Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 956: Fair Deal?

Surrounded by wooden walls is a semicircular area. All the snow and dirt have been cleared away, revealing a clean ice surface. Even though it is just a temporary camp, the area is still divided very neatly. The place where people live and the place where livestock are raised are separated by a straight road. The simple tents full of mountain style are covered with the fur of alpine blue sheep or wildebeest, which can effectively block the cold wind and maintain the temperature inside the tent.

The total number of the Wusu tribe members is about 1,500, which is a large number for a nomadic tribe in the mountains. These mountain people live in the snowy mountains all year round and rarely see the outside world. For them, even the Heidebrusburg at the foot of the mountain is probably just a legend from their parents. Seeing so many outsiders entering the tribal camp, many children came to watch with great interest, and openly crowded on the side of the road, whispering in front of these outsiders. The most discussed topic is of course appearance. After all, judging people by appearance is not Alice's privilege, and the simple and kind mountain children are also good at this.

Of course, since everyone’s looks were acceptable, although not outstanding, at least they were handsome men and beautiful women, so Alice basically heard some compliments, such as “The sister with blue hair is so beautiful”, “The tall sister wearing armor looks so beautiful when she smiles”, “Are you all blind? It’s obviously the silver-haired vampire sister who has the most temperament”, and even heard praise for Brandi: “Wow, is that the legendary Sun Snow? It’s really beautiful, I want to ride it too!”

As Alice listened, her fists gradually hardened.

The sister with blue hair, the tall sister wearing armor, and even the silver-haired old vampire grandmother... ahem, I’ve praised the vampire elder sisters, but have you overlooked one person?
Isn’t the older sister with golden hair pretty, has a bad figure, or no temperament?

A bunch of blind guys!
Ai-chan thought indignantly.

Chief Wilhelm looked serious, but he did not stop the children in the tribe from watching the guests, as long as they did not do anything out of line. He led Linger and his group through the residential area and passed under the huge bonfire in the center of the camp. The hot air blowing in the face dispelled the cold wind in the snow valley and illuminated the darkness of ignorance. Under the transparent glacier, huge skeletons could be vaguely seen. They were beasts that died in the valley in the past. They were frozen by the wind and snow and still retained their intact posture until today.

Chief Wilhelm walked over the skeleton of the giant beast with an expressionless face and stopped in front of the largest tent in the camp. It was about the size of a house in the general sense, and it was three stories high. Its shape revealed a majestic style. What was even more surprising was that the fur covering the tent for warmth was actually peeled off from a giant snow bear, and there was no trace of sewing, and it was peeled quite intact.

The giant bear's head had also been specially treated and was now hanging on the door of the tent. Its cold and stern ice-blue eyes were wide open, staring indifferently at every human passing by it. The wild aura unique to the top hunter in the food chain was overwhelming, almost suffocating.

Seeing that the outsiders were staring at the specimen of the snow giant bear's head without any knowledge, the honest and straightforward mountain girl Songtaya kindly explained to them: "The Xiatuo people have a tradition of covering their tents with the fur of the beasts they hunted, which is not only for warmth but also for showing off their military strength. The more fur is covered on the tent, the more it proves that he is an excellent hunter. Of course, sometimes it is possible to win by quality rather than quantity, but that requires a lot from both the hunter and the prey. Just like the snow giant bear you see now, it is the result of the father... ahem, the leader's hunting alone. Don't be too afraid to say it, the size of the snow giant bear is said to have reached an astonishing eight meters, which may be the largest prey hunted by the Xiatuo people in the past hundred years..."

Although it was called kindness, everyone could tell that he was just showing off. However, this was indeed a feat worth showing off. The ecological niche of the Snowfield Giant Bear was originally very high, and it had almost no natural enemies in the snowy area. Its prey even included snow leopards and saber-feathered eagles, which were also beasts. A Snowfield Giant Bear that was more than eight meters tall had already entered the ranks of magical beasts. Maybe even snow demons or mountain elves were on its menu.

"Sontaya." Chief Wilhelm's expression did not change. He just glanced at his daughter and said lightly: "Don't be rude in front of the guests."

"Oh." The Chattoto girl shrank her neck and silently retreated into his shadow.

It seems that this leader is not the kind of person who likes to show off, and he has no interest in boasting about his achievements. But why didn't he stop Songtaya when she started talking, and waited until she had finished showing off everything she should show off before speaking? Could he actually be a reserved guy, like Lingge?
A certain golden-haired maid secretly speculated in her heart, and her dark thoughts were not only groundless, but also full of malicious intent.

……

Letting others stay outside to guard, Chief Wilhelm led the guests into the tent (Songtaya also pretended to be nothing and sneaked in, with a shamelessness comparable to that of a certain maid). The space inside was very spacious, with wooden boards laid on the ice, and thick fur felt blankets on the wooden boards. It felt like sinking into soft grass when you stepped on it, very warm. In the middle of the tent, a square fire bed was built with stone bricks, and the charcoal was burning red in it. The heat released gradually made the frozen hands and feet active, and the light smoke was slowly discharged from the vents on the top to ensure smooth air circulation in the house.

An iron cauldron was hung on the kang with chains and iron hooks, in which a steaming thick soup was stewing. The soup, which was made with rat root fruit, onions, fennel leaves and short-stalked gray mushrooms, had an attractive milky white luster and was bubbling with bubbles. The soft rock sheep meat in it floated up and down as the soup spoon stirred it, and the fragrance of the refreshing scent of the snowfield seemed to permeate the tent, which was fascinating.

The person who was stirring the soup slowly with a long-handled wooden spoon was an old woman in a grey woolen cloak. She looked kind and benevolent. Although she was so old that her face was covered with wrinkles from time, her silver hair was still combed meticulously. Her light black eyes did not dim over time, but instead transformed into a deep color like obsidian. She looked at him through the burning flames, distant and wise.

She wore a necklace with densely packed copper rings on it, and the surnames of the tribesmen were also engraved on the rings. Obviously, this old woman was another leader of the Wusu tribe, that is, their elder, Fanega, the father of the mountains.

"Grandma Ayina!" Songtaya shouted as she entered the tent, "I brought all the guests here!"

Then, ignoring the warning look from his father, he ran to the elder and sat down, looking very well behaved. Elder Aina, who was stewing soup, laughed and took out a wooden bowl from the cupboard next to him and filled her with a bowl of broth: "Thank you for your hard work, Songtaya. Come, drink the soup first to warm yourself up. If you don't mind, you distinguished guests who have come from afar, why not come and taste the cooking of our Xiatoto people?"

The latter sentence was addressed to Lingge and the others. Her voice was slightly hoarse, with a sense of vicissitudes that only old people have, but surprisingly, it didn't sound nagging, but rather very comfortable, as if one was listening to the earnest teachings of an elder. This was probably because her tone was always neither hurried nor slow, whether it was facing the impatient Songtaya or Lingge and other outsiders, it didn't change at all. "I dare not refuse the elder's invitation."

Lingge agreed, then sat around the kang with his companions. He took the broth that Elder Aina had personally served for them and took a sip. The soup was rich and sweet, with a faint scent of fresh milk. Considering the Xiatoto people's tradition of raising wildebeests as food and transportation, it was most likely the wildebeest's milk.

"Grrrrrrrrrr!"

Lingge only took a sip when a strange sound came from the side. He knew it was Alice's doing without turning around. Then he turned around and found that it was true. The golden-haired maid looked like she hadn't eaten for three days. She raised her head and drank the soup and the stewed mutton in it. After swallowing a few times, the whole bowl of broth disappeared. Fortunately, the rock sheep in the soup had been specially processed and was stewed softer than cream. It didn't matter if she drank it directly. Otherwise, she would choke to death if she ate it this way.

"It tastes good!" Alice praised generously, expressing her approval of the traditional food of the Chattoto people, and then handed the bowl to him generously: "Can I have another bowl?"

When she spoke, she also deliberately cast a provocative look at Songtaya. Leader Wilhelm and Elder Aina were confused. What was she doing? Inviting Songtaya to a big eater competition? Only the girl herself and Lingge, who were more familiar with Ai-chan's personality, knew that she was just taking revenge. Didn't you, Songtaya, enjoy eating and drinking in our Fairy Sleep Inn before? Now I, Ai-chan, want to do the same. What can you do to me?

Even this sentence was Songtaya's original words, which she used to retaliate against, because Ai-chan felt that is there anything happier in the world than using the enemy's trash talk to attack the enemy?
Everyone was speechless at once. How petty can you be?
Elder Aina didn't care. After a slight surprise, she served Alice another bowl of broth. She smiled and said that it was a good thing that the young people could eat. We are warm and hospitable people in Xiatoto. We will never treat our guests unfairly, so you can eat as many bowls as you want. The golden-haired maid became more excited when she heard this. She looked eager to try, as if she wanted to try whether she could finish this big pot of broth by herself. Lingge didn't bother to care. Anyway, it wasn't him who had a stomachache and cried in the middle of the night and couldn't sleep. It wasn't him who was woken up by her because of poor sleep quality. As for the person who was pressed on the floor by the boss lady who got angry and went into a rampage, it was certainly not him.

Lingge simply foresaw the next scenario and chose to watch from the sidelines.

After that, everyone tacitly ignored the golden-haired maid and started introducing themselves and exchanging pleasantries. The Countess even deliberately moved her seat further away from Alice, showing with her actions that she was not very familiar with this guy.

After a few simple polite words and a certain understanding between the two sides, Chief Wilhelm finally asked the most crucial question: "Sir Lingge, I heard from Songtaya that you visited the Wusu tribe to discuss important matters with us. What is it?"

The young man's face became serious. Since Chief Wilhelm asked so directly, he would not be ambiguous and directly stated his purpose: "We hope to contact the Misty Mountain Hermitage through your tribe, or the Mountain Guard. I heard that the Mountain Guard and the Misty Mountain Hermitage are both branches of animism, and they once coexisted in the same mountain range and have a close relationship. I guess there should be a way to contact them, right?"

After the words fell, the tent was silent for a moment. Chief Wilhelm and Elder Aina looked at each other and saw the confusion and doubt in each other's eyes, but they were not embarrassed. Obviously, this matter was not difficult for them to do, but the problem was the purpose of Lingge and others doing this.

"The Misty Mountain Hermitage."

Chief Wilhelm pondered for a moment, and said while thinking: "As Lord Ling said, our mountain guards do have a way to contact them. I just don't know why you are looking for the believers of the Mist Mountain Hermitage. I guess it should be closely related to the purpose of your coming to Mount Osor. Although Mount Osor is a holy place for the mountain people, it is essentially an unowned land. No one who comes to this land must explain the reason to us. Therefore, I did not agree with Songtaya's approach before, and I was unwilling to ask for details. As long as your actions will not endanger our Wusu tribe, it will be fine. However, if this matter is related to the Mist Mountain Hermitage, I am afraid we will have to be cautious."

He was referring to the fact that Sontaya secretly followed the Countess and the others because she suspected their origins. The mountain people themselves were not the masters of Mount Osor, but at most the aboriginals, and the impulsiveness of the girl Chattoto would undoubtedly lead to misunderstandings, so she was reprimanded and became much more honest, which was also the reason why she did not fight back on the spot when facing Alice's provocation.

Lingge could understand Chief Wilhelm's concerns. After a moment of silence, he felt that this was not something that needed to be concealed. After all, he would be staying on the top of the mountain for a long time to survey the star map, and the Sage Stone House on the top of the mountain was maintained by the Wusu tribe, so contact between the two sides was inevitable. If he was not honest now, it would be difficult to be honest later.

So he stated his purpose openly: "I heard that the Wushan Hermitage has a manuscript left by a saint. We are willing to pay a certain price in exchange for the manuscript - or in other words, we can borrow it."

The manuscript itself is not important, what is important is the data, as long as the data is obtained, it can be returned naturally. As for the price of exchange, Ling Ge has already discussed it with his companions: Saint Xia Liya has mastered the potion formulas of all fourteen extraordinary ways, and for magicians, is there any wealth more valuable than knowledge?

The saint's manuscript was exchanged for the potion formula, and knowledge was exchanged for knowledge. This was reasonable and fair.

Give me some meow