Monster - Chapter 36
Chapter 36: Side Quest
"Side quest initiated."
"The horns of war have sounded. Men rushed to the battlefield, only to fall before the invaders' guns."
The Maple Bud Tribe is facing a shortage of supplies due to a lack of able-bodied workers. Please help them through this hardship.
Time limit: None.
Success reward: 1000 points.
Failure penalty: None.
The moment Lin Sandie said, "I will," Pie's gentle yet emotionless voice immediately sounded in her mind.
"Are you just making these quests up?" Lin Sandie asked. She always felt the quests she received were a bit too arbitrary. However, Lin Sandie had no frame of reference and couldn't be sure if other Sentinel-Guide teams received quests this way.
Pie didn't answer her question.
Not dwelling on the quest's design, Lin Sandie began to analyze how to complete the side quest. Compared to dealing with smallpox, she felt she could at least think of a few ways to handle the supply shortage.
Currently, her and Little Fool's levels and points weren't high enough to let them view items with magical effects, but they could still browse the online store.
Lin Sandie didn't know what era the online store came from. She saw that the prices of the items on it were basically consistent with what she saw in her real world. Precious items like jewelry and high-tech products required a lot of points, but daily necessities were extremely cheap. For example, 1 point could buy several boxes of instant noodles. This made Lin Sandie feel genuinely grateful. The online store was a product of an era of global overproduction, which was why so many food items on it were so cheap.
Furthermore, just as the middle-aged woman had said, if they used gold for trade, she could exchange the gold they gave her for points.
"Little Fool, hold that woman's hand." After agreeing to the woman's request, Lin Sandie—harboring no ill will but remaining on guard—decided to display a "miracle" for these natives. Otherwise, if the Maple Bud Tribe used their numbers to bully Little Fool later, the help she could offer in her current state would be extremely limited.
After her ordeal with Yan Ting, Lin Sandie had become extremely distrustful of strangers.
Hearing Lin Sandie's instruction, Little Fool didn't hesitate at all. Under the middle-aged woman's confused gaze, she walked over and took her hand. The moment she got close, Lin Sandie had already released an instant heal, curing the wound on her ear.
The middle-aged woman touched her injured ear, astounded to find the wound had completely healed.
"A god… a god…" The middle-aged woman looked at Little Fool and took two steps back in shock.
The people around saw this scene, and horrified expressions appeared on their faces too. Their gazes, originally full of suspicion, now became fearful and expectant. They immediately took a few steps back and knelt before the child.
"This should at least provide Little Fool with some measure of security."
Lin Sandie glanced at the kneeling Aztecs before her, a strange feeling in her heart. She didn't like this form of respect, didn't like people kneeling to her, nor did she like establishing authority through such means. After confirming this feeling, she decided to later teach Little Fool about things like personal equality and not to blindly worship any particular deity.
"But Little Fool automatically associates Pie with the statue of the goddess, so believing in her isn't so bad. At least Pie doesn't seem like the kind of being who would demand human sacrifices from her followers. Besides, Little Fool might be her only follower…"
After the few Aztecs knelt, Lin Sandie used Little Fool's mouth to ask for the female chief's name and learned her strange name was Flower Cow. It made her want to laugh, but she felt it would set a bad example for Little Fool, so she forced herself to hold it in.
Most Aztecs living in jungle tribes had given names but no surnames, and their birth names were chosen quite casually. Take this female chief, Flower Cow, for instance. Lin Sandie guessed she was probably named that because a spotted cow happened to be passing by at the time of her birth.
Later, they would earn a formal name for some military achievement. These formal names were still chosen arbitrarily, but they sounded much more impressive, like "Youthful Vigor" or "General Battle-Axe."
"It's a good thing Little Fool doesn't have a name. If she were called something like Little Flower Cow, it wouldn't be much better than Little Fool. But should I give her a name?"
Lin Sandie's thoughts wandered as she and Little Fool were respectfully escorted back to the Maple Bud Tribe by Sister Flower Cow and the others.
She had originally thought the Maple Bud Tribe was nearby, but they walked for several hours straight, and it was almost dark, yet they still hadn't arrived. Sister Flower Cow glanced at the sky and signaled for everyone to stop and rest.
They had only brought one pony with them on this trip, which was already laden with two small gray deer and a few turkeys, so it couldn't carry any people.
After spending these few hours together, Lin Sandie learned that they had gone to a neighboring tribe to try and trade for some food, but had clearly been unsuccessful. This was because many tribes were either ravaged by smallpox or had no surplus food of their own.
The war between the Aztecs and the Spanish had been going on for nearly two years now. To protect their homeland, many men from the tribes around Tenochtitlan had joined the war. However, the Aztecs, still an agrarian civilization, found it difficult to fight against the gun-wielding Spanish, even with their absolute numerical superiority. Not to mention that some of these Spanish who came from the sea also carried the nightmarish smallpox virus.
"In the Main World, the description of the Aztec civilization says that the Spanish destroyed the Aztec Empire in a very short time, followed by over thirty years of colonial rule or something… Even if the Tower World is different in some ways, the basic laws should still be followed, right? So there should still be some time before the war is over. Hmm, I can't stop a war, and I can't save anyone, but I just need to find a way for me and Little Fool to avoid these dangers."
Lin Sandie plotted silently. As a consummate egoist, she didn't mind helping others, but only on the condition that it wouldn't compromise her own interests.
As everyone was signaled to stop and set up camp to rest, Little Fool took the rabbit doll from her shoulder, hugged it, and sat off to one side, sulking.
Among the traveling Maple Bud tribespeople, two were only about thirteen or fourteen years old, still half-grown kids. They wanted to talk to Little Fool but were intimidated by the "miracle" she had displayed, so they just kept secretly sizing her up.
Lin Sandie had noticed this as well. Ever since meeting the Maple Bud tribespeople, Little Fool had been unhappy. Lin Sandie had no idea what the little one was thinking; she hadn't spoken to her all afternoon or even called her Little Rabbit. When they'd had no time for lunch, she had simply taken the cookies Lin Sandie gave her from her pocket and eaten them silently, not once pestering her for a home-cooked meal. This came as a surprise to Lin Sandie.
"Little Fool, are you hungry? Do you still want some fried chicken?"
"No." Little Fool immediately shook her head.
"Why not? My fried chicken is delicious." Lin Sandie remembered that Little Fool shouldn't have any food left on her.
Attributing miraculous events to the gods was convenient, and Lin Sandie still intended to fulfill her promise to make fried chicken for Little Fool.
Little Fool bit her lip. She hugged her knees, clutching Lin Sandie tightly in her embrace without a word, her delicate eyebrows furrowed.
"Hmm… I'll make it for you anyway." Not quite understanding a child's mind, Lin Sandie looked at her and felt she had to make her something to eat, so she released her Spirit Separation state.
Seeing the sudden appearance of the black fog, Little Fool's lower lip trembled, and a thin mist welled up in her rain-colored eyes.
"There's quite a bit of turkey meat, a little too much for Little Fool to eat alone, but not enough for so many people. They seem to have some game on their horse's back, I wonder if I should help them prepare it…" Lin Sandie didn't notice Little Fool's strange behavior and busied herself with taking out the chicken pieces, which had been marinating in a ziplock bag since noon, from her space bag.
She poured a generous amount of oil into a stockpot and set it to heat. While it warmed, she took one of the gray-horned deer hunted by Sister Flower Cow's group from the pony's back. The deer was small, about the size of a goat. As the tribespeople watched in astonishment, Lin Sandie's disembodied form picked up a small knife and made a few cuts on the carcass. She then held up a piece of chicken next to the knife, gesturing for them to cut the venison into similar-sized pieces.
Fortunately, after seeing the knife and chicken piece dancing in mid-air, Sister Flower Cow understood what this shapeless "deity" wanted them to do and immediately helped prepare the food.
While they prepared their own food, Lin Sandie started on Little Fool's. The oil in the pot was now hot enough. She dredged the chicken pieces in a flour coating, used chopsticks to shake off the excess, and gently lowered them into the hot oil.
In the others' eyes, they couldn't see Lin Sandie's Spirit Separation. They only saw strange objects appearing from thin air and moving on their own, as if held by an invisible hand. They attributed it all to the presence of a god.
An enticing aroma soon rose from the oil pot. Lin Sandie looked at the golden-brown fried chicken pieces and turned to look at Little Fool with satisfaction, only to see her pouting, her brow furrowed, and her little face flushed red, not looking happy at all.
"It'll be ready soon," Lin Sandie, a little confused as to why Little Fool was suddenly angry, said soothingly.
Little Fool ignored Lin Sandie, which prompted the latter to work faster. She took Little Fool's dedicated plate from the space bag, piled several golden pieces of fried chicken onto it, and served it to her.
Perhaps the steaming, fragrant chicken pieces had a soothing effect. Little Fool picked one up and took a bite. The chicken, having marinated all afternoon, was juicy, savory, and spicy, perfectly suiting Little Fool's taste. The unhappiness on her face gradually faded.
The Maple Bud tribespeople couldn't help but swallow at the sight of the fragrant chicken. A young girl who had been dicing some of the venison eagerly ran to the oil pot and carefully placed a leaf-wrapped bundle of meat next to the flour coating.
"Okay," Lin Sandie replied subconsciously, not thinking about how no one besides Little Fool could hear her voice.
While frying the chicken, she poured the marinated chicken pieces out of the ziplock bag, then poured the venison the girl had brought over into the same bag, which still contained plenty of marinade.
Little Fool immediately pinned the rabbit doll back onto her shoulder, then walked over to the black fog with her plate and began to swallow faster. Her pair of bright eyes warily watched the Maple Bud girl who was approaching Lin Sandie.
Seeing that Little Fool's plate was almost empty, Lin Sandie added a few more pieces. At the same time, she took out some disposable plastic bowls she had bought earlier from her space bag, put some of the fried chicken in one, and handed it to the girl who was staring at her eagerly.
The Aztec girl, her face painted with blue and white greasepaint, broke into a wide smile. She accepted the food handed to her from the empty air and was about to put one of the golden chicken pieces into her mouth.
"Aargh!!" Little Fool pounced on the girl like a leopard cub. Even though she was a young Sentinel, her attack was completely unexpected. The girl was instantly tackled to the ground, the fried chicken snatched from her hand, and her wrist bitten hard by Little Fool.
This sudden turn of events startled the busy Lin Sandie. She quickly dropped her chopsticks and lifted Little Fool off the girl.
"What are you doing!? Little Fool?"
"It's all mine!" Little Fool shouted, struggling against the black fog's hold with unprecedented brute force. She grabbed the fried chicken that had fallen on the ground—the pieces Lin Sandie had given to the girl—and, ignoring the dust on them, stuffed them messily into her mouth.
"Little Fool! I'm getting angry!"
"It's all mine!" Little Fool shouted again, her words muffled. She struggled free from the arms of the black fog, dropped to the ground, and wolfed down all the fallen chicken, stuffing it into her mouth until her little face was flushed bright red.
"There's plenty more! It's not like I won't give you any!" Seeing her like this, Lin Sandie's anger ignited. She had already been suppressing her temper while dealing with a strange, wild child, but seeing her suddenly snatch food without a care and refuse to share, her patience finally ran out.
"Waaaah~~~~" Seeing Lin Sandie get angry, Little Fool suddenly burst into tears.
"It's all mine!" she cried out while continuing to grab the fried chicken from the ground and stuff it in her mouth. "Don't take my Little Rabbit away."
A memory surfaced, bathed in firelight. Little Fool saw her tribespeople, their faces covered in pustules, like monsters. One by one, they collapsed. One by one, they were dragged to a pyre and burned until they were nothing but charred husks. They couldn't even manage a wail. In the end, she was the only one left. In her memory, her only impression of them was as monsters. She had forgotten what her family even looked like…
"I want my mommy!"
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