Chapter 297: Lin Mu's Condition

Hei Wen soon collected her wits and composed herself. She immediately thought of the possibilities that arose from Lin Mu's question. Even if he had asked for beast meat, it still depended on the type that he would ask for. 

For example, if Lin Mu asked for just normal beast meat, then it was no problem even if he asked for ten years' worth of it, not to mention just a year. But if it was something like nascent soul realm beast meant, then it would be a problem coming up with even a single beast.

"Umm, what kind of beast meat do you want though?" Hei Wen asked.

"Optimally I would like spirit beast meat, but if it is just normal beasts that would work too. But the quantity would need to be increased. I would need four normal beasts in the equivalent of a single spirit beast's meat." Lin Mu answered.

~Phew~

Hei Wen got relieved after hearing this. They should be able to get plenty of spirit beast meat even if it would not be a year's worth. They could compensate the reaming with the normal beast meat, anyway.

"That is acceptable, I'll inform the lord." Hei Wen replied.

"Though… why do you need so much meat?" Hei Wen curiously asked.

"I'll be going in seclusion for about a year… away from here. So I just want to be prepared." Lin Mu answered.

He had already discussed this with Senior Xukong in his mind, thus knew what to say if he was asked this.

"A year of seclusion? When?" Hei Wen asked, feeling a bit worried.

She was worried about the timing of Lin Mu's seclusion because if it came at the item of the event it would not work out for them.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about it, I'll only do it after the event is done. I need to do quite a bit of a preparation before that, anyway." Lin Mu answered.

"That's all good then. We should be able to procure the meat relatively fast. I'll get the reply from Lord by the end of this week and then inform you. Oh, and the event may be in this month anytime depending on how well their negotiations go." Hei Wen replied.

Lin Mu nodded in response and was about to leave the room when he suddenly realized something. He halted in the doorway while holding onto the door handle and spoke.

"By the way, who is lieutenant Wu Teng getting married to anyway?" Lin Mu questioned.

"Oh, the bride-to-be is the daughter of one of the elders of the Tri cauldron peony sect." Hei Wen answered.

"I see… well, goodbye then." Lin Mu replied before leaving the office.

He quickly left the town center and headed back to the courtyard. Even on the way back, he couldn't see many people and the streets were still relatively empty. To him, it seemed like the people had already headed to the southern town.

Lin Mu guessed that with the increased presence of the mercenaries in the forest, the hunters must be having a bit harder time hunting beasts. This opportunity was probably a godsent to most people, as it was safe and steady pay. Even if it was only for a few months.

After the time period for the jobs was over the people should be able to go back to their normal jobs without much problem. Even the mercenaries should leave by that time most likely, and thus the hunters will have plenty of prey too.

The time for sowing the corps was already close by and people would soon be preparing the Fields in the eastern town. Lin Mu wondered if the peasants there had chosen to go to the southern town or not. If they really did, then the harvest this year may be less which meant that the cost of crops may go up.

Just like this, Lin Mu thought of some trivial things and reached his house. Upon entering, he could smell something burning and could even see smoke coming out from one of the windows.

~Sigh~

"Seems like little shrubby burned something again." Lin Mu muttered as he went to the kitchen.

His guess turned out to be true as the meat that Little shrubby was cooking was fully charred. There was fire lit on the other meat that was kept to the side as well. Evidently Little shrubby had lost control there, and the fire had spread to the other things.

Still, Lin Mu was not worried about it much. Unlike the rest of the buildings in the courtyard, the kitchen was made fully from stone and brick. The kitchen was also separate from the house, and there was enough gap between the buildings so that the fire could not spread there.

A lot of the courtyards in the Town were made with a similar design in mind as this helped prevent fires from burning down homes. 

Lin Mu saw little shrubby panicking and not knowing what to do. While the beast was smart enough to know how to light something, it had still not learned how to put it out. Lin Mu had even put buckets of water nearby so that little shrubby could use them, but the beast seemed to have a dislike of water and refused to go near it unless it was thirsty.

Lin Mu picked up the bucket of water and splashed the water onto the fire, dousing it instantly.

~Sizzle~

The sound of embers dying out and the hot stone sizzling due to the water was heard.

"You really need to get over your dislike of water, little Shrubby." Lin Mu chided,

~Mewo~

The beast acted coy and pretend to be innocent. It rubbed against Lin Mu's legs and showed its affection while purring lightly.

~Sigh~

Lin Mu petted its head and began to clean the mess that had been made. While doing this, a thought came to his mind.

"Hmm, what will I do with him, when I'm in seclusion?"