Chapter 243: The Real Reward
What did the Players do right after arriving at the new continent?
Explore the completely unfamiliar land, search for interesting quests, mysterious treasure or valuable prey in the brand-new region. (X)
Declare the greatness of the God of Games to the natives of this land, preach their religion and bring in new converts to strengthen the influence of the Church of Games. (X)
Help their fellow brother Zonyan get even, strutting to the Grayclaw Village with no quarter given and beat up Swordtail and reclaim Zonyanâs place as chief. (X)
Anything can wait. The feast comes first (â).
And naturally, the feast wasnât held in honor of arriving at the new continent.
The truth was that the feast was more a celebration for the perfect conclusion of the previous even, [Undead Disaster ~The Creeping Shadows].
And with the scrumptious food put right in front of them, Zonyanâs trio naturally ignored all else and started wolfing everything down.
Moreover, unlike the wood elves, although the Long Ears Tribe werenât strongly positive about the Players, they didnât regard them with indifference or disdain either.
For the Long Ears, since the Players were using food which they brought here themselves for the feast, wasnât using their storage (which were all Betula) and were actually exchanging some grounded sweet wheat powder for their seafood for barbecues, there wasnât any need for hate at all.
And what few children of the Long Ears tribe were drooling at the sight of the grill stalls that the Players had put upâŠ
In a cheerful mood, the Players naturally wouldnât be thrifty and invited the whole tribe to join their festivities.
With the assurances from Zonyanâs trio with their strong reputation, more and more Long Ears who were unable to resist the lure came to feast away with the Players. Eventuallyâeven before the skies darkened and the largest bonfire unlitâthe Long Ears tribe had integrated with the PlayersâŠ
âOh, the crabs here are so huge?! Wonderful!â Gou Dan said, gnawing at a freshly cooked crab emotionally. âThose fellows farming the Fishmen Island every day had cleared out the crabs back there⊠Last time I was there, I couldnât even find one over three hours!â
The other Players were heaping praise on the Long Earsâ seafood as well.
It was true that the marine life was rich and scrumptious back at the Gray Fjord Cape. But either because the Dark Tidal Coast was more dangerous or the tides there being more rapid, the seafood which the Long Ears managed to catch was fresher and tastier than the seafood at the Gray Fjord Cape.
That said, the taste of the sea monsters was more or less the same, but some were grilled wrongly that caused a weird taste and less delicious than the ones the Frogmen grilled.
But unlike the Players who were picky about tasteâsome of them who didnât like doing daily quest or farm dungeons had begun exploration in search of better food ingredientsâthe Long Ears were much easier satisfied.
They refused nothing, be it charred, over-fried meat or pasty bread that wasnât baked long enoughâeven savoring the taste.
After all, they had been caught in food shortages ever since they were chased out of their homeland at the Vierlin Plains. Even though they could afford to have Betula every day and occasionally get their hands on some seafood, there was no hiding the signs that food sources dwindled with every passing day.
In fact, when Zonyanâs trio arrived at the Long Earsâ village and would take up three additional portions of food, their daily rationing became stricter and they had to stay hungry constantly.
Without sufficient protein from meat and eggs, the growth of children amongst the tribe had slowed as well. Their stamina was lacking, their bodies scrawny and they are definitely unable to learn the martial sorcery passed down through generations.
But now, the overflowing supplies that the Players brought (mainly food) left the chief of the Long Ears feeling as if they had opened a door to a new world.
In his opinion, food, an important element for survival wasnât a precious resource for the humans.
Even if their tribe still couldnât break through the blockade set up by the Graywolfmen and the Hyena-men and secure necessary resources for their survival, wouldnât they be able to start something new and trade with the humans calling themselves âPlayersâ? It certainly looked like they enjoyed their seafood.
Still, the chief found that the numbers werenât right when he thought deeper about it.
The Playersâ preference of seafood merely extends to a matter of taste, and they are not the nobility who would spend astronomical prices to buy seafood which actually wasnât worth much.
Trade wouldnât last long if they use the seafood as their competitive commodity.
Besides, harvesting seafood was quite difficult at the Dark Tidal Coast and a moment of carelessness would mean the loss of more of their tribespeople, which was hardly worth itâŠ
Meanwhile, the Players were naturally unconcerned with what the Long Earsâ tribe chief was thinking. Most of them were boasting about their heroic deeds in the previous eventâthere was no lack of tales about how they fought the Dead Red Dragon and crippled one of its legs or how they stood alone against hundreds of Undead Orks. Even Joe, who was taking sips of his malt ale was describing in detail to an onlooking crowd about how he knocked off one the Dead Red Dragonâs toes with a single swing of his sword.
Edward, on the other hand, caught sight of Zonyan who looked a little lonely.
He walked up, offering the Leo a toast and only then asked about why he looked a little dejected.
âI thought the rewards for building the Lifestone to connect the two continents would be better.â Zonyan smiled bitterly, shaking his head. âBut all the God of Games gave is some EXP and game coins⊠itâs a lot, but itâs not quite what I expectedâŠâ
This was exactly what it meant: greater expectations lead to greater disappointment.
Edward, however, chuckled after hearing Zonyanâs storyâhe knew then that the Leoâs faith was not as firm as his that he would doubt the God of Games over something so trivial. âYouâve misunderstood our lord. If Iâm right, you could still exchange the big ships before, right?â
âYes⊠but I would have to carry out more daily quests.â Zonyan nodded, but then exclaimed in irritation, âAnd I hate daily quests!â
âBut that reward is granted to you alone!â Edward replied seriously. âThink about itâus Players may be able to move between the continents through the Lifestone, but what we could carry isnât much. We even have to pay game coins to come through!â
âShips are different in that respect. Make one big enough and chart a safe route over the seas, you could move as much cargo as you want! Arenât you please with being able to conduct trade between continents? If it was Marni, he would literally die again from happiness!â
Then, Edward made a solemn face as he summed things up. âSo, donât be down over such things. How could the God of Games be wrong? He has already prepared everything for you!â
Zonyan thought about it. That did make sense, although there was also something wrong about itâŠ
He glanced at Edward and thought to himself: The God of Games truly worked in mysterious ways. Us mortals could hardly understandâŠ
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