Chapter 51: A Feather Duster

“Don’t worry, my lady. You can leave this to me.” Dory took the animal skin coat Su You had just changed out of, then rummaged through the wooden chest for the materials she needed.

“Oh, I’ll need a wooden needle too…” Since she was going to sew, she’d obviously need needle and thread.

Here, “thread” could be replaced with string, and the needle was made of wood.

Hearing this, Su You immediately picked up a branch and a stone knife. With the right tools and materials, she quickly whittled out a sharp wooden needle, just like sharpening a pencil—shua shua shua, and it was done.

With the wooden needle in hand, Dory began her work.

Before she started, she placed the white ermine in a wooden basin lined with animal hide, gently telling it to behave, not to run around, and not to disturb anyone.

Of course, the ermine had no idea what she was saying. It just tilted its head in confusion and let out a soft questioning sound.

“Liko?”

Just as the ermine couldn’t understand her, Dory couldn’t understand it either. So she simply patted its little head and turned her attention back to her work.

Su You watched their interaction, then her gaze fell on the wooden basin under the ermine. She’d been wondering about that basin for a while—she was sure she hadn’t made it herself.

Perhaps sensing Su You’s gaze, the ermine thought she was about to steal its “nest.” It immediately stretched out its short front paws, protectively hugging the basin.

Not only that, it bared its teeth at Su You and made a faint noise… Whether it was trying to threaten or provoke her, who could say.

“Grrr!”

Su You: “……”

Normally, Su You couldn’t be bothered to argue with this little creature.

But right now, she was quite free and had plenty of time to mess with it—a little thing that ate her food and lived under her roof, yet dared to bare its teeth at her…

Expressionless, Su You picked up the ermine from the basin and began kneading it like dough.

After being washed and dried, the ermine’s fur was incredibly soft and smooth, like the finest silk. And with the warmth of the ermine itself, it felt even better than real silk.

The thoroughly tormented ermine knew it was powerless to save itself, so it could only look at Dory with tearful eyes—hoping for rescue. But it had miscalculated; Dory had no intention of helping.

In fact, Dory had already heard the commotion when the ermine bared its teeth, but she knew Su You wouldn’t actually hurt it. So she ignored the ermine’s pleading look and kept working.

Cute as it was, if the ermine wanted to stay here, it had to understand a crucial fact—who the real master was.

To be so rude and even act so cocky toward the master… Dory felt that Su You’s decision not to toss it outside to cool off its hot head was the last bit of kindness she had left.

In Dory’s eyes, no matter how cute the ermine was, it was still just a pet. A pet could never compare to Su You.

By now, the ermine, dizzy and limp from Su You’s rough handling, had completely given up struggling.

Not only had it stopped struggling, it had even given up on seeking help. The two other humans were too far away to notice, and the one nearby clearly wasn’t going to help…

Just as the ermine thought its “ermine life” was over, it suddenly felt its body, which had been dangling in the air, settle onto something solid.

Feigning death, the ermine’s eyelids fluttered, and it couldn’t help but peek open a slit… only to see it had been put back in its wooden basin.

“You’re quite the little actor,” Su You remarked, amused by the ermine’s sneaky peeking.

The ermine didn’t understand her words, but it recognized her voice. Hearing her so close, it shuddered all over, instinctively squeezed its eyes shut, and its fur puffed out so much it looked just like a perfect white feather duster.

Having had her fun, Su You glanced at the “feather duster” and decided not to torment it any further. She’d rested enough and had other things to do.

Because the brothers had collected some stone fragments today, Su You was now preparing to use them to make a second pickaxe.

When it was just her, one set of tools was enough. But now, with more people, there simply weren’t enough tools to go around.

For example, after Lake took on the task of collecting wood that afternoon, Su You was left without an axe.

It was the same when she sent Dory to gather fibers earlier—the stone knife was in use.

So, Su You used the four stone fragments, along with some she’d gathered while exploring, to make a pickaxe and a stone knife.

She didn’t make another axe because only one person needed to chop wood at a time, so one axe was enough.

As for the pickaxe, now that they’d discovered a mine, Su You definitely needed one herself. Plus, she planned to post a “collect sandstone” task tomorrow.

Only with enough sandstone could these tools be kept in circulation.

The same went for the stone knife—Su You set one aside for Dory, so she could gather fibers and other plants near the territory.

Fiber was a basic material, and the demand for it would only grow, so it needed to be stockpiled.

Once the pickaxe and stone knife were made, Su You put one of the stone knives in the wooden chest and let Dory know. Dory nodded and went back to work.

As for the pickaxe, Su You placed it in the wooden chest linked to the bounty board.

[New tool detected. Would you like to set a deposit?]

The deposit, as the name suggested, was to prevent people from taking a task and running off with the tool, or collecting materials but not turning in the task—basically, to stop people from using the tools for free.

Since Lyle and Lake had given Su You their last few copper coins before, they’d had no money, so she hadn’t set a deposit at first—otherwise, they wouldn’t have been able to take on any tasks.

But now things were different. They had money, so Su You added the deposit requirement.

She set the deposit amount herself, based on the amount or rarity of materials used in the tool.

For axes and shovels, which used only one piece of stone, the deposit was ten copper coins. For pickaxes, which used two pieces of stone, the deposit was twenty copper coins."

"52. Wooden Spear

After setting up the data, Su You casually posted a new quest related to sandstone.

[Collect Sandstone] (Repeatable)

Issuer: Lord

Quest Objective: Submit Sandstone (0/3)

Quest Reward: Copper Coin *1

Quest Tool: Stone Pickaxe (Requires a 20 copper coin deposit to borrow; deposit will be returned when the tool is returned)

……

Once the new quest was published, Su You turned around and saw Lyle standing right behind her.

This ghost-like behavior made Su You’s eyelid twitch involuntarily.

Lyle seemed to realize he’d startled her, so he quickly apologized and explained why he’d come over.

“We just discussed it, and both of us are willing to help Lord Su deal with the ghost skeletons. We’ll follow your arrangements, but we reserve the right to refuse any unreasonable orders.” Lyle was mainly worried that Su You would treat them as cannon fodder.

They had encountered and fought ghost skeletons before, so they knew these monsters weren’t particularly difficult to handle. As long as Su You didn’t recklessly send them to their deaths, they were willing to help.

Rather than just helping, this was also a chance for them to stay.

After barely escaping a near-wipeout with their previous adventurer team, the two brothers no longer wanted to continue the dangerous life of adventurers.

Adventuring was exciting, but also extremely risky, with the constant threat of death.

Now, all they wanted was to join a territory and live a stable life… and just as this thought took root, they arrived at Sunset Territory.

Though this was a brand new territory—so poor that calling it “poor” was an understatement—they didn’t mind. In fact, they were glad to have arrived at a newly established place.

Every territory holds limitless potential. Watching a territory grow from nothing is not just an opportunity, but a rare stroke of luck.

Everyone dreams of becoming a “founding hero,” and they were no exception.

So unless Lord Su made some utterly unreasonable decision they couldn’t accept, they would choose to stay.

And so far, Lyle had a good impression of Lord Su.

Tomorrow’s actions and their outcome would not only determine whether they could successfully join the territory, but also serve as a key observation for whether this place was worth joining.

“Alright. Any arrangements I make tomorrow, I’ll discuss with you both in advance.”

With that, both sides quickly reached an agreement to act together the next day.

“I need to know your real situation, otherwise I can’t make proper arrangements.” In fact, even if Su You hadn’t asked, Lyle was prepared to explain.

“We both specialize in close combat. Lake prefers fighting bare-handed, while I like weapons such as short daggers… though it seems there aren’t any here. But if there’s a spear, that works too.” Lyle first explained their combat styles, then highlighted their capabilities by mentioning their past achievements.

After hearing their exploits, Su You didn’t suspect Lyle of exaggerating, but she did feel something was a bit off.

She didn’t doubt him because Lyle was smart—he knew that boasting in front of her wouldn’t make her think they were stronger, it would only lead to her making poor decisions tomorrow, which would end up hurting them.

So it was unlikely he’d exaggerate just to brag. On the contrary, he’d probably downplay things to leave himself some leeway.

Even so, the brothers’ achievements were impressive.

After all, these two had cleared out wolf dens and captured tigers and leopards!

While these feats were accomplished as part of their former adventurer team, and others contributed as well, if they didn’t have real ability, they wouldn’t have survived until now.

“Alright, I get the gist.” Su You suppressed her lingering doubts and continued, “Tomorrow, I’ll try to avoid combat as much as possible. After all, our main goal is to open up a safe route to the mine…”

“But sometimes, fighting is unavoidable. So get some rest tonight—not just to kill ghost skeletons, but to keep yourselves alive.”

……

To prepare for tomorrow’s battle, Lyle and Lake went to the tavern to rest. Meanwhile, after Dolly finished making a set of reinforced beast hide armor, Su You asked if she could make anything else.

After hearing Su You’s request, Dolly rummaged through the wooden chest and then gave her answer.

“…This one shouldn’t be a problem. There are enough materials, but that’s all—we don’t have enough for more.” Making armor already consumed a lot of hide, and Su You wanted a double-reinforced version, which took twice as many materials or more.

With limited supplies, Dolly could only make one of the two items Su You requested.

“Let’s go with this one, since we’ll need it tomorrow. Sorry to trouble you tonight.”

“It’s fine, it’s my job. Otherwise, I’d feel bad eating and drinking here for free, wouldn’t I?” Dolly didn’t mind having to “work overtime.” Back in the merchant caravan, they often took turns on night watch anyway.

She joked, then measured out the materials and gave a time estimate.

“I’ll definitely have it finished tonight.” The item wasn’t hard to make, and as long as nothing went wrong, she’d finish it before her usual bedtime.

With Dolly’s assurance, Su You could focus on making Lyle’s weapon.

Since Lyle had mentioned he was good with short daggers, but could also use a spear, Su You decided to make a wooden spear.

It had been a long time since she’d worked with such low-level weapons, so Su You checked the workbench recipe list and found the materials and stats for the wooden spear.

[Wooden Spear] (Consumes: Wood *5, Rope *2)

Category: Weapon

Quality: Common (White)

Attributes: Attack Range (1.5), Attack Power (15), Block (5%), Armor Penetration (1%), Bleed (5%), Critical Hit (1%)

Description: A simple and easy-to-use wooden spear. It has a longer attack range than ordinary weapons, a slightly higher chance to block, and a certain chance to inflict bleeding on the enemy. Although the wooden spear has well-rounded stats, it requires significant strength to wield. Not recommended for those who don’t meet the strength requirement."

"Certainly! Here’s a fluent, natural English translation of the provided Chinese text:

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