Chapter 123 - 123. The Northern Forest Turned Into A Night Safari

It was slightly past 9 pm when the members of the Castle Keating-Macleod cake marching in through the gates silently and were greeted by me before unlocked the gates up.

"Daddy, the night raid has been a success. You are right about the beasts getting more aggressive after sundown. Somehow their numbers had somehow multiplied too. Not only there are wild boars but there are also creatures like giant apes, gorillas, zebras, elks, wild horses, brown bears, black bears, wolves, foxes, cougars, leopards and cheetahs too. There are bulls, sheep and goats too roaming around and we shot them all." Adam reported the situation after their first night raid.

"Only the wild boars, bulls, sheep and goats gave us 2 types of spoils while the rest only drop their coats. We won't know what to do with the coats and sold off to NoOne and he takes 40 credits for the coats unlike the wild boars hide which he only takes in 15 credits." Ingles reported the prices that were being traded.

"Yes Daddy, the coats were nice to look at but we won't know what to do except to sell them off. Furthermore, we also had gotten beef and mutton meat right now besides the usual pork. Are they nice to eat, Daddy?" asked Jane as she counted the spoils and decides to give away the pork and keep the beef and mutton if they are nice.

"Sheep's mutton is nice to eat and more tender, just like a lamb. Goat mutton is a bit...stinker and would be best boiled to get rid of it's fat first before making them into curries with potatoes and peas or makes into meat fillings for the dumplings."

I explained as Kayla showed me a sample and it had been some time since I've cooked with other meats. I returned it to Kayla and she kept it back inside her storage.

"Daddy... Just now the stupid idiotic goblins were taunting at me from far. They were taunting me with their spears and I shot 5 of them just now. 2 were at the entrance, 2 were patrolling and 1 dropped from their lookout platform on the second floor of their hideout."

"They looked hideous with short bodies and legs with long arms, big heads and large saucer eyes. I took their spoils and they had credits about 25 to 35 each and also had this heavy planked shield with a drawing of a white cartoony skull on it."

"I sold the 5 heavy planked shield for 60 credits each," Kayla informed me and finally finished her sentence with a huff. She grinned at me and she said she didn't close her eyes or shriek when she confronted the goblins.

"Do you want to hear the story behind the goblins hideout and their planked shields?" I asked and everyone gathered around. "Before I picked the 4 of you to work with us initially, I had spent days on that ground simply grinding them after breakfast before I took a break for lunch and continued until before dinner time."

"It was a gruelling marathon and I had spent almost 80 rounds each time to gather all their shields and sell them to NoOne and continue again after lunch. This is to build up enough credits and gather enough money so when I started off with buying the abandoned house behind us, you are the pioneers of Beauty World."

"That's right, I spent more than 5 days to grind those goblins to sell those planked shields and that's how Beauty World is established and that's how we could afford this Castle of Keating-Macleod after some months of grinding, forging and working with the *ahem* wisps to make the clothes for Atelier, weapons and trinkets for Uncle Blake and Uncle Bruce."

"Junior members of Castle Keating-Macleod, this Castle does not pop up years ago and through our hard work, we would be able to achieve what we all wanted in the future," I said as I treat this achievement as one of the lessons in life.

"Guild Master, your story had inspired us very much... We wanted to follow your footsteps and grind those goblins day and night because we wished to be independent and own our own houses. There are small, medium and large houses that were empty in the Central and we would very much like to own them and to start life afresh."

"Abandoned small houses cost only like 20-30% market price of a small house. With a bit of maintenance and basic furnishings, it would definitely look brand new inside. Only thing is that you need to relocate the birds and the rats living inside before you finally clean the interior and get new furnishings."

"If you are no hurry to own a house, keep on grinding, level up and keep those credits. Make sure you have at least 2x to 4x the amount required since you might want to have a rather up standard abode in the future."

"Guild Master, you are truly a learned person. Not only you are a versatile fighter, but you are also a man with multiple professions and a tradesman. You are the only righteous and virtuous person that we would look up to right now because not only you are a Guild Master to us but also a Father."

"OH NO... SUDDENLY I MIGHT HAVE 20 MORE CHILDREN?!?!" I gasped in horror at the mention of the word 'Father' and our children all laughed at me and Kayla finally spoke up, "Not 'father' as in Daddy lah... It is a fatherly figure since we all are orphans remember?

"Ooooooo..." my lips were still making the shape of an 'O' as I heard our children explain it clearly to me. Having no children of my own before I start transmigrating from one body to another in the very beginning, I had little or no experience dealing with children at all and I learnt it through life experiences and finally to our own adopted children whom I regard them as our very own.

"Alright, about the meats... *ahem*, since you are giving away the pork to Strongbow and the cookhouse and some to the kitchen, why not sell the meats to me instead? At least, I could use it to make the menus as well as some patties as well. If you have some poultry such as chicken, duck or turkey, that would be great too. Same price, 5 credits per slab of meat."

I suggested and everyone traded their resources with me that night and I discovered that our children had levelled up to 4 and the junior members had levelled up to 2. After handing out 100 points each to allocate their attributes along with the 10 they got when they levelled up, they felt more confident.

The increase in their levels and the addition of the 100 allocation points made their attributes to be more firm than others. I wouldn't know how the founders of the Houses would treat their members but a 100 allocation points are no joke because a person needs to gain at least 10 levels to earn that 100 points.

Right now I'm giving those points away like giving away candies on Halloween to 24 of them and to simply earn that 2400 points, they should imagine what their Guild Master level without telling them because I myself earns 10 points per level. Heh... If only they knew my level and how I worked on them, I'm sure they would shit green. (a metaphor for an extreme shock... Usually happens to birds)

"Alright, time to get washed up and to bed everyone. There's another day for a round of adventure tomorrow." I advised and they bowed low to me, thanked me and then proceeded off.

"The children are now a level higher than me, honey. I should also level up too... Since my level up is much faster than them, it would not take half a day even. That's so generous of you to trade all the meat, you still have enough credits with you right?"

"Don't worry about my credits, I have more than enough to go through. Furthermore, I wanted to see if there's a demand for new armour or armour. It had been some time since I designed new pieces but I may need the help of Blake and Bruce to do the marketing for me, especially to Aermagh. I just look up to Aermagh for financial gains, that's all."

"I thought for a second there you would be going to Aermagh. Oh alright, so you are sure the children would be fine without us minding them? If it's alright with you, I would like to grind for my levelling up. Who knows someone might need the help of a wizard someday, right?"

"Sure, no problem. Oh yeah, did Prius mentioned about the points and until when I won't be able to issue to them?" I asked since I knew it was mentioned by Prius but I'm to muddleheaded not to record it down somewhere.

"Level 5 maximum and then they are on their own. Just imagine some Houses are charging 100 points for 50k credits? If there are founders like you, you would be a common man with the deepest pocket that ever lived. Hehe."

"Nah... Fame and fortune are not what I seek, it's what I can do to serve the community and society."

"Why dear, did you do something in the past and this is the way you repay back and redeem back your dignity and honour or something?"

"Nope... I didn't do anything wrong. It is giving back to the society what they had given me before... Which is LIFE.