Foin looked at the hidden objects and then sighed. He was not expecting such a scenario. Though he wanted to make a tough and serious first expression on the goblin so that she would take him seriously, this was not what he expected. He rubbed his head and then slammed his axe into the wood with enough strength to stay there. At this movement, the goblin whimpered a little but refused to move.

"Please! I am willing to offer everything I have... Also...I will be working hard, so do not kill me, please!"

The last portion of the goblin's plea caught him off guard. Though he had intended to have the goblin work, since she was fed quite a lot, he did not expect it to be this easy. He knew that he needed to stay strong, as that was the only language goblins understood, in his opinion.

"Fine, but do not forget, if you do not work, you will stay hungry from now on! Also, let me see these items you are offering."

Foin said, and at that time, the goblin further extended her hands, so he took the rags. He slowly unpackaged the goods to see for himself what they were. Though they were not too big, these two items were enough to make Foin smile. They were some sort of fruit.

The first one he inspected looked like a grape; it had a similar size and even texture, and as he pressed on it, he noticed that they were quite rubbery. Although he wanted to taste it, he decided against it as he might be able to replant it. As for the other, it was in a smooth but hard shell, almost like a nut.

"Seeing how she was in such a helpless situation and was even dropped by the dragon, these two are quite durable..."

He thought as he looked back down at the goblin, who was still in that same position. He could only sigh and feel guilty. He wanted to act tough, but seeing the girl's demeanour, he went overboard with the acting.

"Alright, go ask Énilo to show you around the area; I am going to put these away."

Foin said as he stepped away. He headed for the peteach tree, which had grown considerably over the past few days; it was now about the size of Foin, and the fruits were not yet harvested for that day, so Foin quickly grabbed two of the fruits and then went down to the underground base.

Down there, he looked at the half-finished boiler and smiled. He knew that it would only take a few short days to finish it; of course, now that he used two extra fruits for other means, the process would be slightly slowed down, but if it meant that he would be able to have more plants, he was willing to sacrifice two petaches.

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He quickly poured out the liquid of the peteach and started forming it into shapes. He used two fruits because he wanted to make two bucket-sized flowerpots. He quickly formed the two buckets, put a tiny hole in their bottom, and then let them solidify. His hand coordination had greatly improved over the past few days, so the flower pots looked much better than his very first bucket; they were rounder.

In a few short minutes, the pots were ready; now, they just needed to be filled with dirt. Foin quickly filled the halfway with dirt from his inventory, then put the seeds in, and then put another layer of dirt on the top. As a final touch, he brought down a bucket of water from which he slightly watered them.

"Phew... I can't wait to see what they will turn out to be... I hope they will be just as tasty as the others are!"

With the goblin's addition, the preparations for the winter kept going even smoother and faster than before. Foin slightly changed up his strategy, though. He no longer cut the tree into much smaller fractions; instead, he cut only many larger ones, which later he could chop down in the underground base; this way, he could store more wood in a shorter amount of time.

Meanwhile, Aier was also proactive, though she spent quite a lot of time alone meditating in the forest. One day, a woman approached her while she was meditating. The woman was quite muscular but had a short frame. She had short, dark red hair with a pair of similarly dark red eyes.

The girl wore a black shirt, while she had a fur jacket on her shoulder. She seemed to be of high status as she approached Aier without a second thought and even spoke up.

"I am here; what did you want to talk about?"

"Linyer, it is good to see you again."

Aier replied as she opened her eyes. A wide smile crawled up into her face, and she instantly stood up. The girl barely even reached her chest, and the two just looked into one another eyes for a brief moment.

"Linyer, I have an important task for you, one you must complete no matter what! Although it is not publicly announced and will most likely not be announced for quite a while, we have found something of extremely high value! Something I first thought was of insignificant value, but I realised how much off I was with that guess... I..."

"Could you skip the unnecessary explanation? Please tell me what your plan is or what my mission is, and I will get it done! Unlike you, I prefer staying in the castle and working there!"

"Alright. There should be an entity who lives near our borders... That either has the power or has the means to produce a product which only a blessed land would normally be able to create. Due to the approach of the next season, an unbearable cold is fast approaching. I want you to make sure that it is protected from the cold; as a result, as soon as you get there, force teleport that entity to me. I will be working in the castle... Make haste; as you know, no one would bear the cold of such a climate!"

Aier explained, and although she wanted to explain more, she noticed that the interest in the women was drastically dropping, so she decided to end it quickly.

"Ask Felfey for instructions; she knows where they live!"

"As you wish!"

The woman replied, performed a slight bow, and then walked away. Though Linyer kept up a bored and uninterested expression while Aier was talking, as soon as she was a decent distance away, she started grinning.

"Finally, something interesting, and on top of that, they can produce such invaluable products? Like hell, I will ask for Felfey's help! This is a SOLO mission... Mother"