Chapter 292 – A Sense about Living
Zhao Hai and Laura returned to their tent but did not immediately head back out. Laura looked curiously at Zhao Hai, “Brother Hai, you did not mention to Bell that Brother Wales would counter attack immediately, are you afraid that he’ll spread the news?”
Zhao Hai nodded, “Although Bell is also a member of the league, we can’t not hold a little bit of precaution. It’s better to be more careful, in any case, so that Brother Wales’ counterattack this time would be successful. This time, Brother Wales’s attack hinges on the element of surprise. If we let others know when he will counterattack, the plan may fail, so we should tell n.o.body about this matter.”
Laura nodded, to be honest, if Bell were not a member of the League of Black Mages, they wouldn’t even make a contact with him, after all, Bell’s reputation is really bad.
Meg turned to Zhao Hai, “I think Mister Bell is a good man, he told us some secret information. Why is young master still on guard against him?”
Zhao Hai looked at Meg and the innocent Nier with a wry smile, Laura also shook her head. Meg and Nier were the kind of people who wouldn’t make any further a.s.sumptions. To them, if a person treated them well, then the person must be good. With this mindset, if n.o.body protects them then they would most likely be swindled and become bankrupt.
Zhao Hai cannot bear to look at their eyes any further, he said “Bell is a good person, and he is also a fellow member of the League of Black Magicians so he should not be against us. But with the current situation, the less people who knew the better, anyway you must remember this saying, ‘Never harbor the intent to victimize others; but never let your guard down against being victimized."[1]
They nodded earnestly, but looking at their faces, Zhao Hai had the impulse to hit a wall, looking at them, its really uncertain if they will really remember.
Zhao Hai and Laura looked at each other, they cannot help but shake their heads and focus on preparing things they needed to eat. They did not believe that Meg and Nier would be able to hurt someone in this life.
The things that they need to prepare aren’t that many, as long as they have milk wine and some vegetables then they would be fine. Zhao Hai didn’t bring out many vegetables, only ones that were easy to preserve, he didn’t want the beastmen to be jealous of his s.p.a.ce.
In only a few minutes, the four people were ready to go out of their tent. Outside the tent the bonfire was already going on, the argali already roasted. This made Zhao Hai admire the technique of Bell’s subordinate in handling food.
In his hand, Zhao Hai was holding the sheepskin knife given to him by Spier. Even though what Mendez gave him was much more gorgeous, Zhao Hai still liked using the one Spier gifted him. Maybe it’s because he felt Spier’s sincerity in handing him the knife, while the knife Mendez gave him was too magnificent, and not suitable for use, perhaps only for collection.
Bell was waiting for Zhao Hai, as though he was waiting for a treat. Gla.s.ses, plates, and all the things they needed for the meal were prepared ,only Zhao Hai was missing.
Zhao Hai didn’t act too polite, he put out several pots of milk wine, you must know that these big pots were used by beastmen to hold their milk wine. Each pot can hold up to 5 jin, Zhao Hai brought six pots this time.
As Zhao Hai brought out the wine, Beta also arrived, he did not come empty-handed. He held a big basin in his arms, which actually turned out to be beef.
Bell immediately sat down along with the other two. After they have sat down, Meg and Nier immediately went forth and poured them some wine. As the wine was poured down, Beta and Bell could feel the difference in this wine, this wine’s fragrant aroma is too imposing.
What’s most important, is that the liquid is very clear as though it doesn’t have any point of impurity, it pretty much looked like water. However, the fragrance and mellowness of the milk in the liquor greeted the nostrils, making one unable to stop smelling.
At this time, Ca.s.sie had cut up the beef that was brought by Beta, but Bell and Beta didn’t notice the beef at all, their eyes were stuck staring ant the wine gla.s.s in front of them.
Bell took a deep breath, then he looked towards Zhao Hai and asked, “Mister Zhao, is this you milk wine?”
Zhao Hai smiled and nodded, he replied, “Try it, see how my milk wine compares so Brother Beta’s. Brother Beta, you also taste, but I have to warn you that this wine strongly burns.
Beta didn’t know what it meant by being polite, so he immediately downed the entire gla.s.s. Then Zhao Hai looked at his appearance as though he was watching an entertaining show, a show on a screen called the face, with the performer being Beta, as the performance proceeded, Beta’s face turned red in a flash.
This cannot be blamed on Beta, he was not used to drinking liquor with a high degree of alcohol. Although Zhao Hai’s liquor only underwent simple distillation, the degree went up by almost 30 proof. The milk wine that the beastmen drank before can only be considered a simple alcoholic drink, it didn’t have that high of a degree.
Looking at Beta’s situation, Bell was surprised and also became a bit cautious. He raised the cup and took a little sip, the mellow wine fragrance along with its milky flavor became sandwiched in his mouth, the taste was really exquisite.
Bell closed his eyes, and just felt the fragrant taste of the wine. Although the wine also had a milky flavor, it wasn’t any bit smelly and the taste wasn’t uncomfortable at all but was rather mellow making the wine a bit more rich, this was the first time that Bell has come to drink this type of wine .
Beta was breathing heavily at this time, he was already unable to wait and he poured himself another gla.s.s of wine, he did not even have the time to praise the first gla.s.s before he drunk the second gla.s.s. His face became even more red, as if they were bleeding.
Zhao Hai saw Beta beginning to get his third gla.s.s, he quickly said, “Brother Beta, no rush, we may not even taste the beef that you’ve brought, you wouldn’t want yourself to be drunk do you?”
Beta responded, he gave back his gla.s.s full to the brim with liquor, then he said to Zhao Hai, “Right, Brother Zhao come taste the beef that I brought, this was just boiled with some unique spices from our prairie, taste it quickly.”
Seeing Beta this way, Bell and Zhao Hai couldn’t help but laugh, then they tasted the beef that he brought. It was very fragrant, and the flavor is really unique and can only be found in the prairie, humans had no way of replicating this flavor.
Zhao Hai was curious about the spices that Beta mentioned, he turned to Beta and said, “Brother Beta, can you give me some of your spices? It’ll be much better if they were alive.”
Beta knew that Zhao Hai wanted to collect plants, but he didn’t think that he would collect these kinds of plants also, after he heard Zhao Hai, he immediately replied, “Very well, Brother Zhao, this is not a problem, tomorrow I will find some spices and have them sent to you alive, but I have a request, you have to send me a few pots of your milk wine.”
Zhao Hai laughed, “No problem, brother, even if you didn’t give me some of those spices I would’ve still given you a few pots of milk wine.” he said while laughing. Bell also laughed with Zhao Hao, Bell liked Zhao Hai more and more now, at the same time he also understood why in such a short time, Zhao Hai managed to make the entire West Wonder King camp like him so much.
Bell didn’t know that the two flags that Zhao Hai had were friends.h.i.+p flags, n.o.body could blame him because most people who did business in the beastmen prairie did not understand what friends.h.i.+p flags were or have even heard it since they could not win the beastmen’s trust, thus they weren’t given friends.h.i.+p flags.
But even so, looking at the way the beastmen act towards Zhao Hai, the beastmen seem to be showing a different side, they seem to like interacting with Zhao Hai more. Them interacting with Zhao Hai and them interacting with Bell, it’s exactly two different things.
At the beginning, Bell didn’t understand what it was, but now when he saw Zhao Hai, he understood, he understood why those beastmen like to make contact with Zhao Hai, it was because of respect.
Although Bell didn’t want it known, but he had to admit that he had always looked down on the beastmen. He despised them, who only know how to herd sheep and had very unpleasant sheep smell. He thought that these beastmen were some uncouth boorish fellows, that they were completely different.
When he comes in contact with the beastmen, he was polite and merry, which was enough. But he had to recognize that he was less respectful and is a bit more arrogant towards them. Therefore this made it very difficult for him to become a true friend to the beastmen.
Bell cannot help but sigh, he can now understand why Zhao Hai became Wales’ Beheading Blood Oath brother, it was because Zhao Hai held a respect for him.
This meal eaten by several people was very merry, not only because of Zhao Hai’s wine, but also because of Bell’s fruits, Zhao Hai’s vegetables, Bell’s beef, and Ca.s.sie’s roast argali.
After eating, many beastmen who were familiar with Zhao Hai came and joined them, Zhao Hai was busy making Laura take out more milk wine to drink with everyone. More than a dozen beastmen became drunk in the camp. It didn’t mean that they had drunk a huge amount of liquor, on the contrary, they did not drink too much but instead drank too fast, therefore they made themselves intoxicated.”
Zhao Hai didn’t drink too much since he was very experienced with high degree alcohol. One cannot drink too much of this type of liquor, drinking too fast will also make you drunk. But to Zhao Hai, this milk wine was not the high degree alcohol that he was used to, compared to a high degree alcohol back on Earth, this milk wine felt too light.”
All the people who came to the camp were happily drinking. For Bell, this was the first time he experienced beastmen being intimate with him[2], he really admires Zhao Hai now.
Bell was also happily drinking, in the end he needed to be lifted by Ca.s.sie back to his tent, but Bell didn’t say anything, he was the first one keeling over, drunk.
When the other people in the camp were gone, Zhao Hai also returned to their tent. Zhao Hai didn’t drink too much today, so he was very awake, he did not need to drink life water to heal his hangover.
Laura looked at Zhao Hai and smiled, “It seems that the milk wine deal with Bell is finalized.”
Zhao Hai slightly smiled, “It looks like there would be no problems. Moreover, I think our milk wine sales in West Wonder King’s camp would also skyrocket, a pity that West Wonder King wouldn’t exist for too long.”
Laura stayed silent, she didn’t know what to say, if Wales’ counterattack against the Fighting Bulls were to succeed, he certainly wouldn’t let West Wonder King off easily. When that time comes, West Wonder King’s camp would be embroiled in the flames of war.
Zhao Hai looked at Laura’s appearance, he knew what she was thinking, he sighed and said, “There’s no other way, forget it, give me a piece of paper, I have to write the information we gathered today and send it to brother Wales to make him prepare earlier. I want the information regarding the Radiant Church to be among these, this would be a very important weapon for him, he can use this information to invite other beastmen races for help, they’d certainly agree to give aid.”
Laura nodded and replied, “I think that this thing was already been known by those large warring races in the prairie. The strength of those races couldn’t be underestimated, but why they just turned a blind eye towards the Herculean Bulls, is beyond me.”
Zhao Hai laughed and said, “Not necessarily, these warring races aren’t G.o.ds, they cannot know everything. Although the Herculean Bulls are fairly famous among the beastmen, they are still a small group, they cannot necessarily be able to attract the attention of those big warring races.”
Laura nodded, “I certainly hope that is the case. I always had the feeling that something was going on between the beastmen and humans recently, and it’s not good”
Zhao Hai sighed and said, “No matter what we do, we only need to ensure the safety of out territory. I heard a saying, if everything is left to the world, then poverty is the only good. What it means is, we need to help others when we have the power but if you have no power, just let yourself not be bad and be an honest person. We can only count as poor people now. If there is really something big going on in the continent, then we can only do our best to help others.”
Laura nodded, she also thought that these words were reasonable, their current status on the main continent was very sensitive, especially inside the Aksu Empire. Zhao Hai and Laura’s status is likened to that of an old street mouse, being chased and hunted around. At this time, even if they wanted to help others, they were unable to, it would not bode well if they were to expose their secret, as their troubles would become greater.
Laura sighed and said, “If the beastmen would really make a move, their only goal could only be the Aksu empire because they share borders. They wouldn’t cross the ocean to attack the Rosen Empire, that would be unrealistic. If the beastmen were to really wage war with the humans, then what do we do? Do we still provide grain to the beastmen? But in that case, wouldn’t it be unfair for the humans?”
Zhao Hai had a headache thinking about this, he touched his forehead and after some time sighed, “Let’s not think about this anymore. Right now there still hasn’t been a war. And if it breaks out, Wales is still my sworn brother. To be honest, I don’t hold much favor towards the human race, naturally this refers to those at the higher positions. Human commoners are just the same as beastmen commoners. I do not hope for war, but we can only do what we can. These matters are out of our control, we can only act as observers, quietly watching, offering help where help is needed. This is what we can do at most.”
1. proverb is Hài rén zhī xīn bù kě yǒu, Fáng rén zhī xīn bùkě wú. Source
2. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)