Landen's afternoons were always leisurely, because Neil and Fang took care of everything from cleaning the crocodile hides and cutting up the meat to building the fire. Fang and Greyhound were excellent hunters, skilled at skinning and butchering, while Neil was a child of the Grassland, well-versed in starting fires, curing and roasting meat, and finally cleaning the Magic Crystal plates.
The other Mana-Wielders continued catching Water Arrow Fish in baskets. Afterward, they killed and cured the fish, then brought them back to camp as a little extra food for the Mana-Wielders.
The whole group did their best to avoid fighting a second crocodile. For one thing, hunting one took a heavy toll on Landen's Battle Qi. After releasing two attacks in a row, he needed half a day to recover.
For another, Landen now considered the entire Gallop Plains his own backyard. And since it was his garden, he had to protect the source of his Magic Beast Meat.
More than ten Mana-Wielders sat around the fire, gnawing on crocodile meat. A four-meter-long crocodile was enough to fill everyone's stomachs and still leave plenty to take back to camp. After they ate, Landen would have some of the scraps made into jerky for him to take along.
Afternoons in Alivia were very long. After Diyang sank, the enormous Laya lingered in the sky for ages. This period was known as dusk. The light was still bright, but the temperature had already begun to drop. The Grassland's herders would use this time to hurry back to camp, where bonfires were lit.
On the way back to camp, Landen always told the young cavalrymen stories about the Gallop Family. Some of the stories had been told to him by Hark and Albert, while others came from the great book about his territory.
"Let me tell you about the Gallop Family of the Dragon Kingdom. Our history can be traced back to a Legend Knight of the old Gallop Royal Family. As a child, he went to the Tower of Purity in the Imperial Capital to study. He was once a pupil of the God Emperor and a beloved student of Kaul, the Legendary Space Mage.
"Master Kaul once took part in rebuilding Night-Kirin City. Afterward, he continued looking after our family's students at the Tower of Purity. Several Legends and more than a dozen Archmages came from among our ancestors who studied under him. Master Kaul continued helping the Gallop Family until that world-shaking battle more than two hundred years ago, when he fell."
Landen was recounting his family's glorious history. "Do you know? The God Emperor truly favored our old Gallop Family. Even the design of my Gallop Tribe's banner was bestowed by the God Emperor!"
"Ah... Your lordship's family really is blessed by the gods!"
"That's right! The Gallop Tribe is the ultimate ruler of this great Grassland!"
Landen listened to his subordinates' praise with satisfaction. What he had just said wasn't exactly wrong. When the Gallop Family restored its kingdom, the God Emperor decreed that the Night-Kirin banner would be the family's standard. No specific design, dimensions, or illustration had been prescribed.
Over the thousand years that followed, the Gallop Family's banner design had changed dozens of times. Even now, a noble whose banner bore a Black-Scaled Horse could usually be assumed to have some connection to the Gallop Family. So Landen wasn't wrong at all when he said his banner's design had been bestowed by the God Emperor.
Landen had been thinking a lot lately about what Albert had said: how to truly integrate the Barbarians into his territory. At present, Landen was the chief of a nomadic tribe. He didn't actually have a territory, so he couldn't really be called a lord.
But one day, he would become a landed lord. Yes, he should! At least, as Landen watched his tribe grow and the Barbarian population increase, he kept repeating those words to himself.
Once he had a territory and a castle, what would the Barbarians there be considered? How would they live, and how would he govern them?
If the Barbarians had never been conquered by a Human lord, how should he treat them in the future?
After several days of thought, Landen tried to follow the path of the feudal dynasties of his homeland. On one hand, he would give the Barbarians a degree of independence; on the other, he would find them a religion and use it to turn them into a semi-nomadic people. The god he would bring to the Barbarians was the God Emperor. Landen secretly hoped the old God Emperor wouldn't mind having Barbarian followers.
To persuade the Barbarians to worship the God Emperor, Landen picked out many stories from his family history about the God Emperor and the Legends of the Tower of Purity. Whenever he had a chance, he told them to the Barbarians or to the young Mana-Wielders in his group.
As Landen told stories about the Gallop Family, he and his party finally returned to camp.
Once inside the camp, Landen first went to the children's area. It was a necessary stop whenever he returned from a hunt.
Landen required the Mana-Less adults responsible for the children to select, each day, the four to six children who had learned the most characters, picked up skills the fastest, and behaved the best.
Whenever Landen returned, he handed out pieces of Magic Beast Meat to the children. Every child received a small piece, while those who had done well got two.
Landen thought that if a little Magic Beast Meat gave the children a better chance of awakening their Mana-Wielder Bloodline, it would greatly benefit his territory. Even if no new Mana-Wielders emerged, it would still be worthwhile if the children became more loyal to him.
Of course, Landen had been a teacher in his previous life, so he was especially fond of children. He also held to the belief that children shouldn't have to suffer.
"Who learned the most characters today?" Landen asked the children, though he was really asking Nancy, the Mana-Less woman who managed them.
"Redbird learned the most today."
Redbird was the granddaughter of a Human Butler from a newly conquered territory. Ever since she had joined the group of children, she had shown a remarkable eagerness to learn. Both Landen and Nancy liked her very much.
"Come here. Here's a piece of meat as a reward."
"Thank you, my lord."
"Now, which child behaved the best today?"
"Little Hilt behaved the best." He was the child of the camp's first leatherworker.
"Come here. Here's another piece as a reward."
"Th-thank you, my lord." Little Hilt was very shy.
"Children, the meat you're eating was brought back by me and these big brothers behind me." Every time Landen came by, he brought his hunting party with him.
"Thank you, my lord! Thank you, big brothers!" Nancy had taught the children to say it, but Fang and Neil were both very pleased to hear it.
When Landen and his party returned to camp, it meant the whole territory could eat. The camp went through three Long-Haired Sheep every day. Occasionally, when a pack animal was on its last legs, it was stewed too.
Every afternoon, the Mana-Less residents selected and slaughtered Long-Haired Sheep. Their innards and scraps were made into sausages, while the bones and large cuts of meat went into a huge pot to stew.
Every tribe Landen conquered earned him a huge pot. These iron pots were also an important part of the territory's wealth.
Landen's camp needed five huge pots to stew meat at the same time: one for the Human Mana-Wielders, one for the Barbarian Mana-Wielders, and one each for the Left Camp, the Right Camp, and the original Gallop Territory Residents. When the mutton was nearly done, they added the sausages they had dried earlier, fish caught that day, and small game caught by the cavalrymen.
Besides meat, the camp also used an afternoon's worth of fire to make flatbreads. The flour came from grain collected at various camps. They also added grass seeds, wild vegetables, and Earth Potato tubers. The whole camp made enough flatbreads for breakfast and lunch the next day.
If they were moving camp the next day, they also had to make enough for dinner.
At each meal, the Human Mana-Wielders could finish an entire Long-Haired Sheep, and the Barbarians could finish another. The Mana-Less residents shared what was left, each getting a small piece of mutton and some broth.
Fortunately, Landen wasn't short of Long-Haired Sheep anymore. What he lacked was grain.
Landen was now organizing the residents to dig up Earth Potatoes. Each morning, the Mana-Less residents washed and crushed the potatoes they had gathered the day before, then put the crushed pieces into a large wooden barrel and added water. They strained the potato slurry through hemp cloth, collecting the liquid in another large barrel. After it settled, they removed the clear liquid on top, leaving behind a starchy slurry. Once dried in the sun, it became starch.
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