While Freya was digging the hole, Leo returned to the settlement camp. He needed to remind Olivia to bake more flatbread for Freya.
Such a great helper can't be fobbed off with just any old thing. She deserves something more substantial.
"What? Put cheese in the baked wheat cakes?!" Olivia got angry. "There's no cheese!"
"No cheese? Then what's this?" Taking advantage of Olivia's inattentiveness, Leo poked his head into the wagon and, with great familiarity, picked up a small wooden barrel.
"Hey? What's this? Pine nuts? Sprinkle some! Almonds? Sprinkle some!"
With one hand, Leo fended off Olivia who was trying to snatch the items in a fit of rage, while with the other hand, he rummaged through the wagon, digging out all the food that Olivia had treasured.
Anything that smelled good, he threw it in!
Because he was worried that this brat might throw a tantrum and slack off at any time if he wasn't present, Leo had no choice but to go back to the construction site to keep an eye on things.
When he returned to the construction site, sure enough, Freya had gone on strike. She was standing on the canal bank, staring blankly across the canal.
On the other side of the canal was a large group of kobolds. Fisa, the kobold with black and white fur, was particularly eye-catching.
These kobolds were here to transport iron ores. The canal was their only way through.
After the initial frenzy, the quantity of iron ores transported by the kobolds began to drop significantly.
Firstly, there weren't many ready-made ores piled up in the Kobold Valley. Most of the remaining ores were of poor quality. Now, the iron ores being traded were newly dug out by the kobolds.
Secondly, most of the kobolds had gone mining or hunting, so naturally, there were fewer kobolds responsible for transporting the iron ores.
But Fisa still insisted on bringing her subordinates to deliver two loads of iron ores to the River Bend Settlement Camp every day, actively exchanging them for food.
There was never enough food. According to the food distribution tradition of the kobold tribe, the food that the elderly, the weak, women, and children could get every day was less than one-third of that of an adult kobold.
The adult kobolds were full, while the elderly, the weak, women, and children were still going hungry.
When the kobolds transporting the ores reached the newly dug canal, they were shocked to see a huge magical beast. One by one, they stopped in their tracks from a distance. No matter how Ulyan explained, they didn't dare to cross the canal.
Freya also noticed this group of kobolds. She didn't dare to continue working in the canal, fearing that these kobolds would pounce on her and bite her butt!
"Come on, let's go back and eat first." Seeing this, Leo called out to Freya.
"Time to eat!" As soon as Freya heard the call for food, her two short ears immediately perked up. She no longer cared about these kobolds and ran towards the settlement camp at full speed, making a "pitter-patter" sound with her feet.
After Freya had run far away, a group of kobolds dared to step onto the simple wooden bridge over the canal.
Leo greeted Fisa warmly. "Want to have a bite too?"
The kobold Fisa hesitated for a moment and then nodded.
After this period of trading and coming and going twice a day, the kobold Fisa had become very familiar with this human settlement camp.
Different from other kobolds, who still harbored caution and fear towards humans and were reluctant to have too much communication with them, Fisa was obviously bolder. She had a more outstanding language talent and was better at communicating.
During this period, she not only led the kobolds to trade iron ores with humans outside the River Bend Settlement Camp but also had the courage to enter the settlement camp to check if her kobold cubs were being taken care of.
Even at Olivia's invitation, Leo stayed in the settlement camp for several meals.
Back at the settlement camp, Freya, who had run back earlier, was happily munching on the barley cakes made specifically for her.
The thick barley cakes, as big as a pot lid, were sprinkled with some dried fruits such as pine nuts, dried dates, and almonds, exuding the aroma of freshly baked wheat.
She had three such large cakes!
A bunch of kids in the settlement camp were all drooling with envy. They stared at Freya with saliva streaming down.
Olivia had prepared in advance. She brought out the leftover scraps from baking the barley cakes and distributed them among the children in the settlement camp, all the while nagging non-stop.
Everyone in front of the bonfire received a barley cake the size of a human head. Even though these barley cakes made from wheat flour didn't have any added seasonings and even had a lot of bran mixed in, they were still much tastier than the sour and hard-to-swallow rye bread.
While munching on the barley cake, Leo asked Fisa, "How much do you know about the Wild Boar Men on the other side of the river?"
Fisa, who was happily wagging her tail and munching on the big cake, was stunned. It took her a while to gather her thoughts. "Wild Boar Men, very powerful, very scary."
"There are super many Wild Boar Men on the other side of the river. Kobolds don't cross the river."
In just one week, Fisa the kobold's Common Tongue had become much more fluent. From her account, Leo learned a bit more about the Wild Boar Men on the other side of the river.
In the pine forest on the other side of the Anzerno River, which was once the Wolf-Driving Plain, there were several Wild Boar Man tribes. The nearest one was in a rocky hill approximately thirty li away.
This Wild Boar Man tribe had approximately two hundred people. One-third of them were Wild Boar Man warriors, and most of the remainder were Wild Boar Man hunters. There were only a small number of the elderly and the infirm.
Because the distance was relatively far, beyond the hunting range of the Wild Boar Men, the kobold tribe where Fisa was located had few conflicts with the Wild Boar Men.
Only when the pine nuts ripened each year and the kobolds secretly crossed the river to gather pine nuts in the pine forest on the other side would they be hunted by the Wild Boar Men, losing seven or eight kobolds.
Such a small number of casualties meant almost nothing to the kobolds.
So over the years, they had managed to coexist in peace.
On the contrary, the Wild Folk tribe beneath the big waterfall often fought with the Wild Boar Men. The mountain path leading to the Wild Folk tribe was filled with the skulls of Wild Boar Men.
Leo had heard Ulyan introduce the social structure of the Wild Boar Men before.
A Wild Boar Man tribe typically had only one leader, either the chief or the shaman.
Below the leader were the most elite Wild Boar Man warriors. Beneath the warriors were the hunters, and beneath the hunters were the elderly and the infirm.
Like most wilderness alien races, the hierarchy within the Wild Boar Man tribe was also very strict. The most obvious manifestation was in the distribution of food.
The warriors in the Wild Boar Man tribe received a full portion of food. Thanks to the abundant food, long-term battles, looting, and hunting, they were all tall, strong, and muscular, possessing even greater individual strength than the people of the Northern Region human race.
If we disregard weapons, equipment, and combat skills and only discuss physical fitness, the Wild Boar Man warriors were already comparable to the empire's heavily - armored elite infantry, that is, at the level of third - rank soldiers.
The Wild Boar Man warriors were equipped with the best fur armor of the tribe, carried primitive heavy weapons, and had crossbows. They tamed one-horned wild boars. A hunting team composed of ten Wild Boar Man warriors could run amok in the wilderness.
Below the Wild Boar Man warriors come the Wild Boar Man hunters. They are made up of Wild Boar Men with slightly weaker strength, female Wild Boar Men, and disabled Wild Boar Man warriors. They wear the tattered remains left by the Wild Boar Man warriors and possess simple weapons like crossbows, single-handed hammers, and bone spears.
They're usually in charge of gathering food or hunting small beasts, guarding the lair, and so on. They'll also offer fire support during group battles and even serve as cannon fodder.
Since the food allocated to them every day is only half that of the Wild Boar Man warriors, they appear much smaller in build. Although they're still big and burly compared to humans, they're one-third lighter in weight compared to the Wild Boar Man warriors.
The even lower-ranked elderly and weak get only half the food of adult Wild Boar Men, that is, one-fourth of that of the Wild Boar Man warriors, and are in a state of just barely managing not to starve to death.
Most alien races adopt this or a similar food distribution system. It may seem very unreasonable, but in the wilderness, it can better guarantee the combat effectiveness of the ethnic group.
The Wild Boar Men are extremely savage, brutal, belligerent and xenophobic. They're in a hostile relationship with almost any other race, and even with their own kind.
Moreover, they're omnivorous creatures and can eat just about anything.
Once a Wild Boar Tribe appears, no plants or animals within a thirty-li radius can live in peace.