Chapter 124: The Solution

The work of treating the wounded continued until the sun set, and Qiao Ji, along with the two others who had been dragged in as makeshift helpers, had to temporarily fill their stomachs with the small snacks they had baked earlier.

To be honest, whether before or after his transmigration, this was the first time Qiao Ji, who had lived two lives, had not eaten lunch for a reason other than fasting. You might not believe it, but in his past life, although Qiao Ji came from a commoner family, he was extremely punctual about his three meals a day. Qiao Ji, who loved the path of cultivation, kept this habit to ensure his physical health, eating fixed amounts at fixed times for decades without change.

Perhaps some people think this is not a hard thing to do, but let’s not talk about anything else; just look at any university dormitory today. How many people can truly do this? Of course, those who love instant noodles will definitely disagree and challenge you. However, such junk food has no benefit to the body at all. Besides trying it once, Qiao Ji basically never touched it again. If a backpacker wanted to do this, it would really be quite difficult. Fortunately, the Qiao Ji of that time could be considered a semi-otaku.

To tell the truth, every time Qiao Ji ate the many sweets and snacks of this world, he would start missing the days before his transmigration. Due to the difference in productivity and the lack of various ingredients like those discovered during the Age of Discovery, the dessert industry of this world was already somewhat lacking from the start. Moreover, due to reasons like war, the Western Continent could not really be called very wealthy. Therefore, there was a lack of fertile soil for the development of desserts and other luxuries.

As for Qiao Ji’s own role, although his cooking skills could be said to be quite good, and someone had once flattered him by saying he was good enough to open a private restaurant, a person should know themselves. Qiao Ji always believed his skills were only slightly better than those of ordinary people. As for desserts, he was seven-eighths open and one-eighth closed—completely clueless. After all, whether it was cake or roasted cakes, such sweet foods required equipment like ovens. Which ordinary family would have such things? Even the basic material conditions did not allow it.

So, although Qiao Ji vowed to improve his diet since his transmigration, all improvements were based on existing conditions. Everything was done according to one’s ability, without any excessive or extravagant behavior. After all, gourmet food cannot bring strength or status. There were no items like “Food Cells” that allowed evolution through eating here. Similarly, Qiao Ji did not have the surname Long, which would allow him to use roasted meat to lure away Holy Beasts or Divine Beasts. The snacks available in the Autumn Hunt camp were not all brought by each family. The pastries made on-site by the servants of His Grace the Duke were, given the current dietary structure, obviously not very tasty.

Chewing on the somewhat dry sponge cake in his mouth, although this thing was called sponge cake, to Qiao Ji, apart from being sweet, it was no different from a flatbread. Occasionally, he could even taste the flavor of bran. Moreover, the fermentation process was not up to standard, giving the whole sponge cake a sour taste like that of lactic acid bacteria.

For this reason, Qiao Ji treated it as emergency rations. When Hiren ate it, he frowned but swallowed it down anyway. However, seeing Craig’s bitter little face after tasting just one bite, Qiao Ji could not bear it and went back to the tent to bring him the sugar cube he had promised him earlier. Just thinking about it, no one in the Bolerum Territory spoiled Craig more than Sir Bart. Although this one was the youngest among everyone and loved to act cute, this was only human nature.

Fortunately, the overall intensity of this attack was not very good. Apart from the Court Nobility, who suffered many injuries due to their lack of strength, the holders of real power were basically unharmed and instead brought back quite a lot of loot. The only injured person was a hunter searching for prey on the periphery. Attacked by a fierce badger, he was timely rescued by his master.

With just a little attention, one could discover the huge gap between the two, which could be described as heaven and earth. This was not a competition of family heritage, but a contest of people—the difference in the strength of the masters was already of a qualitative nature.

The sun hung in the western sky once again. The originally blue sky had turned into a deep crimson purple, and the white clouds were tinged with red light. Under this setting sun, the grassland also had a different color: the originally somewhat withered yellowish grass tones became more uniform, the white sheep were dyed in a golden color, and the winding stream stretched out its long body, with shimmering ripples in the water.

The busy servants began to prepare today’s dinner. The nobles, who could be said to have suffered, who were still able to move, gathered in small groups to chat idly, killing time while waiting for dinner.

Although the hunting activity this afternoon was basically terminated due to the attack, and the morning hunting activity was also somewhat affected, perhaps it was due to luck. The number of prey obtained today was enough to hold a large barbecue banquet in the evening. The important figures also believed that such a celebration could, to a certain extent, dispel the unpleasantness of the day and boost the morale of the crowd.

Under this situation, the camp, which had basically handled the problem of the wounded, started its hot and busy preparations again. More than ten people ran back and forth to the stream to fetch water. The fresh water stored earlier had all been used up during the process of treating the wounded. Similarly, the barbecue racks placed outdoors for an afternoon were already covered in dust due to the wind and sand of the grassland. Several maids were using brushes made of pig bristles to perform preliminary cleaning on them.

The game was also being counted according to tradition. Before being made into food, the harvest of each family’s prey had to be registered in detail. This was for the statistics and data collection to judge the final results of the Autumn Hunt.

Soon, the prey was placed on a stone platform set up nearby and began to be processed. Unfortunately, ladies had a natural aversion to blood and corpses. In the past, whenever this happened, they had to force themselves to learn to endure and finally ignore everything. But today, they had sufficient reasons to leave. Having cried all day, they needed to do some appropriate touch-ups, after all, maintaining their most perfect appearance in front of others was the elegance and decency of the nobility.

George and the others, however, ignored the bloody scent wafting from not far away. They sat under the oilcloth sunshade that had lost its function and began to chat idly, leaning against the low tables.

“Our luck really is terrible. The fierce tiger that attacked us was actually the most dangerous one among all the attacks this time.” George said half-jokingly, leaning back in his chair.

Hiren touched his hair and spoke: “Even so, it’s not very challenging. An animal like a fierce tiger, George, you could handle it all by yourself. In front of the three of us, it couldn’t even last one round before becoming raw material in Thomas’s hands.”

Noticing that someone was missing from the conversation, George and Hiren turned around. Craig was sitting alone, obliviously licking a sugar cube. Then he saw the sugar cube put into his mouth and sucked on it hard, making “pop! pop! pop!” sounds. He was completely unaware of the two people’s conversation.

Seeing this situation, the two looked at each other and could only shake their heads helplessly and sigh.

George turned his head and twisted his neck, complaining: “We have to continue hunting tomorrow. I hope nothing like this happens again. Today was really busy to death; my stomach has been growling until now!”

“Will the Autumn Hunt this year stop just like this? So many people are injured, and the dangers in the forest probably haven’t been resolved yet. For people like us, there’s no problem. But in such a forest, surely there won’t be adult dragons roaming around! If it were a White Dragon, the three of us might even be able to kill one and become Dragon Slayer heroes. That would be a lot of extra money. If it were a hunting team from another territory, there wouldn’t be much danger either. But the teams of the Court Nobility we saw today, that’s another story. From the current situation, not to mention anything else, just the fierce tiger that attacked me could wipe out any one of them completely.” Hiren turned his incredulous gaze toward George and asked with an expression of disbelief.

George shrugged: “Didn’t you understand Mr. Val’s words earlier? To stabilize people’s hearts, this Autumn Hunt must continue! In a sense, this is also unavoidable.”

“But this is too dangerous for those Court Nobility. Today their luck was good and nothing happened, but we can’t guarantee they will have such good luck tomorrow.” Hiren actually started to feel pity for others. Could it be that he is indeed the son of Sir Val?

George, who found Hiren’s behavior strange, asked in return: “Isn’t the most dangerous animal in this mountain range already taken care of by us? Those guys pulling strings behind the scenes probably can’t replenish these before tomorrow.”

“You are really so sure! Although I have such doubts, I still dare not be one hundred percent sure that this is really manipulated by humans behind the scenes.” Hiren’s expression was still somewhat confused.

George held up one finger to state the first reason: “In previous years, there was not a single fierce animal here. Look at this year. Apart from the fierce lion and fierce elephant on the great grassland, all the common fierce animals have gathered here.”

Hiren, who used his brain better this time, also started to have reasons to refute: “I think it might be that something happened in the Taiswei Mountains causing a great migration of beasts. And our Autumn Hunt just happened to run into them. So it turned out like this today.”

“The possibility of a beast migration cannot be said to be non-existent, but it is very small. The key lies in the simultaneous appearance of fierce tigers and fierce wolves, both of which are predatory animals. I don’t believe they could coexist peacefully within such a small range. The conflict over food alone is irreconcilable, let alone the threat they pose to each other.” George said with a confident expression.

There is a saying: “One mountain cannot hold two tigers.” This proverb reveals the phenomenon of organisms fighting for resources, food, and space. Tigers are large carnivores occupying a higher trophic level. According to the law of energy flow in ecosystems, which is unidirectional and decreases step by step, with a transmission efficiency of only 10% to 20%, organisms at higher trophic levels receive less energy, so their individual numbers are smaller. In a limited food space, the fewer tigers there are, the easier it is for them to obtain food to survive. When their numbers are high, they cannot maintain their survival. To survive, they will fight to the death, so one mountain cannot hold two tigers. Similarly, a single tiger and a pack of wolves are also difficult to coexist with.

Hiren thought for a while with his head down, then looked up to respond: “Speaking like that, it does make sense. It looks like human manipulation is more likely!”

Noticing the other person’s attitude softening, George began to analyze the specific situation: “Even if something happened that allowed these two carnivores to temporarily ignore each other’s threat while fleeing. But once they entered our territory of Nohan, that threat would have been eliminated. In the following period, how could they still live peacefully? If the matter threatening them had entered the territory of Nohan, there would have been a considerable distance along the way. The guards and forest rangers everywhere could not have had no news at all. Calculating the speed of the fierce tiger and the fierce wolf, if they were moving at full speed, it would take about 10 days to travel from crossing the border between the Duchy of Nohan and the Kingdom of Lucia in the Taiswei Mountains to the hunting ground. In such a long time, how could they still not have separated?”

“Eh!” Hiren was stunned for a while, then he grabbed George’s shoulders and shook him violently: “How is your brain even made like this! I never knew things could be thought of this way!”

‘Can I tell you that this was inspired by a self-mockery of a high-scoring student from a CCTV program before I transmigrated?’ Although thinking this in his heart, George’s actions were not much affected. He waved his hands to break free from Hiren’s shaking and said: “Watch your image, or else Mr. Val will scold you when he sees you later. Also, just try to look at problems from different angles in the future. After a long time, you will naturally become like me.”

“Okay! You win. I think I can never achieve this in my life.” Hiren raised his hands to surrender. Then, he still asked somewhat cautiously, “But this doesn’t seem to have much to do with whether continuing the hunt tomorrow is dangerous or not!”

George touched his chin and asked in return: “Since it is human-made, could these guys still stay in the forest to cause trouble?”

“If it were me, I would definitely leave immediately after setting up the trap. Would I still stay in the original place waiting to be caught?” After finishing speaking, Hiren clapped his hands together as if he had figured something out.

“That’s right. The opponent’s goal is to cause as much chaos as possible. So, the first point, causing heavy casualties to stop the Autumn Hunt, is the last resort. Therefore, the threats that could cause danger today have basically already been encountered. Perhaps there are still a few fish that slipped through the net, but they are not big problems that can truly cause an impact. Even if the opponent has other preparations. Mr. Val said earlier that His Grace the Duke has already mobilized the garrison troops to enter the forest to strengthen defense. I think safety should be no problem now.” George said while the iron was hot.

“Hey! George, how was your harvest today?” Green’s voice came from behind.

George turned around after standing up, making a helpless expression, and said angrily: “What good harvest could there be? The whole morning today was wasted on that fierce tiger. In the afternoon, I was also dragged in as a helper and was busy until just now to take a rest.”

“So, you have no prey within the standard today.” This was Ben’s teasing voice. He was standing beside Green, looking at them with a wicked smile.

“So what! We are just eating others’ harvest first. Tomorrow we will also bring back enough game to make up for what we ate today.” Craig, who was sucking on a candy, did not know what stimulus he received. He immediately jumped up like a cat whose tail was stepped on. Then he showed a fierce appearance with claws and teeth bared and protested.

Ben rubbed his forehead and lowered his head slightly: “George, you should still manage your wild cat! You haven’t even reasoned with him, and he has already fluffed up his fur.”

“This is the aftereffect of you teasing him all the time before. I say this cannot just blame Craig.” Saying this, George began to comfort Craig. First, he reached out and controlled Craig, who was flying into a rage, beside him.

“He is still holding a grudge about that time! I thought this little guy had forgotten it long ago!” Ben made an innocent expression.

Hiren directly gave the other person a sentence: “Stop pretending.”

“Alright! Alright! Congratulations on hunting a fierce tiger these few days. Next time I go to your house, maybe I will see a super-sized tiger head on the wall.” Ben waved his hand and said without much sincerity.

“Your wild boar was also quite good. If it were not a fierce creature, we would have had a treat tonight.” Hiren replied softly but firmly.

“That’s right! Unfortunately, the meat of fierce creatures is really too tough. It is really uncomfortable to chew like tree bark. Fortunately, it can still be used as material for Alchemy Potions, otherwise it would really become something useless.” Ben’s words, although containing the situation of both families, seemed to make the Bolerum family suffer a bit more.

“But you only caught two rabbits later today. It doesn’t seem like a very good result, does it!” If it were not for George holding Craig, he might have jumped up again.

Ben seemed to be specifically trying to get on Craig’s nerves and started the mockery again: “Anyway, it’s still better than yours!”

Seeing that the timing was ripe, George played the role of a peacemaker: “That’s true, but although this fierce tiger does not count towards the score, it can still get a reward from His Grace the Duke.”

“It seems so! After all, in so many years of Autumn Hunt, we have never seen such a fierce beast. If the reward is good, you are responsible for treating us!” The other party also knew when to stop and took the opportunity to go down the slope immediately.

George touched his flat stomach and said: “Speaking of food, I am really starving now! I haven’t even eaten lunch today!”

“Why blame you for having an elder like Sir Val who is so focused on saving people and has full responsibility!” Green’s words were full of schadenfreude.