The final sentence deeply moved Sunflower. In the depths of his heart, he held a profound guilt toward the small-sized beastn.
Out of reluctance, he had personally captured many beastn; their cries seed to still echo in his ears to this day.
Especially when capturing beast cubs, their families and clansn tried their best to hide them. So beastn even sacrificed their lives for this cause, but how could they escape the pursuit of large-sized beastn while carrying cubs on their escape route?
Whether it was the Tiger tribe, the Leopard tribe, or the Golden Lion tribe, the combat power of any of them ranked at the top among beastn. It was truly too difficult for small-sized beastn to escape.
Sunflower had also softened his heart and wanted to give up the chase, to give them a way out. But after returning to the kingdom, he saw the beastn he had personally let go inside the prison, their bodies laden with bloody shackles, limbs broken, fresh blood seeping from their wounds.
To thoroughly extinguish the beastn’s intention to escape, his rival, the General of the Golden Lion tribe, Khemong, ordered his subordinates to hang over a dozen beast cubs that these small-sized beastn had hidden, right in front of their eyes.
Because of this, Sunflower flew into a rage and fought fiercely with Khemong, destroying half the prison.
But what was lost could not be compensated. That day, the entire capital was filled with the cries of beastn.
Also on that day, Sunflower and his trusted aides from the Tiger tribe intentionally let countless small-sized beastn go during the chaos of the fight, doing their best to stall for ti so they could escape.
Because of this, the Beast King was furious. Both he and Khemong were severely punished, though Khemong was punished more heavily for arbitrarily hanging the cubs.
Also because of this, although Khemong appeared compliant on the surface, he secretly sought out Dwarf blacksmiths to forge chains specifically designed to imprison small-sized beastn. These chains were incredibly vicious, piercing through both shoulders to lock the neck. With just a little struggle, the two bloody holes on the shoulders would make the beastman wish for death.
The most detestable thing was that the chains were infused with a drug specifically designed to suppress beast power. If it were a strong beastman, they might not be affected much, but it was more than enough to deal with small-sized beastn.
The filthy things humans invented to deal with beastn were unexpectedly used by Khemong on his own kind.
Sunflower would never forget that day. The cubs he had personally released, including a little gray fox he had once held, died miserably at Khemong’s hands just like that.
The tragic screams of the cubs, the heartbroken wailing of their relatives, the bloodshot eyes of the beastn, and the prison flowing with blood - it was all still vivid in his mind.
Sunflower stopped breathing for a few seconds and closed his eyes to calm himself:
"The white wine was exchanged by the Hadu tribe from humans. Rember, you coincidentally obtained a rare spiritual plant and used it to trade with the humans."
Success!
Eric secretly rejoiced in his heart and said gratefully: "Thank you so much, Sunflower. I know the dilemma in your heart. Being able to go to this extent proves you are countless tis stronger than those beastn with black hearts."
Eric’s straightforward praise soothed so of the pain in Sunflower’s heart. His gaze beca gentle, as if seeing those children from years ago through Eric. The helplessness and hesitation back then had caused their deaths; this ti, Sunflower did not want to repeat that mistake.
His loyalty to the kingdom was unquestionable, and in his heart, he also hoped the kingdom could develop strongly like this small tribe.
But at the sa ti, he understood better than anyone that the kingdom today was already a bad apple. No matter how shiny the skin was, one bite would reveal only rotting flesh.
Just like Khemong hanging over a dozen cubs; this was clearly an act deserving of death, yet the Beast King was only angry because of the loss of a few tens of thousands of gold coins.
Eric was right. Sunflower did not want these small-sized beastn to experience the pain of losing their families and relatives because of him again.
After a long internal struggle, Sunflower finally made up his mind.
...
Vast fields were interspersed with roads. On the gray land, the lush green sprouts of various crops were growing vigorously.
Countless beastn were weeding and thinning sprouts in the fields. Two tall Ox-Head tribe mbers led the way, directing and supervising the other beastn. Thinning sprouts had to be done just right; too sparse or too dense wouldn’t do.
On the plain near the human campsite, dozens of beastn were also walking back, either hugging or carrying goods. Countless large wooden barrels and rolls of cotton cloth made their faces bloom with joy.
The harvest this ti was truly bountiful; the beastn had never seen such a scene. Before, they thought spices were expensive and useless, yet now they were carrying back ten large barrels.
These weren’t small wooden chests for white sugar, but large chests weighing at least a hundred catties.
Inside the campsite, people from the rchant caravan were also busy packing the white wine brought by the beastn.
The President had spoken: this white wine must not suffer even a single bump, or they would face the consequences.
Layers of linen cloth were wrapped around the ceramic jars. Fearing it wasn’t safe enough, the servants spread several thick layers of grass on the transport carriage, then used strong ropes to tightly bind the wine jars, fixing them so they wouldn’t easily tip over.
Over the past few days, Old Jack had beco very reluctant to part with Eric. This young beastman’s head was full of unexpected ideas. After exchanging recipes several tis, he had also learned a lot.
To reach his level and still gain so much inspiration was a rare opportunity.
Old Jack secretly rejoiced that he had agreed to Corbin’s trip before spring. The Goddess of Luck had looked upon him, allowing him to see and learn new cooking thods, along with completely different dishes he had never seen before.
If his chef friends found out, who knew how jealous they would be.
Old Jack held Eric’s hand, cherishingly taking out a few rolls of parchnt tied together from his bosom: "These are my signature dishes. Even my head apprentice doesn’t have the qualifications to inherit them, but I see your talent is even stronger than his."
Eric was also reluctant to part with this kind old man, but these parchnt rolls sounded incredibly precious - signature sweets of a high-level chef.
"How can I? I can’t accept this!" Eric widened his eyes, refusing in surprise.
The two pushed back and forth. In a corner no one noticed, Tara sat disappointedly behind his teacher hugging his knees, looking like a moldy loaf of bread.
"Stop pushing back and forth. If you don’t want them, give them to . In the Imperial Capital, people wanting to buy your dessert recipes are too many to count. I rember that sweet potato, cheese, and strawberry pudding of yours; the ladies fought crazily over it. If this recipe were sold, it would fetch at least tens of thousands of gold coins."
A lazy voice rang out.
Old Jack frowned, his good attitude toward Eric instantly vanishing: "Richard, what are you doing here again? Go to the side."
He and Eric still had many things to talk about, such as the stir-fry dish Eric accidentally ntioned yesterday; it was a pity he hadn’t seen the thod with his own eyes yet.
Being with this beastman always stimulated so much of his inspiration. Old Jack used to be like most humans, holding prejudice against beastn, but now this prejudice had been shattered by his own hands.
While the two talked, Eric didn’t react, his mind filled with the words he had just heard. There are actually sweet potatoes here!
Richard, thick-skinned and ignoring the dismissal, approached with a grin: "Chief, what did you and Corbin secretly trade? I heard everything."
"There was no trade." Eric scratched his hand unnaturally, quickly changing the subject: "Right, here is a parting gift for you."
He took out a few small cloth bags from his bosom and handed one to Old Jack and Richard each; Tara was not left out either.
Eric had asked this tall apprentice to help quite a few tis.
He was very diligent, and having a chef’s foundation, his preparation of ingredients was extrely professional.
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