Traces of the Wild People

Lynn led Second Brother up the bare, pointed hill.

The hill was littered with gravel and looked utterly unremarkable.

Yet the mining hammer icon on the map reminded Lynn that mineral deposits truly lay beneath his feet.

The icon was blurred and flickering constantly, indicating that the deposit was buried very shallowly.

Under Lynn's command, the four of them picked up shovels and began digging at once.

After only a few minutes, Lynn dug up a white, translucent stone stained with dirt beneath the thin layer of soil.

Not minding the grime, he scraped off a little with his fingernail and tasted it on the tip of his tongue.

It was bitter, astringent, and salty, yet a smile spread across his lips.

Second Brother noticed the commotion around Lynn and jogged over with his shovel. "Big Brother, did you find it?"

Lynn tossed the stone directly to him. "Taste it."

Second Brother copied him, scraping off a little with his fingernail and putting it in his mouth. His brows quickly twisted together, and he immediately spat it out.

"Big Brother, what exactly is this?"

"Salt." Lynn's answer was brief and forceful.

"Salt? Salt looks like this?"

Second Brother stared at the stone in his hand in confusion. He had only ever seen coarse, snow-white salt crystals. How could he have seen unprocessed raw salt ore?

"This is salt ore that hasn't been refined yet. Beneath our feet lies a salt mine of unknown size." Lynn rested his shovel on his shoulder and examined the pit where the salt ore had been unearthed.

Under the sunlight, specks of light glimmered in the pit, as though countless Kings of the North were winking at him.

The gold coins circulating in the Northern Border were also known as Northern Gold Shields, named for their round-shield shape.

The front of each coin bore the portrait of the current King of the North, while the reverse showed a longsword piercing the sky, symbolizing the great achievements of the First King of the North in conquering the Northern Border.

"A salt mine?!"

Second Brother's breathing immediately grew rapid, and the look in his eyes as he stared at the ore in his hand gradually turned fervent.

Before today, he had not known what salt ore looked like, but he knew that salt could make people rich.

In the Northern Border, salt was a royal monopoly. The profits were easy to imagine.

"Big Brother, can we sell salt from now on too?"

Second Brother normally would not even blink when killing someone, but faced with such immense wealth laid out before him, his hands began trembling uncontrollably.

Lynn was nowhere near as excited as Second Brother.

He could see the gold buried beneath the salt mine, but he could also see the vicious glint flashing from those coins.

Those bold enough to sell illicit salt might not necessarily live long enough to enjoy the profits.

Selling illicit salt in the Northern Border was equivalent to challenging the enormous interest group led by the King. The Marsh Duke was likely part of that chain of interests as well. Crushing a tiny White Bear Territory would be as easy as playing a game.

What was more, they might not even be able to mine the salt safely.

Sure enough, after circling the hill, Second Brother quickly discovered traces of excavation that had been deliberately concealed on its northern side.

"Big Brother, could people from the territory be secretly mining the salt?"

Second Brother instinctively assumed that Territory Steward Albert and the others were secretly extracting the salt.

Old Albert had strongly tried to stop Lynn from inspecting the forest before. He must have wanted to conceal the salt mine's existence.

Then there was the former Baroness, who had shamelessly tried to seduce Big Brother the moment she arrived.

It all fit. Every bit of it fit.

Second Brother even darkly suspected that the pitiful former baron had been murdered by Yagna and Old Albert working together, all to seize the salt mine.

They probably wanted to murder Big Brother now as well.

Lynn crouched before a manmade pit and carefully examined the various traces inside it. Then he analyzed, "No. It should have been the Wild People from the north."

"The Wild People?" Second Brother had already been considering how to interrogate Old Albert, so Lynn's conclusion left him looking surprised.

"The excavation marks are very fresh, and the broken rock surfaces are rough. That shows the miners only discovered this salt mine recently, and their tools were fairly primitive. The mine is also on the northern side of the hill. Taken together, the diggers were most likely the Wild People."

After saying that, Lynn stood and looked around, finding quite a lot of fresh wild animal droppings near the mine.

"The Wild People likely discovered this salt mine by accident while hunting. Open-air salt mines in the wilderness easily attract large animals."

Ever since discovering the Peat Mine two days ago, Lynn had unlocked the [Gathering] function, and the panel had also displayed knowledge about various mineral deposits.

Now that his [Planting] had grown to level two, he assigned all five followers to the salt mine.

Second Brother, Albert, and the other five pixel figures soon began swinging mining picks on the mountain.

[Gathering Experience +1]

[Level 1 Gathering: 1/100]

"Big Brother, if it really was the Wild People, what should we do?"

Second Brother looked slightly lost.

As a horse bandit, he generally slaughtered Noble Knights from all walks of life. He lacked experience fighting the Wild People and knew very little about them.

"No rush. Let's go back first."

Judging from the traces near the salt mine, Lynn believed the Wild People had not discovered it long ago.

That meant this group of Wild People had only recently migrated near White Bear Territory, which matched Old Albert's description.

As for why they had not settled near the salt mine, they were probably afraid of being discovered by the people of White Bear Territory.

That brutal war thirty years ago must have terrified the Wild People.

Only after a full thirty years did they dare to tentatively migrate south.

Lynn's initial plan was to levy Corvée labor this summer and build roads connecting White Bear Territory to the Peat Mine and the salt mine.

Before the roads were completed, he would explore the forest several more times and attempt to communicate effectively with the Wild Tribes.

It would be best if the matter could be resolved peacefully.

Aside from money, what Lynn needed most urgently right now was population.

White Bear Territory did not lack land. Vast stretches of fertile soil rich in humus were still waiting to be cultivated.

Though the Wild People were uncivilized, farming in the Northern Border was not particularly technical.

With careful instruction for a while, they would become the best farmers.

As for today, they could only return to the territory first.

After all, there were only three people at Lynn's side. No matter how strong they were, they could still be overwhelmed by numbers.

Who knew how many people this Wild Tribe moving south had?

The prerequisite for a peaceful solution was having the strength to settle things by force.

The next time he explored the northern forest, he would bring more men and dispatch multiple squads to search for traces of the Wild People.

Overall, finding vast deposits of peat and an open-air salt mine on his first exploration, while also unlocking a large portion of the map's fog, had already left Lynn extremely satisfied.

Just as the group packed their belongings and headed south, back to White Bear Territory, Yagna walked out of the castle.

During the days Lynn had been gone, she had been tormented by the question he left her, so conflicted that she could not sleep at night.

After four days, Yagna even felt as though she were suffocating and desperately needed to leave the castle for some fresh air.

Lao Liu, who had remained behind at the castle, knew how important this woman was to Lynn. He did not make things too difficult for her, only sending two Horse Bandits to accompany and watch her.

Just after leaving the castle and taking only a few steps, Yagna noticed the new Heavy Plow moving through the Strip Fields.

This is a plow? But why does a plow have two wheels?