Chapter 74 - Fire Fish
Zhao was standing bare foot while looking around at all the lush mountains. His heart couldn't help but burst with a smile.
When he first heard that Green bought a small mountain, plus a manor, for only a hundred gold coins, he thought it was strange. It was too cheap, right? But when he arrived at the mountain, he understood why it was so cheap. Really, it should have been cheaper.
The small mountain had no specialty other than stone. Everywhere you looked, you could see blue stones with weeds growing between the crevices. This was not a great estate. The whole mountain gave the impression of a guy who was wearing a hat so small that it revealed half of his scalp, which only had a few strands of hair. It looked extremely awkward.
Green, who was standing beside Zhao, naturally saw Zhao's face, and he couldn't help but feel embarrassed. He already knew that this mountain was horrendous. But there was no way they could buy any land close to Casa city with a high price. With the money they had, only this mountain was suitable for them. Green knew that Zhao wasn't satisfied, so he quickly said, "Master, this mountain may not seem like much, but it does have a small manor with a hot spring."
Zhao saw that Green was afraid that he wouldn't like the mountain and manor, so he said, "It's nothing much, but it's still a good place."
Green nodded. To be honest, he didn't really think about it much when he bought this place, other than it was cheap and not too far away from Casa city. If Zhao thought it was fine, then he wouldn't worry about it.
Meirin and Meg was also standing beside Zhao, and although they didn't mention it, they were both dissatisfied with the mountain when they saw it.
Zhao didn't care, and instead went back into the room of the undead's body, then directed it to walk up the hill. He really wanted to see the inside of the estate.
There was a stone road, about five meters wide, that went from the bottom of the hill to the top. The road was clearly not paved with stone blocks, but with natural stones found on this small mountain. Still, when Zhao looked at the road, he thought it was strange. In his past life, although he had never lived on a mountain, he was very clear on the fact that the roads that led carts up the mountain would generally be winding roads.
The so-called winding road would go up the mountain at a gradual angle, by circling upwards. Although this would make the road longer, it created a slope that was conducive in allowing vehicles to move up the mountain.
But the road that Zhao was on went straight to the top of the hill. Inevitably, this created a steep road. If it was in his past life, this would hobble carriages, making it difficult for horses to pull anything as it climbed.
However, Zhao didn't say anything, because he also discovered that there were traces of carriages going up this road, indicating that this route had been used. He also knew that he couldn't judge the Ark Continent based on what he learned on Earth, so he didn't say anything as he directed his undead to walk up the hill.
Soon they came in front of the estate. Its three meter high blue stone walls seemed very strong, with some moss growing here and there, while a lot of paint had chipped off its tall wooden doors. It appeared that it had been a long time since someone took care of the place.
Zhao and everyone else got out from the undead and went up to the wooden door. The door was two meters tall and nearly five meters wide, with paint falling off, revealing the original color of the wood.
Green stepped forward and forced open the doors, giving off a shrill, squeaking sound.
When the door opened, Zhao's eyes brightened. They got a good view of a yard that wasn't any smaller than their castle square.
In this yard was a row of four houses made out of wood and stone, with two meter wide doors, one meter wide windows, and flat roofs. It seemed like these four houses were used as living rooms and reception areas for outsiders. These houses were a bit worn, with many places that were cracked. However, if you wanted to live somewhere that could avoid strong winds, then this place was possible.
Zhao looked at these houses and was satisfied. The manor might not look good, but what did it matter. Almost all of the buildings were built with blue stones as the main material. It was very strong. Although this place hasn't been well taken care of, despite the wind and rain over the years, it didn't suffer any great damage.
Everyone went into the houses and found that the rooms were empty. There was no furniture, so the rooms could be considered fairly spacious. Simply tidy it up, and a person could live here without a problem.
Through this row of houses, they discovered a large patio-style courtyard. In the middle of it was a tree with leaves that were similar to ginkgo, though Zhao didn't actually know what species this tree was.
There was also a small ditch where water was flowing. Zhao was surprised when, from time to time, he could see a few small fish.
Patios, trees, water, and fish, arranged in a very nice way in this courtyard, almost like Chinese-style buildings from ancient times. It could soothe the mind of any trace of anger.
Zhao nodded with satisfaction, then he turned and asked. "Grandpa Green, this environment is really good. But the water isn't so deep and it must be cold in the winter, so why didn't these small fish freeze to death?"
Not waiting for Green to speak, Meirin and smiled and said, "Master, I think that this must be hot spring water. The water temperature is never low, and you might not recognize that these small fish are called fire fish. They're tropical fish with thermal properties. Strange to say, these fish must have been chosen for their properties related to fire and that they can only survive in warm water. If the water temperature was too low, they would freeze to death. This fish is a rare delicacy. They taste delicious, with smooth and delicate meat. I heard that even the king would use these fish to entertain foreign guests. It is fine cuisine."
Zhao was surprised. He really didn't think that there would be such a fish. He crouched down and reached into the ditch, and sure enough the water was warm, even a little hot. The temperature never seemed to be below thirty degrees celsius. Not only were these fish able to survive in these temperatures, they were able to live comfortably.
He watched as the fish swam around in a relaxed manner, then he tried to grab one. But he didn't think that the fish would be able to turn so flexibly in the water, fleeing away from Zhao's clutches.
When Zhao didn't catch a fish, he stood up. "Well, it seems like in the future we will be able to raise some fish. While I release a few undead on the hill to keep us alert, lets also let the slaves out. They haven't breathed fresh air for so many days."
Green smiled. "Yes, ah, letting them come out is good. Maybe they could work on the blue stones in this mountain. I have read that these stones are very hard, a good material to make stone tools. Master, what about using it to make that mill stone? Wouldn't it be a good opportunity to make it now?"
Zhao nodded, then laughed and said, "Grandpa Green, it seems that this time we really picked up a treasure. There is a hot spring, fire fish that we can raise, stones to make what we need, and soon we will make a lot of money."
Translator Notes: This chapter was MTLed by Trung and edited by theno1fan. Please leave a comment if you've spotted anything that looks wrong.