After dealing with the troll cubs, Lind used the scattered scraps of cloth around him to wipe his longsword clean, which was covered in sticky blood.
The surrounding soldiers quickly searched the area, and soon several of them had found something.
"My lord, we have found some unusual leather in the pile of junk. Please take a look."
As he spoke, a bronze warrior presented a peculiar piece of leather.
The leather surface is thick and yellow, with some hard, oval-shaped nails on it, while the back is smooth and feels very comfortable to the touch.
Lind recalled the troll leader who had just been killed by Astaire; the strange leather armor it wore must have been made of the same material.
"My lord, it looks like the leather of some kind of magical beast. If I'm not mistaken, there should be a wild population of this kind of magical beast in the vicinity."
As Linde listened to Astaire's analysis and heard his excited tone, he couldn't help but feel excited as well.
If he's lucky, his territory will soon acquire a huge money tree.
It's important to understand that useful and productive magical beasts are a scarce resource. Whether they are used to breed hybrid mounts or raised for slaughter to obtain alchemy and enchanting materials, they can become a huge source of income for the territory.
Of course, all of this is predicated on the fact that it exists. If this troll killed the last one, or had already driven the monster away from its territory, then damn it.
He handed the leather to the soldier beside him and gave the order:
“Collect these leathers separately, and also collect anything related to them, the more the better.”
"Yes, sir!"
...
As the soldiers got busy, the entire castle gradually became lively, and Linde led the group to search the entire castle thoroughly.
Unfortunately, this former viscount, whether out of extreme poverty or excessive meticulousness, left Lind with nothing of value; even the crystal lamp on the wall was reduced to an empty base.
"Wow... This guy is really something. In the end, almost everything in the castle was brought by these trolls and goblins. I'm impressed."
Linde looked at the rubble the soldiers were clearing out of the castle and rubbed his forehead with one hand. "But it's alright, it's within expectations. Considering the clue about the monster race, it's not like we're just missing out on the overall situation."
"only……"
Lind looked at the leather armor he had looted from the troll chieftain.
"I wonder what kind of magical beast it is? But since it could be killed by a troll, it probably isn't a particularly powerful one."
"Aster".
"I am here, sir."
"Pass the word down and double the number of people patrolling at night. We'll set up camp in the open space in front of the castle. If these magical beasts are aggressive nocturnal creatures, it could be difficult to deal with them."
"Yes, sir!"
Aster knew all too well how tough this thing's hide was; he discovered it when he killed the troll chieftain—its protective capabilities were ridiculously good.
If this monster were alive, who knows how much combat power it would have.
Today took a lot of time; by the time the food was cooked, it was already completely dark.
Today's meal was rather simple, made from the dry rations I carried with me.
The dried meat is served with an otherworldly broth made from locally sourced leaves and tubers, along with dry bread baked from whole wheat.
This dry bread is a bit like a baguette from Blue Star. It's incredibly hard, but it's square and flat, making it easy to store in a bag. When you want to eat it, you just need to soak it in hot soup and it will quickly become soft.
Near the former earldom, the locals called this bread "Herd," meaning hard bread. It was a more popular food than rye bread, and sometimes it even appeared on the tables of nobles.
After finishing his meal, Lin De was also a little tired. He had been busy all day, and he had a lot of plans for tomorrow.
If all goes well tomorrow, we will relocate the serfs from afar to this place and begin formal territory construction, including land planning and resource exploration.
Thinking about the busy future, Lin De laughed out loud. After all, he had finally arrived in his own territory, which made him feel extremely at ease.
Linde, dressed in armor, lay on the makeshift bed and quickly fell into a deep sleep, dreaming of the future.
...
As Linde's snoring grew louder, the shadows beside the bed stirred, and from the churning shadows emerged the dark figure that had been stealing honey earlier.
This time, her hands were no longer empty; she was carrying the honey jar that had been stolen earlier.
The dark figure shook the empty jar, hoping that a single drop of delicious honey would drip out.
Unfortunately, the honey jar had already been licked clean by her, as if it had been washed.
So the shadowy figure, carrying the jar, followed the darkness to the campsite outside, hoping to find the tent with the honey jar again.
But suddenly they discovered that today's camp was very different from the previous camps. There were many more people carrying torches, and the people wearing cotton clothes were gone.
Only the soldiers in chainmail remained. The shadowy figure paused, somewhat confused.
She placed the pottery jar in a secluded spot and then, through a series of flashes in the darkness, made her way outside the camp.
Outside the camp was a flowing river. She went to the riverbank, dipped her finger in the water, and then, as if stimulated by something, quickly withdrew her hand.
Then her gaze crossed the river and fell upon the boundless grassland. A primal urge drove her across the river to the grassland, and she began to run wildly as if it were her instinct.
She was no longer hidden in the darkness; her lithe figure gradually became clear in the moonlight, which seemed to coat her with a layer of silver.
She became a ray of silver light on the grassland.
But just as she had run for almost 5 miles, she seemed to sense something and stopped in place.
She stretched out a finger and extended it forward. The silver light coating her body gradually disappeared from her fingertip as she moved, until she stopped.
Immediately afterwards, a feeling of weakness came from her hand. She withdrew her hand, and the feeling of weakness began to slowly return.
At that moment, she felt that the night around her was no longer safe, and even the bright moonlight could not dispel the fear in her heart.
She became frightened.
Fear drove her to run wildly toward the camp.
She now desperately longs to return to that particular shadowy place, where she can only feel unparalleled warmth.
Just then, outside the camp, two soldiers who had come out to fetch water were strolling leisurely to the riverbank, about to take water from the river.
Suddenly, a silver meteor appeared in the field of vision of one of the sentries, flying towards them.
"Will...Will? Look, what's that!?"
"Wh...what?"
In an instant, the silver light disappeared from the riverbank, and Will, who was fetching water, did not witness the bizarre scene.
"What's wrong, Dodge? What did you see?"
Having just witnessed the silver light, Dodge ignored his companion's questions and went to the riverbank to search for the vanished silver light.
"I just saw something flashing silver rush towards the riverbank..."
Dodge rubbed his eyes hard, trying to find the silver light he had just seen.
"Are you stupid? There's no silver light at all..."
Will, who was standing to the side, found his companion's chatter annoying and urged him on:
"Come lend a hand, let's finish this job quickly so we can go back to sleep."
"Coming...coming!"
Dodge felt the evening breeze was even colder than before. He hunched his shoulders, picked up the buckets, and fled back to the camp.
The culprit behind all this was now lying in Lind's shadow, stretching comfortably and fast asleep in a sweet dream.
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