as instructed and found the clan elder, the village hunting team leader, and several other people there."
Once everyone had mostly gathered, the clan elder said he wanted to discuss something with us and asked for our opinions.
What could possibly warrant the clan elder personally going to find this unpopular group of goblins?
Lai was a little confused, and Iru continued to recount what had happened.
“The clan elders said that we performed well when the tunnel was being built, and people from other places who also suffered from inconvenient transportation wanted to hire us to help dig the tunnel.”
this……
Lei was also somewhat undecided about this matter.
Is participation voluntary?
"Yes, the elder means that we can go if we want to, and he won't force us if we don't want to. We can continue living here as before, and no one will bother us."
Iru recounted Barnett's entire story to him, and Ray understood the whole picture.
From a darker perspective, given the extremely low social status of goblins, this trip is likely to end in grave danger. They might be sold into hard labor or exploited as free laborers by the village.
On second thought, if that was the plan, then we wouldn't have gone to such great lengths to settle the goblins' lives in the first place.
The villagers were kind, and Leigh believed in his heart that Barnett wasn't such an extremely opportunistic person.
Ray felt he needed to ask Hagrid about this before he could give Iru some advice.
"I'll look around the village and get some information before I tell you."
"well!"
Iru has complete trust in his wife's savior, and in Ray, who has always helped them despite racial barriers.
It's only the beginning of spring, and there's still some time before spring planting, but building a tunnel isn't something that can be decided in a day or two.
Materials, manpower, and funding are all issues, so it's impossible to start construction immediately. They will have a long time to consider this matter.
"Is there enough food lately?"
"That's enough, that's enough."
When Kai heard Lai's question, his eyes lit up at first, but Iru's answer quickly calmed him down.
No matter how much food you prepare, there won't be much left after a winter, especially with so many children to feed.
My brother and I are in the growth and development stage, and our stomachs are like deflated balloons, we can't get enough to eat.
After finishing the daily rations provided by their families, they could only dig up some grass roots, add a little salt, and boil them into soup. Although it tasted bitter, it was still better than the feeling of hunger.
He understood his father Iru's thoughts; his father didn't want to rely too much on Mr. Victor's help. After all, one had to live one's own life.
Life is so much better now than it was back in the Eton Woods.
Mr. Victor helped them store enough food before winter arrived, and now we feel bad troubling him to get some more.
Besides, my father had already prepared for the worst at home. We still have enough food to last until the wild vegetables grow.
So, even though the words were on the tip of her tongue, Kai swallowed them back.
Lai noticed the change in Kai's expression; it seemed the family was running low on food. Iru didn't bring it up, and Lai didn't press the matter further.
"I plan to expand my small vegetable garden when the weather gets warmer and plant more foods that can be stored for a long time, so that this winter will be easier."
Iru talked about his plans for the next year, his face full of hope for the future.
Do you have seeds or anything like that?
"Yes, we exchanged seeds with the villagers last year when the tunnel was being built and planted them all. But we didn't eat them all when we harvested them in the fall. We kept a few of the better-growing ones and specifically saved the seeds."
"What did you leave behind?"
"Cabbage, radish, melon seeds, and some other small green vegetables."
At this point, Yiru became somewhat flustered.
The villagers were still somewhat wary of them, so they only gave him some seeds that were too much trouble for their own families and some that weren't very useful. Some even mixed in half a bag of flower seeds.
It was his first time sowing seeds, and he didn't know what kind of seeds they were, so he planted all the ones that looked the same together.
When the seeds sprouted, they were stunned to see that half of the vegetable garden was filled with colorful flowers.
This thing looks nice but tastes bad; it's useless to grow.
Goblins have such a bad reputation, he was already incredibly grateful to have been given some seeds in return, so even so, he wasn't discouraged. At least he still had the other half of his vegetables to eat.
Lei nodded, having made up his mind.
Iru had given him an earth elemental stone, which played a crucial role in the crisis, indirectly saving his life. If he could help Iru's family, he would definitely not refuse.
"I'll bring you some easy-to-store vegetable seeds in a few days. You can plant them when the time comes, and this winter will be much easier."
"Thank you so much!"
"It's nothing, it's a small matter, don't worry about it."
Iru was a little excited, and Kai was also very excited.
Mr. Victor really helped their family solve a lot of big problems! He will remember his kindness for the rest of his life.
After a few words, the sapling was quickly taken care of.
Lai and Iru carried the heaviest logs into the truck bed, while Neil and Kai picked up the lighter branches and did what they could.
By the time all the wood was packed, it was just past noon, saving several hours.
"Gurgle..."
Kai's stomach started rumbling, and he scratched his hair a little embarrassedly.
Except for the twins, they now eat two meals a day. He was a little hungry today because he had used up a lot of energy.
Since he could get home early today, Lai gave all the rye bread he had brought to Iru and his son. After several refusals, they finally accepted Lai's kindness.
On the way back, Lai gave Yiru and the others a ride and left them a bundle of branches before heading back.
Loading the truck wasn't too difficult with Iru's help. Back home, Neil, being small and weak, was worried about being hit, so he spent several hours unloading the wood all by himself.
Neil used hot pot broth, adding sliced meat, potatoes, and vegetables to make noodle soup. After finishing his work, being able to eat a hot meal made Lai feel completely healed by the bowl of warm noodles.
After finishing my meal and tidying up the branches, it started to get a little dark. I drew the curtains, turned on the glass lamp, brewed a pot of barley tea, and another day had passed.
While Ray was boiling water, he suddenly remembered the matter of finding seeds for Iru, so he left the storeroom door open and started looking for seeds with a candle in hand.
He remembered eating a particularly delicious pumpkin in winter, so he washed and dried the seeds and kept them, about a hundred or so.
He couldn't possibly use that many seeds. Giving a handful to Yiru would be enough for him to grow more than twenty pumpkins to eat.
Lai searched and searched, and finally found pumpkin seeds in a cloth bag on the top shelf, along with a basket of various kinds of seeds.
"I didn't even realize I'd accumulated so much!"
As he muttered to himself, Lai carried the entire basket out and took some pre-cut pieces of oil paper.
"Brother, are you looking for seeds for Kai's family?"
"Yes, I didn't expect to have saved so many seeds in the fall. I should have just left the ones Lamb brought."
Lai opened each of the small cloth bags one by one to see what was inside.
"Brother, is this a scallion seed? It smells so strong."
Ray glanced at the bag in Neil's hand, which was filled with tiny, neatly shaped particles that looked like black sesame seeds.
"It's scallion seeds. Just give half of it to Yiru and the others."
"Okay."
Neil poured the onion seeds onto parchment paper, and then skillfully wrapped them up tightly with just one sheet of paper.
"Brother, should we write down what kind of seed it is?"
“Although Iru can speak the common language, he probably doesn’t know how to read. You can just make some identifiable markings.”
"good."
Neil made full use of his drawing skills and drew pictures on the paper package with charcoal pencils.
Lai wrapped several paper packets in a row, containing pumpkin seeds, loofah seeds, autumn radish seeds, as well as peanuts and rapeseed.
Lei decided to wait until the right time to secretly deliver the potatoes and sweet potatoes to Iru, otherwise, what would happen if so many potatoes and sweet potatoes used for seed were delivered?
After sorting through the seeds, Lai realized that he didn't actually have that many kinds of vegetables at home. He added buying some more seeds from the seed shop to his itinerary after his trip to town.
——
With the arrival of spring, the annual trial for the young elves has come as scheduled.
Coincidentally, the elven prince Sepulia was born in the vibrant spring season. By all accounts, he would have turned 18 this spring and be able to travel alone.
However, the Elf Queen, who doted on her children, clearly did not want her most beloved youngest son to step into the treacherous, dangerous, and deceitful human world as soon as he came of age.
"Ya Ya, you are too young to face the various problems of the human world on your own. Your mother suggests that you stay in the tribe for a few more years before going out with the royal guards. This way, your safety will be best protected."
"No, Mother, I want to leave this year!"
"What's so fun out there? Humans especially love to abduct young elves like you who are just coming of age and are naive to the ways of the world. Listen to your mother and stay in the forest. There are no Emerald Fruits for you to eat every day outside."
"You don't need to worry about Mother. After we get out, I will disguise myself properly and will never let humans discover my identity. I have made ample preparations!"
The Elf Queen continued to try to dissuade her stubborn youngest son, but every reason she could think of was rejected one by one by Sepulia.
The Elf King finally couldn't stand it anymore and issued a confinement order, locking him in his room.
"My father and mother are so wicked! Why can all the other newly-adult elves go out, but I can't!"
Sepulia grew increasingly angry and decided to force the Elf King and Queen to compromise by going on a hunger strike.
He looked at his packed bag and then at the tunnel he had secretly dug as a child to sneak out and play, and suddenly an idea came to him.
"Confined to the house? Hehehe, just right!"
Sepulcia grinned wickedly and pushed aside the wooden crate that was placed above the tunnel.
However, I still need to pretend a little bit.
"Father and Mother are so wicked! I've decided to go on a hunger strike tonight and don't bring me any food!"
This wasn't the first or second time the young prince had gone on a hunger strike, and the elven guards standing at the door were used to it, remaining motionless and steadfastly fulfilling their duties.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com