Chapter 37: Short-handed

“I don’t know much about your father’s situation, but to prove I’m telling the truth, you can soak it in the water for a bit.” Su You pointed to the nearby creek and continued, “Dragonbone is nurtured with dragon’s blood. Years of soaking infuse it with dragon’s blood, and when dragon’s blood meets water, it causes certain reactions…”

What kind of reaction exactly, Su You didn’t say.

If Duoya was willing to believe her, she’d try it herself and find out. If she didn’t believe her, then saying more would be pointless.

For a while after that, Duoya didn’t do anything, and Su You simply acted as if she wasn’t there.

Once she finished what she needed to do, Su You picked up her axe and went back to chopping wood.

Originally, this job should have been left to the new NPCs, but of the two who’d arrived, one wasn’t ready to join yet, and the other was in poor condition… No matter how short-handed Su You was, she couldn’t send someone in that bad a state to do heavy labor like chopping wood.

So, in the end, she had to do it herself.

The “Territory Join Request” notification had been flashing since earlier, but Su You still hadn’t opened it.

Because there was no point.

Without a residential house, she could only see who had applied to join the territory, but there was no button to approve their application.

Rather than waste time looking at that, she might as well chop a few more trees and hurry up with building houses.

A residential house required ten planks to build, but its interior was quite spacious. Most importantly, each house had two single beds.

In other words, one ordinary house could accommodate two NPCs, increasing the territory’s population capacity by two.

[Obtained Wood x2]

[Obtained Wood x3]

…

When she finished chopping the nearby trees, Su You moved to another spot to keep working.

The animal hide that Dory had repaired earlier was now a pair of shoes on Su You’s feet. Although chopping wood didn’t require much walking, the hide shoes were more comfortable than straw sandals, so even standing and chopping, she could feel her feet were more relaxed.

Whether it was just her imagination or not, as long as it was more comfortable, it was a good thing.

She kept using the same axe over and over, not really paying attention to the time. Eventually, when a full-durability whetstone was used up, Su You saw Duoya walking toward her.

Su You put down her axe and looked at her, then her gaze shifted to the broken bow in Duoya’s hands—

[Activated · Broken Dragonbone Bow · Part 1]

Actually, Su You had checked this broken bow earlier, but at the time, its name was [Broken Dragon?? Bow · Part 1].

Even though only half the name was displayed, Su You didn’t rely on the name to identify the material—she recognized dragonbone on sight. So even with an incomplete name, the character “dragon” was enough to confirm her guess.

Maybe because it had now been activated, she could see the full name clearly, with an “Activated” prefix in front.

Su You knew what “activation” meant. Some special materials needed to be activated in certain ways, or they wouldn’t display their true properties.

In an unactivated state, even equipment made from the best materials would be no different from ordinary gear.

Activated equipment could also be sealed again in certain ways… While she was thinking about this, Duoya had already walked up to her.

“I tried it. I believe you, but I don’t know why you’re doing this.” Duoya wasn’t one for beating around the bush, as her previous way of speaking had already shown.

She hadn’t believed Su You at first, but maybe because Su You seemed so genuine—and also, she couldn’t find any reason why Su You would lie to her.

So she took the broken bow to the creek.

The result was obvious: she saw with her own eyes as the bow in her hands changed from ordinary black ebony, its dark sheen fading, the whole thing turning a fiery red.

Not only that, the smooth surface she’d carefully maintained now showed scale-like patterns.

If she hadn’t seen it herself, Duoya would never have believed it.

Combining this with what Su You had said, Duoya suspected the patterns were dragon scales… The very fact she was thinking this way meant she had started to trust Su You, using the information Su You provided as a basis for her own deductions.

So she came over—partly to apologize for her earlier attitude, and partly because she wanted to know why.

Why did Su You tell her about the material for free, yet act like she didn’t want her to go on an adventure?

“Since you now believe it’s dragonbone, you should also know there’s no way you could get this material yourself… right?” Su You happened to be a bit tired, so she put away her axe, gathered up the wood on the ground, and talked to her.

“My goal is simple… You can see for yourself, this is a brand new territory, and I’m the lord here. At the start, every territory lacks everything—especially people.” Not only did Duoya dislike beating around the bush, Su You didn’t like it either.

If revealing her intentions too soon would make Duoya leave, or make everything she said after less believable…

If Duoya knew from the start that Su You wanted her to join, she’d definitely think Su You was exaggerating about the bow’s material just to make her give up.

In that case, Duoya wouldn’t have done the experiment.

But if Su You used the dragonbone information to earn her trust, then she could propose a deal.

That’s right—a deal.

“You’re an excellent archer, and the territory needs combat power in its early days. Here’s my offer: I can help you gather dragonbone material, and I can also help you find someone to repair your bow.”

“Of course, I have to be clear—it’ll take some time. It’s not something I can do in ten days or half a month.”

Maybe because Su You had earned a lot of goodwill by telling her about the material, Duoya didn’t yet have a clear answer about whether she’d stay, but she didn’t doubt Su You’s honesty.

“I’ll think about it.”

“Go ahead.” Su You had said all she needed to say, and didn’t try to persuade her further. Duoya was clearly not someone who could be easily talked into something.

If she wanted to stay, she would. If not, she wouldn’t."