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Landen knew he definitely could not keep dragging more than eighty sheep around. Whether among Barbarians or Humans, Black-Scaled Horses were battle companions, pack beasts were transportation tools, and Long-Haired Sheep were sources of meat and hides. So he decided to make sausages and smoked meat in bulk.

Among the Barbarians, Mana-Less people were responsible for the entire tribe's food, clothing, shelter, and daily needs. They were highly skilled at slaughtering sheep and skinning hides.

On the new day, Landen led his territory residents in selecting thirty of the oldest sheep, or those that looked unlikely to survive the winter, from the more than eighty sheep. They slaughtered them and made dried meat and sausages.

After the slaughter, Landen also instructed the Mana-Less to separate and thoroughly clean the sheep intestines. They minced the offal, fat, and deboned meat, mixed them with salt, alcohol, and the spices remaining in the Barbarian tribe, and left the mixture to cure. Then they added flour to the filling, stuffed it into the casings, and boiled it in pots.

They first made a few sausages. After they were cooked, Landen tasted them himself, adjusted some of the ingredients, and then began mass production.

Large cuts of meat were smoked or air-dried into jerky, while the scraps and offal were made into sausages. After all, the official name of certain sausages was practically "emulsified high-fat offal tubes." These sausages could provide protein for the Mana-Less territory residents and reduce their dependence on grain. What gave Landen a headache was that this world had far too few varieties of spices, and the flavors were extremely one-dimensional.

They found some fennel, cinnamon, and thyme in the Barbarian camp. Their spice stores were even greater than Landen's at home, though the varieties were about the same. Albert said that fennel and thyme could be produced locally, but cinnamon came from the Southern Forest. Even Landen's family did not have any.

All he could say was that Barbarian chieftains generally lived far better than minor nobles like him.

Besides spices, fuel had also been troubling Landen. In Alivia, there was an important principle: trees could not be cut down casually. This postmodern environmental idea from his hometown surprised Landen greatly. But after thinking back, he realized that neither his own castle, the homes of his territory residents, nor Bristle-Wolf City, which he had visited, had wooden houses. Most were stone houses, or even brick buildings.

There was a widespread belief that tall trees could provide a better magical environment. This was something nearly all Humans, Barbarians, Beast Races, and Elves knew.

Albert said that a thousand years ago, every race had assumed that trees could bring more magical elements. But in the past thousand years, the Tower of Purity had discovered that trees more than a hundred years old formed certain natural Magic Patterns within their trunks. These Magic Patterns could adjust the proportion of nearby Life Elements within a small area.

Though the effect of a single tree was not obvious, the combined effect of an entire forest was extremely considerable. Therefore, the Human Empire protected large woodlands, and even nobles could not exploit them freely.

Back in his territory, because they were close to the Great Forest, the Gallop Family's Mana-Less people would gather firewood, or cut branches and shrubs in the forest for fuel. But now Landen and the others were on the Grassland, so Landen asked Yoke what the Barbarian camp used to make fires.

"Mostly reeds from the riverbank. Some kinds of reeds burn for a long time, so we use them as fuel. If the reeds in one place are all cut down, we move our camp somewhere else. But in recent years, when the Chieftain was around, he used a Magic Rune Tablet that could start fires directly," Yoke explained.

"Isn't Gallop Plains a region of Magic Turbulence? How can a Rune Board start a fire?" Landen found it strange. What was even stranger was that he had not seen the Barbarian Chieftain's Rune Board. He did not believe his knights had hidden it away; instead, he wondered whether they had overlooked something during yesterday's search.

Landen returned to what had been the Barbarian Chieftain's tent and searched it again. He even had Greyhound bring Redsand over and ask around. In the end, they found freshly dug traces beneath an open-sided carpet.

After digging it up, Landen found an iron box one meter long, thirty centimeters wide, and thirty centimeters high. Inside the iron box was a wooden box made of a special kind of wood, with several Magic Arrays carved on its surface.

Albert knew that this type of box was made by the Golden Moon Elf Clan in the Southern Forest. It was crafted from the branches of a certain broadleaf tree and was excellent for storing Magic Materials.

The medium-sized wooden box Landen was looking at was called a Magic Sealing Box. Even in the Royal Capital, small and mid-level nobles used them to store valuable items such as Magic Crystals and Rune Board materials. There were also smaller, more exquisite ones for storing ladies' magical jewelry, as well as larger chests for storing the Rune Armor, Magic Weapons, or High-level Magic Beast materials of high-ranking professionals.

Inside the Magic Sealing Box, Landen found three Rune Boards, eight Magic Crystals, and an enchanted dagger. The three Rune Boards could start fires, gather water, and freeze things respectively.

Now Landen knew what powered Magic Rune Boards. But considering that each Magic Crystal was worth at least ten Gold Coins, wasn't burning Magic Crystals far too extravagant?

However, Albert said that the Rune Board had a simple mana-gathering Magic Array. One Magic Crystal could keep it burning for seven or eight hours. According to Yoke, the Rune Board was not used by itself, but to assist the burning of fuel. When reeds burned together with the Rune Board, ordinary fuel lasted twice as long, and the residue left after burning was little more than ash.

A single Magic Crystal could keep burning for several days. Landen felt that this Magic Pattern Plate seemed to serve as some sort of catalyst, or perhaps improved combustion efficiency.

With the Rune Boards found, the fuel problem was solved, and the grand sausage-making project began. Besides making mutton sausages, some Mana-Less people processed more than thirty sheepskins, while the other captured Mana-Less helped the original territory residents make or alter clothing. This made the entire group look more like a Barbarian camp than a Human camp fleeing disaster.

That afternoon, Greyhound, who had been out patrolling, returned on horseback. According to his scouting, there were several small tribes upstream.

The information Greyhound brought made everyone restless. Those small tribes were now the granary and vault of Landen's group.

Every knight was eager to give it a try, hoping Landen would agree to attack.

But Landen hesitated. Barbarian tribes were not NPCs in a game; they would not wait in place to be robbed. Even if they stayed in their camps, every Barbarian tribe would leave several Barbarian Cavalry behind. Those cavalry were not weak, and only a surprise attack could possibly avoid losses.

Among the knights and Knight Apprentices before him, the loss of any one of them would cause a structural loss of strength.

But not attacking was also a problem. The camp's food was limited, and they could not simply sit there and consume everything. More importantly, no one knew when the Barbarians who had gone out would return.

No matter how many difficulties there were, hesitation would not solve anything. Landen decided to conduct reconnaissance himself again, preferably choosing a weaker target to take out first. At the very least, he needed to equip every low-ranking knight with Iron Armor.

Landen took Greyhound and Raul north, then east. The first thing they encountered was two neighboring small tribes. The camps Landen called the Twin Tribes were separated only by a river, less than a kilometer apart in a straight line.

Judging by the number of horses, each tribe was estimated to have four or five Barbarian Cavalry. They were among the smallest tribes. But although the two tribes were extremely close, the river between them meant it was not easy to get from one camp to the other quickly.

Landen hesitated when he saw this. Once a night raid began, an attack on one camp would definitely alert the other. Although the two tribes would not be able to support each other quickly, taking them both at once would still be very difficult.

After traveling more than ten kilometers east, they found another small tribe. This tribe probably had around five Barbarian Cavalry. Landen felt it was worth trying, but such a small tribe was rather far away. Landen had become a little picky now and felt it might not be worth making a special trip.

After going another dozen kilometers east, they saw a medium-sized camp. There were probably around ten people inside. Both its scale and number of horses showed that Landen could not possibly swallow this tribe.

"Looks like there's no need to choose. Tonight, everyone get ready. We're taking the second camp!" Landen made his decision on the way back.

"Yes, my lord!" Several knights answered. They were all incomparably excited.

Landen really would generously share the spoils. As long as they took down one more camp, every one of them would have a suit of Iron Armor—a wealth that could be passed down to their descendants.

That night, Landen once again led all the low-ranking knights and Knight Apprentices in the camp. This time, Walker was not left behind either. Landen brought out all his strength.

The group still traveled west along a tributary of the Gallop River. On the vast Grassland, rivers were excellent landmarks.

However, when Landen encountered the Twin Tribes' camps halfway there, he discovered that one of the camps was holding a bonfire party—one of those wild, celebratory parties.

By the firelight, nine tall Barbarians were drinking and having fun. Even more fortunately, the horses from both camps had been gathered beside the bonfire party. The dogs in the camps were barking wildly, but no one paid them any attention.

Looking at the celebrating Barbarians, Landen muttered, "How about we save the camp behind them for later?"

Obviously, the most troublesome thing about the Twin Tribes had been that the fewer than ten Barbarian Cavalry were divided between the two camps. Now they were all gathered together in cheerful revelry.

What had once been two mouthfuls of meat could now be swallowed in one bite. The Twin Tribes had become a ready-made delicacy before Landen.

"Let's wait until these savages get drunk," Raul said.

The Barbarians did not get drunk anytime soon. Instead, they started doing all kinds of nonsense while tipsy. Landen's eyesight was good now, and when he watched a Barbarian run into the sheep pen, he felt his eyes had been stained by sin. "Slaughter that sheep first afterward."

As the Barbarian camp's revelry entered its second half, Landen's seven knights and three Knight Apprentices mounted up. Several ordinary Mana-Wielders followed them as they slowly rode toward the Barbarian camp.

Once Barbarians started having fun, they became utterly absorbed in it. Even when Landen's group was only a hundred meters from the camp, no one noticed them.

Not until the firelight reflected off Landen's Iron Armor did one Barbarian catch sight of him from the corner of his eye. At first, he even thought someone from another tribe had come to join the fun. Then he saw Landen, clad in Iron Armor, ride a tall horse into the camp, followed by a saber flashing with cold light.

The saber, trailing a white arc, cut down the first Barbarian. Landen claimed the first kill once again, and the knights who followed him in also quickly achieved results. Within mere seconds of entering the Barbarian camp, they had already dealt with more than half their opponents.

But Landen knew that there were more enemies this time, and greater uncertainty. After dealing with the Barbarians beside the bonfire, at least four remained. Landen rode into the largest tent and, sure enough, found a larger Barbarian engaged in intimate exchanges with a Mana-Less person from the tribe atop an enormous carpet.

Landen's blade precisely avoided the other Mana-Less people and sliced through the Barbarian Chieftain's neck. Hot blood sprayed over the girl beside him.

Screams rose from inside and outside the tent at the same time. The last Barbarian in the sheep pen was dealt with by Raul.

There was no time to count the spoils. They could only have several Mana-Wielders watch the Mana-Less people in the camp, gather the twenty-seven Mana-Less people together, and then immediately charge toward the other camp.

Leading the horses through the icy river, Landen had thought there would be no Barbarians in the second small camp. But even now, no disturbance had appeared in that camp, and no one had emerged from the tents to investigate. That surprised Landen somewhat.

Only after charging into the small camp did they see an elderly Mana-Less person come out.

"My lords, all the lords of our tribe went to the neighboring tribe for a celebration."

"I know. They're having the time of their lives now," Landen added.

"Then what have you gentlemen come here for?"

"To pack up their belongings," Landen said. "Are there any other Mana-Wielders in this camp?"

"What? Their belongings?" the Mana-Less person asked in surprise.

"Yes. I told you, they're having the time of their lives."

"There are no other Mana-Wielders in this camp."

"Good. Call everyone here out and move them to that camp!" There was no room for doubt in Landen's words.

Fortunately, the two camps were indeed very close. Under Landen's strict orders, no Mana-Less person dared drag their feet. They all climbed out of their tents and began packing.

This camp also had one main tent and three smaller tents. Beneath the main tent, Landen found a bundle wrapped in beast hide. Inside were three unexcavated Magic Cores and a Water-Gathering Rune Board.

The camp's twenty-one Mana-Less people quickly gathered, bringing six pack beasts and twenty sheep as they moved to the other camp.

About an hour later, the Twin Tribes' camps were merged. Just as Landen had expected, the people from the two camps knew each other well.

According to the Mana-Less people, the Chieftains of the two camps were brothers. The brothers had only split their households this year, and recently the main forces of both families had gone to an alliance gathering. So the brothers' children had gathered together to look after one another.

The two camps had agreed to celebrate together that day. In the end, all the Barbarians who could fight had been busy enjoying themselves, and Landen struck them with a direct surprise attack.

Combined, the Twin Tribes had two "elderly" Mana-Less people, thirteen adult men, twenty-two adult women, eleven children, ten Black-Scaled Horses, fourteen pack beasts, forty-seven Long-Haired Sheep, four sets of Iron Armor, seventeen kilograms of salt, three hundred and seventy kilograms of rice, fifteen kilograms of Magic Beast Meat, less than thirty Gold Coins in total, two Rune Boards, and seven Magic Crystals.

For Landen's group, the most important gains were still the Iron Armor, population, and horses.

Landen was extremely satisfied with the harvest. He even restarted the bonfire and roasted the leftover sheep the Barbarians had not finished eating, preparing himself a late-night snack.

At that moment, Albert came over with Raul and asked, "My lord, should we attack another camp?"

"Then let's have two mouthfuls and replenish our strength." Seeing the greed in Raul and Albert's eyes, Landen called his subordinates over for some late-night food.