Chapter 37: Rocky Ground

With just one Gathoo Swamp Monster, the lizardman tribe could barely manage to sustain themselves; now, with the addition of three ever-growing juveniles, the burden was becoming increasingly heavy.

The old lizardman decided to find a way to solve the problem once and for all before they caused more havoc, and the warriors who frequently passed through Green Marsh Village were the solution he came up with.

Anna only heard the first half of the story, not the second.

That cunning old lizardman was telling the truth, but he wasn't telling the whole story. Those three little Gathoo Swamp Monsters weren't born this year, nor last year, but the year before. He had been loitering around Green Marsh for over a year, tricking no fewer than four waves of warriors into going to help their village.

The village's predicament remained unresolved; instead, most of those warriors never returned.

Clearly, this cunning old lizardman was killing two birds with one stone.

If those warriors could solve the Gathoo Swamp Monster problem, everyone would be happy.

If those warriors failed to solve it, they would naturally become the food in its mouth. An adult human could basically satisfy the meat requirements of one adult Gathoo Swamp Monster—the Gathoo Swamp Monster is an omnivore, spending most of its time eating swamp moss and aquatic plants.

A well-fed Gathoo Swamp Monster would naturally stop bothering the lizardman tribe. Not only would the promised heavy gold not need to be paid, but even the monthly meat offerings would be waived, and one could even scavenge some equipment from those fallen heroes.

Gavin had reason to suspect that even if they truly wiped out all the Gathoo Swamp Monsters, they might not necessarily receive the heavy gold promised by the old lizardman. The constant burden of feeding the monsters had already left them exhausted; where would such heavy gold come from?

Once they eliminated the Gathoo Swamp Monsters, would the lizardmen stab them in the back?

The possibility was not only present, but high.

After understanding the full context of the matter, Gavin's resolve to not go became even firmer.

After listening to Gavin's analysis, Anna's face turned bright red with anger. She grabbed her heavy nail hammer, intending to go find that cunning old lizardman to argue with him, but she couldn't find a trace of him in the entire village.

That cunning old lizardman's nose was equally sensitive; sensing that Gavin was inquiring about him everywhere and knowing his scheme had been exposed, he had slipped away in advance.

This unexpected little interlude taught Anna a good lesson, showing her what it meant for human hearts to be unpredictable.

As for the effect, one could only say, "Heh."

Having been raised with the education that "human nature is fundamentally good," she tended to think of everything in a positive light.

This was something she would likely find difficult to change for the rest of her life.

This was also exactly what Gavin liked most: human hearts always lean toward the light, especially in those who cannot achieve it themselves.

In his past life, Gavin had two beams of light in his life: one that illuminated his first half, and one that illuminated his second.

The first was the recently departed Zaranda; the second was the person before him now.

Another such trade fair was held in the Distant Sea Swamp.

When they arrived, the entire caravan was packed; when they left, it was equally packed.

However, eighty percent of the goods had changed, some having changed several times over.

In Faerûn, caravans that carried the same goods from destination A to destination B without change were not non-existent, but they were rare. Most such operations were handled by large-scale caravans with significant scale; only they had enough manpower and resources to bear the expensive risk costs in between, and every success yielded staggering profits.

More caravans, especially those composed of independent merchants, would leave a very small amount of space to carry their highest-profit core commodities from the starting point all the way to the destination. The majority of the remaining goods would be resold continuously along the route and then replenished, the profits from which would support the rest of their journey.

Even if problems arose mid-way and they couldn't reach the destination, selling the goods locally meant they basically wouldn't lose much, and might even make a small profit. The risk was relatively low, though the profit margins were thinner.

Along the way, they also encountered a town completely covered in various fungi; even the livestock there were covered in fungal growth.

Upon Gavin's strong suggestion, they avoided this village by a wide margin and moved away as quickly as possible.

He didn't know exactly what had happened to that village, but experience told him that it was either a plague or that a powerful predator was hiding within; it was definitely not something they could afford to provoke.

As the terrain began to change, Gavin knew their destination was near.

The Rocklands.

Just like its name suggested, the one thing this place did not lack was various types of stone.

Located on the foothills of the Storm Horn Mountains, it was a typical hilly region where even the highest peak would not exceed six hundred meters.

However, the sheer number of small hills and the crisscrossing ravines were overwhelming. Like the wrinkles on a centenarian's face, one ridge followed another, forming a massive labyrinth. Someone unfamiliar with the paths could easily wander in and never find their way out.

The forest kingdom of Cormyr had always claimed ownership of this place, but they had never been able to occupy it.

The complex terrain was a major reason for this.

Cormyr's most powerful Purple Dragon Regiment found it difficult to exert its strength here.

When their large armies marched in, the monster colonies would simply duck into the mountain crevices and play hide-and-seek with them.

Over time, Cormyr could no longer afford the heavy supply costs and was forced to withdraw.

Within a few years, the place would once again become a realm of monsters.

Left with no recourse, the Cormyr royalty issued a special decree of war half a century ago: regardless of origin or background, anyone who could conquer the Rocklands would receive an official investiture from the Kingdom of Cormyr, becoming a Baron of this land.

Regrettably, half a century had passed, and no one has yet achieved this honor.

Having traveled with the caravan, Gavin had seen almost no decent human villages in the Rocklands; instead, goblin nests and kobold holes were everywhere.

Here, whether day or night, the air was filled with the shouts of goblins and the yapping of kobolds.

Fortunately, both were famous for being cowardly. The caravan Gavin followed was large enough that they only dared to peer from a distance, rarely daring to rush out and rob them.

There were also some tribes that traded with the caravans, but they were scattered and small-scale, certainly not forming organized trading hubs like the Tun Swamp or the Distant Sea Swamp.

"Uncle Bed, do you have a moment to chat?" Gavin asked the plump middle-aged man who was busy counting goods.

"Brother Gavin... just a moment, let me finish this calculation, it'll be quick." While responding, the middle-aged man, Bed, was performing rapid mental arithmetic. His fat body moved swiftly, a perfect embodiment of the term "agile fat man."

This middle-aged man was named Bed Sage. He did not hold the official title of caravan leader, but he held the actual power; many of the key decisions along the way had come from him.

When they first set out, his three large wagons were filled entirely with grain, fruit, ale, and similar goods.

When other merchants did business with the villages along the way, he did business with those merchants. Although most food could be sourced locally, ale and fruit were harder to replenish, so business remained good due to his fair prices.

This business continued until the Distant Sea Swamp. Except for one wagon still carrying such goods, everything else had turned into local swamp specialties. The number of wagons had also increased by two—one purchased from other merchants, and another repaired by Gavin and his group from the wagon graveyard in the Tun Swamp, as they had collected too many goods to fit in their original capacity.

These two extra wagons, along with their cargo, were pure profit from this trip.

"Alright, finally finished." Bed wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a genial smile, "Brother Gavin, what can I do for you?"

"We are acquaintances now, so I won't beat around the bush, Uncle Bed. I have reached my destination, so I won't be traveling further," Gavin said, getting straight to the point.