MoP: Ch. 187

---Third POV---

Viktor fell silent for two seconds.

"I think I've figured out what's going on."

The players were thinking way too far ahead. No need to worry about that right now. He chose to change the subject.

"The school can be built slowly over winter. How are the literacy classes I asked you to set up?"

Before tackling mage education, he wanted to solve the natives' illiteracy problem first. He didn't expect everyone to become scholars, just being able to read common everyday text with a vocabulary around a thousand words would be enough. Otherwise, every time he issued a notice, he'd have to overlay a transmission rune onto the notice board.

Troublesome and tedious, needlessly increasing communication costs.

"We've already found ten teachers for the Common Tongue. They'll work in pairs, rotating every five days."

"We can head to Nary Town anytime!"

Viktor nodded approvingly.

"Good work. When the opportunity comes, I'll take you all there."

"What opportunity?" Alyanne couldn't help but ask.

"An opportunity to make the people of Nary Town fully accept magicoins," Viktor replied.

"Accept magicoins?"

Alyanne tried to think, her thoughts spinning in circles. What does accepting magicoins have to do with literacy?

Last time she took the teleportation array to Nary Town and looked around, she hadn't seen the townsfolk resisting the use of magicoins. So what exactly counted as "acceptance"?

Viktor looked completely confident.

"Just wait. It won't be long."

---

This autumn brought far more rain than previous years. More cloudy days than sunny ones, and the weather grew colder with each passing day. Even vagrants who didn't care about their appearance and barely covered themselves had begun wrapping up warmly.

Nary Town.

More than half of the wealthy district had been abolished. A large section of the overly affluent villa area was carved off and redeveloped into two residential zones and three commercial streets. However, the former mayor's management style was deeply ingrained.

Most people who came to open shops or browse the new commercial streets were still players. The street also housed shops officially run by The Watchers. They conducted cost-free business using grain stockpiled by the former mayor and occasionally accepted consignment work from players.

"Ha..."

Hedgehog yawned on a rocking chair, counting the raindrops dripping from the eaves. One rainstorm after another, lasting a whole month. Time itself seemed to slow down. With no special events in the game, version updates hadn't dropped either. All he could do was continue squatting in Nary Town to leech contribution points.

"Come on, where are the troublemakers... Give me a few people to stir things up..."

He rocked back and forth on the chair in boredom. After getting used to intense, thrilling combat, he really wasn't accustomed to this life-sim version of the game. The only fun part was probably running into a few brain-dead NPCs causing scenes in public.

Not only could he make a small profit in experience points, but he could also enjoy some juicy gossip. Unfortunately, there had been fewer and fewer such clueless NPCs lately, which greatly disappointed him.

"If I'd known, I would've gone back to the forest with those Fire-Type Supreme guys to clear out level one monsters."

But under the sweep of the players, the monsters had learned to avoid danger. Level one monsters were becoming harder and harder to find, and once travel and search time were factored in, the experience returns weren't even as good as loafing around in town.

As for level two monster hunting parties, they required at least five players above level 20, which wasn't always feasible.

"Combat! I want exhilarating combat!" he complained while chatting idly on the forum.

"Why doesn't this game have any long-term dungeons?"

As he was speaking, the corner of his eye caught a figure approaching, and his spirits immediately lifted.

"Bloodbone?"

He closed the forum and rubbed his hands excitedly.

"Finally, some action!"

He'd thought he was going to spend the entire afternoon browsing the forum.

Bloodbone was dressed warmly, draped in a waterproof beast hide that looked like rhinoceros skin, making him appear a whole size larger. When he spotted Hedgehog, his steps paused for a moment before he resolutely walked into the shop.

"Long time no see!"

Hedgehog shifted his position on the chair.

"So, what are you looking to buy today? Flour? Fruit sugar? Or the latest refined fine salt?"

Thanks to players who loved exploration and adventure, a salt rock vein had been discovered in the forest. After refinement, the salt produced was far superior to the coarse salt circulating on the market, yet cost nearly the same. It had always been very popular among the natives.

Bloodbone was clearly tempted for a moment, but he didn't speak right away. Hedgehog's gaze circled the beast-hide pouch clenched tightly in Bloodbone's hand.

"Not here for salt... then buying potatoes again? I've told you many times, don't just eat carbs. With your condition, you really can't afford to be picky."

Speaking of which, this vagrant leader was quite a character. He'd managed to get scurvy on the wasteland through picky eating, thought his days were numbered, and so as to find a way out for the rest of his tribe, had proactively defected to The Watchers.

He still remembered the day the man confessed everything.

A bearded, burly man over 1.8 meters tall, crying his eyes out, claiming he had a hereditary family disease and less than a month to live, one that even Holy Light magic couldn't cure. In the end, a player who studied medicine examined him and discovered it was just a vitamin C deficiency. After curing his delusion that all his teeth were about to fall out, the player tossed him and his will out of the half-finished pharmacy.

Recalling that dark chapter of his past, Bloodbone looked embarrassed.

"That's all in the past. I'm not here to buy food."

"It's actually fine. There were people in history who even mistook it for a contagious disease! Thinking it was hereditary at least limited the 'spread' by a huge margin."

Hedgehog comforted him with great "sincerity."

"And getting scurvy while living on land is pretty impressive in itself."

Bloodbone cleared his throat.

"I'm here to ask... Can we really live in those houses?"

"Of course. We wouldn't build them just to look pretty, right?" Hedgehog replied matter-of-factly. After inheriting the former mayor's and the auction houses' assets, they had suddenly gained a large tract of land.

Aside from constructing necessary public facilities, the rest was all planned for sale, along with promoting the benefits of brick-and-stone housing to the populace.

Bloodbone took a deep breath.

"That's good."

He gestured backward, and two dark-skinned, burly men carried two chests over a meter tall into the shop.

Bang!

The chests hit the ground.

Bloodbone spoke again. "I heard you also do pawn transactions and barter trades. I'd like you to take a look and tell me how many magicoins these goods are worth."

Hedgehog's head turned back and forth between the chests and the three men, clearly surprised.

"Pawn?"

Although he'd only taken the shopkeeper task today to grind some experience for a new position, he'd been rotating through various posts around the city long enough to have a rough grasp of public attitudes. Basically, no one ever came to shops run by The Watchers to pawn items in exchange for magicoins.

Don't be fooled into thinking The Watchers lacked manpower for building the magic wall. Whether it was firing bricks or hauling them, there was never a shortage of volunteers. But that was as far as it went.

Three days of food distribution reduced the people's urge to resist, yet it couldn't give them any sense of security. No one could be sure how long The Watchers would rule Nary Town, so they didn't trust the value of magicoins. As soon as they earned magicoins, they spent them immediately, while the Sol coins they had saved before were left untouched.

As a result, Cobb's efforts to recover Sol coins circulating in the market had achieved very little. Recently, far fewer customers had been coming to The Watchers' shop. That too was simply because the brickyard had stopped hiring, and the magicoins in people's hands were running out.

He opened one of the boxes, and a wave of moldy, rotten smell rushed out. He didn't even frown. After spending so long among refugees, he had long grown accustomed to all kinds of smells clinging to them. A moldy scent, on the contrary, proved these items were valuable, carefully preserved for a long time, carried with them even during migration.

He pushed aside the layer of tough grass used for protection on top.

"Beast hides?"

Inside the box were neatly stacked hides from various magical beasts. At a rough glance, there were at least a hundred pieces.

He picked up a white hide from the top and chose to appraise it.

[Frost Wolf Hide:
No obvious surface defects. Excellent quality. Suggested buyback price: 50 magicoins

Tip: Frost wolf hide has natural cold-resistant properties. It can be used to craft cold-weather clothing or cloaks and provides exceptional warmth.]

Thanks to the Life Version update, GameLord420 and MemeKnight, who were obsessed with filling out the bestiary, had been lured from forest treasure-hunting into opening a shop in the city. With them around, the system's appraisal function now even included price recommendations.

He smacked his lips.

High-quality beast hides had always been in great demand. Not only could they be made directly into warm clothing, but they were also popular materials for equipment crafting. Most fabrics on the market were made from tough grass cloth or fine-fiber cloth, none of which retained heat. With the weather growing colder by the day, the price of quality beast hides was bound to keep rising.

He checked the other hides in the box as well. Almost all of them were excellent quality. There were only a few of ordinary quality. As for damaged-quality hides, not a single one.

"One hundred and fifty-two pieces total."

He finished counting all the hides from the two boxes.

"If all are pawned, they can be exchanged for 7,560 magicoins. You're sure you won't regret it?"

"Please help us convert everything into land deeds," Bloodbone replied.

"That's doable..." Hedgehog sized up the three of them. "But can you tell me why you want to buy land?"

This was wealth that could only be pooled together by an entire tribe. Why were they suddenly thinking of buying land and relocating?

Bloodbone's gaze darkened.

"Out of admiration for The Watchers' authority, of course."

Hedgehog sighed. "Get to the point."

He distilled the useful information from the flattery. Simply put, a fierce gale had swept across the wasteland all night, collapsing more than half of the tribe's houses. Now their entire tribe, over a hundred people, had nowhere to go. Thinking of the promise Viktor had made earlier, they clenched their teeth and decided to gamble their entire fortune, binding themselves completely to The Watchers.

Hedgehog propped his chin up and pondered.

"That makes sense. The plains are prone to strong winds... But such a major disaster this early in autumn? Isn't your housing quality a bit too poor?"

Even after a month of rain, houses shouldn't be so mold-rotted. When they were still newbies, the few buildings they'd constructed in Honeyvale Town were still perfectly fine even now.

Bloodbone was so embarrassed he didn't know what to say. Refugees' houses were never meant to last long, so of course they hadn't put much care into them. On top of that, as early as spring they had foreseen the disturbances in the Great Oak Forest and hadn't planned to stay there permanently.

They'd only intended to take advantage of the mayor recruiting high-tier mages, ambush travelers along the road, and earn some travel funds. Once the houses collapsed, they would pack up their belongings and head south, away from the Great Oak Forest, to compete with other refugees for land.

Unfortunately... Now they couldn't leave anymore. Now it was Hedgehog's turn to feel awkward.

"Haha, what terrible timing. Who knew some monsters would suddenly appear and block the road?"

"We're really unlucky."

Bloodbone cooperated with a smile. "Then the land deeds...?"

"Land deeds in Nary Town can only be purchased by those who possess the corresponding household registration," Viktor spoke up from behind.

He approached together with Cobb and the newly trained personal guard.

"I have a suggestion. I don't know whether you..."

Hedgehog was startled. "Viktor?"

He glanced at the game interface and couldn't help muttering.

"Didn't I notify Cobb?"

Such a large transaction had long exceeded the scope of his duties.

That was why he had directly reported the matter to the newly appointed mayor, yet somehow Viktor had been summoned instead?

Viktor nodded to him.

"I happened to be nearby on some business."

In truth, that wasn't the case. He had been waiting an entire month just for today. Naturally, he had to come in person to supervise how things progressed.

Bloodbone glanced at Cobb beside Viktor, then turned and nodded to Viktor.

"Please speak, my lord."

"Would you be willing to move to the Great Oak Forest?"

"The Great Oak Forest?"

Fear immediately appeared on the faces of the three.

Viktor gestured for them to listen until he finished.

"If you want to safely get through the magic tide, Nary Town alone clearly can't accommodate everyone, but combined with Honeyvale Town, it can. I believe some of you have already taken the teleportation array to see it with your own eyes. Even though the magic wall hasn't been completed yet, it remains peaceful and secure. It's a good town."

Bloodbone's assistant spoke up. "Peaceful?"

The other assistant added. "Secure?"

They recalled the ten days and nights they'd spent in Nary Town after fighting for a spot on the wall construction.

Explosions echoing day and night throughout the town, blood-soaked corpses being carried back every day, strange machinery and oddly behaving humans... Perhaps due to cultural differences, humans generally didn't call that peaceful or secure.

Bloodbone, meanwhile, looked at Viktor in disbelief.

"You mean accommodating everyone? Including the refugees?"

"Of course," Viktor replied. "If I remember correctly, I even had you conduct a refugee population census not long ago."

If he hadn't been planning how to resettle these people, why would he have bothered counting them?

Bloodbone fell silent. He had thought the other man was selecting prey for the winter. Wasn't that what the rumors said?

That the Butcher was a monster who had gained intelligence, needing to bathe regularly in fresh blood and sustain his sanity with the flesh of intelligent species...

"If you're thinking about some unspeakable and absurd rumors, please control your expression first."

Bloodbone snapped back to his senses. "Sorry."

For the first time, he lifted his head and met Viktor's gaze directly. He tried to discern something, anything, from this legendary necromancer.

"May I know your reason for doing this?"

"Reason?"

Viktor pondered for a moment.

"Because this place will become one of the Federation's most important cities in the future, the starting point of Sailing City, and it needs enough manpower."