Chapter 220: Saving up for a rainy day (1/2)
Chapter 220: Saving up for a rainy day
Both dark creatures had Han Shuo’s life essence, so they naturally felt a sense of affinity towards each other. He could see threads of empathy slowly begin to flourish between them.
The little skeleton and the earth elite zombie were staring at each other, seemingly in the midst of a broken conversation. After a short moment, they both turned to stare at Han Shuo anxiously.
“Alright, I will send you guys back!” Han Shuo smiled slightly and replied when the two guys simultaneously expressed their desire to leave. With a spell, the small skeleton and the earth elite zombie vanished without a trace.
After the two of them departed, the cemetery of death fell back into silence. The ground settled into stillness, and with the birth of the yin demons, the yin demon cave stopped operating.
Han Shuo looked around and realized there was nothing of further significance in this place. He ruminated briefly before walking towards a valley where the dwarves resided.
“Han! What brings you here?” As soon as he entered the dwarf’s valley, these guileless little dwarves displayed their passion and showered him with a continuous stream of friendly greetings.
The last time Han Shuo had come here, the dwarves had obtained a large amount of food and daily necessities from him. Now, all their elderly and young were adorned in thick, cold-resistant cotton-padded clothes, had cozy stoves to warm themselves and enjoyed an abundant food supply to relieve their hunger. Not even the freezing ice storms of midwinter were scary anymore.
Along the way, Han Shuo could detect the satisfaction and contentment brimming in dwarves’ faces. When these dwarves saw Han Shuo, their faces exuded thankfulness and welcoming as they bellowed to one another, spreading the news of Han Shuo’s arrival.
“Uncle Han, this is for you!” When he made his way to the center of the valley, a six-year old, snot-nosed dwarf kid ran up with a sugar hawthorn stick in hand. The kid presented a piece of barbequed meat, roasted to glistening perfection, in his delicate voice.
“Thank you, dear child!” Han Shuo smiled as he bent down and patted the head of the dwarf child, who was only a few dozen centimeters tall, while taking the piece of meat with his other hand.
The adult dwarves surrounding them all smiled kindly. The atmosphere was extremely harmonious, attesting to the deep sense of goodwill they bore towards Han Shuo.
When Han Shuo entered the center of the village, he saw the familiar faces of the dwarf warrior Bennett as well as the village chief Calvin. He smiled and asked, “Elders. How has everything been recently?”
“Dearest Han, you’ve taken the cold away from this winter! Everyone has warm clothes and enough food. No one will starve to death this winter!” Chief Calvin’s face was filled with gratitude. He faced Han Shuo and expressed his debt using dwarven etiquette.
In the beginning, Han Shuo hadn’t helped these honest dwarves out of the goodness of his heart. But the more he got to know them, the more he understood that these stubborn dwarves were actually very easy to get along with, and their generosity towards friends was unbelievable.
He had won their friendship at an unknown time, but the way they went about their business had also won them his goodwill. He’d planned on just using them in the beginning, but now treated them as good friends that he could depend on.
“That’s good, good! Let me know if there’s anything you need. I’m going to go back to the world of humans soon, and I’ll be able to bring you whatever you need!” Han Shuo had a kind smile on his face as he spoke leisurely with Calvin.
Calvin waved his hands, touched. “No need, we can easily make it through this winter already. We’ll use our own efforts to repay you when spring comes. You know that we’re a hardworking species. Children need to be raised thus since young and we need to avoid instilling lazy habits in them.”
Nodding understandingly, Han Shuo said. “I see. Ah, yes. I’d planned on asking you to refine some weapons and armor for me this time. Would that be inconvenient for you, elder?”
“Han, you’re speaking like an outsider. We’re friends, why would anything be inconvenient! Prey is scarce in winter, and there are very few places in the Dark Forest that we can freely move around in. Forging weapons is our hobby, it would be very fun to make use of our idle time to forge more weapons. This is no problem at all.” Calvin didn’t hesitate at all when he agreed, and he looked rather happy as well.
“Truly, Han. We’ve been wondering how to repay you during this time. Asking us to forge weapons for you now means that we no longer have to rack our brains anymore.” Bennett laughed heartily, expressing the dwarves’ sincerity to Han Shuo.
When he saw that the dwarves were still filled with gratitude at Han Shuo bringing them provisions, as well as their desire to not take advantage of their friends, Han Shuo felt a bit shamefaced at the dwarves’ kindness and honesty.