59 – Dinner in a House

"The sun is almost setting! All residents must go to their respective homes! No one should come out, except those assigned to patrol!"

I, who was in a house, could hear that knocking wooden blocks followed by a man's shout.

Jane carrying clay plates of boiled sweet potatoes and grilled meat and placed it in front of Kat and Manu, who were sitting near the fireplace. Then, the dark-skinned woman took two more from the small table in the corner of the room.

"Thank you very much, Jane." Manu said with a smile as Jane put the third and fourth plates onto the mat.

Jane pursed her lips and shrugged. "Well, no need to thank me. I didn't cook any of this. This tribe had a huge kitchen and every day we had to take our share of it. This is one of the best rules out of all the other rules. I can't cook at all."

"But, we are very grateful for being able to stay in this place."

The woman sat opposite my colonists. "Well, this is a new home for us newlyweds. So, there are still some spots to sleep. We don't have children yet."

The door to the house burst open, and Tosa came in breathless. He closed the door and put his bow and quiver into the corner of the room.

Manu raised an eyebrow. Maybe he was also a little surprised by that like I was. Yes, I couldn't have guessed that they were husband and wife. At the healing house earlier, they didn't show it.

"You are late." Jane said flatly.

"I'm not really late." Tosa sighed, then walked towards the corner of the room. There, he took out a kind of clay jug with a wooden lid. "Just barely."

"And you brought no results again?" The wife sneered. "At this rate, you will really be punished."

"Shut up."

Manu's brow furrowed. "You can be punished if you don't bring the results from hunting?"

Tosa joined the three of them, then opened the jug. "If we don't bring anything in five days, we will be sentenced to three days in prison. You might think it's easy, but if you look at our tribe's cage, you definitely won't want to be there."

"They've seen it." Jane replied.

"Damn." Tosa took a sip of his wine, then handed the jug to Manu and Kat, who immediately shook their heads.

"Don't drink too much. If you get caught drunk, I'll be the one who gets punished for keeping the drink in the house." Jane snorted as Tosa took another sip of the drink. "Ah, I should just throw the wine away."

"You two have come to a conclusion, right? Living in this tribe sucks." Tosa chuckled at my two colonists and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. "A liquor ban like this is absurd. The reason Suja did this was because if we were drunk the chances of us fighting would be greater. Bullshit! He just wants to keep the wine for himself!"

"Don't be too loud Tosa, someone will hear." Jane shook her head, then smiled at the two guests again. "Oh, we're sorry. You guys are hungry, right? Let's eat."

I purposely didn't fast-forward the gameplay because I was so desperate. Maybe, in their chatter, I could find a clue so that Manu could still learn to make bricks for the fireplace.

However, since the four of them were eating in silence, I gave Manu an order.

"By the way, do you guys have any ideas on what items can replace the shoe from the sky ship?" Manu sighed softly. He asked according to my orders. "We really can't find it anymore."

"A woman." Tosa chuckled with his mouth full. "I'm sure he'll immediately grant your wish if you bring someone hot."

The man with short black hair was about to eat the remaining meat and sweet potatoes, but he was confused because his plate was now empty.

I was so annoyed with this bastard, I took his food and ate it myself. The taste is decent. The meat is juicy, and the sweet potato is slightly sweet.

"Our tribe leader's favorites are nice and very comfortable clothes, liquor, beautiful women, and food." Jane counted on her fingers. "If you can find a super valuable item from those four categories, I'm sure he'll be willing to grant your wish."

Food? An idea popped into my head, and I passed it on to Manu.

"What about the location of a salt cave? Will your tribe leader like it? He must like saltier food, right? It can also be a preservative in some variety of foods." Manu said with trembling lips

"May be." Jane shrugged. "During my stay here, I felt that food other than fruit was too bland. It would be nice if it was given a little salt. Usually, we buy from travelling merchants. However, it's always used by our tribe leader himself for his food. He don't want to share it, at all."

My male colonist gulped. "So, that information can actually be used?"

Tosa grimaced stiffly. "Unfortunately, even if you knew about the location of the salt cave, you would have a hard time convincing our tribe leader. You must have solid evidence."

"The proof is by seeing it for yourself." Manu wipes his face. "That means we have to take some people there. Then, after mining, they will return here. I'm pessimistic that they let me study here while they travel. At least ten days wasted on me not being able to learn to make bricks."

"Is that salt cave near your tribe?" Tosa rubbed his chin. "If many find out, the tribes will definitely fight for it. It would be more terrifying than the attacks of the stump scorpions in there."

"And now that I think about it, telling them the location of the cave is a bad idea." Manu sighed. "The risk is very high if you send people there. There will definitely be death."

Jane rose from mat and tidied up the empty plates and glasses. I asked Kat to help her.

"Really, the salt cave is that terrible?" Jane asked as she carried the cutlery to the corner of the room.

"Well, I did only hear stories about the creatures that inhabit it from my parents and some folks here. However, that alone made me shudder." Tosa rubbed the back of his neck. "If you want to hear more stories, ask Yogi. He claimed to have been to one of the salt caves very far from here, requiring months of travel.

Instead of getting enlightened, I got even more frustrated. Should I sacrifice other people for my colonists?