On their return to the village, Sarre, and Eliot noticed Jonn’s foul mood. They went in silence, sharing a common thought: the presence of Triceratops near the village was alarming!
Surely Jonn was contemplating the consequences of such creatures nearby.
Jonn was considering it, but not quite as his fellow villagers were.
Losing three progress points at once was devastating. He had stood frozen for nearly a minute, stunned by the loss of his valuable points. But even with a new mission, Jonn had no intention of investigating the Triceratops mystery now.
Understanding the Triceratops would demand time and energy. Having beasts seemed crucial for any chance of accomplishing the mission.
As he neared the village, his thoughts turned to the [Magic Farm], not the [Exotic Animals].
I must speed up the creation of beasts in the village. Particularly, I need to hasten the beasts’ growth to reach level 2 more quickly.
Triceratops are too big. Their strength is ridiculous, even when they cannot manipulate mana. If I go with Ice or Roulf to get close to them, it would be dangerous for all of us.
While theorizing about what an encounter with those beasts would be like, Jonn thought of solutions to the problem.
As well as strengthening the animals, I need more [Spells]. It might be interesting to advance my plans to Littlewood and see what I can get from Count Francus’ birthplace.
However, Jonn felt no urgency to return and prepare for departure. The village was at a critical juncture, and he couldn’t leave. In fact, leaving would hinder his plans to accelerate the animals’ growth.
“Sigh! What a complicated situation!” he lamented to his companions as the village walls came into view.
“Indeed.” Sarre nodded, her face stern. “I find the footprints we saw and the group’s direction strange… Could those tracks belong to something else?”
Jonn hadn’t considered this, but Sarre had a point. It was peculiar.
“I can’t be certain. I haven’t studied Triceratops footprints, but I’m 80% sure those tracks are theirs.”
“If so, they’re moving in circles on that border.” She observed, her voice deepening, “Could they be searching for something? Perhaps a place to settle?”
*They have a beast among them, according to the system. If they’re seeking a settlement, it would be disastrous. It would place a powerful group dangerously close to the village.
“I sincerely hope not. But from today on, we’ll have someone monitoring the western lands. Whatever the Triceratops are doing, I hope they don’t approach the village.”
Eliot and Sarre nodded in agreement as they finally returned to the Eternal Village.
Daylight lingered, and the bamboo gate to the village’s walled area stood open. Petyr’s carriage was visible, along with the two guards who had accompanied him southeast to the Barren Hills of Deepshadow in search of a trade agreement with new merchants.
Jonn, Sarre, and Eliot bypassed the men working on the village’s east side, where new walls and buildings were rising, and headed for the council where Petyr was likely to be.
Villagers tended to their horses as they made their way to the warehouse. There, they saw three men unloading the village’s latest acquisitions.
Elia had proposed using their recently acquired coins and enemy weapons to purchase more resources for the village, coinciding with Petyr’s mission to find new merchant groups.
Petyr had followed through, exchanging all low-quality weapons for resources and depleting the village’s gold reserve. In return, they now possessed much-needed materials and food, as well as special items for Jonn’s plans to plant outside the greenhouse, among other necessities.
As they entered the warehouse and climbed the wooden stairs, the warm, satisfied voices of the Councilors reached their ears, reacting to the initial report from Petyr’s group about their journey.
Jonn led Eliot and Sarre into the Council room, drawing the attention of Petyr, who had been absent from the village for weeks.
“Village Elder,” the people there greeted him solemnly, their eyes reflecting positivity.
Jonn sensed Petyr would bring good news and sighed as he shook hands with the man.
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“Eliot, Sarre, and I have just encountered a major problem west of the village. I hope you have good news for me, Petyr.” Jonn took his seat, with all the Council members already positioned to hear from this fellow villager fresh from his journey.
Petyr’s eyes narrowed, his good humor fading. However, he answered Jonn before inquiring about what troubled the white-haired boy so much.
“I do bring good news. I’ve been on the Southeast Royal Road, near South Lake, close to the borders of Nation of Thalassia and Lands of Etheria. As Sarre’s group reported, the black soils of the Barren Hills of Deepshadow are encroaching on these two territories.
“Consequently, food production, both plant, and animal, is declining across all states. Food prices are soaring, with meat now as luxurious as diamond necklaces were decades ago.
“Sigh! This is a calamity that benefits no one,” he opined before continuing. “But undeniably, it presents opportunities for our village. We’ll face challenges eventually, of course. Hunger drives people to desperate measures. We know this firsthand.”
The Council members nodded in silent agreement, recalling their own dire situation just over a year ago.
Petyr continued, “But until trouble finds us, we have a chance to profit and acquire what we need to improve the village. My group encountered two merchant caravans traveling between Lands of Etheria and Nation of Thalassia. We were fortunate to spot the second one before our departure.
“One group is from Sylvestria, led by a man named Jemmy, who deals in livestock, vehicles, and weapons, primarily in Lands of Etheria. The other is Ansure’s caravan, a Nation of Thalassia native. He also trades mainly in Lands of Etheria and occasionally ventures to Eldoria.
“Both parties are eager to buy any food we can offer, especially for human consumption. In particular, they’re willing to match the current prices of merchants operating in Lost Treasures.”
Elia’s eyes gleamed with interest. She had provided Petyr with a list of food prices to gauge potential profits from trading in the southeast rather than the north with Acelin.
Given the fluctuating prices in Lost Treasures, she had been cautious about potentially less profitable southeastern trade just to avoid Acelin-related issues. However, Petyr’s words brought her great relief.
“In particular, the Ansure’s group is more interesting for us to buy resources from. The Nation of Thalassia is not in a good situation. A lot of its population is fleeing to Eldoria and the Lands of Etheria. But there are still many valuable areas in the Nation of Thalassia, with large forests capable of producing wood and other interesting materials for the village.
“Nation of Thalassia is moving south towards the coast and is increasingly becoming a territory under the control of fewer and fewer groups. According to Ansure, it will be dominated by one or two families in a maximum of five years. After that, only someone with contacts with these two groups will do business there.”
The villagers sighed at the news from the south. For the younger ones, the Nation of Thalassia was just another of Valorian’s decadent states. But for the elders, this had been the richest state on the continent, home to powerful mages, with a rich and ancient history behind its greatness.
Even though the Nation of Thalassia was not the ancestral home of them, knowing about the decay of the once largest and most powerful state on the continent was horrifying.
Petyr finished, “Ansure’s group will pass through the area again in 3 months, while Jemmy’s group will take longer to pass through our territory. He should be back in 5 months.”
“That’s good for now,” Jonn said as he considered that this was precisely the time they needed to reap surplus results, even with the increases in village’s numbers, related to animals and humans, but also the new beasts that would appear in the coming weeks.
“What about the problem you mentioned?” Petyr asked without giving the Council time to think about the positive side of the fate of the village that he himself had brought up.
Jonn closed his eyes and muttered, “We saw a group of Triceratops to the west of the village, less than an hour’s ride from us.”
Gulp!
Several members of the Council swallowed their saliva, making the typical sound of the act reverberate through the walls of the small Council room and punctuate the sudden change in moods there.
“Triceratops? Are you serious?” Elia stood up and slammed one of her hands down hard on the oval table between them.
“Yes, we saw a group. We can’t say their numbers, but they’re not few.” Sarre was the one who confirmed Jonn’s words. “But judging by the way the ground seemed to shake with their movement, I wouldn’t doubt there’s an entire tribe passing near the village.”
Petyr, the village’s seasoned hunter experienced in animal behavior, couldn’t hide his shock. Triceratops weren’t typically aggressive, but they weren’t docile either. If such a group were to pass nearby, destroying the village would be a mere afterthought for them!
“What’s your plan?” He looked at Jonn, accustomed to valuing the village leader’s insights, even on matters where his own expertise should prevail.
Jonn surveyed his fellow Council members, pausing briefly. Sensing their expectation for him to propose a solution to this crisis, he pursed his lips and said, “For now, we should refrain from action. We can’t risk luring them to the village by approaching them.
“We’ll assign rotating shifts of observers to monitor that side of the village. Meanwhile, we must continue fortifying our defenses, building armaments, training, and improving our food situation. Once we’re better prepared and have more evidence of their potential long-term threat, we’ll investigate further and take calculated risks.”
Jonn’s power of persuasion was quite strong. Everyone was nervous when they heard about the dinosaurs to the west. But his plan convinced them. It was clear to all of them that they were already doing their best.
What could they do against Triceratops? Hunt them down? It wasn’t so easy to do that!
There were stories of ordinary humans hunting mammoths in the north of Sylvestria, but these stories emphasized how these were a group of experienced and strong hunters, using strategy rather than luck. The village didn’t have that kind of experience or hunting tactics for something like this, especially against powerful dinosaurs.
Apart from hunting, all they had to do was watch from afar and pray to the heavens that this group wouldn’t come their way!
Even Petyr couldn’t argue with Jonn’s plan, bowing his head with a deep sigh.
But Jonn surprised them by adding something else, “But there is something we can do. I need a group to travel to Littlewood and survey the area for me. Depending on the situation there, we can change the situation in the village and find an answer to dealing with the Triceratops.”