Food Poems

Chapter 86: Adventurer's Guild and the Killer Vine Dumpling
The night is deep and the howling cold wind echoes in the wilderness.

Sora was wearing animal skin armor, with his arms folded and a big sword on his back. He stood on the newly built watchtower on the outer edge of Morning Frost Ridge, watching over the vast cold night.

The torches hanging in the watchtower illuminated the scaly faces of the Arlongians. She could feel the timid and fearful glances from the two night watchmen behind her from time to time.

The night watchmen are responsible for night patrols, fire monitoring, and enemy warnings. In the winter, when monsters may attack at any time, the task becomes even more difficult.

To this end, Yeats established a shift system, requiring the extraordinary people in the territory to take turns to keep watch until the day when the snow melts.

Sora heard from his comrades that the nights in the northern part of the country were even colder than here.

The wind and snow scraped against my body like a blade, and the sound of the wild hunting horses' hooves echoed in the snowy night like a ghost. The North County Night Watch Knights, who monitored the movements of the Kingdom of Beasts at the edge of the Dragon Snow Mountain, would sharpen their swords by the bonfire on the ice-forged city walls.

In comparison, the situation in Morning Frost Ridge is much better.

"Look, sir, what is that?" The night watchman pointed to the wilderness and his voice was horrified.

In the pitch-black night, a streak of black-red flames streaked across the wilderness. Sora used his Eagle Vision to look closely and saw the Nightmare Horse's flaming red mane fluttering in the wind, its four hooves stepping on ghostly black-red will-o'-the-wisp fire, and in an instant it disappeared into the end of the dark wilderness.

That was the nightmare horse that Lord Yeats ordered to roam outside the territory, and it had always behaved quite docilely.

Why do you suddenly become restless in the middle of the night?

Sora frowned.

dawn.

Sora hurried to the lord's mansion, knocked on the door, and told Ye Zhi, who was working at his desk in the office, about the strange phenomenon he had seen last night.

"The Nightmare Horse escaped?" Ye Zhi pondered, "Did you see clearly which direction it fled to?"

"Southwest," Sora said.

Ye Zhi nodded and asked Sora to summon Gray and Hildreth.

Not long after, Gray pushed open the door with a bang, and the wind and snow rushed in, lifting the tapestries on the wall. Some snowflakes fell on her shoulder armor and hair. She closed the door with her backhand, exhaled, and said:

"The Pearl River outside of town is frozen over, so we won't be able to eat mussels for a long time."

The Pearl River produces eels, freshwater mussels and salmon. Beavers, otters and other animals can also be seen in the river. It is a major source of food for Morning Frost Ridge.

Ye Zhi took a sip of the hot tea on the table and said slowly, "Food is already in short supply in winter. Fortunately, I have asked Blueberry and Rigidlove to stock up on food in the past few months. Together with the wheat we purchased, it will be enough to get through the winter."

At this time, there was a knock on the door, and Hildreth walked in, holding an eagle helmet in his hand, wearing a set of plate armor connected to a red cloak, and said:

"I heard from Sora that we'd better leave as soon as possible."

Ye Zhi nodded, stood up and said:
"Gray, let's go to the swamp in the southwest."

Yeats suspected that the Nightmare Horse escaped for no reason because it was summoned by the Undead Knight.

It would be best if we could use it for our own benefit, but if not, we must destroy the Undead Knight to avoid leaving any hidden dangers.

"Also, carry your cooking tools," Ye Zhi ordered.

Hearing this, Gray's eyes widened: "Huh?"

Ye Zhi smiled slightly and said, "There are many rare ingredients in the swamp."

Gray thought to herself, this must be a rare magical beast!
*
White Night City, Oak Tavern.

A fire was burning in the fireplace, musicians were playing tambourines, and drunkards were making a loud noise.

At a table in the corner, an Isu man with a pair of erect wolf ears, gentle amber eyes, and wearing a wizard robe stretched out his hand and spread the bounty list on the table.

"The bounty target is the roots of the killer vine. I have already investigated. The peat swamp outside the White Night City contains the killer vine we are looking for."

On the other side, a tall woman from the Isu tribe with fox ears, carrying a longbow on her back and a short sword on her waist, looked at him lovingly:
"Selin, you are still so reliable. I love you even more today."

Serin looked back affectionately: "I love you, too, Irene."

The halfling's head couldn't reach the table. He was wearing a greasy work suit. He tilted his head and stared at the couple Irene and Serin in silence.

What a disgusting couple!
Finn Axle Wheel lowered his head to wipe the gleaming crossbow in his hand, thinking:
"I really want to use the recorder I invented to record their conversations, and then play it in their ears on a loop when we break up!"

As a short halfling, Finn Axle-Wheel is good at inventions and is an mechanic who specializes in machinery and parts.

Finn originally lived in a valley with his companions. In order to raise funds for his inventions, he left his hometown and entered human society to become an adventurer.

Adventurers have their own independent guild, and according to legend, its founder is a Sanctuary Ranger, Robin Hood.

Robin Hood was a farmer's son, but he had mastered the art of archery.

According to legend, he shot down the Elf King's flag with one arrow during the battle between Emperor Lorraine and the Elf King. He then refused Lorraine's reward and retired to the mountains. He is also regarded as the ancestor of adventurers.

Although the Adventurer's Guild and the Mage's Guild are both called guilds, compared to the threshold for becoming a guild mage, the Adventurer's Guild has no threshold at all.

The goal of adventurers is also very simple. Honor, virtue, and responsibility are the ethics of knights.

All adventurers want are gold coins, treasures and women.

Since mercenary groups also accept commissions to hunt monsters when they are not participating in wars, there is a great overlap in the composition of mercenaries and adventurers.

Of course, the quality of adventurers varies greatly.

From an unproductive street vagrant to the leader of a mercenary group with superb swordsmanship, everyone can call himself an adventurer.

Finn felt that the combat power of his team, consisting of Irene, and Serin, was already considerable. After all, the three of them were first-ring transcendents, and they were incomparable to a group of farmers who dropped their farm work and came for adventures with pitchforks and hoes.

Finn glanced at Irene and Serin who were still flirting with each other, and said speechlessly:
"It will be dark if we don't set off now. I don't want to stay outside the city on a winter night and get caught by the Wild Hunt!"

Erin took a sip of beer and said with a smile, "The Wild Hunt is just trying to trick children. Only a naive and kind Halfling like you would believe the Wild Hunt's lies!"

Serin smiled slightly and said:
"Even if we encounter a ghost, we can easily defeat it with the strength of the three of us!"

*
"Help me!!"

Deep in the swamp, screams startled the birds.

Zheng!
With one sword, Hild cut the killer vine that sprang out of the soil into two pieces, looked at the source of the sound, and said thoughtfully:
"Yeats, there seems to be a human voice."

Ye Zhi squatted down and used the knife woven from shadows to cut the material on the killer vine, saying:

"The swamp is full of dangers. We must not advance rashly. Those people continued to move forward without clearing the killer vines in this area. They must be helping inexperienced adventurers. I think it's a disaster."

Gray lowered her head and looked at the still twitching killer vine, beads of sweat running down her forehead.

"I just saw the killer vine swallow a crocodile... Is it really okay to eat the killer vine?"

The killer vine is a carnivorous plant that strangles organisms by wrapping around them and secretes digestive juices along its vines, allowing it to devour an entire prey in a matter of seconds.

"Crush the roots of the killer vine into a paste, mix with water to make dough, and wrap the vegetarian meat filling made from its branches to make killer vine vegetarian dumplings."

Ye Zhi smiled and said, "Some elves who are vegetarians because of their faith will cultivate killer vines specifically because they taste like meat!"

Gray looked shocked.

Wouldn't it be against my faith to eat this?!

"Okay, take out the cooking tools." Ye Zhi prepared to make a fire and cook.

Gray said "oh", put down the big bag she was carrying, took out the pots, kettle and spatula from it, and was suddenly stunned.

Why don’t I seem to be averse to eating Monster?
Gray looked odd.

Killer Vine Vegetarian Dumplings seem to be a fairly normal dish!
At this time, Hildreth drew his sword and said, "Yezhi, those people are running this way."

Ye Zhi looked in the direction of the chaotic footsteps and saw three adventurers fleeing in a panic, followed by a staggering pumpkin monster holding a sickle.

"Pumpkin is going to kill someone!" Gray exclaimed.

Ye Zhi's eyes lit up, another vegetarian dish!

The pumpkin monster exudes the powerful aura of a two-ringed monster. Deep green fire burns in the hollow eye sockets of the pumpkin. It roars from the cracks of its open mouth, and its sickle creates an illusion of fear!
The illusion transformed into four or five wronged souls, and they were about to catch up with the three adventurers from behind. The fox-eared Isu woman pushed the wolf-eared man aside, turned her back to the wronged souls, and stood in front of her teammates, saying with tears in her eyes:

"Selin, I will still love you in my next life."

"Erin, no!!" Serin yelled, holding up his hand.

"I don't care about you two. I'm running away first!" The halfling roared and ran for his life.

Zheng!
Hildreth descended gracefully, sheathed his sword, and turned his back to the three adventurers who were standing there in a daze.

A cold light flashed.

All the wronged souls disappeared.

A crack appeared on the pumpkin monster's neck, and then with a thud, its scarecrow-like body fell down, turned into mist and slowly dissipated, and the huge pumpkin head fell to the ground!
The three adventurers opened their mouths wide, with shock on their faces.

"Are you okay?" Ye Zhi asked subconsciously.

The halfling looked back and recognized Ye Zhi's family crest. He was shocked and said respectfully:

"Your Excellency the Baron, we are fine!"

Ye Zhi glanced at Pumpkin and breathed a sigh of relief:

"It's okay."

(End of this chapter)