Free Web NovelChapter 158: Chapter 158: Building Roads While Traveling
The expeditionary force this time, aside from the regular army selected by Sane, also included two-thirds of the merchant caravan members, a team of chefs, a team of healers, and a road-building squad.
The road-building squad, overseen by Anthony and Walter, had pioneered to build the road half a month earlier. The road from Crimson to the intersection between the two halves of the demonic beast forest had already been built; the road-building squad would begin construction upwards from this point.
This road-building group had to constantly shout *heave-ho*, so during their working time, the demonic beasts in the forest were too frightened and hid without a trace. If the hunting squad didn’t actively go looking for them, they definitely wouldn’t catch a single demonic beast.
The route they opened was entirely based on the traces left by Ian’s group previously, a straight path cutting through the demonic beast forest. Right now, their tribe was strong enough, no need to fear people following this road to find the tribe’s location anymore.
When Ian’s group traveled, they avoided areas inhabited by large tribes; the route they took mainly passed through small and medium-sized tribes. The road-building squad also brought some supplies to befriend these tribes, and conveniently invited them to go together to the Spring Festival.
Most of the folks in the small and medium-sized tribes were quite open-minded, and the people were also honest and simple. Under Walter and Anthony’s smooth, honeyed words, along with the proof from the Cipher road builders, they were quickly lured into the trap.
Not only were they lured themselves, but they also dragged their friends in other tribes along. Consequently, from Crimson’s two-thousand-person road-building squad, the number of people participating in building the road reached six thousand.
While the road-building squad had extended the road to one-third of the distance from the demonic beast forest to the Oakstone tribe, the expeditionary force had just arrived at the bordering area of the two halves of the demonic beast forest.
In the lower half, Kaelen discovered three large kapok trees and a patch of taro. At this time, the kapok had mostly fallen, leaving only a few old cotton bolls scattered on the trees. Last time, Anthony had brought back quite a lot of kapok, which Kaelen had planted into a forest right on the tribe’s outskirts, so the tribe currently lacked no cotton to stuff clothes and blankets.
However, leaving readily available items unpicked would be a waste, so the expeditionary group picked all the fruits on the trees clean, stuffing them into jute sacks to sell.
As for the taro, Kaelen marked the location and let the messenger birds send a map back to the tribe, clearly noting the points to keep in mind when harvesting, so the tribe’s gathering squad could come harvest it themselves.
Upon crossing the boundary, Kaelen clearly felt a distinct change in air pressure and climate. He couldn’t help but marvel:
"How strange. It’s clearly the same forest, yet the climate on both sides is completely different."
Sane nodded: "Before, when we went to exchange salt, we also traveled to the other side of the demonic beast forest. You could say that the further north we go, the steeper the terrain gets, and the air is also somewhat colder."
Kaelen nodded. If the area where Crimson was located was the subtropics, and the desert where the Starfall tribe previously resided was the tropics, then the upper half of the Southern Continent and the entire Northern Continent were the temperate zones. Furthermore, he heard that on the edge of the Northern Continent, there was a region cold all year round.
That place was probably the frigid climate zone.
Kaelen rested his chin on his hand, watching the scenery gradually receding, and asked Sane:
"Do you think Asher can find the sea?"
Before departure, Kaelen had assigned Asher an incredibly important task. That was to travel along the river in the tribe to find the river’s end. Because as far as he knew, a hundred rivers pour into one sea; where there is a river, there must be a sea.
"He’ll probably find it." Sane hugged Kaelen’s shoulder, saying softly.
In any case, the salt mine was enough for the tribe to use for the next few years. If they didn’t find it in the lower region, they would continue searching in other places. Kaelen looked into the boundless void again, suddenly blurting out:
"If I take the knowledge in Crimson and teach it to other tribes, do you think it’s feasible?"
Sane was slightly surprised: "You want to personally create enemies for yourself?"
Kaelen shook his head: "Isn’t war about fighting over resources? If everyone is well-fed and well-clothed, then what need is there to rob others?"
Sane rubbed his mate’s head, saying slowly: "It’s true that when people have eaten and drunk their fill, no one wants to steal others’ food. But from ancient times until now, what people fight over isn’t just food and resources.
In the magic mirror in your illusion, I saw many things. When a large country invades a small country, could it be because the large country is poor?
Or like some countries, even internally they are divided into multiple factions, fighting endlessly, causing ordinary people immense suffering. Could it be that they are also fighting over food and resources?"
Kaelen’s eyes blinked slightly, suddenly understanding: "It’s power."
"Exactly, my love." Sane looked deeply into Kaelen’s eyes, voicing his thoughts: "Power has an incredibly massive allure. Initially, my desire was only to obtain power just for revenge, but if you ask me now whether I want to hand over the power in my hands, my answer would definitely be no.
You always worry about the tribe, and everyone reveres you, considering you the God’s Messenger, so you don’t see the disparity between having power and not having power. If one day, someone suddenly appears and steals the halo that originally belonged to you, try thinking about it, would you feel comfortable?"
Kaelen lowered his head, seriously pondering every single sentence in Sane’s words. A long while later, Kaelen’s mood sank lower and lower, because he clearly understood that what Sane said was completely the truth.
If he was told to let go of his position as the High Priest of a tribe right now, he truly couldn’t do it. Furthermore, it seemed that when he brought up the idea of wanting to teach other tribes the knowledge he had, it wasn’t entirely just for the pure purpose of salvation. He... wanted even more power.
He said dejectedly: "It seems I’ve become bad..."
Sane burst out laughing, spreading his arms to hug his mate and pressing him into his chest, his deep voice vibrating slightly in his throat:
"Who in this world doesn’t think for themselves. Knowing how to think for oneself isn’t a bad thing." He kissed the tip of Kaelen’s ear, continuing: "Actually, I think your proposal isn’t unfeasible. At least for the next two or three hundred years, this continent won’t have a war."
Being kissed on the ear, Kaelen’s heart fluttered wildly. All the sadness and anxiety in his heart seemed to vanish as well. He closed his eyes, silently enjoying this peaceful moment...
"Papa, Daddy... Are you two done chatting? We are about to be crushed flat..."
The two fathers were then startled, letting go of each other and looking down. The mouse cub and jaguar cub immediately opened their mouths gasping for air, their eyes looking at their two fathers with a look full of reproach. Sane and Kaelen embarrassedly scratched their noses.
*Too engrossed in romance that we forgot we were holding our young children.*
Oliver, who was playing with wooden blocks behind their backs, also covered his mouth and giggled, then crawled over to cling to his Daddy’s arm, demanding a hug. The romantic yet slightly tense atmosphere was shattered by the laughter and playfulness of the three children.
Sane reached out to pluck a leaf by the roadside, brought it to his mouth, and blew softly. Kaelen listened for a moment, suddenly realizing this melody sounded incredibly familiar. He unconsciously hummed along:
"...What journey is paved with roses
Our feet also ache from the thorns
The road of glory passes through thousands of storms
The promise engraved in our hearts..."
Just like that, one person playing the leaf flute, one person singing, dispelling the fatigue from the endless long journey.
Aaron lay sprawled on Evan’s thigh, quietly listening. He muttered softly: "Why do I feel like the High Priest’s voice doesn’t match the song at all?"
Quinlan, who was silently appreciating the music beside them, was interrupted by Aaron’s remark, saying irritably:
"Listening to this song, you can tell the melody is vibrant; the High Priest’s gentle voice naturally doesn’t match. But having the High Priest sing for the clan members is a once-in-a-century occasion; if you don’t know how to cherish it, fine, but you even criticize it. If you don’t want to listen, cover your ears!"
Aaron immediately shut his mouth, not daring to offer any more opinions.
The Avian clan loved music and dance; to them, anyone who dared to raise their voice to sing or dance was a hero. If someone unfortunately displeased them, it wouldn’t be surprising if half an hour later everyone on the continent knew whether you wore underwear today or not.
He could only aggrievedly bury his head into Evan’s embrace, waiting for Evan to comfort him. Evan smiled helplessly, stroking his mate’s sparkling silver fur.
Seeing Aaron’s lazy appearance, Quinlan pouted in disgust. Transforming into beast form was equivalent to consuming double the energy, so unless necessary, beastmen rarely transformed back into beast form. This fox was something else; at the slightest opening, he would transform back into his beast form and sprawl out waiting for his mate to stroke and groom his fur. As a single bird, Quinlan refused to understand the romantic appeal of people in love.
The force quietly moved on just like that, and ten days later, they set foot on the other side of the demonic beast forest. There were no tribes within a ten-mile radius around the demonic beast forest; passing these ten miles, they would reach the first tribe, the Bramble tribe.
