CHAPTER 73: SALTSTONE

Madha listened closely and made sure to remember the characteristics of the fruit that his childhood friend had mentioned. If he runs a mission and passes through any counties or big cities, he will look for it.

Meanwhile, after giving Rea’s babies a drink of his water, Gara felt his stamina drain to the bone.

Controlling water with precision inside the tiny bellies of baby squirrels was far more exhausting than filling a six-hundred-liter water barrel.

"You just rest here. I’ll build the house for Rea and her little ones," Madha said, remembering their earlier plan.

Then, he headed to the back of the house, hauling out leftover planks and bamboo from when Fian’s room was built. Carrying them to the yard, he fetched the rest of the tools.

Stepping out of the house, Gara sank into the rattan longue chair on the porch.

With the eaves shielding him from the sun, he leaned back, catching his breath while enjoying the view: Madha in his short-sleeved shirt, cutting plank in the open air.

It wasn’t long before Fian and Wina returned. Gara asked Fian to make him an Ice Lumora Soda.

Without a word, the handsome elf entered the bamboo house. He came out of the house in just a few minutes, bringing a clay cup.

When, Fian joined Madha, Gara drank a few gulps. The chill and fizz brought him back to life.

Wina, meanwhile, was sorting the serpent’s hide and meat they planned to sell in town. Gara joined her in the back.

"Oh, right, Mom. We found this strange stone yesterday," he said, showing her a smooth, glossy, ivory-white rock he’d pulled from beneath the pile of snake hide.

Wina’s eyes widened. She took a closer look, touched it with her fingertip... and then brought the finger to her mouth for a quick taste.

"Mom?" Gara frowned. Why on earth was she tasting a rock?

Her answer came at once. "This is a Saltstone Crystal. When soaked in water, it turns the water into saltwater."

"So this is what made the river taste salty... and why it produces salt," Gara muttered.

"That’s right," Wina confirmed with a nod.

"Mom, we should keep this crystal and start producing our own salt. Remember, we have backing now. We just need to sell in moderate amounts—enough to profit, but not enough to mess with market prices."

Gara’s eyes sparkled. At last, he could start laying the foundation for his business empire in this fantasy world.

Wina hesitated, thinking for a long while. In this world, merchants carried a bad reputation. Only nobles could run businesses without being looked down upon.

Gara still didn’t quite understand that. He suspected it was just propaganda from nobles who didn’t want commoners becoming richer than them.

After all, they controlled trade and without their permission, no business could legally operate.

"Mom, when my child is born..." Gara slipped in his favorite persuasion tactic. "I don’t want to just sit at home. I want to be a Liner too. You’ll still be working with the herbs, right? We’ll have to hire someone to care for my kid. It can’t be Fian, and we’ll need a babysitter. Raising my child, paying the caretaker, enrolling them in an academy—it’s all going to take money."

That reminder struck home. Wina recalled their earlier talks about Gara’s future child.

Even if the baby carried druid blood, he wanted to do everything he could to make sure they didn’t have to hide the way he had.

One of the ways was to enroll in an academy that would teach them reading, writing, counting, and the basic knowledge of this world.

And for that, he would need something to mask their druid scent. That would, of course, take a lot of funds.

"...Alright. We’ll build the salt business," she said at last.

After loading the snake meat and hide onto the cart, they realized they needed more than one. Yesterday, they had just piled everything without proper packaging.

Now, once the goods were packed properly—secured so the meat wouldn’t spill or be exposed to anything outside—they managed to fill only one cart.

"Mom will borrow a cart from the village chief," Wina said.

She was about to head out when Tristan arrived with a squad of town guards. Behind him was an open carriage loaded with several wooden crates.

"Knew it. You didn’t prepare any wooden crates," Tristan remarked, pointing to the empty boxes in the back. They had clearly been brought for this very reason.

The guards unloaded the crates and began packing the snake meat and hide neatly. Madha and Fian, who had been working on Rea’s new house, paused to help with the loading.

After nearly two months, today was the first day so many people could freely pass through the barrier.

Wina wasn’t entirely comfortable with it; next time, she decided, everything would be packed well in advance.

"How about the fat and the innards?" Tristan asked, noticing only meat and hide in the pile.

"We left them," Gara replied.

They had abandoned everything else—fat, organs, and all—by the riverbank. Even what they’d carried back was already a huge load. Besides, the rest looked far too unpleasant to bother with.

"Fat can be rendered into oil, and noblemen pay handsomely for the organs as a powerful tonic. You could have made a fortune from those," Tristan said.

Gara could only sigh in defeat. They hadn’t even thought about that yesterday. And now, those parts were probably rotting... or already eaten by the mountain’s wildlife.

By the time the packing was done, the snake meat and skins filled three cargo carriages. Wina joined Emir, the vice-captain of the town guard, to head into town for the sale.

"Emir, I’m taking a few men to inspect the upper mountain. You take the others and handle the sale of this meat and hide," Tristan instructed.

Emir and the guards gave a crisp salute before finally departing with Wina.

"What happened with Satyo, Captain Tristan?" Gara asked once the carriages were gone.

...