Chapter 28 - Horse Bone
Zhao was very clear that his spatial farm had no attack power, nor any defensive capabilities. The only thing it could do, in addition to planting crops, was allow him to hide inside in fear.
He had no confidence that he could deal with the carrion swamp with his spatial farm. Do not forget that the carrion swamp was one of the five forbidden areas in the Continent, not to mention the potential threat of undead spirit beasts. With no attack force, how could he deal with the carrion swamp?
Not knowing how much time had past, Zhao could only come to the decision that if spirit beasts really did come out of the carrion swamp, they could only rely on the castle to fight them. And if they couldn't, then everyone would have to hide inside his space. Ten acres should be enough to hold all those people.
Just then Zhao suddenly heard a noise coming from outside. He looked out and realized that it was noon, so the slaves should be coming back for lunch. He also saw Meg, Blockhead, and Rockhead coming in from outside. When the three saw Zhao, they immediately went up to meet him.
"Master," they all said.
Zhao nodded and smiled at the three. "I need you to arrange something for me. In the open space, there are some corn stalks and corn cobs. Arrange them into firewood, then tell the slaves that if they feel cold at night, they could take some for heating."
Meg looked puzzled. "Master, what is this corn?"
"Corn is the main crop for our future that I'm growing. The corn stalks and corn cobs could be used to light a fire. It's something I've already discussed with Grandma Meirin after I had planted the corn."
Meg's eyes lit up as she looked at Zhao. "Master, the yield of corn is really high, right?"
"Yes." Zhao nodded with a smile. "Go arrange them first, and then come back to eat when you're done. Grandma Meirin should be finished with making our meals by then."
The trio nodded, then turned and walked out of the castle.
Later on, Meirin came out from the castle. She had also heard some movement outside, but she understood that it was Meg. She then called Zhao in. "Master, lunch is ready."
Zhao nodded and walked into the dining room, while Meirin went back into the kitchen to get his meal. While sitting in the dining room, he realized that he was becoming more and more lazy. In his past life, he had to prepare his own meals and also clean the house. All the housework was done by him alone.
But in the Ark Continent, he was the master. Even if he was willing, he naturally couldn't do housework with his own hands. To be honest, this was becoming a terrible habit as Zhao had started to become accustomed to having others serve him.
Meirin came in, holding a tray, which held a simple meal of bread and vegetables, and some meat. But Zhao was the only one to get any meat. Even Blockhead and Rockhead didn't get any.
Although the food was very simple, it was still carefully prepared by Meirin for Zhao. He got to use the best things. He got to eat the best foods. In this castle, he was the center. This made Zhao feel very grateful, but it also gave him a great amount of pressure.
He was not Adam Buda. He was a responsible man. The more Meirin did good things for him, the more pressure he felt. These people treated him as the center of their lives, that is to say, they relied on his survival. Although the Buda clan had been forced down, as long as he was alive, there was a chance that the Buda clan could rise up and not get bullied by the other nobles.
But Zhao wasn't comfortable with this. If he was the center of these people's lives, then he also has the responsibility to make their lives better. The pressure on him was really great.
Meirin saw that Zhao wasn't eating and was just staring at his plate in a daze. Thinking that Zhao was dissatisfied with his lunch, she quickly asked, "Master, is the meal not to your taste?"
Zhao looked up and managed to put on a slight smile. "No, Grandma Meirin. This meal is good. I was just thinking of what I could do that would let everyone in the castle be able to eat meals like these."
Meirin's eyes were red as the beginnings of tears formed. She smiled at Zhao. "As long as young master has the space, sooner or later, you would be able to do this. I believe in Master."
Zhao could only nod. "Yes, ah, sooner or later." Just then Meg and the the two came in from outside. Meirin immediately went into the kitchen to prepare three more meals.
Once everyone started eating at the same time, Zhao turned to Meirin. "Grandma Meirin, this afternoon arrange for someone to gather some stones. This takes priority right now. As for the valley, as long as you can take me there every day, then that should be fine."
After seeing Zhao performing his magical ability in the space, her confidence in him greatly increased. She immediately nodded and said, "Okay. This afternoon I'll organize them to bring back some stones. Master, you go and have a good rest."
Zhao knew that he wouldn't be much help. Ever since he drank the Water of Nothingness, he became even weaker than the slaves when it comes to physical labor. Besides, Meirin wouldn't have allowed him to carry any stones.
After lunch, he went to rest, while Meirin immediately organized the slaves to gather some stones. But it was harder than she thought.
They still had a few mining tools. Now they just needed to find some good stones that didn't have too much damage. After all, they had to use something to make stone weapons with.
Stone weapons shouldn't be that difficult to make. You couldn't make anything powerful, but you could still make things like stone spears or stone hammers.
Plus, they would need some of the mined stones to help repair the castle. After all, Zhao wanted them to be prepared from the very beginning. They had to have a way to keep those undead spirit beasts from attacking. They didn't have that ability, so they could only rely on the castle's defense, otherwise they had no other way to restrain them.
But they soon faced a problem. Although it was formerly an iron mine, the dwarves had already mined out everything, including all the iron ore. The results were hollowed out areas throughout the mountain, like the underground lake. So just finding a site to mine took some effort.
Meirin finally found a small mine near the castle that they could exploit, but this small mine actually didn't have much stones they could mine. Meirin could not help but lament. Dwarven mines were really mined out, like the place had been completely looted clean, making people cry.
By the end of the afternoon, Meirin frustratingly returned to the castle. They found that their approach to making stone weapons wouldn't work. They had no experience in mining stones, and they didn't have a lot of handy tools to use. Work efficiency was low. Plus there weren't many stones here. It had all been taken out long ago. Finally, Meirin had to tell Zhao about this. So the plan had to be canceled.
Zhao rested for the afternoon. After tiring himself out physically during the morning workout, plus the long way he had to walk today, he immediately fell asleep the moment he lied down.
When he woke up, Meirin told him the news about the stones. It seemed like they had no choice but to wait for Green to come back. Once the radishes were sold, they would be able to buy a number of weapons.
Green had not returned yet, so they couldn't do anything. If the undead spirit beasts from the carrion swamp really did attack, then they would have to hide in the space.
As Zhao tried to figure out what to do, Meg suddenly ran in from outside with a look of excitement. "Master, there's good news!"
Zhao noticed the change in Meg again when she excitedly hugged him. When she now saw Zhao, instead of keeping her head down, she was more lively than ever.
Meirin at once asked, "What happened?"
Meg immediately smiled. "Grandma, there's a slave who could weave weeds. I saw woven mats, curtains, and even sandals."
Zhao didn't understand for a moment, but then his eyes lit up. This was a turning point.
He had made a promise that he would free them from slavery if they worked hard and had some skills. But the slaves hadn't yet taken any initiative to show off their skills, and although they were working hard, Zhao was still very disappointed.
Zhao knew that the slaves were afraid to be noticed, so any desire to change the situation would need a very long process, and someone to first display their skills which would lead others to do it too. Those slaves had been oppressed for so long that their minds might have become numb. If they wanted to accept the new promise, it would take a very long time.
Zhao had been well prepared for a long wait, but he didn't think that today one of the slaves would give him a surprise.
Even if the slave that came forward only had modest skills, this was still a good thing. After all, if you tell your daughter to buy a horse bone, a horse bone will appear.