Chapter 654 Scattered Settlements on the Grassland
"Tilan, take me." Orles hugged Tilan, saying in a coquettish and pleading manner.
"Although I really want to take Orles out, I can't this time." The girl patted Orles' back, feeling that she was like a large life-size doll. After Orles hugged her for a while, Tilan let go and told her the reason.
"There are many things to do this time, and Orles is too beautiful. There will be bad people who will snatch you away there." Tilan blinked and told the simple elf.
Because the food problem had to be solved as soon as possible, Tilan did not have enough energy to take care of Orles on the way. Another reason was that the camp really needed Orles. First, the activation and use of the rhythm crystal required Orles. The extraordinary people here were generally not strong enough. The highest in the Heshan Rescue Association was only Sequence 4, not to mention the others. Only Orles could stably play the role of the rhythm crystal.
In addition, Orles is also a singer. Even if she has lost her memory, many of her instincts are still there. With her, she can adjust the conflicts in the camp very well. In addition, she is also a strong fighter. Except for Tilan and Lololia, no one in the camp is stronger than her. If it is Orles with restored memory, according to Tilan's estimation, she will not be at a disadvantage against Lololia.
"Have you learned the method I taught you today?" Seeing that Orles's mood has stabilized a little, Tilan took out the rhythm crystal and placed it in Orles' palm.
"Yes, Orles has learned it." At this time, she was still proud and happy to answer. Even if she had lost her memory, such things were still very simple for her.
"That's good, let me think about it, Mimi will tell you where to use it later, if you don't understand, just ask her. If there is someone in the camp that makes you feel difficult to deal with and answer, then tell Ori, the big kind moose, and he will help you solve it." The girl once again instructed.
"Let me think about it. Do you still remember the songs I taught you in the winter before?"
"I remember, Tilan taught me, I remember." Orles nodded.
"Well, you can sit by the campfire at night and sing one or two songs for everyone. Everyone has experienced a lot of sad and sorrowful things. You are needed to comfort everyone. I believe Orles can do it." After teaching Orles a lot of common sense in life, Tilan was also ready to try to let her walk out of the small room and contact the world independently.
"Orles, I will."
Hearing Tilan's instructions to her, Orles had some expectations and her mood improved a little. Maybe she was happy to be recognized and needed.
"Come on, Orles." Then Tilan hugged Orles again, feeling this soft and slightly cold body, and let go for a while.
"I'm leaving first." Then Tilan waved and said goodbye to her.
A few minutes later, the ready caravan set off from the small col on the grassland. The brown-haired horned cattle pulling the cart shook their heads and began to move their hooves, dragging the cart loaded with supplies forward. The iron bell hanging on the leading horned cattle could be heard from a long distance.
In this way, the crisp bell sound accompanied the caravan on the grassland, and the backs of the group slowly disappeared in the distance.
...
On the first day, the oxcart caravan of Tilan and others did not encounter any settlements or passers-by. This area had just been ravaged by insect plagues, and many settlements were either destroyed or migrated. Along the way, they saw several damaged carriages and corpses scattered on the grassland.
After a simple burial of the dead bones, the group took out some usable supplies from the damaged carriages, loaded them on the carriages and continued to move forward.
Because the number of oxcarts was limited, the caravan only brought 16 people this time, including Loloria, Sura, Fran, Guy, and three technical members of the Heshan Rescue Society, who were wearing black robes and face towels. The rest were new members in the camp. Many of them were some settlement members rescued along the way when Heshia guided the Heshan Rescue Society to take refuge in the grassland.
Although they had not known each other for a long time, after spending a few days together, everyone had a good impression of each other. In addition, many people were grateful for Heshia's rescue. After all, in such a world, kind-hearted people are really rare.
"I remember you are also a gray feather species, why didn't you escape with the main force at that time?" In the carriage, Tilan asked the young man in front with a little interest. He had not too black hair and wore black leather armor.
"I had a special idea at that time, because I thought that following the main force would be too conspicuous. If I walked alone, I might not attract the attention of those insects. In addition, we gray feather species have a strong ability to hide our own breath, so I was bold enough to escape alone at that time." The other party touched his nose with a little embarrassment.
"In the end, I still encountered a problem on the road. That is, the horse I rode could not conceal its breath as well as I did. But if I gave up the horse and relied on my legs to walk, even if I was a superhuman, I would be exhausted after such a long run."
"So I rode the horse for a long time, then gave up the horse and hurried on my own in the night. I thought I could escape like this, but I didn't expect that because I was not familiar with the terrain, I walked into a valley in the middle and walked for a long time before coming out. At this time, the insects just flew by." He felt helpless as he said this.
"After that, I fought with the insects while running for my life." "
I couldn't rest or replenish my energy during this process. Later, I could only dig a hole in the ground and bury myself temporarily to hibernate."
"Fortunately, a few days later, I finally heard a vibration sound, so I came out and saw you and the members of the rescue association."
"Hahahaha." The other people in the car couldn't help laughing, and then they also talked about what happened during the escape.
Although there were many sad things in the middle, everyone still felt inexplicably lucky to survive this insect plague. This feeling of surviving a disaster even made people feel a little dreamy, because the settlements near the Stone Forest Fortress were now only one in ten, and too many familiar people disappeared in the insect swarm attack that day.
There was no entertainment. All everyone could do along the way was to chat. It was also after two days of getting along that everyone slowly got used to each other. Perhaps they had all experienced life and death, and the little things in their previous lives now seemed so-so, and compared to being alive, they were no longer important.
On the evening of the fourth day, the caravan where Heshia was finally encountered the first settlement in the west of the grassland.
"See those sheepskin tents and felts? This should be a small settlement that makes a living by nomadism." Guy told his companions on horseback.
"When I was young, I followed the caravan to many places and was familiar with this form."
"Because these small settlements cannot occupy grasslands with abundant water and grass, they can only find some marginal grasslands on the outer edge to feed livestock."
"Looking at their tents, the total number of people in the settlement is estimated to be between 30 and 40, and there may be only a dozen young and strong people among them."
"Do you want to go over and take a look? Heshia."
Sura turned around and asked the girl with black hair and black skirt wearing a veil. Compared with other members, this girl was particularly special, especially her slender fingers without any calluses or traces of labor, snow-white skin and beautiful figure, which did not look like someone born in this muddy and turbulent world.
"Let's go and take a look. After all, this is the first settlement we have encountered, and I have some questions I want to understand."
So several people followed the girl and walked towards the settlement in the distance. Guy rode a horse in front, and there was a crisp iron bell hanging on the neck of the horse.
When they got closer, the sentry in the settlement came out and waved to them, asking everyone to stop.
Soon, several members of the settlement on horseback ran out of the settlement, and judging from the figures moving in the settlement, they should have known that a caravan had arrived outside.
"What are you... doing here?" The leading man had a short braid and frowned, looking at the others with great vigilance.
"We are a caravan passing by, do you need to trade?" Guy stepped forward, while the others stayed behind.
"Caravan?" The other party seemed a little unconvinced, looking at the well-equipped people, almost all of whom were carrying guns. Although they were wrapped in cloth and could not be seen clearly, they were definitely not something that a machete could deal with.
"Yes." Guy then explained to the other party, and the man believed it a little.
"You want to buy food? That's impossible. If you come in the summer, I will definitely have someone treat you well, but not now."
"Because they are still cubs in early spring and haven't grown up yet, right?" Guy also understood the situation.
"Since you know, why do you come at this time?"
"If we weren't in short supply, we wouldn't have come here specially." Guy shook his head and mentioned the recent disaster near the Stone Forest Castle.
"I've heard about what you said." Hearing this, the other party nodded slightly.
"It seems that you should also come from the east."
"Okay, I can take out some of the food reserves in the settlement for you, but the quantity is not large, you have to exchange it for three times the usual value." The other party was also very polite.
"So expensive?" Guy couldn't help but ask.
"Humph, this is the price now." The other party explained arrogantly.
Seeing that Guy was still hesitating, Heshia patted the gray pony under him and let it carry him forward.
"Hello, can you give us a little discount? We also brought a lot of goods, and perhaps there are some you need." The girl's voice was particularly pleasant, attracting the attention of several people present.
This girl, who had a slightly immature face but still couldn't hide her stunning beauty, just turned her eyes slightly, and several people were stunned for a while. Since that day, Tilan, who had completely eliminated the obstacles in her heart, began to bloom with her own temperament and charm.
Her figure seemed as gentle as an orchid in the valley, and her eyes were extremely clear and agile. She was unrestrained and responded to the many changes in the world sincerely and freely.
After seeing this black-haired girl, the few people who were still a little angry, not only did their fierce expressions disappear, but their words became gentle.
"Miss, what are the goods you mentioned?" They didn't necessarily really want to know what goods and goods the other party brought, but just wanted to hear her say a few more words.
"So, we brought prepared medicines, some firearms and weapons, tea leaves for brewing and relieving greasiness, dried flowers, and some cloth clothes..." Tilan bent her fingers and touched her chin slightly, recalling the goods she brought.
Seeing her serious answer, the few people who wanted to make things difficult and lower the price were a little embarrassed to speak, so they had to say that they wanted to see the goods.
"That's no problem. Come with me." After saying that, Tilan patted the gray pony under her again and let it carry her back to the caravan.
Tilan introduced the others and they looked at the things loaded on the car one by one.
After the tour, the other party's original suspicion and vigilance dissipated a lot, because they could see that this team should really come to do business, not disguised as a caravan to rob.
"To be honest, we can't take out much food. If it's fur or something, there's still a lot more. I wonder if you need it, young lady."
The man also saw that this gentle girl with black hair and black skirt was the soul of the entire caravan. Didn't you see that no matter what she did, everyone else cooperated respectfully, and no one was impatient or objected.
"Fur..." The girl thought that it was almost summer, and fur was indeed not very useful, but she thought about it the next year, there were still many people in the camp sleeping on stone beds, and some furs would be much more comfortable.
"Let me take a look." She nodded in agreement.
So, these people took Tilan and the other four people back to the settlement.
Walking in the open space between the tents, Tilan saw the real life of many members. There were very few elderly people in the camp. Some women were boiling milk soup. Due to the lack of seasoning, the smell of cow milk and goat milk was relatively strong. Most of their clothes were yellow and dirty. It seemed that the water resources nearby were extremely scarce, and even taking a bath frequently was an extremely luxurious thing.
When she came to the tent where the furs were stored, Tilan watched several strong men take down the bundled and piled furs and put them on the old wooden table. These furs were roughly kneaded and exuded a foul smell. It should be that the fat meat was not cleaned up and there was a lack of materials for nitration.
Tilan had certain expectations about the appearance of the furs. She did not show a surprised expression. She could only say that it was not as good as expected.
"What do you want to exchange?"
"We need medicines and tea leaves for relieving greasiness. There are very few plants that people on the grassland can eat. If they only use meat, cheese, etc., they will become greasy and nauseous after a long time."
"Exchange ratio..." The other party was a little hesitant.
They certainly didn't want to suffer a loss, and they would exchange as much as they could, but they did feel guilty about bullying the girl in front of them. In addition, this caravan was not a weakling, and if they offered too much, they would definitely offend the other party.
"20 furs for a jar of herbs, 40 furs for a bottle of high-grade medicine powder, and 10 furs for a tea cake."
This price... Tilan didn't really understand the price exchange ratio in this land, so she turned to look at Guy who was following behind her.
"If it were somewhere else, this exchange ratio would be reasonable, but this is the grassland, and the value of your furs is not that high." Guy shook his head.
Whenever purchasing goods on the grassland, the price must be reduced by more than twice, which is in line with the convention.
"You kid!" Although he was quite polite to the black-haired girl in front of him, it didn't mean that the man's character had changed, especially Guy's expression and demeanor, which instantly reminded him of the profiteers who passed by on weekdays.
The axe at hand was heavily placed upright on the table, and the inverted axe hit the wooden table, splashing some sawdust. If the wooden table was not originally thick and heavy, it might have fallen apart on the spot.
Seeing this, Tilan also knew the general situation and the actual exchange ratio. She stretched out her hand and asked Guy to step back and negotiate with the other party.
"Wait a minute, I can give you some concessions, such as trying to follow the exchange ratio just reported. However, we have just come to the western grassland to trade and have little understanding of the local situation. You should tell me more intelligence information on the grassland, such as the location of each settlement, and the general situation of each force, etc." She was not worried that the other party would fabricate false information to deceive her. As a singer, it was easy to distinguish these.
Seeing her blocking in front of him, the leading man looked at Tilan, then slowly pulled the axe from the table and put it down.
"Okay, since you're willing to pay our price, I'll tell you some information about the grassland."
"Come with me." Then he led a few people out of the tent where supplies were stored, returned to the exit of the settlement, sat down in an open space where both sides could see each other, and then began to talk about the situation of the various forces in the western part of the grassland.
The breeze was rustling, and the early spring air was still a little chilly. The personnel on both sides began to count the supplies, moved the things they wanted to exchange to the open space in the middle, and then sat aside and listened to the strong man talk about the ups and downs and various conflicts and fights on the grassland.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
