Inheriting a Lost Bloodline, My First Task is to have heirs?!

Chapter 445: Chapter 445 - Settlements of the North

To continue my journey to the north, I had to go down the other side of the mountain range which is also as steep as the path I used to get up to Kolyer. It has been included in the improvement plans but it is not like humans can complete construction jobs as fast as I could.

It took me about 2 hours to get back down to the foot of the mountain and then to a flat area. It was a bit faster than when I went up before. It was yet another bumpy and dizzying journey just the same. I would have teleported down if I had the choice but I have not been to these parts yet so I couldn’t.

Once I am at the bottom of the mountain, I stopped the wagon for a bit and waited for my body to naturally recover from the dizziness, nausea and a literal pain in the butt from the bumpy ride.

As my eyes scanned the surroundings, I noticed that this area also has dry and barren soil and most likely, it may take me more or less an hour before I can reach an area where the soil is more fertile that plants could thrive. Well, I have all the time and the patience in the world to wait before my time for the little harvest comes.

The travel on the flat lands was less strenuous to the body. The only part that I hated was the boredom which I tried to kill by diligently mapping areas I have passed by instead. Just like my first estimate, it took me about 50 minutes to get to the first woodland area that I have seen since I Ieft the Kolyer region.

I took my time to take samples of the plants and animals in the area but I made sure not to take too much time in one place. For another hour or so, all I could see on both sides of the path were the endless grasslands and occasional small forests which I made harvests from here and there.

Finally, just when the sun is about to set, I saw from afar, what seems to be a small settlement area full of make shift tents made torn cloth, dried animals skin, rough wood, dried leaves and other scavenged materials. There was a huge campfire in the middle of the area. Finally, I can see people again.

Half a kilometer before I reached the settlement, I noticed that more and more people have started to come out of the tents. They were all looking towards the direction from where I am coming from, seemingly checking if the vehicle that is about to arrive is an enemy or not.

I can’t blame them for being wary of strangers though. Everybody needs a healthy level of caution to keep yourself and your loved ones safe and alive especially when you are a mortal in an area surrounded by pirate groups, bandit clans, war and people with weapons and unclear intentions.

To ensure that I do not get attacked all of a sudden or be seen as an enemy, I stopped at about 10 meters away from the settlement area. I opened the flaps of my wagon and went down. The first thing I did was to tie my horses to a nearby sturdy tree then conjured some trough filled with food and water for the both of them. I walked around the wagon then cleaned up a semi-circular area right behind it as my temporary living space.

After everything was cleared up, I marked my little territory by pulling out a pole from my storage space. It has small flags for Athanoviya empire, the Mage Tower and the Healers’ Guild on one end then stuck the bare end of it on to the ground. Next thing I did is just to conjure my trusted two-burner firewood stoves, my prepping table and my four layer oven much to the surprise of the people who are curiously looking at me from the settlement area.

Ignoring the curious looks of everyone, I started chopping ingredients such as wild boar meat, garlic, onions, tomatoes, carrots, a celery-like green leafy vegetable, potatoes, fresh wood mushrooms and a ton of spices I found in this world. I plan to make a meat and vegetable stew together with freshly baked bread for my dinner. It can also be the dinner of anyone brave enough to approach me for some.

I used a total of three knives, one I am using manually to cut the meat while the other two were being controlled by my mana. This has made the preparation time shorter even if I was working alone. Once all the ingredients were chopped, I put two huge pots on the firewood stove and flicked a magic spell on both to start the fire.

Once the pot was hot, I used telekinesis spells to put the ingredients one by one into the pot and also control the two ladles to ensure that it is being mixed and cooked evenly. On the other hand, I have started the preparation for my bread dough.

By the time, I am done kneading the dough, the stew has started to boil and the meat and vegetables has started to soften. After putting all the bread dough in the over to start the baking process, I conjured two huge jar of water. I casted a spell to gradually cool them off and then mixed it with fragrant honey that I found earlier in one of the woodland areas.

As if helping me entice people, the wind blew the delicious scent of the food I was preparing towards the settlement area. Through my keen vision, I can see people swallowing hard, some even started to drool while sniffing the scent. Some children even started crying after being told by their parents that they were not allowed to approach my area to ask for food no matter how delicious it smelled.

After about 15 minutes more, as the bread was already cooked, the delicious scent was blown by the wind once again to the direction of the settlement when I opened the oven doors. I also started lowering the intensity of the heat under the pots just to keep them warm. I laced all of the food items with healing, revitalizing and recovery rate increase potions since they won’t work on me anyways even if I ate it all.

Since I want to eat too, I conjured a mat and then a low table a few meters from the cooking area. I brought a bowl of the stew, some slices of bread and a tall glass of cold honey water on the table. I sat on the ground and started eating without a care in the world. There was utter silence from the side of the settlement area as if time has stopped.

As they saw that I ate happily without any intention of offering food to others, a few people started to bravely walk towards my area. It was a group of 7 people who looked to be an extended family. It was comprised of a grandma, a grandpa, two men that looked to be in their 40s, 2 young boys who are surely not in their teens yet and a little girl who should be about 3 or 4 years. All of them were thin due to not getting enough nutrition while the 3 kids and the elderly couple looked sickly too.