Chapter 318 - 282: Strange Leaves (2)

Chapter 318: Chapter 282: Strange Leaves (2)

’I’ll go find Bai Mao this afternoon to process these Tree Smoke Leaves,’ Shire decided. He was very interested in this stuff. After all, in his previous life, it was a "guarantor of military funding." Whenever he and his buddies gathered to smoke, they would often joke about how they’d contributed a few more bullets to the country, and wonder if they could smoke enough in their lifetime to afford a Type 99 main battle tank.

"If this stuff really works, then that region has to be mine. Feathered Serpent God," he exhaled softly, "you need to get out of my city."

...

It didn’t take long that afternoon for the leaves to be roasted dry. Unlike tobacco leaves, these were rather small and had already started to turn yellow and dry out as winter approached. Thus, Shire quickly got the finished product from Bai Mao.

He tore off another piece of paper and rolled up two of the dried, curled leaves inside. After lighting it, he took a slow drag. This time, he didn’t inhale as forcefully as before, instead taking a careful, light puff.

"COUGH COUGH." He coughed as he pulled the paper roll away. "It’s still a bit harsh. The bitter taste has faded some, but the burnt smell is still overpowering."

’Can’t this stuff be used this way?’ Shire wondered, catching his breath. His gaze was fixed on the white smoke curling up between his two fingers.

’There must be some process I don’t know about,’ he thought with a frown, recalling information from his past life. Although he had never produced it himself, as a "Smoke Demon," he understood the differences between various brands and varieties and knew about the special processing methods that companies always talked up in their marketing.

’Maybe I should grind it up.’ Shire snuffed out the paper roll, unrolled it, and took out the remaining "Tree Smoke Leaf." He then excitedly ran out of the stone house to find Little Claw and ask for a tool to grind herbs.

When he saw Little Claw again, the creature was hard at work brewing a potion. After Shire called out a greeting, Little Claw hopped onto the table and pointed a distinctly jointed finger at the smallest mortar and pestle on the side, indicating that Shire could use it.

At the same time, Little Claw asked again about its other master. Shire picked up the mortar and pestle, smiling. "I’ll be heading out to explore in the next few days. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely help you find your master." Upon hearing this, Little Claw said nothing more. It dutifully gripped the thick wooden stirring rod and resumed stirring furiously.

To be honest, Shire really didn’t want to lose the Wriggling Claw, his "director." It could now guide the goblins to successfully pre-process various herbs and instruct the Skeleton Warriors on how to brew acceptable potions. While the consumption of Magic Potions had increased significantly, the output of Healing Potions and a few others was both stable and efficient.

If all the Adventurers hadn’t gone off to fight skeleton sailors on the seas near Torch City, causing a backlog of Healing Potions, he would have already sold enough to relieve the tribe’s financial pressure.

Fortunately, selling the Red Bull had eliminated that pressure. However, the potions continued to pile up, and Shire wasn’t sure what to do. He considered opening more Alchemy Workshop stores throughout Count Valentine’s territory, perhaps in other towns or in Black Lion City. He also thought about setting up a "Drink Undying" Healing Potion franchise to create a stable supply chain for the region.

"Don’t worry, I’ll let you know the moment I have any news." Shire smiled, waved at Little Claw, and left. In response, Little Claw raised its middle finger, bent it a few times, and "nodded" at him.

Back in his stone house, Shire ground the roasted leaves while recalling Broken Tooth’s report.

’Those goblins seem to have a miserable life too,’ he muttered to himself as he pushed the roller of the grinder, CREAK CREAK. ’The Dongtou are like chieftains for each burrow. No, maybe they’re goblins who were kicked out and then regrouped, automatically adopting the Dongtou system of management.’

’In that case, the management style of the Feathered Serpent Kingdom is pretty interesting. You’d call them loosely organized, yet they’ve formed a structure with several classes. But you’d also call them organized, yet they still live one burrow at a time.’

CREAK CREAK.

’You could only call it a tribal form of management, and a crude one at that. But with the Dongtou holding them down, the underground goblins won’t stir up any trouble. That head honcho, the High Priest, he’s got some skills.’

CREAK CREAK.

’This management model is passable when food and supplies are scarce, but unfortunately, it’s not suitable for my tribe. No, my Kingdom.’

CREAK CREAK.

’The tribe is already starting to evolve. Now that we have a division of labor, we can’t use a management style like the Feathered Serpent Kingdom’s anymore. But Broken Tooth said there were so many burrows there he couldn’t count them on all his toes.’

CREAK CREAK.

’That many individuals will be a headache. Our current division of labor is a bit haphazard. I’ll have to take another look at it when the time comes.’

He set down the pestle and sighed heavily. ’As I thought, socialization isn’t so easy. It’s incredibly difficult to transform a group of goblins into a human-like society in just a few steps.’

Shire carefully poured the powdered leaves from the mortar onto a piece of paper and studied it. The dried leaves had been ground into a fine powder. Now it was time to see if changing their form would make any difference.

He tore another page from his notebook, took a pinch of the powder with his fingers, and placed it on the paper. He then rolled it up, careful not to let any of the powder spill out.

He brought it close to a flame to light it, then took a light puff.

"COUGH COUGH." He patted his chest to catch his breath. ’The burnt smell is still there. It’s so harsh. Looks like this stuff is useless after all.’

Shire sighed, snuffed out the paper roll, and set it on the desk. He sat down and leaned back in his chair. ’I thought I’d found another major trade commodity, but it looks like there’s no way to make it work.’

He looked at the remaining brown powder on the paper and rubbed his temples. ’What were those humans going to do with this stuff? Do they have a special way to process it? But my memories have nothing about tobacco... If those guys figured it out, it would definitely have shown up in Plantagenet City by now. At the very least, it would be on Perfume Lily Avenue.’

He thought of that street, known as the most fashionable on the entire continent. Whenever something new appeared, it would quickly become a topic of conversation among the elite. The actual product would soon follow, then rapidly spread to the surrounding cities.

’Could it be that those humans don’t use these leaves to make tobacco?’ Shire frowned. ’Then what do they do with it? Don’t tell me they use it as a spice or in Alchemy Potions?’

He couldn’t figure it out. After a moment’s thought, he stood up and ran out of the stone house.

A short while later, Agatha was looking at the single remaining dried leaf. "This should be a leaf from a Dragon Claw Tree," she said. "But why is it so dried out?"

"Dragon Claw Tree?" Shire asked.

"That’s right. This tree is very rare. Its leaves grow asymmetrically: three lobes on one side, and one on the other. It looks a bit like a dragon’s claw, which is how it got the name Dragon Claw Tree. It has a somewhat spicy taste and is sometimes used as an Alchemy Material. But as far as I know, only a very few formulas call for it, and it doesn’t seem to be an essential ingredient in those, either."

"So you’re saying this stuff isn’t important at all?" Shire stared at the powder on the table, wondering what to do.

"Mhm," Agatha nodded.

Shire clasped his hands behind his back and paced by the table, his frown deepening. Just as Agatha was about to ask what he was doing, Shire stopped at the table’s edge.

Then, he extended two fingers, took a pinch of powder from the paper, and placed it on the back of his hand.

Shire stared at the back of his hand, and then, as if having made up his mind, he leaned in and took a powerful snort.

"Aaaagh—"