The Ominous Lord of the Skaven

Chapter 61 Field Trips
The forest in the early morning was covered with dark green jungle slimes. Inside the jade-like bodies of these little guys, insects were constantly struggling, but soon they lost their vitality and their limbs melted away.

A good morning starts with a good breakfast. The people walking into the jungle are eating dry bread. Compared with the comfort of slime, it looks much shabby.

However, the accompanying old carpenter told Ickert a new way of eating.

Pierce the slime's tough outer skin, dip the nutrient-rich juice inside into bread and eat it, preferably with a little salt.

It's like eating steamed buns with an old godmother, and eating slices of bread with jam.

The slime juice is not as tasteless as imagined, but it gives people a sweet feeling, which is a very novel and delicious taste.

With this thing, even Sasha, who has always had bad teeth, even ate two pieces of antiseptic bread.

A few days ago, she also said that these things, which have been baked many times until there is no moisture at all, are as hard as rocks.

However, there is no way to do this. If the food in the rainforest is not dehydrated, the shelf life must be very impressive.

In this way, Ickert's team marched comfortably through the jungle all morning without encountering any danger along the way.

The location of the water source is very well determined, and it will be a matter of time to get there, so Ickert is more concerned about another thing.

"Kent, do you see the kind of plants I'm talking about in this wood?"

Kent is the old carpenter recruited by Eckert. Carpenters can not only process all kinds of wood, but also understand the habits of most tree species.

"I'm sorry, my lord. According to my experience and knowledge, I have never even seen the kind of plant you mentioned. How can there be a small tree that is hollow? Not only that, but also very tough, it is really unimaginable .”

The old carpenter expressed his embarrassment. The lord always has a lot of whimsical ideas, which is not surprising. What is strange is that the lord's whims are always far beyond people's common sense.

What Ickert came out to look for on this trip was actually bamboo.

Bamboo, an easy-to-process material, can process many urgently needed things in the early stage when the productivity of the territory is not high, among which are the pipes that Ickert needs.

Digging between the ridges for water supply and drainage is also a method, but for the ridges built with mud, the continuous flow of water will continue to erode the surrounding areas, which is not durable and cannot withstand the washing of heavy rains.

If one day the water in the field is messed up, the previous efforts in farming will be in vain.

But then again, after traveling for so long, Ickert still didn't see the bamboo he needed.

Perhaps for a different world with a different geographical environment, there is no species of bamboo at all?
"Why don't you tell me where you saw this plant? I can help you find it according to your preferences."

Kent asked sincerely, but this made it difficult for Ickert. He couldn't say that he saw it in Blue Star.

Ickert thought about it, and decided to attribute the reason to the teachers of the Summoner Academy.

"I have one. Yes, I have a well-informed teacher, Professor Gliman of the Summoner Academy, who once mentioned this plant in our botany course,
He said that bamboo can be used to weave baskets, containers, pipes, etc. There are many uses, as for the preferences of this plant.”

Eckert replied that, in fact, even the course of botany was made up by him.

At this time, Professor Gliman suddenly had a bad feeling in the imperial capital.

I always feel that I am going to start to bear some inexplicable things.

"According to Mr. Gleeman, most of these plants grow in the warm and humid north, and they especially like humid and shady environments."

"Warm, humid, and cool. My lord, I probably understand, but according to what you said, this kind of plant may exist in large quantities on the shady side of the mountain. If my guess is correct, you can probably find it at the bottom of the mountain."

Kent doesn't know much about geography, he only knows that the sun rises from the back of the Cameroon Mountains, so Windsor's side is naturally in the shade of the mountains, and it should be near those water pools.

"Okay, let's move on and see if we can find this plant, or some other substitute."

Along the way, Ickert also focused on observing the wild vegetables that the caravan guys like to dig, and pulled out some plants with large tubers along the way, whether they were potatoes or sweet potatoes.

There are also some wild beans, fungi, spice crops and the like, which can be regarded as special products of the frontline territory.

Several people moved forward all the way, and finally arrived near a small waterfall.

The waterfall flows down from the top of the mountains, and the area below becomes a small pool.

The water in the pool is very clear, and a small stream extends from it. Ickert followed the flow of the stream for a while, and found that a section of it was generally extending towards the territory.

This is a natural waterway that can be used.

Ickert roughly drew the flow of the stream on the parchment, and led the team to continue along the mountain wall.

The water supply of a small pool is still not enough, and Ickert has to consider the drop in water level caused by water diversion.

Therefore, the final irrigation channel must be a combination of multiple ponds for water supply.

Herein lies a new problem.

"Kent, can you tell which kind of tree has the most trees in this forest?"

Ickert asked, the old carpenter was also familiar with the situation along the way, and gave a reply after a little consideration.

"My lord, the tall tower trees are the most abundant in this forest. They are named after their branches rising upwards and the tops are shaped like towers. They are suitable for building materials."

"Well, that's good, but what I want to know is... this kind of tower tree, how tall do they usually grow?"

"high?"

As a carpenter, Kent has never seen anyone pay so much attention to the height of trees, but the experienced old carpenter calmly replied:
"My lord, tower trees are generally 52 Merrills (about 60 meters) high. Although there are tower trees of other heights, they are relatively rare."

"That's all right, Geralt! You go to a tree and look at it, and take note of the ups and downs of the woods, just look at the tower tree."

Ickert called a knight attendant, and these teenagers who grew up in the countryside are very agile.

In the wizarding world, human beings are generally in good physical condition, so climbing a tree shouldn't be too difficult.

But having said that, Geralt has only climbed some small trees in his hometown, and he has never tried this kind of 52 Merrill high tree.

But in order to make a good impression in the heart of the lord, sometimes it has to be done.

Fortunately, he finally climbed up.

Geralt observed carefully at the top of the tree for a while before coming down to report the information to Eckert.

Ickert, on the other hand, was listening while drawing rough contour lines on the parchment, which were crucial to his water diversion operations.

"Great job Geralt, we have to investigate more water pools later, and you will need to go up a few more times then."

"No problem, my lord."

Geralt rubbed his red palm, quite eager to try.

A group of people continued to explore, and found many pools of water and some caves along the way, but at present, everyone has no plans to explore the caves, so they can only give up.

The problem of the water source seems to have been solved, but the bamboo has never been seen. However, considering the existence of such a tall tree as the pagoda tree, Ickert already has some ideas in his heart.

With the topographic map he drew, not only water diversion, but even this problem can be solved.

Moreover, he hasn't encountered any serious danger for most of the day, so the road ahead should be smooth.

It is expected that they will be able to return to the territory before dark.

(End of this chapter)