Chapter 82 - 73: Discovering Snake Shedding
Chapter 82: Chapter 73: Discovering Snake Shedding
Shire squatted down, carefully observing Rubus’s behavior.
The big dog’s nose twitched as it slowly approached the entrails on the ground, then it lowered its head and sniffed at them.
’Is there something wrong with the entrails that’s caught Rubus’s attention?’ Shire’s fists tightened unconsciously. If the prey was poisoned, or if anything else was amiss, he would immediately have Bai Mao throw out the day’s hunt.
Fortunately, after sniffing and pawing at them for a moment, Rubus lost interest.
Shire took the bone the Star Realm Dog had dropped and deliberately threw it again, this time near the entrails.
This time, Rubus was still very interested in the entrails, lingering for even longer.
’Does a Star Realm Dog want to eat animal entrails?’ Shire thought it was strange. He knew there were certain things canines couldn’t eat, and he decided to ask Agatha first.
Meanwhile, Bai Mao was cutting the prepared meat into small chunks and tossing them into a large pot to boil. Following Mary’s instructions, she added some wild vegetables to get rid of the gamey taste. A few other female goblins washed rice and readied the remaining pots.
Once the pot came to a boil, Bai Mao skimmed the scum off the top—something Mary had also taught her. Before, she never would have thought to do this.
After letting it cook for a while, she checked the pot. When it seemed about right, she ladled the meat broth into the pots of rice. The female goblins started their fires and began to stir.
They continued this process of adding broth and stirring until the rice grains swelled and a fragrant aroma filled the air.
Finally, Bai Mao took out the dried cheese Mary had left for them the day before, chopped it up, and stirred it into the pots.
At some point, she also added salt and spices. And just like that, several pots of forest risotto were ready.
Shire found the risotto with mushroom and tuber stew to be quite decent. ’To make something this good with such limited ingredients is impressive,’ he thought. ’Once we buy more ingredients and seasonings, I’ll have Mary come teach a class every few days to expand Bai Mao’s repertoire.’
He stood up and went back to Bai Mao for a second helping.
Bai Mao’s hair was tied with red ropes into two high pigtails that Mary had styled for her. She gazed at her leader, eyes twinkling like little stars, a victorious smile gracing her lips.
Shire nodded and encouraged her with a smile. "Delicious."
Bai Mao promptly plopped a large chunk of meat into Shire’s wooden bowl and lifted her chin proudly.
Shire chuckled and walked to the side to continue eating.
Nowadays, when the tribe ate, everyone lined up behind Shire. Only after he had taken his food would they take theirs. This had become, in a way, the first revised rule of the Goblin Race.
Shire hadn’t added any Red Bull Mushroom to lunch today. For one, his subordinates were gradually getting used to working all day. For another, winter was just a few days away, making it nearly impossible to forage for Red Bull Mushrooms in the wild. Meanwhile, the results of Buck Teeth’s cultivation efforts... left much to be desired.
Before heading out to hunt that afternoon, Shire planned to check on the Red Bull Mushroom’s growth. If things still weren’t looking good, he would consider buying something else as a substitute.
’I can store more sugar. In winter, the weather gets cold. Letting the goblins drink hot sugar water should help them a bit. Plus, sugar counts as a seasoning,’ Shire mused while chewing his risotto. ’With so many subordinates, I’ll need to stockpile a lot of it.’
Most of the continent’s sugar now came from the Saruo Islands. Shire had never been there, but he’d heard that a plant called the Sugar Giant Taro was widely cultivated throughout the archipelago. The plant was enormous, like a pink bellflower more than a meter in diameter growing right out of the ground. The Islanders would insert a pipe into the base of the flower, and the nectar would flow down it automatically.
The Sugar Giant Taro could bloom for eleven months out of the year. Combined with the abundant sunlight and rainfall of the Saruo Islands, this meant the giant taro could produce nectar with stable yields almost year-round.
The Islanders dried this nectar into the Sugar Cakes they used for trade.
Shire wanted to stockpile more of these Sugar Cakes; whenever he needed to make sugar water, he could just break a piece off.
He remembered that some nobles played a game called "Smash the Sugar Cake." They would have a serving girl stand on a tall stack of Sugar Cakes, and then the nobles would take turns striking the stack. Whoever shattered the cakes and made the girl fall was the winner.
Shire had never participated in such games. For one thing, as the next heir to Torch City, he had little need to. Many merchants from the archipelago, hoping for tax reductions, would send all sorts of gifts to the Baron’s Mansion, and Sugar Cakes were a common one. For another, some nobles, purely to flaunt their wealth, would stack the cakes absurdly high. This made for a more spectacular smash, but also made injuries or even death for the serving girls more likely.
"It’s very good. Delicious," Shire said with an encouraging smile as he placed his wooden bowl in front of Bai Mao.
Then, under her happy gaze, he took Buck Teeth and headed into the Fortress.
The two goblins strolled to the Red Bull cultivation area. Shire spoke first. "Speak goblin speech."
Buck Teeth’s face contorted, as if struggling against the "crosses" on his mouth. A few seconds later, he managed to speak. "The Red Bull situation isn’t good."
Shire nodded and looked at the fir logs before them. There were only a few thin mycelial threads visible. Along the entire cultivation bed—made of logs stretching more than twenty meters—were just a few lonely mushrooms, each no bigger than an adult’s thumbnail.
"It seems artificial cultivation is difficult," Shire sighed.
This was his first forest production project. In the beginning, he had dreamed of building a Red Bull Mushroom farm that could provide a large, stable supply of Red Bull powder.
He knew the market for daily consumables like tea and coffee was enormous. If he could popularize Red Bull across the entire continent, from the Dwarves in the icy northern mountains to the Islanders of the southern Saruo Islands, he would make an absolute fortune.