Chapter 49: Senior Blacksmith and Organizing the Harvest [Seeking Recommendations and Collections]

After pondering for a moment, he spoke slowly, voicing the concerns in his heart.

"You truly are an understanding human boy."

"However, I am used to my freedom. If I join your territory, will there be alcohol to drink?"

Hearing the drunken dwarf say this, a sly smile appeared on Zong Shen's face.

"Wine?"

"How about this jar of wine in my hand?"

With a flip of his hand, Zong Shen produced the [Mellow Green Forest Fruit Wine] he had previously obtained from a bronze treasure chest.

This was a high-quality Green Grade fine wine.

He pulled off the seal directly and waved the small wine jar in front of the drunken dwarf's nose.

*Sniff...*

"This mellow aroma..."

"This refreshing scent..."

"This is the Elven delicacy, Green Forest Fruit Wine!"

This dwarf, named Beard Whiskers · Winefire, lived up to his reputation as a drunkard; with just a single sniff, he knew exactly what kind of wine Zong Shen was holding.

"Good eyes. As long as you agree to return to my territory and swear fealty to me, there will be plenty of fine wine in the future."

Zong Shen continued his persuasion.

This psychological offensive, combined with the "fine wine strategy" to cater to the dwarf's tastes, nearly had the drunken dwarf completely swayed.

Beard Whiskers · Winefire smacked his lips, seemingly weighing whether or not to agree.

Seeing this, Zong Shen struck while the iron was hot.

"The legs are attached to your own body. If you are unsatisfied with my territory, you can leave at any time."

Hearing Zong Shen say this, Beard Whiskers · Winefire finally nodded.

"Understanding Lord, I, a clansman of the Beard Whiskers Dwarf Tribe..."

"Beard Whiskers · Winefire, swear my fealty to you!"

A warm smile spread across Zong Shen's face.

"Good, good, good! Welcome to our territory!"

Then, he drew the [Sharp Germanic Sword] and sliced through all the tightly bound hemp ropes.

Beard Whiskers · Winefire landed agilely on the ground. Without bothering to put back the light armor and equipment Zong Shen had stripped from him, he eagerly took the [Mellow Green Forest Fruit Wine] from Zong Shen's hands.

He tilted his thick neck back and began to "glug, glug, glug."

He took a massive gulp first to quench his immediate craving.

Only then did he carefully replace the cork and begin to put on his equipment.

Clutching the wine jar, he followed slowly behind Zong Shen.

"Lord, please take me back to your territory."

With fine wine in hand, Beard Whiskers · Winefire seemed quite satisfied with his current situation.

Of course, Zong Shen was also very satisfied. Where else could one find a high-level blacksmith who would be completely devoted just for some alcohol?

After Beard Whiskers · Winefire declared his loyalty, Zong Shen was able to view some of his information.

[Dwarf Warrior: Beard Whiskers · Winefire] [Aptitude: Rare] [Level: lv47] [Attributes: (Unable to view due to excessive level difference)] [Satiety: 73] [Loyalty: 65]

Zong Shen actually couldn't view his detailed attributes.

However, the purple Rare aptitude and the high level of lv47 were enough to prove that this fellow's combat capability was far more reliable than his drunken appearance suggested.

Fortunately, the loyalty was decent at 65 points—lower than Tasia's, but higher than the farmers rescued from the bandit camps.

As long as he cultivated him well and provided plenty of good wine, he could raise that loyalty eventually.

This guy could not only serve as a blacksmith but was also a dwarf warrior with a respectable level and aptitude.

Zong Shen smiled with great satisfaction, mounted his old traveling horse, and waved to Beard Whiskers · Winefire and Tie Zhu.

"Let's go. We'll return to the territory first."

He gave a light nudge to the horse's flanks, and they began a slow trot toward the camp.

The dwarf and Tie Zhu followed behind him, their speed not much slower than the old traveling horse.

Zong Shen began to calmly inspect the spoils he hadn't had time to examine closely in the dungeon.

Setting aside the copper, iron, and mithril for a moment, there were quite a few blueprints alone.

[Tier 2 Residential Building Blueprint] [Quality: Common Human Building] [Requirements: Wood ×30, Stone ×15, Iron ×8, Hemp Rope ×3] [Footprint: 20 square meters] [Durability: 300] [Building Armor: 5] [Provides a basic shelter to block wind and rain, slowly restoring HP (1.5 HP per hour)] [Capacity: 6 people] [Construction Time: 1h 12m]

Zong Shen clapped his hands, and the blueprint turned into a white light, mastered by him.

[Basic Fertile Field Construction Blueprint (10×10)] [Quality: Common] [Complete building; can be constructed without spending materials. Please select an area to place.] [Construction Time: 4m] [Footprint: 100 square meters] [A basic fertile field that can shorten crop growth time by 30%]

This was a complete building blueprint, similar to the Moon Well in that it required no resources; it was both easy and efficient.

[Tavern Construction Blueprint] [Quality: Excellent] [Requirements: Wood ×100, Stone ×80, Iron ×35, Copper ×20, Basic Elemental Crystal ×5, Basic Water Rune ×1] [Footprint: 160 square meters] [Durability: 1500] [Building Armor: 30] [A tavern building; a great place for drinking and leisure. Requires alcohol to operate and a bartender. This building can expand the territory's influence and has a chance to attract powerful soldiers or heroes.] [Construction Time: 6h 24m]

It was a rare Excellent-grade tavern blueprint. Zong Shen learned it first to save a storage slot.

Before having a stable alcohol output, a tavern was of little use.

Although he had some [Crafted Rum] on hand, it likely wouldn't be enough even for a seasoned drunkard like Beard Whiskers · Winefire.

He would need to wait until he had a stable source of alcohol before constructing it.

[Cellar Construction Blueprint] [Quality: Common] [Requirements: Wood ×50, Iron ×20, Stone ×50] [Underground Space: 27 cubic meters] [Durability: 1000] [Building Armor: 10] [A dug-out cellar that can serve as an emergency shelter or store alcohol and other supplies.]

A plain cellar; perhaps he could build a few later to serve as emergency shelters or wine cellars.

[Obtained Tier 1 Territory Technology Research Institute Blueprint] [Quality: Common] [Requirements: Wood ×40, Stone ×20, Iron ×10, Mithril ×2] [Footprint: 20 square meters] [Durability: 600] [Building Armor: 12] [A Tier 1 territory research building. Once completed, it can consume certain resources to research various Tier 1 territory technologies.] [Construction Time: 2h 24m]

"Territory technology is already available?"

Zong Shen marveled. He clapped his hands to master this blueprint first.

At the same time, he added it to his urgent construction list in his mind.

[Obtained Tier 2 City Lord's Manor Upgrade Voucher] [Upon completing territory expansion tasks, this voucher can be used to upgrade the City Lord's Manor to Tier 2 (requires repairing the Tier 1 City Lord's Manor).]

In addition to the building blueprints, there were various materials obtained from the monsters.

However, he planned to hand all of these over to the dwarf uncle to process once he returned to the territory and built the blacksmith shop.

Now, he began to inspect other items.