"Big bro~ I'm hungry~"
"When can we eat."
In the cave, the burly Minotaur looked weakly at the Horse-headed man walking in front, rubbing his shriveled stomach.
The Horse-headed man in front stopped and slowly turned his head.
Those were fierce eyes.
The moment they saw these eyes, the Minotaur instinctively swallowed and lowered his head, only to see the Horse-headed man's expression change instantly.
With a thud, he sat on the ground and burst into tears.
"I'm hungry too!"
Almost as soon as he spoke, as if to prove his words, the Horse-headed man's stomach began to rumble.
Damn it!
The rations they brought from the city-state at noon were all gone.
What bad luck, they went through so many caves after leaving the city-state, but they didn't see a single chest, let alone find any food.
Horsemen and Minotaurs naturally had large appetites.
Not eating enough for one meal.
Was worse than killing them.
"Big bro~ I want to go home and farm, I don't want to be a mercenary anymore," the Minotaur said, covering his stomach, "At home, I can at least eat my fill. Out here as a mercenary, following big bro, we eat nine meals in three days. I've had enough of this. If my mom saw me, she'd definitely cry."
"What are you saying!"
Hearing that the Minotaur wanted to back out, the Horse-headed man's eyes widened.
"You want to retreat now? Did you forget your oath when we left the village? If we don't make something of ourselves, we won't go back!"
"But at least we can eat!" the Minotaur cried.
Grumble~~
As he spoke, the Minotaur's stomach rumbled.
The Horse-headed man was no better off.
He raised a hand to pat the Minotaur's shoulder and looked around with his horse eyes.
"Hold on a bit longer. As long as we complete this bounty, after paying taxes, we'll each get 40 gold coins. Then, when we return to the village, we'll be glorious. Didn't you say you wanted to marry Uncle Niu's daughter? With 40 gold coins, let alone Uncle Niu's daughter, even the village chief's daughter would throw herself at you."
"I..."
"The bounty notice is with you, right? Let me see it, let's get motivated!"
"I ate it."
"Huh?" The Horse-headed man was stunned, his face blank. "You ate it? You ate the bounty notice? You... why would you eat that thing?"
"I, I was hungry!"
The honest-looking Minotaur scratched his head.
"I really couldn't stand the hunger anymore, so I ate the bounty notice, but it was filling, I..."
The Horse-headed man clutched his head in his hands.
He was about to break down!
The bounty notice was their only way to confirm their target.
Eaten?
How were they supposed to confirm the bounty target now? He didn't remember the wanted person's appearance at all.
"You..." The Horse-headed man was so angry he was about to lose it. He pointed his finger, saw the Minotaur's pitiful appearance, and then slapped his thigh in resignation. "Why did you eat it? You... do you remember what the bounty target looks like?"
"I..."
Forget it!
Seeing the Minotaur stammering, the Horse-headed man knew he hadn't remembered.
This was just great.
They paid the deposit for the bounty, bought a pocketful of exploration invitation letters, and now the bounty notice was gone, and neither of them remembered the bounty target.
It was like drawing water with a bamboo basket – all their efforts were in vain, losing both the battle and the prize!
"I should have teamed up with Fox."
The Horse-headed man grumbled.
But little did he know—
His grumble was clearly heard by the Minotaur. Already hungry and dispirited, his huge ox eyes began to water.
"Big bro~ Do you think I'm stupid? Then I'll leave?"
To be honest!
The Horse-headed man truly regretted it.
Through this incident, he finally realized the importance of having an intellectual in a team.
He had initially thought that Fox was too cunning, and he couldn't outwit him, so he found the simple-minded Minotaur to venture out with him.
The first few missions had actually gone pretty well.
He had strength, the Minotaur had endurance, and their mercenary missions had been relatively smooth.
It's just that—
They weren't making money!
Since neither of them was particularly smart, they could only take on simpler讨伐 (tǎofá -讨伐) and transportation missions. If they could have endured and worked diligently for a few years, they could have saved enough money to build a hut back in the village.
Unfortunately, the bounty for the Ratman envoy Wote made them lose their heads over money.
100 gold coins!
If they could pull this off, they would both be financially free.
The bounty was for a討伐 (tǎofá -讨伐) mission.
The Horse-headed man thought it was perfect for the two of them.
Who knew...
"Alright, as a Minotaur warrior, how can you easily speak of hardship!" the Horse-headed man glared. "Remember, we are warriors. We can only bleed, not shed tears. Do you want money or face?"
"I want to eat!"
"..."
One sentence completely choked the impassioned Horse-headed man, leaving him speechless for a long time.
Grumble~~
Just then, his stomach also rumbled.
"Fine, then let's solve the food problem first," the Horse-headed man said, glaring. "Let's go. If we sit here, no馒头 (mántou -馒头) will fall from the sky. Let's explore a few more caves. If we're lucky, we'll open a chest and get some bread, or... if we meet outsiders, we'll just rob them!"
"This, is that okay?"
"Do you still want to fill your stomach? In extraordinary times, we must use extraordinary measures. What's wrong with taking some food from them? You should know that killing and seizing treasures is common in caves!"
"Big bro, you're so cultured, you even know idioms!"
The Minotaur looked at him with adoration.
"Heh, when you travel the world, how can you not have some culture!" the Horse-headed man said arrogantly. "Don't lie around on the ground, let's go find food."
...
Night.
In the pitch-black cave, a camp was brightly lit.
On this day—
Chen Yu did not explore.
He was afraid that if he moved, those mercenaries wouldn't be able to find him. Also, there were too many operations needed for the camp, and he wanted to rest well.
"2000 drying racks, who else?"
Standing in the main camp, Chen Yu looked at the drying area.
Two full camps of drying racks.
All filled with meat.
This luxurious life, perhaps this is what it means to be a landlord?
"Hmph hmph hmph, hmph hmph hmph~"
Chen Yu, full of a sense of accomplishment, hummed a little tune and took out the elemental crystals obtained from the magic workbench.
10 hours.
60 fused elemental crystals.
Success rate 100%.
Since the priority for cannons was high, Chen Yu specifically chose fire elemental crystals for the fusion queue.
He opened the crafting page.
[Novice Magic Cannon: Fire Elemental Crystal 60/10, Obsidian 320/50, Iron Ingot 376/50, Copper Ingot 113/20]
"Craft."
Ding.
[Cave Reminder: Crafting successful]
Boom!!!
In an instant, a cannon about half a meter high and one meter long, with a black barrel and a shining fire elemental magic array at the base, appeared before Chen Yu.
The cannon body emitted a faint purple light.
Rare grade!
Before Chen Yu could examine it closely, a dark shadow shot out from the darkness.
"Boss, there's a situation!"
--
Author's note:
Good evening, have you eaten?