Starting with the sentries on the frontier

Chapter 42 Visiting the Anvil House

Having set aside just enough rations to last until their departure the next day, Mrs. Marsh instructed Zag to give away all the hard-to-carry food to the neighbors, and then packed up the more valuable items:

A dozen or so jars of redcurrant jam, a pile of dried redcurrant nuts, two wool blankets, a wool quilt, an iron pot, and two sets of silver cutlery—the latter being Mrs. Marsh's dowry, which she had saved up herself, and also a wedding token with her father, Zag, one of Mrs. Marsh's most precious possessions.

In addition, there were some books that had been read so many times that they were worn out. Most of them were related to religion, and there were also poems. They were all left by Zag's father. Even Mrs. Marsh learned to read from Zag's father.

Because he had a lot of stuff and thought hiring mules would be too expensive, Zag thought about it all night and came up with a brilliant idea—

He packed the larger, more difficult-to-carry items into a wicker basket, tied it to Helford's body so he could "carry" it, while he carried the smaller, more portable items in a cloth bag.

Mrs. Marsh was heartbroken and strongly disagreed with the plan, but after seeing how Hurford could run and jump with a lot of stuff on his back without showing any signs of hardship, she reluctantly gave up the idea of ​​hiring a mule to replace Hurford, persuaded by Zag.

"Coal Ball is a breed of sled dog from the north. Do you know what a sled dog is? They're dogs specifically used for pulling sleds. They're incredibly energetic! They can pull a sled, so pulling something like this will be no problem for them. Don't worry!"

Zha Ge started spouting nonsense again.

Helford, who was upgraded from "stray dog" to "sled dog", made full use of the werewolf's strength and endurance. While carrying two blankets, a quilt, a pile of books and an iron pot, he kept nudging Mrs. Marsh with his mouth, trying to "carry" Mrs. Marsh on his back as well.

This was the only moment that Zag felt his dozens of pounds of potatoes hadn't been wasted.

Unfortunately, Mrs. Marsh didn't understand Herford's intentions at all. She thought the big white dog wanted to play with her, so she could only affectionately pat the dog's head. Herford was so anxious that he almost started talking.

Zag then translated, "He wants you to ride on his back so he can carry you on your journey."

"Don't talk nonsense! How can this be allowed!" Mrs. Marsh glared at Zag, ignoring Herford's frantic nodding, and scolded her son, "You're even more heartless than those noble gentlemen! The coal is already carrying so much, and you still want to exploit it! It's a good thing I went with you to the Eastern Port, otherwise I don't know how you would have abused the coal!"

"I am more wronged than Dou E..."

Zag muttered something to himself and decided not to argue with the old lady, but to continue on his way in silence.

It wasn't far from the Redcurrant Mill to the Cabbage Town; even though Mrs. Marsh had to rest every now and then, it only took her half a day.

When Zag arrived in town, it was not yet noon. The group, along with a cat and a dog, headed straight for the anvil's house.

"Zag! You've come!" David was forging an axe when he saw Zag. He immediately threw the axe and hammer on the ground and greeted him warmly. "This must be Mrs. Marsh, right? Lily, my wife. She's been waiting for you for ages. She made you redcurrant cheese rolls, the unsweetened kind, as well as cabbage soup and pickled herring. Come in and rest!"

Helford and Snowball were immediately surrounded by Lilia and Andrew. The children seemed to be quite familiar with Helford, touching him affectionately. However, Snowball, who had been resting on Helford's back, startled them.

"Oh my god! It's a kitten! Daddy! Look! It's a kitten!"

When Lilia saw Snowball, she was both surprised and delighted. The little girl unconsciously softened her voice, afraid of scaring Snowball.

Andrew excitedly shouted, "Kitten! Kitten!"

Lilia quickly scolded her younger brother, "Quiet down, Andrew! You'll scare it!"

"Shh, you need to be quiet too!"

"I'm being quiet! You're the one who's making noise!"

The two children exchanged a few words, and then David's wife, Lily, opened the door.

"Alright, you two are big kids now. Don't make Mr. Sentinel laugh at you. Take good care of the kittens and puppies; they're our guests, understand?"

She first scolded the two naughty children, then, holding the door open, invited, "Please come in, Mrs. Marsh. Zag has always mentioned you to us; we never expected to finally meet you today. We hope lunch will suit your taste!"

Mrs. Marsh hadn't interacted with such energetic "young people" or visited anyone in a long time. She smiled and said happily, "You are all so hospitable."

Although neither David nor Lily could be called "young," they were at least in their prime and full of life compared to Mrs. Marsh.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the room became lively.

The two children were busy helping Herford unload the wicker basket from his body.

Lily then went to finish the last few steps of preparing the lunch that had been prepared in advance. Since preparing it in advance would cause it to cool down or become stale, she deliberately left most of the dishes with only one final step, so that they could be completed immediately when Zag and Mrs. Marsh arrived, and that the food would be kept at its freshest and best-tasting temperature.

David then accompanied them, leading Zag and Mrs. Marsh to their seats at the long table.

Zag looked around the room and asked, "Where are Mrs. Anvil and Mrs. Green?"

Zag refers to David's mother and Lily's aunt. These two elderly ladies are David and Lily's only relatives, so David specially brought them to his and Lily's home to take care of them.

In fact, the two elderly people were quite healthy and mostly helped David and Lily take care of the children. After all, Lily also had a "job"—she had to look after the family's large magical herb garden. Although limited by spirituality, the garden only contained ordinary alchemical materials, it still brought in a considerable income for the family each year, not much less than David's blacksmithing business. This was why the Anvil family lived quite comfortably in the town.

David replied, "They went to the old house to pack things up. They go there every now and then. Old people always have a sentimental attachment to old places."

Zag immediately knew this was an excuse; he probably made sure to leave a room empty so that he and Mrs. Marsh could stay overnight.

He was quite grateful, but felt it would be impolite to say anything more, so he turned to Aiden and asked, "Where's Aiden? I haven't seen him."

"Oh, speaking of that kid, I really have to thank you!" David slapped his thigh as soon as the topic came up, saying, "Mr. Liam said you recommended Aiden when you resigned, so yesterday you invited him to be the new sentry. The kid was overjoyed! He couldn't sleep all night! Today he went to the association's headquarters to pick up his equipment, and even asked me to make him the coolest suit of armor. Mr. Liam also said that the town sentries' uniforms were too simple and didn't meet the Golden Palace's requirements at all. If we could make him a suit of armor directly, that would be perfect..."

"If he really manages to get his hands on a complete set of gear, it'll be no less impressive than the lord's personal guards. That'll make the kid really proud!"

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[Snowball's Rant]: Hmm... I don't quite understand why, after I became a house cat, everyone's tone of voice when they talk to me is not normal, and their voices have become high-pitched and thin, like someone stepped on my neck, ugh~ disgusting!