The date of the first human civilization is no longer known, and all that is known today is the fact that they migrated from south to north.

Food and water are the most basic needs to survive. As early as the Stone Age, our ancestors learned to hunt with stones and sticks, and to use bark and leaves to obtain sufficient amounts of fresh water.

What changed everything was the advent of fire, and the timing of the emergence of the technology of drilling wood for fire is unknown. However, since the technique of making fire was mastered, people's lives in ancient times have changed dramatically.

Campfires drove away wild beasts and were able to smoke and preserve the meat of captured prey, and after mastering the art of igniting fires, people tried to burn mud tiles, more and more efficient water storage containers were made, people no longer had to compete with dangerous carnivores for the territory of precious streams, and the population growth territory began to expand, which also led to the existence of people who explored and pioneered.

From the early migration of the food-rich and warm-climate south, and the continuous advancement of technology, people today are no longer the same as their ancient ancestors, but the need to survive in the wilderness is still the same as in the past.

"Whew......" Mira exhaled softly.

Although Abbite City is the largest city in the south, to be honest, it is not easy to find a job for mercenaries here. Ordinary listing missions are rare and most of them are searching, the largest number, but they are the war missions that Henry does not want Mira to participate in now.

Killing people in a state of survival and taking the initiative to take on the task of killing are two different concepts, and although most of the junior soldiers fighting here have no professional swordsmanship, some veterans of long-term battles can also pose a great threat to the girl with their fierce energy.

Henry's thoughts need no explanation. The girl herself was so conscious that she stayed at Abbot for a few days. They decided to march with a caravan of 100 men to Monroe, the central city of the Kingdom of Crane.

The caravan was bustling with a lot of goods. Foot merchants and carriages are divided half. Such a caravan was already large in Krant, but compared to the original Ecasta, it barely reached even a tenth of the number of people.

The merchandise consisted mainly of nuts and pickled fruit, followed by furs, and a few carts carried clay pots, but they were small in size and delicately painted, presumably for the upper class rather than for the common people.

Furs and delicate utensils were already worth a lot, but there was no such organization as the Chamber of Commerce on the Ecasta side, but the merchants of Ebut, who were loosely improvised together. They don't have enough money to recruit and don't trust mercenaries who might come to protect them.

They only carried machetes and longbows made of pig iron with them, partly for hunting and clearing the way on the road, but partly for self-defense.

Ken let Henry and Mira join, mostly because of their status as outsiders.

The lack of a fee plus the mercenary badge they wear, as well as their well-equipped and warhorses, are also an aspect, but if you switch to two natives of Krant - or Avenela who look quite similar to them, the chances of these merchants agreeing under the same conditions are greatly reduced.

Judging people by their appearance is a biological instinct of self-defense, and in a prosperous country that is relatively peaceful and xenophobic, people will reject foreigners, but in such a war-torn area, people are wary of the people they are familiar with.

Even if it hasn't changed. When you go to different environments, the same thing that happens can be very different.

......

The caravan chose to camp in a relatively sparsely wooded area to the east.

Another difference from Ecasta's peers, the merchants here don't always follow the same route. While it can be troublesome and delayed to reopen the road every time, it is also possible to ensure that you will not be ambushed by wandering thieves - at least to a certain extent.

Another disadvantage of choosing to take different routes is that the problem of water for people and animals is relatively difficult to solve. Because not every inch of land has a reliable source of water. Luckily, the area around Abbot is a tropical rainforest, where horses and donkeys can hydrate the leaves of succulent plants, while humans can pick fruit to quench their thirst.

Merchants mostly traveled in groups. Because you are not familiar with other people, if you go out to collect food, you run the risk of being stolen by other merchants.

Naturally, there are also dry rations that are carried. In addition to rice, people on this side also carry grain paste made from wheat. However, because there is not much farmland available for cultivation and is often abandoned due to war, the supply of wheat and rice is not very sufficient. Ordinary residents usually eat cassava in large quantities in order to save money.

Not to mention that this potato, which only grows in the tropics, has a much worse taste and texture than potatoes, and is toxic and requires a long period of immersion in water and thorough cooking before eating.

The cereal dough sold and eaten by the locals of Abite is made with cassava starch mixed with a few other things, and it doesn't taste very good, but it's also valuable when you don't have access to fresh food.

Food can be solved by carrying, but the problem of drinking water is not completely solved even by abundant tropical fruits, but as we mentioned earlier, the weather in the Ebtech region can change.

The merchants stationed in the grove had erected a large tarp to tilt it and placed a large tank at the end, and Mira did not understand what they were trying to do at first, but after a while, the sky was thundering and then the rain was pouring down, and the girl reacted immediately to the rain frantically hitting the sloping tarp.

"Knowledge is the details that exist in life, the ...... that exists in the bits and pieces," Mira muttered as she felt that she had learned a lot, the words that the sage had told her when she first met Henry. The merchants who decided to stay here watched leisurely, and they seemed to know when the rain would stop, so they chatted with the people nearby. After more than half an hour, the heavy rain stopped, and he began to search the vicinity with machetes and axes to find materials for the temporary camp stationed at night.

Not everyone had horses and supplies like Henry and Mira. Some of the people who had wagons were able to build the same humble camps as they were, which were fairly simple and time-saving. After all, you have to leave after only one night, and there is no need to spend too much energy on decoration.

The camp that can be built in about ten minutes is supported by a hemp rope, which is strong and tough, and it is tied between two trees in a straight line, and the ends are tied with slipknots, and then a tarp with tung oil is draped over the top, and the grounded part is pressed with stones, and the triangular space that can shelter from the wind and rain is thus established. Many people also collect moss from the nearby ground, shake it dry and dry it next to the campfire to serve as makeshift beds.

But not everyone had even a large tarp smeared with paraffin or grease, and some merchants in more difficult conditions had to chop down trees with their own axes to make supports. After that, it took more than an hour to collect the palm leaves, which are common in the rainforest, and then tear them in half and cover them to make a temporary waterproof roof.

Compared to ropes and tarps, which can be easily retracted, these bulky and unused materials are naturally impossible to take away. The makeshift camp, which had taken a long time from rest until it was completely dark, had to be abandoned after only one night.

The contrast between the energy and time savings of the objects she spent on was etched in Mira's memory, especially since she had to spend the night on a tree trunk with some bad sage.

Thinking that life has really come a long way compared to before, Mira skillfully knots the weaving. But just as she was about to sit down and start the fire, Henry stopped her.

"This is not Avenella. The poisonous insects in Krant are hundreds of times larger and more numerous, so always check the pile of dead leaves you intend to sit on for danger. The sage swept away the damp leaves from the ground with a stick, and then said to Mira, "Follow me." ”

He said, then turned and walked out from the right side of the camp. The sound of flint and steel hitting behind him came and went, but it was not very easy to start a fire because of the humidity.

The sage led the girl to a slightly lower bush, and after a few searches they saw sharp weeds growing on the ground.

"You're also here to fetch the seaside thorn grass? "The two are not the only ones who have this plan. A brown-skinned stocky merchant next to him smiled at them, and Henry nodded. Mira saw the man holding a clump of grass and turned around and walked towards a nearby tree.

"We took the trade route close to the east, and beyond that we were the reef-covered beaches. So I guess there's probably a lot of sand dunes in the forest. The sage bent down and began to grasp the grass, and Mira did the same, but as soon as she stretched out her hand, she was pricked with an "Ah!"

"Good prickly ......" The hard blades of grass poked into the skin and caused extremely unbearable discomfort, but the stubborn nature still made the girl grit her teeth and continue to collect them.

"It's the same feeling for other creatures, and putting this under a makeshift bed prevents you from waking up in the middle of the night to find something crawling on you. Henry explained, and Mira nodded, frowning at the tingling sensation as she added it to her memory.

"Whoa—" There was a loud sound from where the stocky merchant had just passed, and the girl subconsciously turned her head to see him easily tear off a large piece of bark from the tree.

"It's a bark tree, and their bark is soft and thick, and it makes a good field bed. Henry said, and Mira nodded again.

The skin of her bare arm was constantly stimulated by sharp weeds, but after enduring it and returning to the camp, she spread the thorny grass under the cleaned bed, and more or less, the white-haired Loan girl eliminated the anxiety caused by the unfamiliar environment.

"Teacher's right......" Henry took another tarp from his horse, folded it up, and spread it on the seaside thorn grass, and then used something else to cushion the prickly feeling. Mira's words turned him back, and the girl continued: "It's probably harder to just learn how to live than to learn how to fight." ”

"These two things are equally important, but if you learn to fight, you may still not be able to control your own destiny, but if you can survive anywhere, everything will change a lot. She summed it up to herself, frowning her little eyebrows and nodding her head more and more like a scholar.

The sage next to him smiled slightly, "You've become a crepe too, Mila." ”

As he said this, Mira gave him a blank look, walked to the side, took out the iron pot, and began to prepare the food.

But no sooner had the girl prepared than the rain began to rain down again, and the campfires that had just been lit by many were easily extinguished, and white smoke rose and the merchants cursed one after another.

Only the rest of the people who had protected the campfire well looked at each other and smiled.

Time passed calmly and came to the south after the first month of spring.

It's almost over.

......

R: Double shift, second shift 16:00. (To be continued.) )