"Since that's the case, we need to make a slight adjustment to our current plan."
Uncle Ulyan was playing with the javelin head in his hand. Both its quality and workmanship were equally shoddy. He looked extremely excited.
"First, we need to reinforce the camp to give everyone a place to take shelter. Then, we have to find the kobolds' lair and figure out a way to break through it to locate the iron mine! Everything else can be put on hold for now."
After everyone had left and only Ulyan and Leo remained, Leo frowned and asked, "What's the use of finding the iron mine first? Iron ore can't be eaten, and we don't have a blacksmith either. There's no road for over thirty li from here to the Western Watchtower, and the iron ore simply can't be transported out. The top priority now should be to get some food, right?"
These doubts couldn't be voiced in front of everyone. Otherwise, the morale that had been boosted by the iron mine would be dealt a setback again.
"What do you know? Don't worry about anything. Once your injury is healed, go scout as soon as possible. Find the kobolds' lair and see if we can take it down." As was his habit, Ulyan didn't explain but simply waved Leo away.
Leo had no choice but to shake his head and duck out of the tent.
Only after everyone had left did Ulyan sit down with difficulty. The excited and confident expression on his face gradually faded away, and his exhaustion could no longer be concealed.
Olivia, a blond girl with an impressive figure, walked in. Seeing her father's exhausted and pained expression, she walked over with a worried expression and crouched down. She rested her head on Ulyan's knees and whispered with concern, "Dad..."
She lifted Ulyan's trouser leg. His pale skin was covered with pitch-black blood vessels that extended from his calf all the way into his boots, and at the same time, a faint stench emanated.
"It's nothing. Just a minor ailment. I can hold on."
...
When Leo returned to his small tent, he saw that Little Mouse had already come back after taking a bath. At this moment, she was struggling to spread the washed snow bear skin on the propped-up wooden sticks to dry.
The tattered furs that Leo had thrown outside were also tidied up by her and were piled up again in the corner of the tent. Not even a small piece had been discarded, and even the scattered animal hair on the ground had been kneaded into a ball and kept.
She was wearing an old thick woolen sweater with a cylindrical burlap smock over it. Finally, she no longer looked shabbily dressed.
However, these two clothes lent to her by Olivia were obviously too loose. On her body, they resembled some kind of religious robe, and the hem even dragged on the ground.
As a result, she staggered when she walked, looking extremely funny and adorable.
This was also the first time Leo had seen her clean. After taking a hot bath, the little girl finally had a touch of color on her face. With her black hair and black eyes, her features were delicate and refined, and her skin was snow-white, different from that of ordinary commoners at the bottom.
It's just that she was really too thin. Prolonged hunger had caused her cheeks and eye sockets to sink noticeably, making her look a bit spooky.
In fact, even when she was all muddy before, it was easy to tell that Little Mouse was a little girl. But unfortunately, the original owner, Leo, didn't give a damn about her gender at all.
Leo even thought that with the original owner's temperament, he probably wouldn't even give a hoot about her race.
Today, out of a sudden kindness, he would save even a mouse and take it home. Tomorrow, if his good Samaritan spirit ran out, he might just stew it and eat it.
Leo was still holding the small silk pajamas that Little Mouse had taken off. After being washed clean, they dried on their own before there was time to hang them out to dry.
Held in his hand, it was just a tiny ball, as if he was holding a wisp of colorful cloud.
Without unfolding it, one could already see the colorful glow reflected by the sunlight off it.
Moreover, aside from the silky texture, there was a continuous warmth coming from it.
Even Li Ao (a character from modern society), had never seen silk of this quality in his entire life.
Perhaps this was the so-called magical fabric, the reliance that Little Mouse depended on to survive the cold winter in the Northern Region.
This surely meant that Little Mouse's identity was extraordinary, but Leo simply had no intention of looking into it.
The current main task was to solve the survival problem. This kind of side mission that would consume time and energy could definitely be postponed until later.
"Hey!" Leo stuffed the silk pajamas he was holding into Little Mouse's hands. "Put it on secretly. Don't let anyone see it, or it'll get snatched away sooner or later."
Little Mouse stuffed the pajamas away and still didn't say a word, just kept her head down in silence.
"Oh, by the way, where did you sleep and what did you eat these days when I was injured?" Leo voiced his previous doubts.
Little Mouse opened her mouth and stammered, "Sister Olivia... set up a tent for me."
The Imperial language she spoke was very pleasing to the ear, but her accent was clearly not from the Northern Region. Even Leo, who had never left the village in his life, couldn't figure out where it was from.
Was Olivia really that kind? She didn't seem very enthusiastic about Little Mouse...
But this was quite in line with Leo's impression. In his memory, when he was in the village, Olivia was always the one to cook the snow rabbits he caught each time.
But Olivia often couldn't bear to slaughter them, especially when there was still plenty of food.
For a while, Leo was quite fortunate. As a result, there were seven rabbits and a young deer in Olivia's house.
Although the poor and conservative villagers had an obvious dislike for the homeless child, Olivia still couldn't bear to see Little Mouse freeze to death.
Little Mouse took a look at the sun overhead, hid the pajamas well, then grabbed Leo's hand and led him towards the center of the camp.
At this time, the camp was filled with clanging sounds everywhere. Some were setting up tents, some were tearing down the wooden boards of the wagons, some were erecting fences, and some were cleaning up dead branches, weeds, gravel and other debris.
The villagers looked relaxed, and the atmosphere was much more lively than on the road.
Rows of wooden fences were erected around the camp. The villagers' tents were set up against the fences, barely blocking the wind and snow. In case of an attack, these wooden fences would serve as a temporary defense measure. At least they could withstand long - range attacks such as arrows and javelins.
The center of the exploration camp was quite empty. There was only a semi-open tent set up between two wagons. This was the kitchen of the exploration team.
There were also several cages stuffed under the wagons, with some chickens, ducks and rabbits in them.
There were a total of fourteen heads and thirty - eight legs in total among them.
Seven or eight village women, old and young, were constantly busy preparing food for the convoy.
Led by a strong woman, several young girls returned to the camp from outside, carrying baskets. In the baskets were some plants that Leo couldn't name but had eaten before.
It wasn't mealtime yet, but several large pots were already boiling. Inside were some unknown wild vegetables, beans, and chopped radishes and dried meat. The smell of baking bread wafted from a nearby tent.
Of course, the bread wasn't freshly baked. It was the hard bread in stock that was heated up temporarily.
The long, stick - shaped bread that could be used as a weapon couldn't be cut by an ordinary knife at all unless it was heated up.
The so-called meat broth boiling in the pot is also meant to be eaten together with the hard bread. Without soaking the hard bread in the hot soup, it is no different from a piece of hard wood.
Just by looking at this scene, one might actually get a bit of the illusion that there is an abundance of food. This is the atmosphere deliberately created by Ulyan when he places the kitchen in the center of the camp.
But Leo, as a core member, knows that the whole team has almost only these two carts of food left.
Little Mouse pulled Leo and stood on one side of the kitchen cart. More than a dozen brats had already gathered here.
They were all ragged and sallow and emaciated, with eager anticipation on their faces.
When they saw Little Mouse approaching, none of them greeted her. Instead, as soon as they saw Leo, they all shouted, "Big Brother Leo!" and "Captain!"
These brats were all the children of the villagers. Almost all of them had been beaten up by Leo. But the more they were beaten, the more they admired Leo's strength.
However, they didn't dare to get as close to Leo as Little Mouse did to show their affection. No one could guarantee that Leo wouldn't kick them away.
Because the hard bread, which contains a large amount of wheat bran, beans, acorns, and cassava from antler trees (a kind of special cassava), is difficult to digest and can easily cause a child to bloat to death. So the young children in the convoy have different kinds of food.